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Willows

LoessHillsArcher

LoessHillsArcher

PMA Member
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with planting willows and if deer are hard on them? We have a really wet bottom on one side of our food plot and we are going to plant a couple rows of willows, should make for great fast growing security cover and help as a screen. Just wondering if they'll need fenced. Thanks
 
Seems like willows just show up on their own in wet bottoms. Doubt that the deer could kill them unless there is absolutely nothing else to browse. I can't control willows in my riparian. They come back no matter what I do to them. Great cover when they are small but they will grow up and shade everything else. Would dogwoods grow there? I think they take wet ground better than most other shrubs.
 
Ya, we are planning to put some dogwoods in there as well. With the lay of the land we are going to need something pretty tall to help create a screen on this area so we were thinking willows or cottonwoods, figured willows are pretty fast growing and don't tend to shade out as much as a cottonwood would. Thanks for the help, we've also got some bottoms with giant willow thickets, make pretty good deer cover!

Here is an idea of the spot and the lay of the land
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I know myself and others on this site would be interested in seeing how this works as well. Some of the best cover there is in my opinion. I have heard you can take cuttings and plant them. Let us know how it works if you give it a try.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Central Iowa</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I know myself and others on this site would be interested in seeing how this works as well. Some of the best cover there is in my opinion. I have heard you can take cuttings and plant them. Let us know how it works if you give it a try. </div></div>

Yup, we ordered rooted cuttings but they had just plain cuttings like you are talking available, hopefully works out good. I like the fact that they are fast growing, I'm not sure if they are a real long lived tree though.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Central Iowa</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I have heard you can take cuttings and plant them. Let us know how it works if you give it a try. </div></div>

Willows are one of the easiest trees to root from cuttings. In late spring after they are actively growing take 6-8" cuttings from the new growth(called a softwood cutting). Leave 4-5 leaves at the tip of the shoot and remove all the leaves below that point. Place them in little pots and keep moist with high humidity if possible and they will begin forming roots within a week and a half. If you have a bottom that stays consistenly moist you could probably even get away with just sticking them straight into the ground and skip rooting them in pots.

Sounds like a good plan that you have for screening your plot. Willows make nice cover and I think they are pretty pleasing to the eye too.
 
I'll have to take a picture of a person down the roads yardsite. He just cut some and stuck them in the ground, man alive those suckers have grown like mad. They'll be good for you!!
 
Man, that ground looks really great. I just drove through the loess hills the other day and can't get enough of the scenery.

I know that sometimes we would plant willow cuttings on islands on the Mississippi trying to keep islands from becoming eroded away. It worked great if the beavers didn't find them.
 
We've got some beavers near by in our crick, maybe we could try trapping them...I just got done reading the Trapper Andy debacle and I might have to stop over at AA for trapping advice!
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Single Coyote</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Can cottonwoods be etablished by this samw method (cuttings)? </div></div>

You sure should be able to. You can root any woody plant using the same method, however some species lend themselves to cutting regeneration better than others. If it doesn't work you aren't out much so what the heck give it a try.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Single Coyote</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Can cottonwoods be etablished by this samw method (cuttings)? </div></div>

The success of starting cuttings can be greatly increased with the use of rooting hormones.
 
Just for a test last spring, we pulled up 4, 4' footers out of some mud and water, Got some root with them. Then transplanted them right in the middle of a small reeds canary grass bottom area that flash floods. They grew a foot and are standing well. They stick out like sore thumbs and will probably get destoyed by a buck. But next year I'll dump in a hundred or so. And hope to end up with some thick cover that will also block some road frontage. Probably take a few years but we'll see.
 
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