As cuttings, willows grow extremely well. You can make things go a lot faster if you start off with thicker cuttings that already have desirable movement in them and are at the right diameter. You can save a few years in developing a truck. Don't bother with tiny twigs if you can get your hands on some decent-sized branches.

I've heard that willows don't take wiring very well (dieback occurs). The majority of the training can be done through the clip-and-grow technique, and the weeping effect (if that is what you want) can be acheived through weights attached to the branches.

-Audric

Regarding willow cuttings, should the collector select only stems with "green wood" or is it possible to select cuttings with existing bark or obvious secondary growth? Also, are there upper limits in the stem girth that for taking successful cuttings of willows, and is dormancy an issue when taking cuttings of willows (or can these be taken at any time)? Thank you very much in advance for responding to these inquires.

Ron

Just about any size of willow 'cutting' can be used - people have rooted (healthy) branch pieces of a couple of inches in diam. "Green' is not important, though younger pieces are a better bet than older. Willows do go through dormancy, but if a cutting's taken in winter and left in e.g. damp sand, or even just stuck back in the ground beside the 'mother', it's very likely to sprout in spring. It's actually hard not to root a willow!

Willow cuttings will likely root in molten lava. Cuttings, fencepost thick, root regularly in the ground, but do not expect results THAT good in containers. If you are looking for really thick trunks (to 4 inches), they can be air-layered easily.

Al

I have sticks an inch ot two in diameter rooting in water(don't worry Al they adjust well to soil, I checked) and since I have a few differant species, I will try differant styles but mainly I want to try broom, weeping, and weeping broom. How do you get good nebari with that much subterranean stem?