Carla:

When I lived on the Kings river near Piedra, east of Fresno, there were willows all along the creek and river. They like to grow with their roots right in the water or with a very shallow water table. The water table where willows grew was about 0-2 ft in winter and 3-4 ft in summer. So a tree with long skinny leaves growing in water is likely a willow.

Tell us more about willow water.

Just to chime in on this thread-

Willow wands will sprout roots in a heartbeat. My neighbor started a fence with them one year- eventually the trees got to be a nuisance and were removed. Evidently they have generous amounts of rooting hormone, and I think that the assumption is that willow water will encourage rooting just as rooting powder will. I think it was discussed here a few years ago.

[Not to mention that willow (salix) bark tea is an age-old pain relief tonic and the inspiration for aspirin (acetyl salicylic acid), or so I've been told.]

FWIW,

M

Carla:

For many years I was trying to use willow water for root growth, trying different concentrations hoping to use it as a hormone, it was always a failure.

If you want seriously multiply plants (fruit)? by cuttings, you get it right with a modern plant hormone.

My advice: If you can buy "Clonex" then you�v lucky.
I use this stuff for years now and I can tell you even the most "difficult plants" they were activated and stimulated to root formation.
I'm never previously managed to take cuttings of Peach, Nectarines, Almond, Cherry... until I had found this stuff.

Semi-hardwood cuttings takes only 3 weeks to get roots. Usually such cuttings required a fog machine. I keep it simple, I don�t have a fog machine.

Of course there are other constraints for optimum root growth, many conditions have to be correct.

I realize that my story is almost starting to look like a sales pitch for that stuff, sorry for that !

If you want to know more details, how-to, give me a call.

Leonard

I'm glad this came up. I have played in a very minor way with rooting pear from hardwood cuttings and it just didn't happen. Don't know when I might try again, but if I do I'll be looking for Clonex (or something similar.

I know someone who moved to Montana from Utah and brought hardwood cuttings of apricot and plum, which he simply stuck in the ground. They've both borne generously for decades now! I was less successful ...

Thanks for the information.

:-)M

Sounds like you know where to look now. There are quite a few willows growing along the streams around Donner Pass if you were to head up there. Just a short jaunt on I-80--assuming the snow isn't too deep this time of year. Take someone you don't like with you just in case....

Willows grow in a lot of styles. Many of the ones you find along streams are bushes rather than trees, growing kind of like oleanders. They use willows around here on stream bank restoration projects after the invasive species (russian olive, salt cedar) have been removed. A high pressure water gun is used, like a pressure washer, to create a hole in the ground a foot or so deep, and a willow twig is pushed into the hole as soon as the water jet is removed. Success has been fairly high.

I have used willow to assist in rooting. The willow sprigs all rooted easily, but I didn't see any benefit to the cuttings of other plants in with them.

I ended up with lots of baby willow trees.

The weeping willows grow fast! Don't plant them near septic tanks or sewer lines though, because as others mentioned their root systems can become problematic. I see them all over Southern CA in the L.A. area.

Thanks everyone! For some reason I remembered people saying willow water worked BETTER than rooting hormone, but if it doesn't work, then I am certainly not going to bother!

Carla in Sac