I think you got it right when you said that you didn't think the "trained" tree would look like a weeping willow. Even the twigs and small branches are going to try to grow upwards. When a limb is bent down, that's going to slow the limb's growth and introduce new growth at and before the bend. In other words, the tree is going to fight your efforts. You probably could do some weird artistic stuff with the tree, but turning it into a weeping form is going to be a steep uphill climb.

All plant species have the shape they want to grow in encoded in their genes. That is one reason why bonsai is fascinating - the tremendous amount of work, time, and care it takes to force something to grow in a way it doesn't want to.

but what willow does NOT weep??? especially in its secondary branches ...

Most of your smaller willows in wetlands.

"...what willow does NOT weep???"

That's a similar question to "...what conifer does NOT weep???" Only weeping willows exhibit that form/habit. Most willows do not.

Wouldn't it be easier to locate a weeping willow and ask the owner for a few cuttings? All you have to do is shove the cutting into the ground about half its length in a moist area near the pond.

Brandon recently educated me about "truncheon" which applies to willows among others. Apparently with willows, you can cut large branches, much larger than cuttings one would normally take from branch tips for propagation, and root them quite easily.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out the Ash truncheon!

Typical willows (a few random pics from Wikimedia Commons):
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Salix alba

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Salix interior

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Salix bebbiana

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Salix scouleriana

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Salix aurita

This post was edited by brandon7 on Thu, Feb 14, 13 at 15:00

Hmmmm...looks like GW has limited pictures to one per post even IF they are externally linked. That's certainly a major PITB!

Oh well, just imagine nice pictures of various species of Salix in the above post.

OK, I figured it out. Wikimedia Commons had some bizarre file names that were messing with the HTML. I think I fixed them.

This post was edited by brandon7 on Thu, Feb 14, 13 at 15:03

Brandon, I have recently had success with multiple pics in a topic when using imageshack as a host and I have seen others recently with multiple pics using external hosts as well.

{{gwi:329398}}

{{gwi:329399}}

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Thu, Feb 14, 13 at 12:22

This is what I'm talking about. They grow everywhere here. I don't know their name. Everyone just calls them regular, non-weeping willows. I would have up loaded a picture of the large one in my neighbor's pond, but it has no leaves & would be very hard to point it out in the picture, because of all of the brush & junk growing around it.

You can not make the tree you just posted a weeping willow. As stated above, it does not contain the necessary DNA to weep. It wants to be a normal tree and grow up and out, like most of its brethren, sorry.

It is akin to owning a Labrador retriever and trying to make it a bulldog. While they have some similarities, they are distinctly different and one will never look or behave like the other no matter how much you want it to happen. In the end, if you want a bulldog (weeping willow) you should just start with one from the get go.

Hope that helped!

John

Black Willow is most likely what you are talking about. It is found in every state west of Colorado.

But if you are instant to try, the easiest way is to attach weights to young branches. Should be just heavy enough to pull the branch down without breaking it. Then leave it there for a few years. As the branches lignify (get woodier) they will fix in the new position.

For a full sized tree though, that would be in almost insane amount of time and work.

Well, it never was an idea of mine to try this. I have very little of a mind, but I'm not that insane. I have never thought of it until he started wondering about it. He simply passed his curiosity onto me, haha.

Hey, if this forum were not anonymous, no would ask questions for fear of embarrassment and noobs like us would never learn anything ;)

This coming from a person with the user name jon doe lol

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Thu, Feb 14, 13 at 17:33

i never realized your name was jondoe ... hah on me..

i was so sick for 48 hours.. see above..

it didnt even cross my mind to google salix as a species.. and find the alternatives ... lol ..

when this crossed my mind.. in my delirium.. i rolled over.. and went back to sleep ...

i am back.. and not proud of the answer way above.. lol ..

ken

Ken

I'm glad you are feeling better. This is the time for everyone to be getting sick o_0 I started feeling icky yesterday. I've been taking medicine to nip it in the bud. I, by no means, need to get sick. I have a crawfish boil to go to that is two hours away from me, plus my husband is coming home next week. Besides, who enjoys being sick, hahaha.