Willow

[Chris Gagen]

sorry, my bad:blushing:

[Marko]

Sorry to derail the thread a little, but what sort of yield do you expect, in terms of volume per acre, after five years of growth? and is that likely to be the same every five years thereafter?

 

I've not got that far with it yet. I wanted to test the claims myself (I have to admit to sharing a degree of skepticism on the claims made) before committing any serious amount of ground to it.

 

The rows of SRC Hybrid willow only went in at the beginning of 2011 with a view to:

 

Year 1 a year to get going (woodchip mulch + rabbit protection)

Year 2 Coppice

Year 5/6 4-6 inch logs????

 

I have to say that my money is still on alder for this type of ground but I am more than happy to be proved wrong!

[Jocky]

I've not got that far with it yet. I wanted to test the claims myself (I have to admit to sharing a degree of skepticism on the claims made) before committing any serious amount of ground to it.

 

The rows of SRC Hybrid willow only went in at the beginning of 2011 with a view to:

 

Year 1 a year to get going (woodchip mulch + rabbit protection)

Year 2 Coppice

Year 5/6 4-6 inch logs????

 

I have to say that my money is still on alder for this type of ground but I am more than happy to be proved wrong!

 

How many sets did you put in? what size were they? and what ground preparation did you do?

[Marko]

No ground preparation. Just stuck 2ft whips into the ground which all struck but needed a year to get going. At the and of the year they were about 6 - 8 foot high but very thin. These will be cut off this spring and then the clock starts.

 

I planted a block of about 1/4 acre (max) done in 4 rows so I could see what (if any) impact the prevailing wind had.

 

It is all a bit trial and error but I too was intrigued by the claims on some websites and thought it was time it was put to the test.

 

My alder plants of 2 years are doing really well on the same ground but (on marginally drier land) the ash plants of seven years are a sight to see.

 

Patience is a virtue but not one of mine.

[Jocky]

No ground preparation. Just stuck 2ft whips into the ground which all struck but needed a year to get going. At the and of the year they were about 6 - 8 foot high but very thin. These will be cut off this spring and then the clock starts.

 

I planted a block of about 1/4 acre (max) done in 4 rows so I could see what (if any) impact the prevailing wind had.

 

It is all a bit trial and error but I too was intrigued by the claims on some websites and thought it was time it was put to the test.

 

My alder plants of 2 years are doing really well on the same ground but (on marginally drier land) the ash plants of seven years are a sight to see.

 

Patience is a virtue but not one of mine.

 

cheers for the reply. how many sets in total do you reckon you put in then? from what I've read that's all you can expect in the first after doing all the spraying and ploughing etc. also what type of willow is it?

 

Cheers.

[Marko]

Sorry, I have no idea how many whips are planted and don't know the variety. I acquired the cuttings from SRC growing for power station woodchip for the trail.

 

My intention was that if it shows any promise of working then I will quickly add a trial of named hybrids to see which best suits the ground.

[Jocky]

ok cheers. I may just do a small area to start off as well. it would be an expensive mistake if it didn't work!

[Feanor]

Hi there,

 

Sorry to necro this thread.

 

I am wondering how your willows are doing? I planted 1/4 acre last year and they have grown into 6-8 (even one 13ft!) wips ready to be cut down for the multiple shoots to come out.

 

I'm intrigued by your technique of planting them directly into the soil without any sheet matting. Could you elaborate more on this? These end up costing a little fortune. A good 50-80 pence per tree. When you are planting 500-600 trees, its a heckuva lot of money. Do you use herbicides?

 

Cheers!

Edited January 6, 2013 by Feanor

[Marko]

I spray off a 2ft strip prior to the intitial planting and do nothing more.

 

Alder is doing best, silver birch second best and the willow is OK but not yet producing the diameter of logs that were hoped for. The ash is obviously doomed but I am just hoping I can get a first cut before die back strikes.

 

The trial continues!

[Marko]

oh I forgot.... mulching willow did not work for me. It promoted mass rooting near the surface (presumably at the expense of the established deeper roots) and the whips became unstable and fell over.

 

Everything was cut up and replanted so nothing wasted but (for me) mulching was a disaster.