Willow

[woodyguy]

That's interesting about mulching. General advice is to plant through woven textile to control weeds if possible. I'm about to plant some this way so will be interested to see if the same happens.

 

Have you not considered adding hybrid poplar to your trial?

[Pumpy]

I think the mulching thing depends on what you are aiming for. I've seen cricket bat willows planted as 10-12ft whips with 3ft in the ground do well with no mulch.

In 2009 I planted beds of Salix Triandra from 2ft sets (Black Maul weaving var), the mulched beds (composted dog muck & chip) went berserk, the non mulched beds struggled for the first 2yrs.

 

I also planted a hybrid Viminalis (Bowles Hybrid) aiming for logs, with no mulch, only 10" in the ground with 2ft above (thinking they'd be above any grass), out of 75 plants only two have fell over so far. I cut them back to 2ft after the first yr, and mulched them all after seeing the results of the Triandra.

 

Unless you are going for single stems from long whips, a la cricket bats, I'd mulch every time.

 

I also think claims of yield from hybrids are exaggerated.

[Compo]

We grow a lot of Willow (S. alba, S. fragilis and S.caprea) because we have riverside land and all the Willows benefit from a high moisture soil. Growth obviously varies with the season but they do reach 'log' size very quickly, particularly Crack Willow. Felled Jan-March the limbs will air dry in 18 months but you get what you pay for, quick to light and fast to burn. We use the majority of ours for kindling. Cleaves superbly and maximises return. Prefer Cherry and Ash for the fire.

[Feanor]

Thanks for your infos Marko. I planted 1/4 acre of hybrid willows last year.

 

Compo: You say the willows reach "log size" very quickly. How long and how big are we talking about?

 

Cheers

[Compo]

Cut on a five year cycle, up to 4 inch across for whips but with a rapid taper. We tend to pollard in case the sheep get in. We crop the best growth annually, leaving the others to thicken. It makes the best kindling I've ever come across and can be very productive in the right situation. Susceptible to Honey fungus and not tolerant of wind.