Cracked Crack Willow

[skyhuck]

Will it do any damage if it falls apart over the summer?

 

If there is no risk to persons or property there is no rush to pollard it.

 

But if its left it could rip right down the trunk, which IMO would ruin the tree, at least pollarding now would prevent further damage.

[Peter]

Would make some lovely habitat though. If it was my tree I would leave it as it is now, if it was a clients tree I would recommend pollarding ASAP.

[agg221]

I'm no expert (I'm not a professional arb), but I do have quite a few willows of various species. I can't see a shape you can tidy that up to so if you like the tree I'd pollard it. I'd bear in mind in doing so that it will probably rot out hollow through the major cut(s) so I would probably look at pollarding to a point low enough that it was easy to keep doing in future when there was less strength to the trunk.

 

I know conventional pollarding on willow involves cutting the whole lot off every year or two, but if you're looking for more of a shape and a larger visible tree, you could take a few branches out every year, working on about a five to seven year cycle so they never get too big overall. We've managed the poplars along my parents' boundary like this quite successfully for the last 25yrs. No idea if it's 'proper' but it works for us.

 

Alec

[David Sutton]

Thanks all - thats really helpful and has enabled us to take a longer term view of the tree. decided to pollard now down to 5/6m and seal the cuts with Arbrex. This will give it a fighting chance and also give the adjacent Rowan some natural light of which it has been starved with growth now only on the sunny side.

 

Really like the tree so want to save it even though the dropped leaves and catkins are a pain on the lawn over which it hangs