Growing firewood

[Mrblue5000]

Agree with willow for kindling. It’s growing wild in our NS, about 8-10 m tall. We cut it and stack it between 2 trees and leave it there for 2 years to let the wind dry it with no cover.

[coppice cutter]

All my willow is self seeded as well, I never planted any, it presumably comes from a small area (less than 1/2 acre) downwind of my own wood.

 

I thought they were going to be a nuisance, as it turns out, far from it.

[Silverhooker]

I'm planning to put some willow whips in to screen off an area in the garden, when is the best time to do it ??

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, Silverhooker said:

I'm planning to put some willow whips in to screen off an area in the garden, when is the best time to do it ??

Now is fine for soils with a bit of sand as roots will develop all the time soil temperature remains above 5C, heavy clay soils can water log roots before they get established so March can be better.

 

Unless you have some special willows you generally do not need rooted whips; dib a hole 6" into the ground, put a 12" cut branch in and gently backfill with dry sand.

 

 

[spandit]

13 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Unless you have some special willows you generally do not need rooted whips; dib a hole 6" into the ground, put a 12" cut branch in and gently backfill with dry sand.

Just jab the willow into the ground - if it's cut at an angle it'll go in and they're such voracious rooters - mine grow roots all the way along if you just leave them on damp ground for too long. Any time from now should do but I generally wait for a bit longer to make sure they're properly dormant

[john87]

1 hour ago, spandit said:

Just jab the willow into the ground - if it's cut at an angle it'll go in and they're such voracious rooters - mine grow roots all the way along if you just leave them on damp ground for too long. Any time from now should do but I generally wait for a bit longer to make sure they're properly dormant

Hi there, I am only a newbie at all this. Was just wondering why it is better to wait until they are dormant. Would it not be better to plant the things when it is growing season??

 

john..

[openspaceman]

23 minutes ago, john87 said:

Hi there, I am only a newbie at all this. Was just wondering why it is better to wait until they are dormant. Would it not be better to plant the things when it is growing season??

 

john..

When a  plant is actively growing the supply of water and nutrients is in balance, the roots supply water to the foliages and the leaves send energy to the rots, when you dig it up a lot of the smaller root hairs are damaged, the leave  cannot get enough sap and wither. Yo can transplant stuff if you keep a good firm rootball of soil  so as not to damage roots.

 

When dormant the tree has withdrawn reserves from the leaves  and is not transpiring much water, the sap has also become more concentrated and the roots are hardly working  but they will grow again as soon as the soil temperature goes up, often before the buds burst, so they are established to some extent before they need to supply the bursting buds.

 

 

[Peasgood]

In my experience cuttings struck before Christmas always do significantly better than those done after Christmas.