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Re: seeds-digest Digest V97 #57

Regarding the rooting of willows ...

The "regular/ordinary/willows" that can be seen growing along almost any river
or creek in the western states.  As a basket weaver, I know only too well 
that if I pick my willows before I am ready to process them, and set them 
in a bucket with water to keep them from drying out, I will end up with a 
bucket of rooted willow in less than a week (at this time of year). Because 
of that MOST native weavers will pick their willow in the dead of winter so
they can avoid all the hassles of "rooted willow" ruining their weaving 
materials.  I just read several posts from people feeling that a rooting 
medium should be used, and/or vermiculite or some other non-contaminated
potting medium. Perhaps the reason it doesn't get fungus while sitting 
around wet, and doesn't "damp off" is because of the salicylic acid in the 
willow (white willow has the highest percentage)... I can remember years 
back when florists recommended dropping an asperin in a vase full of flowers
to help keep the stems from sealing off (don't know if it worked though).

If any of you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, go over to Coyote Hills
regional park some day and take the tour of the "Indian Village".  Ask the
ranger to point out to you the "dance circle".  You'll notice that its a 
circle of willow trees. They got there "quite by accident"... A bunch of 
us were volunteering to "reconstruct" the village that stood on this site 
over 2 thousand years ago.  The Ranger in charge had cut large sticks of 
willow (about the size of an adult's forearm. They were "dug in" to the 
earth in a circle, leaving a space large enough for 2 people to walk into
said circle. Then the longest willow sticks he could find that were the 
size of an adult's thumb were woven back & forth around these "uprights" to
form a sort of "brush wind screen".  The Uprights (which had been cut down
a week to 10 days before hand) rooted almost immediately, and started 
throwing out small branches ... and are now 15 ft tall willow trees.  The 
dirt at this "mound" is a very sandy loam -- no doubt it was once part of 
the Bay, many thousands of years ago.  It was certainly not our intention 
that they would root. I have used very dry willow sticks as plant supports
in my garden and they sprouted (so I started using commercial bamboo instead).

When I was deliberately trying to root some very special "basket willow" found
in a creek in Palo Alto (salix hensianna), I stuck it in a pot containing 
my heavy soil, some compost, and very coarse sand .... I made a hole with 
the end of my weeding tool (about 10" deep), put in two cuttings, and pushed 
the dirt up against the 18" willow sticks.  The I watered thoroughly, to make
the soil "collapse" around the sticks, and went away.  2 years later, I 
have a 8 to 10 ft willow bush (in that same pot), that has "escaped" -- thru 
the drain hole, and it has surfaced about 2 ft away in two different 
directions. I wish I had more than this 1/4 acre lot to grow a whole row of
it along the property line that gets too much water -- it would save me driving
over to the East side of the Sierras to cut willow in the winter time.

Forget the rooting medium! You REALLY don't need it. Note: I've seen the 
"specialty willows" and do not have any positive feelings about rooting them
because they are so far removed from the "wild species" ... however, if its
done using shoots from "this season" they quite possibly could root just as 
easily 

lyn dearborn

P.S.  If there is anyone in the Bay Area with a lot of salix hensianna (also
known as grey willow, or sand bar willow), I'd LOVE to come & prune it for you!!

No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife in the shoulder blades will
seriously cramp his style.

Critic, n.: A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody
tries to please him. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

"It is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about
the problem."

Faith, n: That quality which enables us to believe what we 
"know" to be untrue.

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"We did not weave the web of life.  We |        Lyn Dearborn 
are merely a strand in it.  Whatever   |  Master Gardener/Naturalist
we do to the web, we do to ourselves"  | Native Basketry Instruction
  --"Walk gently on Mother Earth" --   | dearborn@anchor.engr.sgi.com
           Aaniin Anishinaabeg -- Mikinaak niin nindoodem
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