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RE: seeds-digest Digest V97 #57

Lyn,

	Thank you for all that great information. You really know your stuff.
Of course I dont so my question is, is Wheeping Willow as easily rooted
as the native types?

>----------
>From: 	lyn@anchor.engr.sgi.com[SMTP:lyn@anchor.engr.sgi.com]
>Sent: 	Monday, April 14, 1997 1:16 PM
>To: 	seeds-list@eskimo.com
>Cc: 	dearborn@anchor.engr.sgi.com
>Subject: 	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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>
>
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