Trees growing on themselves

I have a quantity of fresh logs waiting to be sawn up and seasoned. They've been out in the rain and the sun for some weeks, and the other day I noticed that a couple of large pieces of trunk (I think from some kind of willow) have sprouted new shoots, with leaves. I wondered if I could cut out a small chunk of wood around each clump of new twigs, and pot them up. Can anyone tell me if this is likely to work, and if so, how much wood I should retain, and what I should pot them in (best compost, bone meal, etc.)? Into pots or straight into the ground?

Regards
Richard

 

Willow will grow back from any small bit of twig, often even if its been sitting around dry for weeks.

 

Willow is practically indestructible. In fact one type of willow (can't remember which one) has actually evolved to produce brittle twigs that break off easy, fall into the stream, get carried x miles down the river, to root on the bank somewhere else.

Really, its exactly the wrong time of year for willow cuttings, but if you cut the new growth off, and keep it in very moist compost (any really) for a few weeks, there's a very good chance it will root.

Also, just as an aside, if the logs are intended for burning, they're not ready. The fact that new growth has appeared means they are still very moist, and will smoke like crazy when you stick them on the fire.

 

Is that a Whomping Willow?

 

Never heard that name mentioned. When I try to think of it, funny animals spring to mind for some reason. I try to think of willows and streams, and all I can visualise is goats. But then I think that probably says more about me than it does about willow trees, although I have no idea what it says

 

Ah Ha.

I can see into your mind now, you've made the connection, Goat Willow, grows by streams, think its also called Pussy Willow, Catztail would know.

 

Thanks, and to everyone who has replied. Are you suggesting I can just cut the new growth off and pot it, and don't need to keep any of the log that it's growing in? Can you suggest what I medium should pot it in? Sorry, bit of a novice when it comes to arboriculture!

Yes, I'm aware that the wood is very green. They are going into a log shed, for use either this coming winter or the winter after.

Cheers
Richard

 

If it is I'll be moving the car.

Cheers
Richard

 

If the shoots are soft then cut a chip of the hardwood off. We usually take cuttings from the hardened up bits.

Just a multipurpose compost will do for Willow, its not too fussy, i've done them just in garden soil before.

After the 1987 huricane I was helping an old bloke on the allotment cut up a huge fallen Willow, he told me he'd only stuck it in as a twig in to mark the end of a row of seeds.

 

Crack willow. Salix fragilis.

 

We were close, thats on the page next to Goat Williow

 

When I was a child my dad bought two willow poles to use as washing line posts. The one he stuck in the ground at the bottom of the garden where the ground was always wet struck and became a ready made tree within a short time. Was great for hanging our swing on too!

 

Just be careful, as easily as it will root it will spread and you'll have a forest as soon as you look up especially in this wet weather.

 

Willow sap contains powerful anti-bacterial, growth hormones. Apparently water containing chopped willow stems is supposed to help get other plants to root too. And it's good for your complexion. So they say.