The effects of Willow

I read an interesting thread here a couple of weeks ago about the use of Willow to stimulate the growth of cuttings. Armed with precious little knowledge, I decided to conduct a 'highly scientific' (:hehe experiment to see if Willow would also help stimulate seed germination.

I took 8 Spinach seeds, I put 4 on damp kitchen towel and the other 4 on damp kitchen towel together with a couple of twigs from my weeping willow. Stuck both lots in a cool place and re-dampened the kitchen towel on a dialy basis. I chose Spinach as, in my experience, it takes at least 14 days to germinate and we had little success with the packet of seeds I used.

After 10 days here's the result.

Both sets:


With the Willow: You can see clearly that 2 are going strong and you might just be able to see that a third (the bottom one in the picture) has just started to germinate. The first one germinated after about 6 days.



Whereas the 'control' set has yet to get going



Not sure whether it proves anything or not, except perhaps, I've got too much time on my hands :D

 

A worthwhile experiment Doogle but you need conditions to be exactly the same, for instance the two receptacles should be the same colour some seeds need light to germinate and vice-versa so it could make a difference, you would also need to do the experiment a few times to draw a conclusion,I am intrigued do carry on,maybe worth trying an asprin (acetylsalicylic acid )as this is an ingredient of willow maybe this is the reason it works.

 

You've got me thinking now. I suggest another experiment. In Folklore Blackthorn is sometimes referred to as 'mother of the woods'. This is said to be because it forms an inpenetrable thicket that protects seedlings from being eating by birds and wild animals, thus nurturing them until they have a chance to become established and fend for themselves. There is a flaw in the folklore though. I have Blackthorn on my land, and many birds live in it, and there are plenty of routes for rabbits and wild deer (we see fresh deer tracks regularly), yet plant diversity among the Blackthorn thicket is higher than anywhere else on my land.

This leads me to wonder id Blackthorn's 'mother of the woods' reputation extends beyond just the protective thorns. I might try a similar experiment to yours, but featuring a piece of Blackthorn root instead of Willow. I don't expect anything interest to happen, but you never know

 

I have a piece of willow in a jar of water with some rose cuttings to see if it works. Interesting notion isn't it?

 

Doogle - that's excellent - most interesting and the sort of things that venturous gardeners should be doing. As Walnut said, the essence of science is reproducability. ie the ability to reproduce the results under identical conditions. So you can't stop now . :D We will be looking forward to more experiments.

 

Thanks for the comments and encouragement.

I've got an old plastic Ice Cube Tray which should do nicely as a container and a syringe so I can make sure they all get exactly the same amount of water. I'll try Willow, Hawthorn and Asprin and wait to see what happens. :D

 

Doogle, I will await your next scientific paper with interest! Clueless1's observations on Blackthorn and folklore, very thought provoking too!

 

I'm interested, keep up the good work.:gnthb:

 

That is very interesting,I'm going to try it with hard to start seeds.I always understood that Elderberry is the Mother because every bit of it has a medicinal use,I know the berries are anti virol ,marvelous for coughs and colds.

 

In an attempt to take something seriously-it is very difficult for me, I have set up a small experiment using an "easy" rose


Seagull rose cuttings struck today and set in filtered water with and without willow.








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I will take obs every few days to see if there is a noticeable difference. The seagull rose takes root quite easily in water so it should be very easy to see if there is in fact a difference and willow is of any use top the gardener as a rooting aid.


A makeshift experiment I know but I am interested.

 

That's interesting. I read some bizarre folklore about Elder. Apparently you are supposed to ask the tree before you take anything from it, otherwise it is bad luck, you're not supposed to burn its wood, and if a pregnant lady kisses the tree it will bring good luck to her and her unborn child. Also, apparently for a brief period of paranoia during medieval times the Elder was used to aid in witch hunts by the thugs of the early church. It was said that a witch could conceal herself in the tree, so all the thugs had to do was scar the local Elder trees and then look out for a woman with a fresh scar, limp or any other sign of injury, and then the poor lass would be tried as a witch, invariably found guilty, and then executed in the most horrible way.

 

My roses have rooted with the willow:yho: