Rooting weeping willow

[trinityoaks]

Anyone have any experience with this? I was able to get several weeping willow cuttings from the trees at the restaurant we went to for Mother's Day, but that was before I read up on it, and now I'm not sure the twigs I got are thick enough.

Can thin (~1/8") twigs be rooted? Will they root in water, or do I need to stick them in soil? Or should I just give up and go back to see whether the restaurant will let me cut some thicker pieces?

 

[ladysown]

stick them in the ground, keep it wet and they'll grow. I've started many a willow that way.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

Actually, the thinner ones do just fine-- stick in soil, keep moist, not soggy. I like to have about 1/2 the total length buried. Remove any leaves that will be 'underground'- as they will encourage rotting. The more leaf nodes you have in contact with the soil, the better the starting root system will be.

 

[Secuono]

I put them in a cup of water until good roots develop. Then I add soil into the cup and again, wait until the plant and roots adjust. And lastly, move them into the yard, keep watered.
Putting them directly into the soil never worked for me with any plant. I also do not change the water, just top it off.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Willow should be one of the easiest of all to grow from cuttings since they contain high levels of IBA (indolebutyric acid) which is a growth regulator or "rooting hormone". Most people run into trouble when rooting plants because they don't bury it deeply enough, wanting a taller plant to start with. The problem with this is that a great deal of moisture is lost by the leaves, so the more leaves on the twig, the more stressed it becomes. I have had issues with transplanting shock leading to death when I have rooted plants in water and then moved them to soil. If you root it directly in the soil, place a ziploc bag or plastic milk jug over it to allow condensation to form, which will keep the leaves and soil moist.