Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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Tavascarow
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Willow update.First photo S purpreus 'Dark Dicks' a basket variety, planted winter 11/12 so this is its third spring. Should get a reasonable number of rods this winter. Red purple when green,( )dries to a rusty orange brown.
Second photo S viminalis 'Bowles hybrid. Some places list it as a basket variety but IMHO all but the finest rods are to course for basketry.
I cleave it & use the cleaves as binding for straw bee skeps & around the tops of garden wigwams
Should be good for lobster pots & hurdles though, as well as living willow.
This bed was established about eight years ago & each stool produces thirty or forty useable rods.
I've about a dozen other basket varieties on the go in pots to plant this Summer.
Even if you aren't into basketry they are so easy (& cheap) to grow & have a multitude of other craft uses or even in many instances as a coppiced shrub in the garden for winter stem colours.
If you keep goats it's worth growing as a fodder crop although my goats have to make do with wild S caprea (goat willow) in their house every night.
You might even try making your own aspirin.
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Mistress Rose
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As a dedicated hazel woman, I would prefer the hazel. Not so good for general basketry, but lasts longer in outdoor situations such as hurdles. Each one to their own use basically.
Your baskets should be well coloured Tavascarow.
One note about others growing willow. If you put in a willow sculpture, hedge, or even what you think might be a dead hedge, it will grow if the conditions are right, and then you have willow for ever more. Consider carefully before planting.
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gregotyn
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I have a friend who has an ornamental willow that he has grown from an unkown cutting, and is now about 8ft high. All has been well for a few years till this year,and it now looks as though it has a disease of some sort. He tells me it has been attacked by a green caterpiller, but most of the leaves are wilting all over the sapling and many have gone a nasty yellowish green as opposed to that bright green that willow usually has; and some are a definiteyellow and possibly on the way out. I couldn't see any 'eaten' leaves and thought it a disease rather than an insect. It is sited in a damp place next to a constantly running ditch. I am not into photos or I would posts pics. Anybody got any ideas, please?
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Tavascarow
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Aphids can sometimes be a problem as well as caterpillars .
They can also be prone to fungal diseases such as scab.
Some species & varieties are more prone than others.
If you Google RHS willow pests diseases will tell you more.
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wellington womble
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Ours had tons of aphids, which attracted hoards of wasps. I prefer hazel too, although I'd include some willow if I had plenty of space.
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NorthernMonkeyGirl
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No pollution/spillage in the ditch/stream?
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Tom Jones
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willow trainingTavascarow or anybody, any sugestions on how and when to cut back an overgrown williow struckture that they started in school garden, was ment to be a a tunnel and den for the kids, but they lost the gardener and asked me if I could do something with it. They started with whips about 2 years ago but left overgrow over winter and now has 2 or 3 thickish branches growing out the top.
Are there any sites you could sugest where to look, before I take on the job?
Regards Tom Jones
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gregotyn
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Thankyou for the information Travascarow, I'll google it.
Tom Jones-I would just go in and hack till I got the tunnel effect I wanted, but I know nothing, except to say it grows like the clappers, so I would suspect it will soon repair itself and get going again!
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Tavascarow
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Re: willow trainingTavascarow or anybody, any sugestions on how and when to cut back an overgrown williow struckture that they started in school garden, was ment to be a a tunnel and den for the kids, but they lost the gardener and asked me if I could do something with it. They started with whips about 2 years ago but left overgrow over winter and now has 2 or 3 thickish branches growing out the top.
Are there any sites you could sugest where to look, before I take on the job?
Regards Tom Jones | Weave in suitable growths & cut back hard any in the wrong places, also remove any dead or diseased wood.
Doesn't really matter when you do it, but it's easier in the winter when the leaves have dropped.
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Mistress Rose
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Try stopping the prunings rooting! I always make people who ask me about growing willow aware that it will root like anything and once they have it, it is a major upheaval to remove it. Although we don't do willow, people can't see the difference between woven willow and woven hazel, which makes them very unobservant, as I am sure Tavascarow will agree.
Personally, I think this fashion for planting willow in schools and other places where the care will be erratic rather stupid. If you really want a willow structure and are willing to spend time on it for years, great. If not, grow something else and have a structure of wood.
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