Guidelines for Cutting and Planting Willow Stakes
As a matter of information the willows in our grove over at the Vassar Farm are basically two varieties, Streamco and Bankers Dwarf. Bankers is a hybrid, and neither of these varieties are native to Dutchess County.
Cutting:
Select stock during the dormant season in the fall after the leaves have dropped off or in the spring before new leaves emerge.
Select stock that is from three quarters inch to three inches thick. Avoid suckers of current years growth as these lack a sufficient store of energy. The best wood will be two to five years old.
Cut the willow branch off at ground level if possible and closely trim off any side branches.
Cut the branch into fifteen to eighteen inch lengths. Where soil remains moist throughout the growing season a shorter length can suffice.
Stakes should be healthy, straight wood, and undamaged.
Soak cuttings in water for twenty-four hours and up to two weeks, but keep them in a cool place away from the sun. Make certain that stakes are in the water butt end down.
When cutting stakes at the Vassar willow grove the unused cut trimmings that are left over should be cleaned up and removed. Currently we are placing them in a brush pile located in the field to the right and rear of the grove.
Planting:
Use a metal bar and hammer to make pilot holes in the soil. A pair of loppers should be available to trim the top of the stake if it was damaged by hammering.
Cut the base, the butt end, of the stake at an angle.
If the soil is soft enough the you may be able to tap the stake into the ground. Whether you use a pilot hole or hammer the stake, if you mash the top of stake somewhat use a pair of loppers to cut off the damaged top.
Sink stake to seventy-five or eighty percent of its length into the ground.
Be careful not to damage the buds, strip the bark, or split the stake during planting.
Two to five bud scars should be above the ground. Cut off any excessive length.
Stakes should be planted so that the cuttings will not overwhelmed by competing herbaceous vegetation. They need light.
Stakes should be placed one to three feet apart. They need not be vertical. If placed in the side of a stream bank they may actually be more horizontal than vertical.
They should be placed in soil where it is probable that the stake will reach the level of the mid summer water table. Where this is not possible the stakes will require watering until growth is evident. As evidenced by the willow grove at the Vassar Farm, with ample watering stakes may be planted without concern for the proximity of a nearby stream.
Be sure to tamp soil firmly around the stake to assure good soil contact. If hammering the stake into the ground has damaged the top cut off the damaged section.
Unfavorable soils such as road fill or bare and denuded land will not sustain growth. While willows may initially show growth they will die after a few years.
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