What to do with Willow.

[davidwyby]

This tree isn’t very old. We don’t water it but it grows like a weed (in the desert). Must have a water source somewhere, maybe the neighbor’s sprinklers or a leaky water or sewer line. It is valuable to me as it shades my shop from the western sun. We have a couple different types of trees here that seem to outgrow their ability to hold themselves up. It dropped a good size one in the wind last night and there are more smaller broken ones hanging up in there. In the past, I trimmed/lightened it from the vehicle shade roof with my pole saw, but it has gotten too tall for that. I can’t get the lift trailer to it from the alley due to the wires. I don’t climb, and I think it might be too spindly anyway. I know topping trees is generally frowned on, but this one is a bit out of hand. Unfortunately, now it’s mostly hanging over the neighbors. On another note, these things are popping up all over town…might be our next invasive species.

I’ll get up on the roof and get some pictures from there.

Suggestions?

Thanks

 

[davidwyby]

Maybe throwline and pull over to me on my shade roof…I do have a fall harness, could get up there with my extension ladder and tie in.

 

[lxskllr]

What are the ramifications of having a water loving tree in the desert? Assuming you don't actively water it, is it beneficial? Harmful? Neutral? What I'm getting around to, is removal may be the best option, and negate the need to prune. Around here, willows sucker like crazy when broken/cut. I feel like anything you do will just encourage more maintenance going forward. If having that tree is helpful with regards to water, maybe the work's worth it?

 

[davidwyby]

@lxskllr somewhat valuable for shade…but the leaf litter in the pool gets old…

West is to the right.


From top of shade

 

[lxskllr]

Willows are nice and shady, but they're also sprawling and breaky. My concern is the close proximity to the property line. If all parties like the shade, and are willing to accept the consequences of fallen limbs, then it isn't a problem. It will require extensive maintenance for as long as it's there, and someone will have to commit to it. A native tree meant for dry conditions would be better, but I'm guessing trees there are fairly slow growing, so it would be quite awhile before the shade returned.

I'm better with the big picture philosophy than actually doing a quality prune job, so if you want to keep it, hopefully you'll get good advice, but I thought skipping ahead a step or two might be useful in deciding on what to do for step one.

 

[Mellow]

Wrong tree, wrong place. Get rid of it before it gets any bigger. Willow is notoriously weak and will give you more problems than its worth.

 

[davidwyby]

I dig. Thanks y’all. I will drop it when weather permits. I’m drenched with sweat just from a few minutes out there. Maybe a little learning fun with rigging ropes and such. I usually just use my off road recovery stuff for removals.

 

[davidwyby]

Guess I shouldn’t have waited for the weather to cool off. Or maybe the storm helped me.

 

[treetx]

Willows take a nice topping. Don't listen to the purists.

 

[davidwyby]

It’s getting whacked when I get a round tuit

 

[Bodean]

End weight reduction…. Or trees prune themselves by shedding limbs… that are over extended.

 

[Bart]

The weeping willows that I know are awkward to climb because they tend to grow 10 or 20' of branch before "budding" out a cluster which may form the next set of branches eventually. After some big storm damage they budded out at the breakage points. Handfull of years later you can't tell there used to be a breakage point. For future access make your cuts leaving an original crotch out near the end IMO. Later climbing you'll thank your earlier self. BTW not strong wood, TIPs accordingly.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Willow rots so easily and soo deeply.
A big cut/ wound is garanted to give a cave, even if the new wood ends to close the wound. Once, I was asked to remove a big weaping willow. The giant looked nice but the HO was afraid: " The trunk looks souple and rotate in the wind". Though, almost nothing to see, no defect beside a slight bulge in the middle of the massive trunk. When I cut it down, the trunk literaly dislocated on the ground. Nothing left in the midle, just a wall of sapwood from 2 to 4 inches wide. I don't remember the actual diameter at this point, but the 44" bar didn't reach. It was from a big limb cut ages ago. I know that because, in the swamp at the bottom of the cave, my saw found a big chunk of cement with wood fibers inprinted on it, (the chain wasn't happy). Someone "took care" of the first cavity resulting from the decay after the cut. The trunk grew over it, closed its bark completly. But that didn't bother much the fungi which continued to digest the wood at a great scale, sides, top and bottom. The block of cement was freed from its trape, the wood just disapearind around it, and then it followed the progression of the decay deeper and deeper inside.

 

[Bart]

Silver maples develop crotch rot too In my strategy you plan for the new sprout growth to be the final growth allowed, kind of like fronds. Moral dilemma to open the can of worms about the inherent rot of the trees to the homeowner.

 

[Burnham]

Once in a rare while I see a nice looking weeping willow that I suppose I could tolerate having on my property...but mostly I think willow is a poor tree at best, and a bad one to have to manage. They drop limbs, they rot easily, they lean and then fall at even a young age. And any bit of limb or trunk that lays on the ground will root in and send up a zillion suckers.

Obviously not one I favor .

 

[Bodean]

It’s a riparian tree…. Falls over then keeps growing…. We used to make retaining walls in creeks weaving willow baskets and back filling w soil… the weaves and willow posts would then put out shoots and roots… making a living retaining wall…. As a tree near homes and utilities etc… not so much.

 

[lxskllr]

Yea, I like willow where it belongs. Near creeks and low areas. Black willow really pops near woods edges. Dave's tree's kinda neat cause it's a peculiarity of location. Might be worth saving for the sight gag.

 

[Burnham]

If a moderately good proportion of one's acreage is a riparian zone, willow sucks there too . Our 5 acres has about 30 percent in that ecotype. We enjoy keeping a large percentage of those acres fairly lightly tended, but not completely wild. The willows are a constant maintenance headache. Every time one breaks down, it seems to want to fall on something else that we'd like to keep, like red cedar we've planted, or other better hardwoods.

 

[Cobleskill]

Somebody(should be shot if he wasn't already dead) about 100 years ago planted a row on the property line down by the creek. Pretty much all of them are broken off now and sprouting up new POS trees.

 

[Maximalist]

I am not as bloodthirsty as Cobleskill nevertheless, willow, as a tree species, does not cause me much delight)

 

[biggun]

I pruned a willow today. Probably the first weeping willow I have worked in in Norway, tons of them in the UK.

I wanted to belt it, pollard it back to the previous knuckles. They love it.

The customer wanted just the upright shoots taking out and the sides of the crown left. Much less work, so I did as requested.

Didn’t look too bad, to be fair.

 

[Altissimus]

Willow native to ...you guessed it , China ! (Trump pronunciation)

 

[davidwyby]

The storms we had pruned most of it, haha. I have some more to do.

 

[friedrich]

i like willow, not everything nature has to offer will jive well with our narrow human mind. i think its pretty cool how fast they develop hollows ( habitat) and how they will always keep on going. a maintained pollarded willow is very beautiful to me. but also lightly reducing a big willow is a interesting challenge.

 

[davidwyby]

Hm.