Anyone know of a good source of willow and poplar cuttings?

I want to start some windbreaks that are also to double as shade and drought fodder in my pastures. I read that willow and poplar are both eagerly eaten by cattle, goats, etc. and easy to root from cuttings taken in the winter. We managed to find a weeping willow and got a couple cuttings from that, which are already rooting and growing for us indoors. I would like more types of willows and also poplar cuttings. I'm happy to pay for shipping, if anyone has such trees/bushes and is willing to share. I'm in Kentucky.

Is all you can find locally weeping willow?
I prefer willows that coppice well for animal fodder systems. It's as easy as finding a plant andsticking the stick in wet soil.

Mulberry works too

Yes, so far all I can find is weeping willow. I didn't know it can't coppice well, but we're planting two of them to hold the dam and for shade around our new pond.

Not sure about Kentucky... but I would assume it's the same as here in Oregon.
Look for a year around creek bank, there should be loads of them growing.

I would also suggest Native cane (Arundinaria gigantea). A useful bamboo. I also second looking along streams and creeks and taking cutting. Ask for landowner permission of course.

if ya tell the folks where you live its easier
There are hybred poplars /willows that are worth a try

heres a one-man-show hybridpoplars.com
he,s been real good to me and if you lookup feedback on davesgarden.com or gardenweb.com you will see his fans.

good price.. VERY nice fella to deal with.. hes got willows and poplars and a few others

enjoy

Jordan Lowery wrote:
I prefer willows that coppice well for animal fodder systems.

Could you be more specific in the type/name of willow that works for fodder? I was just going to use the weeping willow on my property.

im getting ready to have a bunch of tulip poplars cut down. i could fill a postage tube with cuttings and send them to you. Im in north carolina. How many would you want?

Tulip poplar is just a common name, and not really a poplar, so your cuttings of it wouldn't produce the results a person would want.

Cj Verde wrote:

Jordan Lowery wrote:
I prefer willows that coppice well for animal fodder systems.

Could you be more specific in the type/name of willow that works for fodder? I was just going to use the weeping willow on my property.

Nutrition wise, they probably will all be similar. Some can bounce back better and faster from cutting, so that can be taken into account. I know a Japanese hybrid willow was suppose to be good for that, some of the hybrids from the New Zealand program also.

This pdf has good info on growing poplars & willows for fodder. I haven't been able to find the Japanese hybrids they mention for sale in the US.

I suspect you're correct that they'll be the same nutritionally. Seems like pussy willows are to dainty to be browsed.

I got weeping willow cuttings from a local golf course and some "free" poplar cuttings in the mail from http://www.hybridpoplars.com/freeopcuttings.htm (he asks a donation to cover his expenses). They're all growing like gangbusters and I can't wait to get them outside and see how they do. It's amazing to see those little brown twigs turn into baby trees in a few weeks. I'll probably just take cuttings from these to grow more next winter.

At Longwood Gardens they made a willow fence using fresh willow cuttings. It was very ornate, they had the flexible long cuttings bent in arches and woven artfully. Then they ALL started growing. Then they got ripped out before they took over. LOL! Not sure if it was by design or not. I guess you could make a pretty neat living poplar fence, tho, to maybe keep in poultry or something.

you didn't answer the where do you live question.

if you can get to my area in north central Michigan you can have all the willow and aspen cuttings you would like. I also put in hybrid poplar cuttings last year that are a mix of willow and poplar, got the cuttinggs from my BIL..

Thank you Brenda for your kind offer. I'm in Kentucky. I think I've got enough cuttings for this year now.

Mike's Backyard Nursery -- youtube channel
lot of info
http://www.youtube.com/user/MikesBackyardNursery

This guy is connected to a network of "backyard gardeners"
and occasionally mentions this "group" or "website"
where they exchange their cuttings with each other --
they order by the box -- but sometimes in "bunches" of canes or cuttings.
He gets year old trees in a soil pod, for $1.50 a piece... in boxes thru UPS.

I haven't seen a link to this network -- but likely a great resource.

This network will not deal in patented or hybrid stocks -- as they propagate to sell --
and may already have moved towards solely heirloom stocks.

If you are interested in making money off of "sticks" -- this is the guy to know.

Renate Haeckler wrote:I'm in Kentucky.

Consider adding your location to your profile.

So how did your cuttings do? I'm still covered in snow so I don't know yet how much made it thru or exceptionally dry late summer/fall.

I'm considering planting a "browsing block" of willows/poplars.
Seems like anything with Matsudana or Schwerinii in the latin name are good for fodder and pollarding.
I may order from here.

They did great! One or two of the poplars I got, started growing but then got neglected and were choked out by tall grass. I'll see if they grow again this spring, but they may and I plan to mow around them this year. One of the weeping willows was over 6 feet tall by the end of summer and I took a bunch of cuttings to make willow water and they're all rooted now too, ready to plant out when the weather warms up.

I got poplar cuttings from Frank Gomez - this is his new website: https://www.facebook.com/HybridPoplars/posts/750023768342111 - they were free with a donation for shipping. They looked like small dead twigs but they all grew. Once they were growing, I felt stupid because half the houses in my neighborhood have the same trees, I could have asked someone for some cuttings!

To do over, I'd use longer cuttings just because it will make a taller tree that can stand above grass if it happens to suffer some neglect for part of the summer, LOL!

These are some of the cuttings, making willow water to root the asian pear cuttings in with them.

(LOL - Edited to say, you pretty much know all this already. )


Those are pretty much the two easiest and fastest trees to grow tons of quick starts from cuttings in the spring.

If I were you, I'd simply drive around until I saw one in a field and ask the owner if you can take some cuttings.
People have always been very kind to me when I let them know what a freak (I mean avid gardener) I am and that I'd love to have some starts.

Or put an ad on craigslist or freecycle for the same thing.

Take 50 willow whips, strip the leaves except at the very tip of 3 or 4 foot sections and put them in a bucket of water along with the same number of fresh and prepared poplar whips.
Lots of different kinds of poplar, so be sure you get the kind you want.

Willow actually releases a growth hormone into the the water that will help other plants to grow roots more quickly as well - God's rooting hormone.

If you are in Kentucky, this is the perfect timing to gain a harvesting location.
Bud swelling should be right around the corner, the best time for those hormones to be ready to go.

Here the most common trees are willows and poplars, they are all planted directly in the final site, and they are planted as 5 foot tall sticks so that they get above browsing height quickly. This (Feb-March) is the right season for them in northern climates: when the leaves have not started emerging and the sticks are not frozen. They should have at least a foot underground, probably better to have 1.5 feet if the stick is going to stick up 4 or 5 feet above ground. If you soak the bottoms in water from the time you cut them till you plant them and water them in, or if you plant them the same day and water them in, in my experience you have 90% success.

If you google "basketry willow cuttings" you will find places that sell osiers in bulk. Many of these have colorful stems if coppiced/young, which could be a side business  (basketry, flower arrangements, even willow houses if you are into the farm-as-tourism-for-kids thing that surrounds Chicago and probably other major cities) if your livestock only eat the leaves (though normally osiers for basketry and wattle & daub construction are collected before they leaf out, to maximize the time for them to grow back for next year's harvest and the stem color is likewise mainly a winter thing--most are green in the summer)  I found:
   http://www.willowglennursery.com/willow.php/        (Iowa)
   http://www.dunbargardens.com/willow-cuttings/     (Washington)
Hope that helps.  I am not sure which ones the livestock prefer but clearly goats must be fond of Salix caprea (European pussy willow) since "caprea" means goat, as in food for goats.