I'm in the process of buying a 3 acres of land, with 1 acre of forest at the back. It'll be my first property and I'd like to turn it into a viable micro farm.
Since i'm acquiring it during fall time, I'll only be able to do the fencing and garlic plants (and some construction).
I've found a source, local, for willow trees : 1$ a pop if I buy 200. I'm thinking on planting those guys in, roughly every 10ft, and have "living" stakes. I'll be able to harvest some wood from them as they grow, for RWC.
So.
Question for you folks.
Is it OK to plant willow trees in fall? In Quebec? (4b-5a)
Charles Laferriere : Two thinngs, at a dollar a tree I would want to know exactly when was the right time to plant them ! But if there is enough moisture
in the soil a Green branch of willow a little skinnier than a pencil and 2-3 ft long shoved into the ground will generally Grow ! Say 6-8 out of 10.
Do a Google search for ''Harvesting Willow Withies '' and perhaps check on local (indigenous ) Crafts people chair canners and basket makers May still
use or know someone who uses willow withies .
As the plants need to be harvested regularly so that the withies they use will have grown nice and straight, by being willing to take the 1st cut you are
preparing the willows to make better withies for them for next year ! (They all harvest about the same )
Here is an interesting site showing a traditional style of willow fencing that can last for hundreds of years ! Link below :
So. It would be wised if I just prepared the ground this fall and waited until next spring in order to plant the willows, eh... yeah of course. I guess I'm a tad excited to get things going.
Thanks for the website and the appropriate word for willow... withies!
I've planted or been involved with planting hundreds of willows from cuttings. Here in Ladakh, people usually do the planting in March before the leaf buds come out, but it is well known that it is possible to do in autumn too. We have a cold winter, usually -23C minimum and most of January nights are -20. We use cuttings that are 3 cm or more in diameter, and 1.5 to 2 m tall, with 30 - 40 cm underground. The most important thing is to keep the ground moist after planting, until they get a good root system established.
I have seen a well-publicised planting of 100,000 willows in one hour in October here (they were aiming for the Guinness Book of World Records), and two years later I was amazed to see that a huge percentage were still alive and growing.
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