Freshly cut willow - using as plant supports?

Anna33

Hi, I've cut loads of willow back today as it had grown into a beast - it's the type that is planted as whips and used as a type of hedge. I don't know any more than that as it was the previous owners who planted it.

Anyway, some of the stems I've cut back are the perfect size for plant supports - like proper willow sticks/pea sticks etc. However I need them to die off first, otherwise they will just root as soon as I stick them in the soil.

Is there any way to kill them off quickly so I can use them in the next couple of weeks? Or do I have to wait and store them somewhere for a long time before using them, to kill them off? I guess I was thinking about putting the ends in boiling water to see if that works (I don't want to use chemicals), but is that utterly pointless? Any tips?

Dovefromabove

I’ve known ‘dead’ willow to root ... it happened to
me in a previous garden when @WonkyWomble was a baby ... when I drive past that garden now there are huge trees where I stuck those three willow twigs ... 😮

Anna33

Ah, darn it, was really pleased with the sizes and sturdiness of some of the stems...! They would only be in for a season, as supports, so was hoping that killing them off now would mean no rooting!

Buttercupdays

Maybe char the ends on a firepit or barbecue?

JennyJ

Are they an appropriate shape to use upside-down? Conventional wisdom is that hardwood cuttings don't root if you put them in the wrong way up. Although willow being willow, I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Fire

I would keep them for a year in a shed

Dovefromabove

Fire said:

I would keep them for a year in a shed

Just the one? 

😉 

Anna33

@Buttercupdays Didn't think of charring/burning the ends, that could be a plan. And @JennyJ, they do still taper so wouldn't be as good upside down. And I agree, willow being willow, they'd still find a way!!

Maybe I'll just stick with the old bamboo canes to be on the safe side....! Thanks all.

nick615

With not much else with which to stick my peas, I found that, by planning ahead, I could cut willow as soon as the leaf died off in October-ish, divide it into a usable length, tie the sticks into bundles and I left them on the garden all winter.  I stuck my peas the following March/April and none sprouted.  Depending on numbers involved, it'd be worth a trial to shave the bark off to see if that stopped sprouting.  Chew a stick if you've got a headache - contains aspirin.

Posy

I tried upside down but it rooted anyway!

Obelixx

A couple of decades or more ago we had council groundsmen cutting back willows along a stream that ran thru the field next to our house and down to a flood plain that needed management.  This was winter, before the sap started rising and it was a filthy day so the chaps sheltered in our garage to eat their lunch.

As a thank you, they happily gave me two truck loads of the chippings to spread on the garden.   I left it in piles for a couple of months which included temps down between -15 and -20C.   Nevertheless, when I started spreading it as a mulch on newly planted new beds later that spring I found baby willows growing from some of the chips.