War on Willows

[Rickstir]

We have a 3.5 acre lake infested with willows around the bank. Saturday after the deer hunt my brother and I are attacking them with chain saw and Tordon RTU. I'll have a couple of the local boys come by with a trailer and haul them up to the burn pile. Now is the time to do it, no leaves on the trees.

[Windy in Kansas]

I'm a little jealous. Here I am wishing I had a ready supply of willows to use for making willow furniture, etc. and there you are with a supply and wanting them gone.

http://www.everythingwillow.net/pb/i...978fe21369.jpg

[City Bound]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

I'm a little jealous. Here I am wishing I had a ready supply of willows to use for making willow furniture, etc. and there you are with a supply and wanting them gone.

http://www.everythingwillow.net/pb/i...978fe21369.jpg

Windy, ask him, he might send you some of the willows for transplant. When they are dormant they can travel and more easily adapt to the new soil in spring. From what I have heard, back in england willow was used for so many things, baskets, furniture, fences, shelters, and all you have to do, so I hear, is stick the willow clipping in the soil. maybe you can start a willow patch.

[Windy in Kansas]

I expect if I hunted around here I could find a source for them so as not to pay any shipping costs.

Mother Earth News did an article on using them years ago. Seems like there is about a two week window of opportunity for harvesting them to use as furniture.

[Belfrybat]

I too am jealous. Would love to build a living fence out of willow, but they just won't grow in our hot dry climate. When I was a child growing up in England my grandfather built a woven fence out of willow -- I went back about 10 years ago and it was still here -- grown huge but still impenatrable.

[beaglebiz]

Im a willow fan too

[tinknal]

If these willows have good diamonds in them they are worth about $10 per stick. Carvers pay good money for good diamond willow carving sticks. You should do a little research before you just burn them.

[Rusty'sDog]

At the very least, put an ad on Craig'sList. The worst is that nobody calls, the best is that you can sell a bunch. Somewhere in between is the guy/gal that will come to your place and remove the 'problem' for free. In some areas, there is a huge demand for willow. Done right, it is the best hedgerow imaginable.

[texican]

I can understand chopping the willows down... but poisoning your pond in the process?

I know, I know... the safety sheet on every 'poison' out there says it's safe. I double dared an executive from the power company that came out with a keg of 'whatever' one day to drink a glassful if he was so sure it was safe. Of course, he didn't and wouldn't.

Sorry for your willow infestation. The goats have taken down any 'problem' trees along my lake.

I'd check and see if the herbicide will work on dormant trees.

[willow_girl]

I'm a little jealous. Here I am wishing I had a ready supply of willows to use for making willow furniture, etc. and there you are with a supply and wanting them gone.

Ditto!

I haven't had a good source since I sold my last swampland back in 2000.

[chickenista]

I shudder to read your post.
What I wouldn't give for willows to use for copice fencing and bean poles and ..and..baskets.. and oh lordy! I could think of a million things I would love to use willow for.

[Rusty'sDog]

Like I said...Put it on Craig's List...people want it!

[silverbackMP]

Ain't nobobody in MO going to go out of the way to collect willow. It is a weed tree that infests every lake/pond in MO unless you keep in down.

[seedspreader]

...and going to haul it to a burn pile to burn immediately... Hope that works out for you.

Difficult to burn right off.

[Common Tator]

Originally Posted by tinknal

If these willows have good diamonds in them they are worth about $10 per stick. Carvers pay good money for good diamond willow carving sticks. You should do a little research before you just burn them.

I have a pond being choked by willows too. What do you mean by "diamonds"?

[Ed Norman]

I understand wanting to control willows. It would be sad to have a nice pond that you can't even see for a ring of thick willows around it. There is no shortage of willows, they aren't endangered. I know a guy who bought some "willer killer" as he calls it and just a light misting knocked them dead in no time. He left plenty alive for the moose to eat.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by Common Tator

I have a pond being choked by willows too. What do you mean by "diamonds"?

"Diamonds" are caused by a fungal infection that affects willows. They cause a roughly diamond shaped imperfection in the wood. With the bark on it just looks like a depression on the surface, but when carved out it creates a nice contrast with the surrounding wood. It is much sought after by folks who carve canes and walking sticks.

Here is a walking stick I made. The photo is not very good but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

[City Bound]

Nice stick. Maybe it is the english in me , but I just have the strongest attraction to willow and willow fencing. Up in the mountains in New York there use to be a trade in the making of furniture from willow and other trees.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by City Bound

Nice stick. Maybe it is the english in me , but I just have the strongest attraction to willow and willow fencing. Up in the mountains in New York there use to be a trade in the making of furniture from willow and other trees.

Here is a detail from another stick in progress.

[MOgal]

Sorry, SilverbackMP! I'm in MO and had been working on coppicing a bunch of willow in a roadside stream so I'd have nice long sticks. When I went to harvest them, the county had pushed them all down. I could have cried! I don't have a good wet spot on our farm where I could grow them. The only streams are wet during rainy weather and since there are woods around them, no willow.