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luqui80 · May 9, 2010, 06:47 PM

My wife and I purchased our house about 3 years ago. We have a tall weeping willow and it's not looking too good. At first it started dropping branches and now it's getting new growths very low on the trunk. I'm not sure what's wrong with it since we are new to the house and have not done much other than take out some bushes that were about 20ft away from it. We would like to keep the tree since we love weeping willows. Any suggestions?

Also, we would like to build a planter around the tree, a short one as you can tell from the picture. Will this harm the tree at all?

Thanks in advanced

spleenless9 · May 9, 2010, 07:58 PM

Weeping willows have very weak wood and will usually drop branches during heavy winds, but this shouldn't be a problem as long as they are small. Bigger branches may cause problems, anything more than a couple inches in diameter may have a hard time healing and bigger branches could damage the fence or hurt someone.

As far as the suckers (that is the horicultural term for sprouts that start low on the trunk), check to see if it is a grafted tree. If it was grafted, the weeping part was attached to a different root stock. The root stock could be something easy to grow from seed or a type of willow that is hardier than the weeping type. At the nursery, they would take a piece of weeping willow and attach it to the rootstock, and in a year or two it would heal and they will remove the top part of the original growth from the root. The graft union will look almost like a scar going totally aroung the trunk very close to the soil line. Anything growing from beneath this union is from the original rootstock and should be cut, as it most likely will not be a weeping willow.

Another possibility is if the tree was wounded, like from a weed wacker :eek:. If this happened, it is likely that the tree sent out new suckers just beneath this wound. If this is the case and the wound is not to big, you could trim the edges of the wound (just to get any jagged edges of bark off) and trim off the suckers. If the wound is bad (more than 1/4 of the way around the tree), you might want to get a professional to look at it. There could still be ways to save it.

As far as the planter around it, I wouldn't add more than a 2 to 3 inches of soil a year while you are building it, because you could smother the roots.

And remember, willows like water and their roots can work their way into pipes (water mains and sewer drains) and clog them, causing all kinds of problems.

Good luck with your new house and yard :D. You can get a lot of good advice here. I found the site looking for home improvement help, and it's great.

luqui80 · May 9, 2010, 09:42 PM

Hmm, so could a broken branch be a wound? I remember there being a half broken branch that I ended up cutting off closer to the trunk. Could that have caused the problem?

spleenless9 · May 10, 2010, 07:26 AM

If it ripped the bark or was a big branch, it could be the problem, but only if it was low on the tree. How big was the branch you are talking about, and where was it on the tree? From the picture, it looks like it may have been about even with the top of the fence. If that is where you are talking about, it shouldn't have caused this problem. I still think it may be growing from beneath the graft union, though. When you get a chance, check that out.

Good luck.

luqui80 · May 13, 2010, 09:59 PM

I checked and found no graft union. I've created a video to see if it helps in seeing what I can do with my tree. Also, the branch that came down was about 1.5" in diameter. I've tried getting professional help but haven't had any luck getting anyone here to check it out yet.

spleenless9 · May 26, 2010, 07:34 PM

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I've been busy at work and in my yard every spare minute. I like the video - I've never seen one posted here before.

1 1/2 inches isn't that big for a branch breaking off a willow, but big enough that if you could trim it close to the trunk it would be good. It would make it heal faster. From the look of it, I still think that you just have suckers even if the tree wasn't grafted. It's not unheard of. I'd just cut them close to the trunk. Use pruning shears or loppers, they make a cleaner cut than a saw, and should be fine for limbs this small. I have always preferred bypass over the anvil type, because you can get a closer cut.

Good luck!

luqui80 · May 26, 2010, 09:18 PM

Well, so far I've cut the suckers off that were low on the trunk and left ones about 6 feet up. I also got up on a latter and cut off as many dead branches as I could. So far the tree is looking good. I'm hopeing that the couple of new growths up higher will keep and the tree will begin to fill up some more.
Thanks all for your advice, I'll keep you updated if it worsens.