Can I tell you some of what we do here with willows? It could be useful or not.
We began with using three rows of willow, of mixed varieties from my Dad's collection, all grown from cuttings, to form a triple windbreak against the prevailing wind. Some of those willows are now huge, some have fallen, some have died, some died when they were coppiced (thanks to Alice the blind sheep who could sniff out a new willow bud from 100yds!) and some have remained really quite small (different types). Later, between two rows, we planted a 'coppice' of ash and hazel. With hindsight of course the ash was a mistake but we intend to try coppicing it and seeing if we can get a wood crop from the regrowth before it succumbs to Ash dieback.
At the same time we started planting native mixed hedgerows around all our marches, double fenced for biosecurity and for the survival against livestock of the trees. (We are just about to plant up the final hedgerow this autumn.) At random intervals amongst the more normal hedgerow plants, we put in willow, initially thinking simply that the sheep could help themselves by browsing, which they do. Most of our cut branches for the sheep are taken as we need them in the winter when snow is lying or the ground is frozen hard, and most of those are taken from the original three windbreak rows.
We take some poles from pollarded willow in the hedges (for beans in the garden), and this winter we intend to coppice and pollard many of the willows in hedges. The reason is the same as why you might want to think twice about using willow in hedgerows - like elder, willow grows very quickly and overshadows the neighbouring trees, causing them to grow more slowly, or even killing them and pushing a widening gap in the hedge. Once coppiced, pollarded or trimmed, the willows regrow but do not make the firm barrier that, say, hawthorn makes - new willow growth is weak and bendy.
Some of the fallen willow wood is used as firewood - willow dries quickly and burns quickly too, so is fine for starting a fire but you need something slower burning to maintain a fire all evening or overnight.
My advice is to grow most of your willow for hay and to eat fresh (not you personally), and for bean poles, in a separate block, of perhaps 4 rows, as you want a 4 year rotation (although you cut at different ages for different uses). If you decide you do want some willow in your hedge, then be prepared to manage it closely to prevent it shading out the surrounding hedgeplants. Some of the willow we have grown in our hedges is decorative, such as reds and light greens for basket weaving - this has the double plus of not growing too thuggishly and providing a useful alternative product. Leave the huge fast-growing willows for a separate area.
You are right that willow can be a nuisance to manage in a hedge as if you want it to grow poles, then you have to cut around it (not as easy as you would think using a hedge cutter which is not exactly a precision instrument). If you trim it along with the hedge you will not get poles; you will get plenty of short new growth in all directions though which is great for hay.
There are so many willow varieties that it is more interesting to my mind to grow lots of types (easy for me my Dad did the collecting years ago). Also it is beneficial for early queen bumble bees to have a selection of willows flowering consecutively through early spring - willow is one of the most important pollen plants for queen bees when they emerge from hibernation.
I don't think that goat willow is good for poles as it has lots of shrubby growth, you need a fast grower for long poles and for hay.
If I can be bothered oops I mean of course, once I have a moment, I will take some hedge pics of different willows and show you how they grow. Even willows don't necessarily do just exactly what they are meant to do.
I suppose I have a mini version of your community decision-making process here, there being only two of us, but we don't always agree on the details of management. One area where that is a problem is that I wanted my bean poles and he wanted the biggest trees - the end result is some huge trees which really should have been managed ie pollarded years ago. They weren't and now we probably need a tree surgeon to bring them down!
I've just seen the bit about laying willows - you do it a bit differently to normal hedge plants. Lay a long stem down on the ground, pin it with a split branch and it will put down roots along the whole length of the stem/branch. Probably even the peg will grow! New trees will grow up from the layed branch.
We tried laying our hedges - the result is beautiful even though it was done fairly haphazardly, but the cost was a 'hedgelayer's elbow' and lots of other jobs not done. Eventually we invested in a hedge cutter to fit on our little Siromer - not a slasher-basher, those things are not pretty. My dream is to get a rotary hedge cutter but it will never happen!
Topic: Willow in a stock-fenced hedgerow? (Read 6002 times)
