Pruning Weeping Willow

[SitkumTree]

I have a client that needs a large Weeping Willow pruned. Significant limbs have failed and it is in need of a serious overhaul. I have been looking around on-line to try to find a good resource to determine when to prune the tree to avoid heavy suckering but cant seem to find one with any credibility. Can you recommend a good website to answer this and future questions like this - or more preferably give some insight as to what time of year to prune willow to avoid heavy suckering?

 

[S Mc]

Sitkum, welcome to the site.

You must be very new to the business.

You hit onto an excellent website right here to answer many beginner and advanced arboricultural questions. For basic questions, you would probably want to post them on the Arborist 101 forum.

To answer your question, summer is an excellent time to prune when you do not wish immediate regrowth. The exact timing can vary depending on the species. With willows in general, they are prolific growers and will have a flush of growth any time the growing conditions are adequate.

Remember that if you take too much off a tree at one time, this will induce suckering or rather epicormic growth. So if this tree needs a lot taken off, perhaps a staged reduction would be preferable.

Sylvia

 

[PaulPollard]

Well, a good rule would be take big cuts but fewer, you would want to do this with a willow anyway. You can't stop the waterspouts or epicormic growth but it will be a lot easier to prune when the time comes.

Suckers usually refer to the sprouts coming from the ground off the root base.