Willow resurrection

kyomi

I have a small corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana) in a pot. When I bought it earlier this spring, it was on sale and was in quite bad condition - many of the branches had dead tips and the leaves weren't great. It seemed very happy in its pot for a while, grew quite a lot and had lots of shoots and healthy-looking leaves. Then, suddenly, about a month ago, it started to die - starting from the top, the leaves went brown, and eventually the whole plant had brown, dead leaves - they haven't fallen off.

I had been watering it regularly and the pot is well-draining. I wondered when it started to die whether I'd been over-watering it, as additional water didn't improve the situation at all, so I stopped watering it. It continued to die.

Then, just when I thought it was completely dead, I noticed green leaves sprouting from its lower branches, and a few of the upper branches too, so it seems to have had a miraculous resurrection.

I'm very fond of this tree and would love to avoid killing it again. What should I do with it? Leave it completely alone? Start watering it again if we get any more dry spells? Should I cut off the upper branches and leave it to grow from the bottom? The dead leaves are unsightly but I'd be happy to leave them there if that would be best for the tree.

lottpaul

Leave it alone for a little while but make sure it doesn't dry out again. Then as new branches grow and the tree seems healthy cut out/back any dead/black stems. Most willows are very resilient and will recover but the difficulty about having it in a pot is the chance of it drying out. Willows love water

kyomi

lottpaul wrote: »

Leave it alone for a little while but make sure it doesn't dry out again. Then as new branches grow and the tree seems healthy cut out/back any dead/black stems. Most willows are very resilient and will recover but the difficulty about having it in a pot is the chance of it drying out. Willows love water

Thanks lottpaul. I'm tempted to move it to a wider pot so it can catch more rain but I think I'll just leave it alone for now! The new shoots have grown rapidly in the last few days and the whole thing looks really odd now, green at the bottom and still dead at the top!

Oldtree

To avoid overwatering the pot, put a tray underneath the pot and ensure the tray is always full of water. This will ensure the pot is a field capacity regarding water and avoid any overwatering problems, in that you will always know when the plant needs water as the tray will be empty. Fast growing trees and shrubs in pots need more ready access to lots of water. You could sink the tray into the stones to make it less visible, but dont fill it with stones.

Wait another while and see what growth comes back, maby when the new shoots harden off a bit, and prune out deadwood and then prune the plant to shape it to the shape you desire.