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| A stool-bed of willows at Dunbar Gardens showing the phenomenal annual growth willow stools/coppice are capable in a good spot. |
John Galt commented:
Do you cut off some branches and make a tea??? Do you actually strip the bark off???
I am an "options" rather than an ultimatum kind of guy.
Let me offer two different paths.
One: Plant two rows of willow "stools" and alternate years that you harvest so you are harvesting two-year-old stems. If you chose a S. purpurea clone that is used for wicker then you should have no problem collecting withes where the two-year-old portion is straight, unbranched and 4'-to-6' long. If collected when the crabapples are blooming and after a warm, heavy rain then the bark will almost fall off. Honest.
The bark is dried, ground up and then "assayed" to determine the amount of salicin. Salicin is very soluble in warm water so an infusion (i.e. tea) is a good way to prepare it.
Willow wood is the very best for pyrotechnic charcoal. The two-year-old stems, sans-bark, is excellent for this purpose. A formulation with saltpeter and flour-of-sulfur is very popular.
Two: Plant however many stools as you wish. Harvest every year. The tops of the withes are trimmed based on diameter. The very thin material that is trimmed has a high percentage of bark. Dry, grind, assay. Be prepared to have the "tops" to assay significantly lower than the two-year-old bark.
The advantage of "Two" is that there are probably more uses for withes for wicker-work than for charcoal wood. It is also easier to manage because you do not have two classes of stools. Every stool gets a haircut every autumn.
In either case the stools need to be planted in soil that is rich in nutrients and not subject to drying out. If you only wanted a few dozen stools then planting the stools along the flow-lines that drain your chicken run or your dog run might be a good option as long as the stools are in full sun.
Interesting. I didn't know about the 2 year 'rule'!
ReplyDeleteThe reason to opt for the two-year bark is that the salicin content is higher at two years and the stems are bigger and easier to strip of bark from a manual dexterity standpoint.
DeleteBut if you are going to produce withes for wicker work anyway....then you might as well extract what you can out of the waste.
An very interesting follow up to your previous article upon willow Joe
ReplyDeleteI advise something similar for Dogwoods over here. There are several varieties that are grown mainly for their bare stem colouring over winter. They come in a variety of yellows, reds, and pinks and when a large, mixed colour group is planted together the resulting display can be stunning...akin to a fire when the winter sun bathes them.
The more vibrant colour is found upon younger stems so I advise around a fifth of the area planted be cut to within 8 inches of the ground and another fifth the following season. This seems to give the most vibrant display over a five yearly cycle, both in colour on in height interest.
regards john