Rejuvenating a pollard willow tree

Before

After

From a different angle

Before

After (close up)

The electric pole saw is a good tool for this job.

I was able to be off to the side of where the limbs dropped. The larger limbs are about 6" in diameter. Willow wood has a nasty tendency to "barber-chair" when they fall.

I planted this tree beside the gully that drains my property. My thinking was that the tree gave me one last chance to capture nutrients before they left the property.

Nutrient runoff is a real issue with livestock operations. The animals poop on the frozen ground and then it is leached by rain or washed downstream. That is not good for the surface water quality nor is it good for the long-term fertility of your soil.

The logical fallacy of this concept is that the tree does not have any leaves when the ground is icy. It cannot absorb those nutrients unless you have some kind of swale or settling pond to slow the water before it leaves the property. Then the particles can settle out of the stream and your tree can harvest them as they decay in the spring and early summer.