Glad to help .. if I have.
Don't be too hard on the cats. You may have foxes in your area, and they
could aim higher! Check the height of the damage before you start pulling
whiskers out!. Good luck.
Spider.
Earnest Trawler wrote in message
...
Thanks again for the suggestions.

A four-legged cause is quite possible, I have six cats, several of ny
neighbours have cats too, shall have to have words with them. :-) That
could
well explain the suddeness of it. I will lift it and take a look at the
rootball over the weekend, give it a trim and add some fresh compost. It's
in an 80 litre planter which cost rather more than the tree, so that's
going
to be it's permanent home.

Earnest Trawler

"Spider" wrote in message
...
If this willow is the potential giant I associate with pond-side
planting,
it is possible it has outgrown its pot .. used up the soil until there
is
nothing left to retain water. Although it seems unlikely after just
three
months, there must be a considerable root mass to support that extra 2'
of
growth. If you investigate the rootball, you will learn how quickly the
root is spreading, and even if it is damaged. It may help to do some
remedial root-pruning if you want to keep it in the same container, or
pot
on to a bigger pot if you want natural growth.

I'm sure your feeding regime is appropriate since you have several other
willows in pots, so it can't be starvation.
My only other guess is that it may have been 'watered' by something with
four legs. If this is likely, then a good flushing out of the soil with
more water will continue the dilution process.
It would certainly help to keep the tree shaded until its health
improves.

Sorry can't help further without more clues, but will check my RHS guide
for
diseases of Salix when I get a minute.
SPIDER

Earnest Trawler wrote in message
...
Thanks for your reply Spider.

I have been watering it every day untill water runs out the bottom of
the
planter. It is grafted, I had not thought of that, the graft looks to
be
fine. It's grown quickly from 6 feet when bought 3 months ago to about
8
feet and the trunk has thickened quite a bit, it seemed to be doing
very
well up untill a few days ago.

Earnest Trawler

"Spider" wrote in message
...
I am not a willow expert, but this sounds like drought to me. If
you're
sure you're giving it enough water, is it possible that the water
isn't
reaching the tree efficiently. Is your tree grafted, for instance,
and
if
it is, have you checked that the graft/union is still intact?
SPIDER