On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:55:06 GMT, "MikeCT"
wrote:

Now, February, is the ideal time to pollard your willow. Saw each branch
down as near to the ground as you think fit. Often the nearer to the ground
you cut a branch, the more new young whips you will get growing from the
stump.

I may be wrong, but I understood that cutting down close to the ground
is called cooppicing, as they do with hazels in woodland. Surely
pollarding is cutting all the branches back to the trunk but leaving a
fair length of trunk as you would see willows on a river bank.
Presumably you can do whichever method you fancy with your willow, and
I'm sure the advice to cut any time in the dormant period is good.
I had a small twisted willow on my allotment for some years grown from
a piece I just stuck in the soil. I cut it back each year to a stump
about 2 feet high. I gave it to my young gardener friend about 5
years ago. He has kept it as a sort of large bonsai in a pot by
cutting it back each year.
Pollard or coppice, take your pick and good luck!


Pam in Bristol