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Janet · 13-07-2012, 06:50 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
lid says...

On Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:27:59 +0100, Spider wrote:

I've never come across this problem before but, presupposing that the
crown is grafted onto a willow rootstock, I would have expected it to
root itself again all too easily. Whether this will be in time to save
damage to the crown is unknown. Since the tree is resting on its crown,
it's worth checking if the graft is still intact, since damage to that
would be more disastrous.

In your position, I would try righting the tree, checking the graft and
seeing if it's worthwhile staking it - if you can stake it in saturated
earth!

Thanks Spider. It's been dry today to I spent a bit of time this
afternoon looking at it. No problems with the graft point (bear in
mind the trunk was like a dahlia stake when planted but is now about
4" thick and topped off with a "Medusa's head" of snaking branches
from which the canopy emerges).

I explored a little around the roots and found there are essentially
two 2-3" thick ones running off opposite each other and forming a "T"
with the trunk. Apart from those, other roots are really short thin
things so it's as if the two thick roots formed a sort of pivot and
the tree just tipped over.

I've seen that happen to Kilmarnock willows very often in west Scotland,
in waterlogged soil when wind catches the tree.

Probably what happens is that the head is so dense, wind pressure rocks
it easily in wet soil, snapping more and more of the finer roots, until
there's just not enough root anchorage left to support the weight of
topgrowth.

Janet