Table of contents
- Characteristics
- location and soil
- Plant
- repot
- Pour
- Fertilize
- Cut
- hibernate
- multiply
- pests
- Diseases
The corkscrew willow is unpretentious and decorative in the garden or bucket. The cultivated form can be recognized by the intertwined branches. With the right care, the willow becomes an ornamental highlight.
Characteristics
- Plant Family: Willow Family (Salicaceae)
- Genus: Willows (Salix)
- it is the 'Tortuosa' variety of the Chinese willow (Salix matsudana)
- Origin: Mediterranean area: France, Spain, Italy and Greece
- Growth habit: slender, twisted, decorative
- Growth height: 800 cm to 1,500 cm
- Growth per year: 100 cm
- Flowering time: mid-March to late April
- forms inconspicuous, white catkins with a length of up to 2.5 cm
- Leaves: 5 cm to 10 cm, long, twisted, green
location and soil
Corkscrew willows are among the undemanding ornamental trees that tolerate a variety of different locations. The most important thing is sufficient light, because the trees are real sun worshipers. They prefer a warm, full sun spot, but tolerate light partial shade if there is enough sun available throughout the day. Make sure that the tree grows up to one meter a year and should therefore have enough space above it. Due to their strong roots, there should be no building structures, paths, terraces or the like within a radius of three to six meters around the willow. For this reason, the corkscrew willow is not suitable for small plots. Once you have chosen a location, the soil should be as follows:
- no specialization
- must function as a moisture reservoir in summer
- acidic or alkaline soils are tolerated
- sufficiently moist
A notice:
Due to the large space requirement, Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' is ideally suited as a solitaire. You can make the ornamental plant an eye-catcher in the garden.
Plant
To successfully plant your corkscrew willow, pick a day between early October and late February. The ground should not be frozen and a day that is not too cold is recommended so that the tree does not freeze.
The following points will help you with the planting:
- Dig a planting hole
- Planting hole must be twice the size of the root ball
- loosen heavy soils with drainage material
- Drainage material: lava grit, gravel
- Work compost into excavated soil
- drive in the support pole
- Insert corkscrew willow
- do not plant too deep (based on the height of the plant in the pot)
- straighten the tree
- attach to a support post
- Fill the planting hole with excavated soil
- show up well
- water sufficiently
repot
If you have decided to cultivate in a bucket, you must repot the corkscrew willow at regular intervals. Since the location does not differ from the specimens planted outdoors, the trees grow extremely quickly even in the bucket. The roots in particular are a problem. As soon as they can be seen on the substrate surface, they are repotted over the summer. The following substrate is suitable for pot cultivation:
- Potted plant, garden or compost soil
- humorous
- clayey
You also need a container with a volume of at least 80 liters and gravel or lava grit as drainage material. The bucket must have a large drainage hole and be made of clay to prevent the corkscrew willow from falling over.
Then proceed as follows:
- Remove corkscrew willow from pot
- use the same or larger pot
- Remove roots from old substrate
- Thoroughly shorten the roots by several centimetres
- completely remove dried or rotten roots
- Set up a drainage layer at the bottom of the bucket
- insert plant
- fill and press lightly
- water thoroughly
Pour
be watered Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' only in dry seasons. The soil should be sufficiently moist. Potted plants are watered as needed. Finger test the soil for moisture and water accordingly. You don't have to worry about hard water. Corkscrew willows can be watered with hard or soft water.
A notice:
If you are struggling with persistent moisture in the garden, mulch the tree. The mulch layer retains moisture over the hot summer days.
Fertilize
Specimens planted outdoors do not need to be fertilized. Work a portion of compost and horn shavings into the soil in the spring to feed the pasture through the coming season. Container plants are supplied with liquid green plant fertilizer every two to four weeks from spring to autumn. The fertilizer is administered exclusively via the irrigation water.
Cut
To keep a corkscrew willow as young and healthy as possible, it needs to be thinned out and cut back annually. Outdoor specimens are cut either in spring or late autumn when there are no longer any leaves on the tree. Potted plants are thinned out in spring and autumn depending on their growth. In most cases, garden shears are sufficient for the cut. Proceed as follows:
- Disinfect and sharpen tools
- Completely remove diseased, dried up, weakening and dead shoots or branches
- Completely remove inward or cross-growing shoots
- the oldest main shoots every 2nd Remove season close to the ground
- Cut back the rest of the branches to the desired shape and height
- Prune potted plants by a third
A notice:
The corkscrew willow easily tolerates radical pruning. Shorten the plant by two thirds or put the tree completely on stick.
hibernate
Overwintering corkscrew willows works without major problems. Planted trees are absolutely hardy and do not need winter protection as long as they are not 1. standing year after planting. In this case, you should cover the site with brushwood, leaves or straw and pack up the branches. Jute bags or garden fleece are ideal for this. Specimens cultivated in buckets also need winter protection. You don't have to bring the plants indoors, but they still need suitable protection from the cold:
- Cover the substrate with brushwood or leaves
- Pack the bucket and plant
- Use bubble wrap or garden fleece for this
- Set fertilizer additions completely
- do not water over winter
multiply
The propagation of a corkscrew willow is quite simple. To do this, cut off slightly longer branches on a frost-free winter day and put them in a container with water. Roots will develop over the next few weeks, a sign of outdoor planting. The propagation of cuttings is also easy to implement. The cuttings must be 15 centimeters long and free of leaves except for five centimeters.
Plant the cuttings in a mixture of quartz sand and potting soil and place the container in a warm but not sunny location. As soon as shoots and foliage form, the plant is either repotted or planted outdoors.
pests
In order for the corkscrew willow to do well in the long term, you must be aware of the possible diseases and pests that can attack the tree. Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' is quite susceptible to pests and fungal diseases, which makes additional measures necessary. The larvae of the willow borer are particularly dangerous (Cossus cossus), whose infestation can be recognized by the following symptoms:
- Bark smells like vinegar
- Feeding passages recognizable
- adult specimens recognizable
- Tree weakens to the point of complete death
Older trees withstand an infestation by the willow borer better than young specimens. Try to contain the infestation by removing affected shoots and branches, as well as the caterpillars. Depending on the severity of the infestation, this is hardly possible, since the larvae are only noticed very late. In this case, you must remove the entire corkscrew willow from the garden and dispose of it properly. An infestation by the spotted willow leaf beetle (Chrysomela vigintipunctata), which looks like a light-colored ladybird. An infestation can be recognized by completely bare branches and the animals that stay on them in midsummer. Older corkscrew willows will recover from the beetles on their own. You can help young specimens as follows:
- remove affected shoots
- Collect bugs and release them far away
- use insect repellent in an emergency
Diseases
Diseases are also a major threat to the corkscrew willow, especially fungal infections. With the willow scab (Pollaccia saliciperda) presents one of the most common fungal diseases on the corkscrew willow, which manifests itself in the following symptoms:
- Shoots and leaves turn brown
- Shoots and leaves dry up
- individual parts of the plant turn completely black
- ulcers grow in black spots
The fungus can cause a lot of damage and is difficult to control, but in most cases adult specimens do not die. You must completely remove the affected parts of the plant (only dispose of them in the household waste) and fertilize the plant with a little more potassium and phosphorus in the coming months. The stronger the plant, the lower the chance of another outbreak in the coming year. Since the fungi overwinter in the plant, you have to expect an infestation every year. In addition to willow scab, you may also be dealing with Marssonina disease on corkscrew willow. This is triggered by Marssonina salicicola- or Drepanopeziza sphaeroides-Mushrooms. An infestation shows up as follows:
- Leaves, shoot tips, twigs and flowers wither
- up to 3 mm large leaf discolouration recognizable
- affected parts die off completely
In order to get the fungus under control in the next season, you need to collect the autumn leaves, because that's where the mushrooms overwinter. The more thoroughly you remove the foliage, the lower the chance of reinfection. Combat an acute infestation as follows:
- remove affected plant parts
- dispose of in household waste
- optionally use fungicides (in case of severe infestation)
Tip:
The healthier your corkscrew pasture, the lower the chance of infection with the fungi. Above all, do not forget to cut the trees, as dense and bare branches significantly increase the risk of infection.
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