How hard can we cut back this willow tree?

martinjpollardx2hllQmm · December 2023

At a guesstimate, this willow is 40-50 ft tall. No idea how old it is, but according to the neighbours, it's grown fast in recent years. It's lovely, but in summer throws a lot of shade over our (small) garden. Now that we're into winter, we want to get it either pollarded or severely pruned. Before we approach a tree surgeon, does anyone have experience with this sort of tree? Would pollarding work for an older tree (and if so how much would you expect to reduce the height by) or are we looking at something less radical? Many thanks!

martinjpollardx2hllQmm · December 2023

Sorry, forgot to post the picture!

If you're wondering why the ground is mud at the moment, it's because we've had it levelled during building works... Another good reason to get the tree work done now.

Dovefromabove · December 2023

It looks to me as if it’s been

pollarded in the past and I would take it right back to the previous pollarding point. We had the same done with a mature ash tree back in 2019 and it’s regrown so much we had to have it done again this year.

It won’t be cheap as they’ll have to climb and rope etc, but it’ll be worth it.

Two years later …

Willow will be fine with that treatment. 👍

Busy-Lizzie · December 2023

They cut right back the old willow by the village pond last year and it's growing back.

fidgetbones · December 2023

A willow near us gets pollarded back heavily every two or three years and it grows back well.

Dovefromabove · December 2023

The secret is to get it done regularly so that it can be kept under control from the ground just using ladders and lopped, not climbers using ropes and saws.

martinjpollardx2hllQmm · December 2023

Thanks everyone - very helpful!

thevictorian · December 2023

If you are getting someone in but would normally be able to prune it (if it wasn't as big) then I echo the thoughts to get it down to a comfortable height where you can manage it in future years. It's far easier to cut something if you have your feet on the ground, rather than messing around with ladders. Willows are also amazing growers and they can send up shoots over 10ft long in a season, so don't be afraid to be brutal.

JennyJ · December 2023

Maybe take up basketry to use all those long shoots that you'll be pruning off in subsequent years

nick615 · December 2023

Amen to all the above. A nursery near us used to grow a patch of willow purely for the purpose of using the shoots to tie bundles of other stuff up. Your tree looks like a double stem, and I think I'd be tempted to take one side off at, say, five foot to check it'll sprout satisfactorily. if so, do the other one next winter, but this is the right time to do it.

Dovefromabove · December 2023

I think you’re confusing my photos with those of the OP’s tree. My photos (second pic onwards) are of a double trunked ash … when the first of my photos was taken each trunk had been pollarded some years previously … whereas the OP’s willow (the first photo in this thread) looks to me like a single stem which looks to me have been pollarded some years back.

I suspect anyway that getting the tree done in two stages would be considerably more expensive. I’d be very surprised indeed if that willow doesn’t re-shoot vigorously after pollarding … in fact I’d put money on it needing pollarding again in a very few years’ time. 😊

How hard can we cut back this willow tree?

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