9593 Sick Willow Tree

We have a very large and probably very old (how long do willows live?) willow tree in our garden, which 2 years ago produced lots of lush hanging foliage. It is now becoming increasingly leaf less, and it looks as if something is burrowing into the base and lower trunk producing holes and heaps of fine dust.
Any ideas what it might be or what we can do to revive it. At the end of last year it was very popular with hornets, might they be burrowing into it?
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Category
Gardening & Agriculture

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 16:04

Don't think it's hornets but sounds like a wood boring beetle to me. Sadly not much you can do about it except planting a new one. No tree lives forever.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 16:26

My last house [in UK] had a willow tree in the garden - it thrived if I cut all the branches back to the trunk about every 3 - 4 years. Its worth trying.

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 03:30

Thanks for the replies, I should have added that the tree is approx 40ft high, so a bit of a challenge, also some of the larger branches now seem to be dead and with another storm like last night am rather worried they will come crashing down, the tree is close to the house, perhaps we should cut it down and start again?.But that in itself due to its size will present some difficulty.
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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 16:13

I live in an Irish bog (no, really) so willows are the commonest tree across my land. They probably don't suffer from whatever has been eating yours, but on the subject of propogation, when I've given my father coppiced rods, to build pergolas, bean frames, wicker partitions and such things, they immediatley sprout into life if even touching the soil, and show every indication of growing into full trees.

On my own wet peaty land, they only sprout about 10% of the time.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 04:23

[quote=Angie and Robert;89983]........ we should cut it down and start again?........[/quote]

Try pollarding it. A useful leaflet is

[url]http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C6DAE80E-3B34-4C14-90BE-7E29E27CF6B2/0/Willows2005.pdf[/url]

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 06/05/2008 - 05:49

Its a spotted woodpecker making the holes!, finally saw it yesterday through the window (pouring with rain so we were inside) it must be very shy as we have never seen it before. What we think it is doing is eating the lava of the hornets that were buzzing around there last year.which is great for me as I really dont like them. Also after all the rain the tree is looking healthier.So good result all round.
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