[veggirl]

I have what I am fairly sure is a Crack Willow, planted as a young sapling about 15 years ago. It's fairly big, and I had it professionally trimmed about three years ago. Last week we had some fairly high winds, ans a huge branch (about a quarter of the tree) split off. I had to cut it off as it was balancing on the fence over our neighbour's fence. The branches were very brittle - far more than I have noticed in the past. Advice please - should I look at taking the whole tree down?

[joyfull]

Crack willows (salix fragilis) do this as a normal part of their reproduction, the broken branches and twigs will readily take root. With your original tree you could try pollarding it at a height of about 5 - 6 feet which will result in a nice rounded head. Eventually though the trees can become hollow. The pollarding method is the normal method for these willows as opposed to coppicing.

[veggirl]

Thanks, the only thing is that the main trunk has split down the middle for a good foot or so. I guess I'll have to see what happens over the winter. Oh well, at least I got four big bags of woodchip and leaf mulch for the allotment!

[joyfull]

it should survive ok but may put out new shoots from the side