[montygti]

I need some advice and someone might have the answer. I want to plant some trees on the spare part of my allotment. The trees will be weeping willows, ash and other willows. I was going to put them in pots but someone has said i can plant them in hessian bags and put them in the ground for a couple of years until i need them for a future project. Is this idea correct. They told me it will stop the roots spreading too much. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Trillium]

Perhaps others feel differently, but I'd never even temporarily plant weeping willows, especially not on an allotment. They are fast growers and will throw out enormous root systems very quickly. There's no way on earth a hessian sack will contain them and no way you could dig up most of the root system for moving. A few of the hybrid landscape willows are not so vigorous and could be held in pots.  I have little experience with ash but believe they would be easier to manage in partly buried pots.

[simonwatson]

When I took over my allotment there were some willows that someone had been growing to use to make living sculptures. They were a nightmare to get rid of. I don't believe anything short of concrete would stop the roots from these brutes.

[aelf]

I agree, willows are troublesome. Ash can be kept in large planters for a couple of years, provided they are only a saplings in the first place. If you don't need them yet, I would leave off buying the willows till nearer the time and just plant them where they are going to stay.

I once needed some sticks to mark my rows of planted seeds and snapped off some willow twigs to do the job - every one of them rooted!

[Yorkie]

Sorry, but there is absolutely no way on earth I would plant those trees on an allotment site even for what is expected to be a short period of time.

As others have said,  their roots are highly invasive and the trees grow large much more quickly than you might think.  Over a relatively short time, the trees will become very anti-social to other allotment holders.

Ash also self-seeds annually; we have a massive problem with self-seeded ash trees all over our allotment site.  Chop one down and 3 grow back.

[ilan]

Now I wanted a line of willow trees for fuel and to help drain a wet spot so last year I planted some setts Ie 10 " lenghts of stick 12 months later and they are 6ft so dont bother trying to hold them on a plot once they are in the ground SBK is one of the few weed killers that will touch them