Can shrubs be divided to make more?

The plants I'm thinking of doing this to are:

Salix alba 'Britzensis'

Salix alba 'Flame'

Salix irrorata

Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'

I plan to cut the Salix down to a foot from the ground every late winter and the Cornus every 2 - 3 years. I wa going to control their spread and get more plants out of them, as you would to a rootball. Can you treat them as you would treat rootballs?

This message was edited Jan 2, 2011 9:48 PM

Not that I am aware of. You can propagate the shrubs by cuttings, but I have never heard of successfully cutting them up into several plants.

I just read a few aticles. One said it's posible to divide shrubs, by plunging two shovels or spading forks back to back into the shrub, where a division is wanted. Then, pulling handles together to pry it apart.

Another article said, you shouldn't diviide shrubs. It's reasoning is because shrubs aren't herbaceous, so the shock from being divided would keep it from healing, before dying. If the shrub did survive being divided it wouldn't look very good, because it won't produce any more stems where the division took place.

The third article I found said, shrubs can take small divisions. It's instructions for doing so are, "look for a multi stemmed shrub, that has some stems coming up from below the soil surface. Scrape the soil to see if there are any roots attached to them. If so, using a sharp spade or shovel, carefully sever the stem, plus roots ( with small stems clippers may sever the section, adequiately)".

What I got or assume from reading these aticles is that, it's not a good idea to divide a whole shrub in half,thirds, quarters, nor tons of little pieces. But if tender loving care is practiced, it is possible to take a few small divisions, without harming nor disfiguring the shrub, if done in a well calculated manner.

Do you agree?

As I said, I have no experience doing this, and I've been growing and propagating 50 years - I'd say 'buy a shrub and try it' - you never know until you try.

My uniformed "guess" is that if a plant roots easily, it probably would be ok to cut apart. I take crepe myrtle sprouts down to their source underground and cut them off (I keep my knife sharp). In my view, these shoots have a head start on rooting cuttings from above ground as they often have one or two pretty small roots starting.

I agree with KayJones on the buy and try method. If you have some already growing, you could try my method by digging down and cutting off a stalk where it joins the main root.

I have had slim to none success with rooting Cornus Florida (common southern dogwood) and don't know how your Salix would do.

Thank for you comments and suggestions. I will get some this early spring, and try it out when they start to expand / widen.

I have a great deal of sucess with Crepe Myrtle Sprouts & Burnining Bush Sprouts. But when I tried splitting the root ball of Box woods I failed every time. I guess the plants were to old & the shock was to great for them to handle. I have also done this procedure with azalias with great sucess. Regardless its best done in early spring when mother nature will help out.

Isn't Salix supposed to be easy to root from cuttings? Not sure about the Cornus though. I'm not so sure about dividing the Salix because of its root structure.

I've had some bad luck rooting plants. Plus, I was going to divide from the sides, to keep them from spreading wider than I want'em to be.

Are these willows shrubs or single-trunk trees?

Willows should root very easily--some people soak willow branches in water and use that as a substitute for rooting hormone when trying to root other things (there's a chemical in willows that's similar to the synthetic rooting hormones).

Hi CindyMzone5,
I believe, all but the Salix alba 'Britzensis' are shrubs. But I read on another site, that Salix alba 'Britzensis' will grow as a shrub, if it's cut to the ground regularly. I plan to cut all the salixs, down to a foot or so from the ground, and the dog wood every 2-3 years. If you want to know why, I want to cut all of them to the ground regularly, the reason is for their vividly colored stems, on their newer growth from frost - spring. But, this has nothing to do with propagation. Should I be talking about this in this forum?

Thank you everyone, for your help so far.

I was told by someone who is offering me Black Willow cuttings, that they just put their willow cuttings in wet soil, and the cuttings usually root. Also, do roots of cuttings soaked in water, vers soil, become malted and hard to acclimate to soil?

Hmm - I know pussy willow cuttings (which I used to cut just for late winter indoor interest) can get rather slimy in a vase of water unless you rinse them and change the water.
I had read that Salix alba was more like a single-trunked tree but maybe your cultivar is very different. If it's a shrub with lots of sprouts then I'd definitely try hacking off a piece of the roots to see if they'll grow. It's worth a try. And I know what you mean about cutting shrubs back to get the bright color of new growth. Unfortunately I was always too lazy (or afraid) to do that.
Good Luck!

It's generally better if you can root things in soil rather than water--plants grow a different type of roots in water, so if you root them in water and then transplant them later into soil there's going to be an adjustment period while they get used to being in soil. But if you root them in soil right from the start then you don't need to worry about that transition.

ecrane - would you have to use any kind of rooting hormone with willows since they're the source of some of those very products? I think I remember a BBC garden program showing that you just stick fresh-cut branches in the ground.

You shouldn't need extra rooting hormone, they should root fine on their own.

Thank you ecrane3, you've cleared up that issue quite a bit.

Sorry, I was too lazy to look up Salix. Since they are willow, I agree that they are the easiest to root in my experience. I can't imagine it being any problem to cut off the outside growth of a Salix underground to trim it's growth. I don't know, but would assume that your Salix would want moist rooting medium but would be very easy to root.

My experience is that willow is hard to discourage from rooting. I've cut willow trees down and into fire wood chunks. Where some of the blocks lay on the ground they started to grow shoots and roots.

Did you say trees? That's amazing.

I have one of those "red" twigged willows that I planted next to the house as a "shrub" and only cut back once or twice. It grew into a tree and had to be chainsawed down to near the ground. Now I see that there are lots of branches sprouting up. Hope I can just cut back these branches every year instead of using a chain saw!

Lilacs usually send up sprouts near the main trunk and are easily "divided" by cutting these off under ground and moving them.

Aren't you afraid that the roots of the willow, next to your house, will damage the house's foundation?

salix nigra cuttings root easily in water.

Will willow damage the house foundation?

Willows love water. Their roots (and other species!!) can follow drainage pipes under your house, plumbing pipes that may have a leak, just the way water flows around your property. If you plant one too close to the foundation, over time it's possible that the roots may infiltrate any of these drainage paths into/under/around the foundation.

Try a simple search on the internet. and you'll find all the information (and photos) that you need.

A.

Thanks Amanda. They should come with a warning!

They are so beautiful - anyone would want to have one right close to the house. :)

caitlinsgarden,
I also wanted say, but was in too much of a rush to do so, that fast growing willows are the best type, to cut almost to the grond yearly, unless you don't mind them always being short. The three types of willows I'm thinking of, can grow up to 6 to 9 feet, in one growing season.

I planted some of the hybrid willows away from the house and they are wonderfully fast growing shade makers. Just be careful where you plant them, and realize that they are going to grow FAST!

It must be beautiful.