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My boyfriend gave me Willow Bonsai cuttings for Christmas. We are in… | Plant Pro Tips | Planta community

New Plant Mom🌿🌱

My boyfriend gave me Willow Bonsai cuttings for Christmas. We are in our winter season in Michigan. I was instructed to propagate in 3in of water after opening the cuttings. I've never heard of this plant, and there weren't detailed care instructions that came with this. To my surprise this plant has grown like crazy in water and doing so well. I didn't plan on moving to soil until spring, but I'm not sure if I should wait until then now. Anyone with experience or knowledge on further steps would be super helpful!! A photo of what it looks like after 2 weeks is in the comments below.

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  1. New Plant Mom🌿🌱
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  2. Waspinator

    That has enough roots that you can plant it. That looks like a weeping willow, salix babylonica. When potting them, you'll want to use a pot that's 3-4 inches bigger than the root mass since they'll grow in pretty fast. To train them as bonsai, use a shallower pot style to help the roots spread outwards instead of down (but still give them plenty of room so they gain girth.) For the top, you've got a flat coppice-style cut to work with, so you can use sacrificial branches to build a more graceful taper above it and carve it down on a slanted angle to help it look more natural. You can also do repeated coppice cuts every other year if you want a wide trunk with many small branches. You may get holes as the trunk wounds heal, which can be developed into a hollow trunk style. Willow is a relatively fast grower, so don't be afraid to prune it. This species will also naturally want to do a weeping shape, but may need wiring to help it since gravity doesn't help as much on little bonsai. This year it can skip dormancy, but next year it should overwinter outside. For that, bury its pot in the ground or pile mulch up around it to insulate its roots while letting the top go dormant. You should also try to use a pot that's rated for outdoors since winter tends to break weak ones. I'm adding some pictures to help show some of the styling things I'm talking about

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