no... you cant make it be what it isnt ... thru food.. chemicals.. etc ....

now that said.. with no picture.. and frankly little info ... a WAG as one might say ...

is it grafted at height.. perhaps you have growth from the standard that is not what is grafted above???

if you are talking about the shrub.. ans since willow will root anywhere ... if you are talking about the shrub ... it is what it is.. and after it gets the fuzzies.. you could probably cut it to the ground.. and by next season have the same bush back.. and perhaps it will be curlier ... simply put.. new growth may be curlier than mature thicker limbs ...

we shall see if others have done such ...

you will be hard pressed to kill the thing thru pruning ... unless it is grafted and you cut off the good part ...

can you post a picture ...

ken

You asked "Anyone know if it's age, wet or dry, too fast or too slow growth?"

None of the above. It's genetics.

Maybe you have the same contorted form of weeping pussy willow that I bought and planted some years ago. Over time the branches straightened out, making the specimen quite like 'Kilmarnock' - the now very common weeping male cultivar often sold as 'Pendula'.

Severe pruning back one year did not cause the contortion to reappear.

I'm sorry I can't post a picture. I'll try to be more descriptive... The tree grew from part of a floral arrangement. It lived in a 30 gallon plstic pot for the first year and grew to about 5'. While potted it looked like any picture of a normal S. babylonica with circular twists every few inches on hanging branches.

I planted it in full sun and rather dry, alkaline soil. In two years it has grow to about 25' with 7" trunk and five main branches. The weeping branches no longer have much twist to them. Instead most of the terminal branches have less than half twists on straight or slightly wavey sections. I don't think any of the branches could be used for display.

I'm thinking that it has the right genetics. I wonder if it is growing properly. Or, what I could do to improve it's growth.

Salix babylonica is not contorted. Maybe you are thinking of S. matsudana 'Tortuosa' (S. babylonica 'Tortuosa'). Otherwise, the hybrids 'Golden Curls' and 'Scarcuzam' are pretty common now. I have a 'Scarcuzam'. The curliness varies, but it is never non-contorted. I cut it down to stumps most years.

using ONLY logic ....

if the plant is used in floral arrangements ...then most likely ... it is harvested often to make money ..

if it is harvested often .. it would lead me to the conclusion that hard heavy pruning is necessary to keep it in the form you wish ..

make sense???

otherwise... research and buy a named variety of the plant ... so that you can rely on it growing the way it is supposed to ...

i am not surprised the a near dead cutting of willow would root and grow ... but you started with something which you really have no idea of what it is .. other than a cool thing in a floral arrangement ... i am impressed you did it ... dont get me wrong ...

its just that you have expectations of long term growth without knowledge of what the plant really is ... beyond a willow ... and we are relying on you for that name .. eh???

ken

I've grown this willow for many years. New growth will be strait unless affected by crowding, or any thing that would affect it when in active growth, like wind or light. Since willows grow so rapidly this is easily seen. New side twigs 4 to 6 inches are very twisted. The greatest twist comes from these. Hope this helps

Maybe you are asking about Salix udensis 'Sekka'.

Hi everyone. This is the first time posting on this forum and I'm looking forward to getting some great advice on what's going on with my favorite tree, my willow. Today I notice down towards the base of the tree about 12-15 inches from the ground, there seems to be some sort of crack or hole in the tree with this wet black ooze coming out of it. I couldn't get close enough to try and smell it but the tree was really wet and squishy. I also noticed that some of the bark is peeling off and I didn't think that this was typical of this kind of tree. I do know that the past few summers the leaves have had black spots of them and then they turn yellow and fall off. The tree seems to be growing very well, but that might be because we made the HUGE mistake of planting our willow right underneath our septic tank leach lines. Oops. Not sure of we should rip the tree up now while it's still young or wait until there may or may not be a problem. Poor tree planning on our part. Anyway, I'm really concerned about our tree and as you know, the web can really confuse you on troubles that your tree may be having. So if anyone might know what's going on with our tree, I would be greatly appreciative and also if you could direct us in the right way to fix the problem if at all possible. Thank you so very much. Many blessings to you all.

IMO, if you want really striking 'corkscrewing' you need to coppice it - cut the thing to the ground every 2-3 years and maintain it as a multstemmed bush. That's how they manage those that they harvest for floral arrangements.
Around here, as a large mature tree, the corkscrew/contorted willows just sort of look like any other(non-weeping) willow, often with lots of dead wood in the canopy. Yes, upon close examination, you can ascertain some curliness, but nothing like what you'll see in those vigorous stems arising from that coppiced stump.

landm - I'd be moving that willow well away from my septic leach field. Some trees are OK in/on the leach field, but willows and maples are a no-no, in my experience.

Thank you all for your suggestions. Pruning the tree was the fix for increasing the curl! We left a four foot stump with three main branches. The rapid regrowth was definitely more twisted. It has grown to nearly twenty feet tall. With the thick trunk and fuller, more contorted branches, I'm very happy with its appearance this summer.

Now I have to live with my original concern about ruining its natural form (re. "Disfiguring Trees Near Power Lines" thread below). As it has begun to lose leaves, I can see the not so pleasing effects of pruning. We'll see, once all the leaves are gone, how much the improved contortion effects the winter scene. It's a trade off I think I can live with. Though, I'm thinking of planting a small evergreen in the foreground to block the view from the house of those ugly cuts during the winter and spring.

Yeah, I have the Dragon-Claw/Corkscrew Willow in the front of my house where it has provided a nice afternoon shade from the setting sun (hot here- Coastal Inland Central California). It has survived a woodpecker that almost girdled it, thrips that almost choked all growth, bugs in the bark over the course of the last 6 years. I use a systemic now two times a year to keep the bugs out, a pellet rifle for the woodpeckers mate who seems to want to follow in it's mates path, bug spray to keep the thrips off, but now I have mildew due to very mild spring conditions here. I tried to jerry rig a ortho spray bottle on the end of a pvc pole attached to the garden hose to spray a solution of sulfur and insecticide in order to get to all parts of the canopy from a 6 ft ladder, but it was messy and I feel I didn't get very good coverage since the tree now is about 15ft high.
So, the question is (pardon the rambling here), are there any tree spraying wands/extensions that aren't in the hundreds of dollars range that Joe Normal can use? I do have a 25gal ATV tank sprayer with a 1.6GPM FloJet which I use for controlling leaf hoppers in my 1 acre vineyard. I love this tree, but darn if it isn't a pain to take care of!