Planting Dormant Willow and Cottonwood Poles Along a Ditch Bank With a Post Hole Digger: Deep Enough to Reach Summer Water, Mudded In, and Three Buds Showing

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A bare irrigation ditch bank in dry country is begging for willows and cottonwoods, and they will grow from nothing more than a cut stick. The trick is getting the bottom of that stick into water that is still there in August.

Soak dormant willow or cottonwood poles at least 24 hours, then dig each hole deep enough that 6 to 8 inches of pole sit in the midsummer water table. Keep at least half the pole underground, leave 3 or 4 buds showing, and pour a soil-water slurry in so no air pockets remain.

What the guidance says

The USDA plant materials technical note on planting willow and cottonwood poles, hosted by Montana State University Extension, says cuttings taken from live, dormant plants establish far better. It says to soak cuttings at least 24 hours before planting and lists one- or two-person post hole diggers among the tools that have worked.

The same note says to set 6 to 8 inches of cutting in the midsummer water table, keep 3 or 4 buds above ground, and put no less than half the total length in the ground. It warns that air pockets around the cutting kill the roots and says to mud the cuttings in with soil and water mixed to the consistency of cheap syrup.

A willow and cottonwood restoration guide hosted by Colorado State University's Warner College recommends a clean diagonal cut at the base and a flat cut at the top. For poles set in pre-augered holes, it calls for a pancake-batter slurry of soil and water and packing the soil with diagonal pressure.

Cutting and soaking the poles

1. Get permission before cutting on any land that is not yours, including a ditch company's easement.
2. Cut in late winter or very early spring, before the buds break.
3. Make a diagonal cut at the bottom and a flat cut at the top so you never plant one upside down.
4. Stand the poles in a stock tank or the ditch itself for at least a day, longer if you can. Pull them before roots start to show.

Finding the water

1. Dig a test hole with the post hole digger in late summer, when the ditch is low, and note how deep you hit wet soil.
2. Cut your poles long enough to put 6 to 8 inches below that depth and still keep 3 or 4 buds above ground.
3. On the upper bank, where water sits deep, use longer poles. Shrub willows go lower on the bank, near the waterline.

Digging and planting

1. Dig a hole only slightly wider than the pole. Wet, sandy sides collapse, so dig fast and plant right away.
2. Mix native soil and water in a bucket until it pours like cheap syrup.
3. Drop the pole in, diagonal end first, and pour the slurry around it until it reaches the surface.
4. Let the water soak out, top off with more slurry, then press the soil in at an angle with your boot or the digger handle.

A fiberglass-handled post hole digger is narrow enough to make a snug hole and long enough to reach wet soil on a ditch bank.

The mistake that costs most people is planting too shallow because the ground is wet in April. By July that water has dropped, and the restoration guide notes that many cuttings fail because they never reach the low-season groundwater.

Gear for the job

Tractor Supply sells stock tanks for soaking and loppers for cutting. A 5-gallon bucket and a cheap paint stick handle the slurry.

Once the poles leaf out, protect them from browsing the same way as any young tree; this walkthrough on caging young yard trees against bucks covers it.