Weeping Willow cuttings?

[Frank Mitchell]

I have a Weeping Willow tree that I planted a couple of years ago. It is thriving and doing well. I have several other places in my large front yard I would like to grow more Weeping Willow trees. I took cuttings, about 18 inches each, and put them in a vase of water to get them to root. I have done this twice now and all of the cuttings have just died after a couple of days. What am I doing wrong? The existing tree was from cuttings I purchased on eBay a couple of years ago. Out of all that I put in water and later, after rooting, planted them. They lasted about a year and then died all of a sudden. The one that did survive, is thriving and doing well.

Can anyone help me to get these cuttings to grow? I am sure I am doing something wrong with my black thumb. I am in northeast Texas, in a very rural area, east of Dallas.

Thank you!

 

[ChanellG]

Maybe it's something in your water? Or maybe you're taking the cuttings from old wood? Maybe the twigs are too thin? If they aren't at least as thick as a pencil they won't make it. I wouldn't go with pieces thicker than a finger either. I've saved some twigs when harvesting willow branches for rooting "hormone," and they almost all root easily in water as long as they are the right size.

 

[Frank Mitchell]

Thank you, the cuttings are fresh, not from old wood. I tried to pick ones that were not too thin. They may have been longer than they needed to be though. The cuttings are about 18 inches. Could that be part of the problem? I thought the longer the better.