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Salix (exigua)

Tara Luna
USDI NPS - Glacier National Park
West Glacier, Montana 59936
(406) 888-7835
http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/azpmc
Family Scientific Name: Salicaceae
Family Common Name: Willow family
Scientific Name: Salix exigua Nutt.
Common Name: Sandbar willow
Species Code: SALEXI
Ecotype: Sandbar along the North Fork of the Flathead River, 1100m elev., Glacier National Park, Flathead Co., MT.
General Distribution: S. exigua grows from the plains and foothills to mid-montane elevations; from southern Alaska and Yukon south to northern Mexico, throughout the Great Plains, Great Basin and east of the Cascades, south through the Rocky Mountains, and east to Quebec.
Propagation Goal: plants
Propagation Method: vegetative
ProductType: Container (plug)
Stock Type: 3 L containers
Time To Grow: 1 Years
Target Specifications: Stock Type: Container cutting<br> Height: 15 cm<br> Caliper: 6 mm <br> Root System: firm plug in 3L (1 gallon) containers.
Propagule Collection: Vegetative Propagation Method: Pre-Rooting
Type of Cutting: Hardwood or softwood tip cuttings
Hardwood tip cuttings are collected before bud break. Softwood cuttings can be taken any time after flowering.
Propagule Processing: Cuttings are kept moist and under refrigeration prior to pre treatment.
Pre-Planting Treatments: Cuttings are 20 cm in length and 7 mm in caliper. Cuttings were cut into 20 to 30 cm lengths, with the base recut and 1/3 of leaves or buds removed. Cuttings were placed in a 2 minute fungicide bath to remove surface pathogens. Cuttings were treated with 1000 ppm liquid IBA, and stuck in mist bed with at least 2 nodes below the surface of the rooting medium. Cuttings are stuck in mistbed with bottom heat for 2 to 4 weeks.
Rooting %:100%
Salix exigua is easily produced by either softwood or hardwood cuttings. Salix has latent preformed root initials present in the stems.
Growing Area Preparation/
Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:		 The outdoor mistbed has automatic intermittent mist that is applied at 6 second intervals every 6 minutes. Too frequent misting will result in leaf and stem rot. Misting frequency is increased or decreased according to daily outdoor temperature and wind. Bottom heat is maintained at 21C with heating cables buried 12 cm beneath rooting medium. Rooting medium is 50% perlite and 50% sand. Mistbed is covered with shadecloth during rooting.
After cuttings are potted, they are moved to an outdoor shadehouse for 4 weeks. They are later moved to full sun exposure in the outdoor nursery and are irrigated with Rainbird automatic irrigation system in earlymorning until containers are thoroughly leached.
Average growing season of nursery is from late April after snowmelt until October 15th.
Establishment Phase: Time to Transplant: 2 to 4 weeks
Cuttings that were prerooted were lifted out of mistbed after adequate root systems were formed. Roots generate from the stem below the surface of the rooting medium.
Length of Establishment Phase: 4 weeks
Active Growth Phase: After cuttings were lifted from the mistbed, they were potted into 3L containers. Growing medium used is 70% 6:1:1 milled sphagnum peat, perlite, and vermiculite and 30% sand with Osmocote controlled release fertilizer (13N:13P2O5:13K2O; 8 to 9 month release rate at 21C) and Micromax fertilizer (12%S, 0.1%B, 0.5%Cu, 12%Fe, 2.5%Mn, 0.05%Mo, 1%Zn) at the rate of 5 grams of Osmocote and 2 grams of Micromax per conetainer.
Cuttings were irrigated after potting and placed in the shadehouse for 4 weeks.
After establishment in the shadehouse, plants were moved to full sun exposure in the outdoor nursery.
Length of Active Growth Phase: 6 weeks
Hardening Phase: Irrigation is gradually reduced in September and October. Plants were given one final irrigation prior to winterization.
Length of Hardening Phase: 4 weeks
Harvesting, Storage and Shipping: Total Time to Harvest: 1 year

Harvest Date: June
Storage Conditions: Overwinter in outdoor nursery under insulating foam and snow.
Length of Storage: 5 months
Other Comments: S. exigua is common along lower montane rivers.
Its foliage and twigs are browsed by deer, elk and moose. Catkins and buds are a food source for birds.
There are 3 recognized subspecies: exigua, melanopsis and interior.
References: Flora of the Pacific Northwest, Hitchcock and Cronquist, University of Washington Press, 7th printing, 1973.
Seeds of the WoodyPlants in North America, Young and Young, Dioscorides Press, 1992.
Glacier National Park Propagtion records, unpublished.

Citation:

Luna, Tara; Evans, Jeff. 2008. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Salix exigua Nutt. plants 3 L containers; USDI NPS - Glacier National Park West Glacier, Montana. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/04/23). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.