Willow cultivation,
step by step.

It all starts with a cutting

Willow propagates easily from cuttings: a section of stem taken from a dormant plant, which grows roots and new stems once planted¹. Our nurseries produce around 30 million of them a year, enough to supply an Evaplant® plantation of 15,000 to 20,000 willows per hectare as readily as a fence or a stabilization project.

Step 1: select the variety

We choose what to plant according to the site and the objective: evapotranspiration for Evaplant® or Evacap™, biomass for RCW, stabilization of a bank, screening for a fence. Because yields vary widely with cultivar and conditions², selection is a technical step, not a preference. When biodiversity is an objective, we also favour male willows, which offer pollinators both pollen and nectar³.

Step 2: prepare the site

Soil characterization, control of competing vegetation, tillage, amendment where needed, access and regulatory constraints¹. In an Evaplant® or Evacap™ project, we add the hydraulic design and instrumentation that allow precision irrigation, with no runoff or deep percolation. Placement matters too: some species stabilize slopes but decline if their roots stay submerged⁴.

Step 3: plant

Cuttings are planted at high density, in a pattern suited to the objective, and planting can be mechanized for large areas¹. Depth, soil contact, moisture and weed control determine establishment in the first year.

Step 4: coppice

At the end of the first season, stems are cut close to the ground. This cut stimulates regrowth, multiplies stems and builds vigour: stumps and roots stay in place and send up new shoots¹. This is the mechanism that avoids replanting every cycle.

Step 5: growth and monitoring

Stems gain height, the canopy closes, water consumption rises. In an Evaplant® system, this is when the infrastructure ramps up to full performance. Monitoring covers survival, growth, plant health, soil moisture and, for irrigated systems, the volumes applied.

Step 6: harvest, then regrow without replanting

Harvest typically returns every two or three years, and the system stays productive for 25 to 30 years. After cutting, the stump regrows: roots stay in place and keep stabilizing and enlivening the soil between harvests. Where biodiversity matters, the cycle is spread across several plots so that some willows bloom every spring³.

Step 7: put the biomass to use

At Ramo, biomass is a raw material. Depending on stem age and diameter, it becomes ramial chipped wood, mulch sold in more than 50 garden centres across Quebec, Pilebyg noise barriers, fences, bundles or plants. This is the loop that links willow cultivation to our entire product range.

An agricultural crop working for the environment

Willow cultivation is a hybrid system: agricultural in its management, forestry-like in its biomass, environmental in its functions. Well designed, a plantation produces, restores, filters, stabilizes, evapotranspires, captures carbon and supports biodiversity. That is the foundation Ramo turns into solutions, from nursery to finished product.

Scientific sources

1. Labrecque, M., & Lajeunesse, S.-L. (2017). Guide de production de saules en culture intensive sur courtes rotations.
2. Lafleur, B., Lalonde, O., & Labrecque, M. (2016). First-Rotation Performance of Five Short-Rotation Willow Cultivars on Different Soil Types and Along a Large Climate Gradient.
3. Tumminello, G., Volk, T. A., & Heavey, J. P. (2017). Pollinator Benefits, Shrub Willow Fact Sheet Series. SUNY-ESF.
4. Habitat-Nature (2022). Fiches techniques : limiter l'érosion et la pollution agricole en restaurant des coulées agricoles. Fiducie écosystèmes Lanaudière. www.habitat-nature.com