Hybrid Willow
You're making an investment in your land — protect it. Each kit has a Tree Pro tube and a slow-release fertilizer block for one tree. The tube keeps deer and rabbits off and can double your growth rate; the fertilizer feeds the tree through its first season. Plant with a kit, follow the Growing Guide, and your trees are covered by our 1-Year Survival Guarantee.
Screening and bedding for wet ground where nothing else will grow
Orders placed now are for Spring 2027 shipment
We take orders in advance and ship at the proper time for spring planting in your region — mid-December in the Deep South through the end of May up north. Pick your state under "When Will My Order Ship?" below and you’ll see your exact ship dates.
Get your order in now, we sell out early every season!
Hybrid Willow
Every property has that low spot along the creek or the edge of the pond that stays too wet to plant anything useful. Hybrid willow is what you plant there. These trees love wet ground and will grow 6-10ft a year in it, which makes them the fastest screening tree we carry and the only one that turns your worst ground into some of your best cover.
Willow is a bedding tree as much as a screen. Planted tight in a block they form a thicket that deer will bed in within a couple of years, and because they grow in the wet places deer are already using for security cover you're improving the spot they've already picked out. A willow block along a creek bottom with a food plot on the high ground next to it is about as good a stand setup as you can build. They also work the same as poplar for hiding a plot from the road or screening an access trail, just plant them where the ground holds moisture.
Deer will browse willow heavily, they're one of the most preferred woody browse species, so plant them in a Survival Kit tube and leave it on until they're out of reach. Like poplar they'll come out of the tube with a bare lower stem, but willow fills back in faster than anything we sell. Pull the tube once they're above browse height and the lower growth comes right back, and every bit of browsing after that just makes them bushier and better cover. Like poplar, willow is a fast and short lived tree. Plan on 20-30 years and plant your evergreens behind them if you want a permanent screen.
Plant each tree with one of our Survival Kits (a Tree Pro tube and a slow-release fertilizer block), follow our planting instructions, and it’s covered by our 1-Year Survival Guarantee. Full details here.
Variety: Salix hybrid
Height at maturity: 50-70ft
Growth rate: 6-10ft per year once established
Growing zones: 3-9 (grows just about everywhere in the country except south Florida and the far northern edge of Minnesota, North Dakota and Maine)
Soil type: Moist to wet soils, creek bottoms, pond edges, low ground. Will grow in drier sites but slower.
pH: 5.5-8.0
Sun: Full sun
Lifespan: 20-30 years
Size when shipped: Bareroot approx. 2-3ft
Spacing: 4-6ft for a screen or bedding thicket
Add Late Drop and keep chestnuts falling into December.
By November most acorns have been mopped up and the woods go quiet. Late Drop Hybrids are selected to drop Nov–late Dec, right when deer have the fewest options. Our recommendation: a 1:1 mix.
Questions we get about Hybrid Willow
We don't ship on the day you order. We take orders in advance and ship at the proper time for spring planting in each region — from mid-December in the Deep South through the end of May up north. Pick your state below to see your exact window. Orders placed after your region has already shipped go out within 5–10 business days.
A Tree Pro grow tube and a slow-release fertilizer block for one tree. The tube protects the seedling from deer and rabbits and can double its growth rate; the fertilizer block feeds the tree through its first growing season. Every tree we ship is already inoculated with beneficial mycorrhizae, so there's nothing else to add — plant it in the kit, follow the Growing Guide, and it's covered by our 1-Year Survival Guarantee.
Plant with a Survival Kit and we guarantee the tree for a full year. If a tree dies within one year of the day it's delivered, we'll issue you store credit for what you paid for it. You don't have to worry about spending your money on something that may or may not make it.
To be covered, plant each tree with one of our Survival Kits (a Tree Pro tube and a slow-release fertilizer block), keep the tube on, and follow our planting instructions. Email us photos and your order number within a year of delivery.
For all details and conditions, see here: 1-Year Survival Guarantee
