My Carolina Ash sat bare root in a bathtub outside for a couple years
before I brought it in and it has done fine in the absence of soil. This
Ash likes similar conditions to willows so they should also do well in
water.
Most plants can grow in water as well as they can in soil. You have to
wash off the dirt and get the roots really clean. Eventually new feeder
roots will develop that are specifically adapted to water- I'm guessing
this is something many land plants do when they grow near water. A
number of times I've had to dig up water lines that were obstructed by
tree roots that entered thru a small leak and then formed little plugs
perectly conformed to the interior of the pipe!
There is a group- Ocean Arks International that has been working with
many species of wetland plants for biological treatment of sewage. They
were using willow cuttings rooted in floating rafts of styrofoam as part
of their treatment regimen.
Jeff
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