Willow Water

If you google Willow Water the 1st link you get is:
Making Willow Water / Salicylic Acid and SAR

Its a great explanation on how to make your own willow water.

My question is:
Winter is coming and I am not sure if I should go out now and stock pile branches to make willow water during the winter.
Will the branches loose the hormones if they sit to long?
Do the trees produce less hormones in the winter, if not then I should just get branches as I need them.

Any info would be great.

good read +rep. never heard of it. I will keep an eye on this post.

I've used willow water for years. The creek banks everywhere here in Cali have lots of willows. I've used several kinds and they all seem to work.

I've never boiled them, just soak a handful of pencil sized twigs in some fresh water over night. You can make this stuff as you need it, no need to store it. Around here you can get fresh willow branches anytime.

You can water transplants with it as well, they'll root faster.

Good stuff and it's free & natural!

I think I first picked it up from an old Farmers Almanac or Mother Earth News.

The cool thing is willow water is natural aspirin. You can use it for a lot of ailments and its free and natural.

I still wonder if the trees produce less hormones in the winter. It seems like the trees roots would not be able to grow in frozen ground. This may make it halt growth in the as it gets cold.