AusBonsai

Thanks all, believe we're in for a cold weekend will wait couple more weeks, expose slowly and go from there.

Exposed the layering today, had some good roots but don't think enough to sustain the tree. Should I wait another year?

If it was a trident I'd say no worries but I have not had all that much experience with beech. I guess if it were mine I might err on the side of caution and leave it for another year.
Anyone with more experience?

Interesting..
I'll know more when I try to do a beech of mine but I suspect there may be a "too early" time to layer beech.
I attempted a copper beech once and I too found it hard to distinguish bark from cambium. I wondered if I had left it a little later in season when the tree was more lively whether the bark would have separated better?

From memory mine grew fine when separated and I had less mature roots than i see here.

Thanks for comments, decided to err on the side of caution and give it another year.

Pruned the roots slightly as they had started growing down when they hit the side of the plastic container. Cleaned out the layer, was going to re-injure the bottom of the callus but decided to leave as is, can see new roots starting to push in other areas and didn't want to impact them.

I re-potted the main tree as well, I know not ideal but the condition of the original soil was really bad, would not have been happy with this for another year. I simply replaced the soil without pruning. Looking at the roots (first time seeing them completely), happy with the decision to air-layer.

When re-potting the layer, I wrapped moss (soaked in Seasol) around the layer and normal potting mix to fill. I changed the plastic pot for mesh and made it a little wider than before. Reason for switching to the mesh was thinking the open sides would help with air pruning, as the roots hit the air they dry out and prevent them from hitting the sides and growing downwards, should also help promote better roots.

Boics, I wondered the same about whether it would be easier to layer in the growing season, don't have any others to test it out, when you do yours let me know how you go.

Bump


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How is it coming along Craig?

Very happy I decided to wait another year, the difference in a year is remarkable. Separated the tree today, the original roots had almost completely dried out / died

Couple thoughts on improved root development, compared to previous year:
- Moving to the new rental a little over a year ago, the trees get more sun
- Original basket around the airlayer was a plastic pot, when I replaced a year ago I used gutter guard and a courser mix, this would have improved air flow.

My branch graft is making progress but will need another year.

Looking fantastic, CraigM. Reading this progression for the first time, I can see this tree is in good hands!

Nice work Craig,tree is looking very smart.

Anthony

Thanks for the comments.

Reposting the final pic, seems to have rotated once loaded.

Looks amazing. Don't you love it when a plan come together.

Update a year on... repotted the tree today into a black oval Murrumbung container. The roots have thickened considerably over the past year. The tree is currently potted a little lower than required, once established will raise in container to expose roots (next season).

Thankyou. This has been an excellent progression and I am sure one we can all learn from. Your photography has also been good so we could see the whole story.
Again, many thanks.
PS - good looking tree now.

Thanks Watto, has been a rewarding challenge.