AusBonsai

I've acquired a tall malus floribunda, which I intend to set multiple layers on, including on the trunk. I read on this forum it is safe to do this at this time of year, however we are looking at a heat wave tomorrow and over the weekend with temperatures approaching 40. The tree has fruit on them but a number seem to have dropped off during its trip in the delivery truck, there don't seem to be any left.

If I do this now I was going to wait until next week, but in the meantime shorten the branches to one or two nodes and remove the remaining fruit if necessary. Any ideas?

Nice base:



Rather tall:


Small green fruit:

Hi Beano , mate it wouldn't hesitate do it now but leave all the branches in tact , the more foliage the more feed for the new roots . I would consider an open pot layer with a ring bark and wire tourniquet adding some hormone gel or powder would be an advantage

Cheers Alpineart

We have found that each layer needs leaves to make roots so you can't just put layers all up the stem. You need to put layers between healthy branches so that they will get fed.
The lowest layer can have no branches below. Usually dormant buds on the bare wood will start to grow and you'll have another tree from the stump even though there are no shoots there now.
Note that this tree is grafted so shoots that come from the rootstock (just below your thumb) will not be crabapple. They will be some other apple variety that was used as the rootstock.

I agree with Alpine. Leave the branches unless you need to cut something to get the layers in place.

Great, thanks for the information Alpine and Shibui. I was going to set the first layer above the first branch, but now I know you can have no branches below the bottom layer that is good. I knew you needed a branch per layer, but I didn't know the bottom one was allowed to be branchless, that will help a lot, because the main thing I'm interested in with this stock is the bottom layer.

Is there a maximum amount of layers per tree? It appears very healthy to me but given it has fruited I don't want to stress it too much? Perhaps just 2 or 3 for now, to get the bottom trunk started and the height of the tree a bit more manageable?

As long as each new layer has branches above the site you can put on as many as you like but why do you need more than 3 or 4 crabapples? I think you might also get tired of cutting, scraping and wrapping something around each of the layers to hold the moss/ potting mix. It is not as quick and easy as it looks.
[quote][/the main thing I'm interested in with this stock is the bottom layer.quote] Do you mean the lowest layer (1st branches) or the bottom of the trunk and roots? Technically the stump is not a layer because it already has roots.

The spots you have shown should be ok for layers.

I mainly want that many to make the cost of the tree more worth it.

And yes by bottom layer I mean the bottom of the trunk and roots.

Omg finally some roots on the first layer. The others I'm still tapping my foot at. Fine roots, much finer than the ones I got on my elm and bougainvillea layers.

At least you've got one new plant.
At this stage of the year I would leave these in place over winter and check again late winter/ early spring at normal repotting time. You can usually get away with removing layers at that time even if they just have a trace of roots.

When it goes dormant should I put it inside? Would the delicate roots be affected in the cold in those small layer bags?

Yay number 2 has a root!

You are in Adelaide. Does it get cold in Adelaide? Crab apples evolved in places where the soil freezes in winter. A little bit of Adelaide cool will not hurt these roots, even if they are not in soil. Also who said these roots are delicate? They might break if you play with them but they are still roots, the same as any other roots in the soil. Stop worrying

Ok cool. I know I'm worrying. My other air layer successes have been Chinese elms and bougainvillea so they were never going to fail! The crabapple has been slow... and it's important to me as I have to justify to the other half why I effectively "killed" it by ringbarking and doing this thing to it... so I'm glad it's rooted! But also I've never lived here, I'm in for a rude shock as to how cold it's going to get, haha!

Many many roots now. The bottom layer has so many the moss is almost dry again after injecting some water in only 2 days ago! The middle layer is coming along nicely as well and the top has roots too now, but it has the least.

Bottom layer:


Middle:


Top:


Given shibuis advice to not separate them until spring given the time of the year, would it be beneficial to perhaps convert the layers to bigger open pot layers, just so they have more growing space and for ease of keeping them moist? It's still hitting 30 degrees here but the nights are starting to get colder, so there's a bit of extended summer going on, but I can't predict how long that will continue.

Bump

Hi Beano . So what did you do ?
I have removed an apple layer in autumn no problems and I've also left one on till spring no problems .
Another one that was a lateral branch as thick as my wrist , on a mature garden tree took a couple of years to form good roots . It had good roots on the bottom side where it was more moist but wouldn't form roots on the topside . The only watering I could do was to try and squirt a hose at it because it was over 3 metres in the upper branches . Too lazy to grab a ladder and do it properly . There are good and bad points for taking a long time for a layer to succeed . I've found the longer you leave a layer on , you tend to get more flare around the cut and it looks more natural when you remove it .
Cheers Craig