Air Layering

[TimIAm]

I did this layer quite a while back and it was taken off at least 4 weeks ago. It went through quite a bit before I was sure it was going to survive. We had a very wet December here, so I regularly had to unwrap the layer and squeeze excess water out. When I attempted sealing the top, ants moved in and I'm convinced they were munching on the fresh roots because I'd have roots in one spot and they'd be gone a few days later. I was getting frustrated and decided to cut the layer early. A more patient approach would have been to remove everything and replace; but each time I chased the ants away, they returned.

When I potted the layer I put it in mostly shade, with about 4 hours of partial sunlight. The tree dropped every leaf and most branches died back. There were 2 single locations where there was still life - a single mulberry fruit in one spot and a single leaf in the other. It was with these that I clung onto hope.

It survived, so here it is, 'The Beast':

front.jpg

I think this tree will be a great challenge; lots of twists and turns, irregular trunk, deadwood and the challenge of keeping it in position in the pot (will need work below ground).

back2.jpg

This is the back. At first glance it looks more attractive than what I've called the front. However, the branch coming forward near the base and nothing on the reverse side removes the depth, so it ends up looking like a flat Y shaped tree from this side. Using the reverse side (what I'm calling the front), that base branch provides more depth.

sketch.jpg

This was my initial sketch for an idea of where I could take the tree. As mulberries grow fast, I think I can get close in 3 growing seasons. To bring more interest to the front side, I'm going to have a deadwood section on top and a smaller deadwood section in the middle echoing the top section.

Here is what I think it should roughly look like:

mock_mulb.jpg

I'm only just starting on the journey, so appreciate if there any suggestions on how to balance out the design (particularly on the left hand side).

[Daryl R]

Evening all;
How much stress does wiring put on a plant...
Can I 'pre- wire' and Aerial Layer at the same time?

[Matt_W_NZ]

Evening all;
How much stress does wiring put on a plant...
Can I 'pre- wire' and Aerial Layer at the same time?

I’ve seen this done a bit with junipers so that the final offcut already has desirable movement. No person experience though sorry so not sure about when would be best to do this. Maybe wire now and then do the layer in the spring?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Daryl R]

Thanks Matt;
Only a relatively young but healthy Camelia, so gotta be worth a try...Only 1 way to know

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Happy to report that my shimpaku air layers have rooted (the ones from January).

I took off two today but then I stopped because they didn't have a huge amount of roots, I might wait another few weeks for the rest to make sure they get the best chance of survival.

Just need to remember to syringe in some water from time to time.

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Separated and potted up another 2 Shimpaku air layers this morning (with a third one waiting till lunch time or after work)

I think it was shibui who mentioned somewhere that air layers can dry out quite quickly once roots have formed.

I used this sage advice to determine when to separate - when the inside of the layer looked a little dry.



A few steps closer to a composition like Goshin

[Daluke]

All layers from the season have been severed.

Successes;

- Millettia
- Euonymous Alatus
- Mume
- Magnolia
- Crab

Fails;

- Japanese maple
- Gumi

Lessons learned;

- species that are hard/impossible from cutting propagation is easier by layering
- sphagnum is the preferred medium
- drier is better. If it “dark greens” it’s too wet
- directly under branch junctions speeds up process (thanks Treeman)
- anything smaller than a pinky finger doesn’t work

Questions To Group/Next Round

- is there a best time to improve results? Lay now verse spring etc
- how much does rooting hormone help?

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Successes;

- Mume

Questions To Group/Next Round

- is there a best time to improve results? Lay now verse spring etc
- how much does rooting hormone help?

I'm going to give Mume a try next season because you had success with it. I didn't try this spring because everything I've seen on the internet says it's impossible (and I had too many failures this season I was disheartened).

I found that Shimpaku layers took very quickly when I started them in mid-Spring (separated by end of Spring with decent amount of roots). The ones I layered in mid-Summer didn't have roots until a few weeks ago.

W.r.t. rooting hormone: I found it helped - I did a layer of red gel + powder on a black pine and it had enough roots to separate in 2 months.

[TimS]

Same! The garden tree Alboplena in the front is ready for a prune and it would be a shame to waste it if it can be air layered, so i'll give it a crack this year. Crossing fingers majorly as i haven't had luck with cherry before so hopefully apricot is easier.

[Daluke]

Same! The garden tree Alboplena in the front is ready for a prune and it would be a shame to waste it if it can be air layered, so i'll give it a crack this year. Crossing fingers majorly as i haven't had luck with cherry before so hopefully apricot is easier.

I remember reading somewhere that double flowering apricot is harder to layer than single? Maybe I’m way off.

Waste nothing!

[Ryceman3]

In relation to this layer ... it took me a bit longer to get around to it than I predicted, but I did finally separate it today ...
Here's the original post ...
viewtopic.php?p=298710#p298710

... and here it is after separation today. The layer went on in November, so that is 6 months or so from go to woah, and in truth should've really got around to this sooner so a pretty quick way to improve and develop a little tree I think. The original base remains, so I guess there is even scope to create something from that too...

CE_Layer01 IG_01.jpg

CE_Layer01 IG_02.jpg

CE_Layer01 IG_03.jpg

[Albo]

What a great result Ryceman.
I’ll be trying that for sure.

[TimS]

Great result Ryce

[Albo]

This was a crepe myrtle air layering I took off in December. I chose to repot it now as i didn’t want it sitting in the sphagnum moss and pretty average soil it was in over winter.
Had some curl grubs as well. I seem to get a lot of those if anyone has recommendations for keeping them at bay?

Pretty happy with how it’s developing considering it was a branch on a tree in December.

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Question about air-layering a Shishigashira.

I bought this tree with the intention of taking the layer at the green line - to form a triple trunk clump-style bonsai.

To maximise my chances of success, should I cut off the branch at the red line (to allow more room for sphagnum & therefore roots to grow)?



Plenty of other branches on the tree to layer off - I would prefer to layer this (red line) one as well as it has reasonable thickness, but would rather do everything I can to ensure the main clump (green line) is successful.