AusBonsai

I airlayered this juniper at the start of spring and so far the root growth has been underwhelming. It calloused on one side and sprouted roots on the other.

Do I keep this on for another season? Or do I take it off - hoping that it will be forced to put out new roots to support itself? If so what time of year is a good time to take off the air layer?




Thanks for the advice.

Harshad

I removed a couple with very few roots at the end of spring and they have just grown on fine but were pretty small trunks.
I removed another one yesterday but it has plenty of roots now.
My experience is pretty much any time of year is OK to remove layers and that it is also quite safe to take off layers with way less roots than I thought would be viable. My feeling is that removing layers in spring, summer and early autumn is good and I think you are correct about removal being a stimulus for the plant to concentrate on getting on with the job of making roots.

I qualify all that by telling everyone I have not done any of the above with larger layers, only quite small ones.

Thanks Neil.

I'm keen to remove this layer because its blocking light to the pads below and the foliage is not as vibrant as new foliage tends to be. I think I can afford to lose this completely (this is just an experiment in the grand scheme of things), and even if I lost some foliage on the airlayered bit, that might not be too bad.

What mix would you recommend putting this into? I have some pond baskets that I'm thinking might work well with a reasonably inert mix that might make sure that the new roots get a healthy supply of air. It's been very wet here...

Cheers,
Harshad

If it needs to come off to keep the tree healthy and you don't really mind if it dies why are you wasting time asking? Time to get on with it.
All my trees get the same standard bonsai mix. I guess your inert mix will be OK if plants normally grow well in it.

Be a little wary about putting a smaller tree with few roots into a large container. If the roots can't spread through the whole container quickly you may experience some root problems. If in doubt I would use a smaller pot until the roots get going then slip pot into the larger container in spring if things still look good.