Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Discussions about propagating from cuttings, seeds, air layers etc. Going on a dig (Yamadori) or thinking of importing? Discuss how, when and where here.
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Ryan1979b
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Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by Ryan1979b »

Hey all, once again I'm on hear ask for some advice and aftercare knowledge with my two Callistemon Air layers I have potted about 1 hour ago. Not sure what type of Bottle Brush but the tree is about 8m tall?

I first Layered them about 4 months ago & as removed them there were a lot of fine red roots throughout the Sphagnum moss. I proceeded to pot them in a 50/50 mix of bonsai soil & propagating sand. After i set up the support ties & fought of 1000 mozzies I treated each with Seasol.

I Usually do the Pup trick and place a battery next to each trunk for scale but I forgot this time, but each trunk is about 40mm at the base of the soil. I'm still undecided of what direction I want to take with each so opinions would be welcome.

So i guess what I was curious about is first of all the survival rate of layers like this as I haven't had much experience with natives. Secondly how should I position it for optimun aftercare Full shade/Partial Shade/Full sun?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Below is Air Layering 1. I am leaning towards a Shohin approach by carving the leader above the wired branch & using the wired branch as the new leader?
Callist1_View1.jpg
Callist1_View2.jpg
Callist1_View3.jpg
Callist1_View4.jpg

Air Layer 2, for this I was thinking either a Literati or Literati/Windwsept approach? should I cut back all the long branches or is it wise to leave some leaves & see what new growth is produced before cutting?
Callist2_View1.jpg
Callist2_View2.jpg
Cheers All

Ryan
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Re: Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by Bougy Fan »

Hi Ryan
Sorry can't help you with an answer but have a question (is that a fair trade ? ) :lol: Obviously you used sphagnum moss - but what was the rest of the process ? Did you use a hormone, how far in length did you scrape the cambium back etc etc. I have a few in my garden and would like to layer them. Not having much luck with the Banksia Integrifolia in my garden or swamp cypress I have in a styro box.


Tony
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Re: Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by Jamie »

i would keep in a shaded or part shaded position until growth occurs and then move it out to morning sun, when the tree is strong and going with all cylinders firing then i would go with full sun. seasol and super thrive should be fine to use then when it is firing go with the normal feed regime :D

im going on the layers i have taken which are on exotics and some native fig. i have had a pretty good success rate with all :D
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:twisted: taking the top half of trees of since 2005! :twisted:
and growing trees for the future generations! 50+ year plans :D
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Re: Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by Ryan1979b »

Hey Tony,

I cut in about 5mm through the bark and into the hardwood, I made sure that I cut away a few layers of hardwood so there was no cambium layer left. I made each ring about 30mm wide, then I treated them both with root hormone powder. I use about a tennis ball size lump of sphagnum mass (maybe even a bit bigger) to wrap around the ringbark section allowing the moss to cover about 40mm above and below the ringbark cuts. At the time I only had an an oven bag which i used to cover the moss then bound it tightly at each end with twine. I found the oven bag to work really well.

After that I left it for about 4 months, hopefully it was long enough to develop some string feeders.

That was about all until i cut them off today and planted them, Fingers crossed.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Ryan
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Re: Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by legoman_iac »

Hey Ryan,

Looking to do this myself, and came across this thread ... how did they go? Any pics to share?

- Daniel
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Re: Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by Sno »

Ryan hasn’t posted here since 2014 . Maybe if you sent him a private message he may get an email and then respond . :fc:
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Re: Callistemon Air Layers- Aftercare Advice Seeked

Post by legoman_iac »

Oh ... will do, thanks for highlighting that!
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