Chinese Elm - Air Layer

[cre8ivbonsai]

Hi All, Finally I was able to get some air set layers on a Chinese Elm. I've been eyeing this job off for a while, and today was such a nice day, I finally had all the materials, and so decided to tackle it.

Since purchasing this tree, the very straight trunk and branching structure really started to bother me. So after much contemplation I set the ALs in two positions; the first will hopefully provide three shohin sized broom styled trees from the top; the second is set 3/5 up the trunk, which is 60mm, to try and get a large tree off the top as well (which may eventually end up as a raft or carving project). The base will still need ground layering to develop a better nebari, but that's all down the road.

After a "failed" attempt at air-layering last year, I'm keen for success this time so I've adapted techniques from a variety of sources, plus a few of my own, and combined. firstly I soaked the spaganhum moss in a combination of worm juice (from our worm farm), seasol, and a bit of GoGo Juice (never tried this stuff before, but thought it couldn't hurt ) for two days outside, I then added propagating pumice 3-5mm (found a very small amount to trial in a Boon mix, but thought it might enhance this process as well ). Next I ringbarked the designated sections and applied some rooting powder brushed on as a paste. Now, I found it very hard to attach the moss mixture to its position, so it is held in place with Chux from a roll, this in turn is wrapped in place with packaging film (thin width cling wrap) to hold in moisture, then a layer of alfoil, followed by more clear film to hold it all in place, and then a strip of gaffer tape for added stability.

Now to just wait and see, I might have overdone it, I guess I'll know in about 4-6 months. The main component I'm concerned about is the Chux, but paper towel didn't hold together, and nothing else on hand .

Any thoughts or comments appreciated

Cheers, Ryan

[alpineart]

Hi Mate , is that a rough bark elm , there are quite few few different species up here , rough bark , smooth bark , flakey bark just to name a few , some are weeping other upright growth . I set a series of layer on a 10 year old rough bark elm and 7 months later very few roots were present .I would be inclined to do it again but this time i would leave them on for a full year .Small material will root quicker but when the old bark appears the process usually takes longer , bit like a pine .The biggest issue i had was slaters managed to get past the duct tape and possibly ate the roots as they appeared .Next time i would put a wire tourniquet around the top and bottom just to prevent in little critter getting in .Good luck with it .

Cheers Alpineart

[cre8ivbonsai]

Hi Mate , is that a rough bark elm , there are quite few few different species up here , rough bark , smooth bark , flakey bark just to name a few , some are weeping other upright growth . I set a series of layer on a 10 year old rough bark elm and 7 months later very few roots were present .I would be inclined to do it again but this time i would leave them on for a full year .Small material will root quicker but when the old bark appears the process usually takes longer , bit like a pine .The biggest issue i had was slaters managed to get past the duct tape and possibly ate the roots as they appeared .Next time i would put a wire tourniquet around the top and bottom just to prevent in little critter getting in .Good luck with it .

Cheers Alpineart

Hey Alpineart, thanks for the heads up, guess I'll give it a year (to be sure) especially for the main trunk. The wire tourniquet sounds like a good idea too but probably only possible on the main trunk as the top AL is a three-in-one job. I'm glad we don't get too many slaters down here then, mostly cockroaches but I don't think they're as fond of nibbling on roots.

I presume there should be enough moisture trapped in to sustain any new roots for a year (I have heard of people using syringes to add water/nutrients during the process )

Thanks , Ryan

[Gerard]

Hi Ryan,
I have learned that a layer which is left too long will heal, the bark will bridge the gap and the new roots will die back.
Timing is very important (and species) My golden rule is layer on Melbourne cup day (early November) and cut off on Australia Day (late Jan).
I have found this to work very well with elms but in recent times I have begun to wrap the clear plastic layer with foil this can be unwrapped to observe progress. If you simply use clear plastic the new roots are inclined to turn away from the daylight and new roots are less obvious.
I did a demonstration at the Northern Suburbs Bonsai Club in Lalor last November. The club has asked me to return for a refresher course tomorrow night (Nov 10th)
What you have done might be overkill but it does not need to look nice, I would suggest you unwrap at least one of them in late January.

[alpineart]

Hi Creative , i water these layers with a syringe , however i have turned to pot layering as it quicker and easier to set up the mix is soft red scoria and spagnum moss .I treat the pot layer like a normal pot plant water all the time as i do for my tree's .

Cheers Alpineart

[cre8ivbonsai]

Timing is very important (and species) My golden rule is layer on Melbourne cup day (early November) and cut off on Australia Day (late Jan).

Hi Gerard, agreed timing is most important, I tried this timing last year on a T Maple but I think it needed another couple of months as there was barely any roots and the top didn't survive the winter . So with many varying factors I'll act on the side of caution and have a check of the top AL first, I've made it hard to check without dismantling though so see how we go, but I know now not cut until I can be sure the new roots can sustain the new tree

Hi Creative , i water these layers with a syringe , however i have turned to pot layering as it quicker and easier to set up the mix is soft red scoria and spagnum moss .I treat the pot layer like a normal pot plant water all the time as i do for my tree's .

Might try this method next time, especially if this one fails, I had considered it (seeing some of your ALs in other posts ) however it was less documented in it's materials and method, so I went overkill on the traditional method
for now and I'll update progress early next year

Thankyou both for your knowledge and input

Cheers, Ryan

[Matthew]

I just layered a cork bark elm about a week using a pot . its the second layer i have tried. previous was a large apple tree branch using the pot method which was succussful even after i forgot it was there for a month. goes to show what a wet year we had last year

[Ray M]

Hi cre8ivbonsai,
I was very interested in your project. I have done a lot of work on layering Elms. If you don't have very good roots in 2-3 months something is wrong with your layer.

You may be interested in the following. I have written a book on layering Elms. I have sold quite a number of these books and they have been placed in a few club libraries.

The following is the Table of Contents.

Air Layering Chinese Elms Cover.pdf

The following is some of what is in the book.

download/file.php?id=27881

Regards Ray

[cre8ivbonsai]

Hi cre8ivbonsai,
I was very interested in your project. I have done a lot of work on layering Elms. If you don't have very good roots in 2-3 months something is wrong with your layer.

You may be interested in the following. I have written a book on layering Elms. I have sold quite a number of these books and they have been placed in a few club libraries.

The following is the Table of Contents.

Air Layering Chinese Elms Cover.pdf

The following is some of what is in the book.

download/file.php?id=27881

Regards Ray

Thanks for sharing that Ray, it's great to see you've included a lot of progressive photos which really help to illustrate the process I think the area my technique that is lacking in is securing the layer to the tree, in fact your photos reminded me of a G Potter vid (that i should have watched again last weekend) in which he attached the plastic first by securing it to the trunk, creating a 360degree pocket and then stuffing it with spag moss... Should have done my revision before sitting the test but this is how we learn huh, trail and error, helped along by generous advise from people such as yourself and others on this forum

Sounds like the consensus is see how they look in about Feb Meantime I might practice ground layers of some other stock in preparation for part two of this trees journey

Thanks Ray

[Ray M]

Hi cre8ivbonsai,
Yes, I always attach the plastic first then stuff the sphagnum moss into the pocket. It is important to be generous with the moss. The advantage of putting plenty of moss in the layer is twofold. It gives the roots area to grow into and also retains more moisture.

I just checked the Elm I layered at the School of Bonsai exhibition on the 22 October 2011. There are already roots growing through the moss out to the plastic cover. I did a workshop on the Saturday on Elms and on the Sunday I did a Trident Maple. Trident maples are a very different kettle of fish to other species. I have almost finished writing my next book on layering Trident Maples. The following photo shows the roots achieved.

DSCN0261-2.JPG

DSCN0070-3.jpg

Regards Ray

[cre8ivbonsai]

I just checked the Elm I layered at the School of Bonsai exhibition on the 22 October 2011. There are already roots growing through the moss out to the plastic cover.

Wow that's quick! under a month

Trident maples are a very different kettle of fish to other species.

How do they differ? Just wondering where I might of gone wrong last time

Also with after care (after the chop) do you try to pot up with the spag moss? or remove what you can?

Cheers, Ryan

[Ray M]

I just checked the Elm I layered at the School of Bonsai exhibition on the 22 October 2011. There are already roots growing through the moss out to the plastic cover.

Wow that's quick! under a month

Trident maples are a very different kettle of fish to other species.

How do they differ? Just wondering where I might of gone wrong last time

Also with after care (after the chop) do you try to pot up with the spag moss? or remove what you can?

Cheers, Ryan

Hi Ryan,
Trident Maples are usually quite difficult to get roots. They tend to knuckle or callus instead of sending out roots. To get the roots shown in the photo I use three methods combined together when doing the layer.

As you may notice in the photo I try to get rid of quite a lot of the moss. Remember that the roots are very delicate at this stage. After cutting the layer off I place the tree in a bucket or tub and gently, gently remove some of the moss.

When cutting the layer off I usually make the saw cut at the bottom of the area that has been ring barked. Don't try to cut the knob off up to the level of the new roots at this stage. The knob can be reduced when the tree is repotted.

I put some liquid sealer on the cut area before potting.

I place a saucer or old CD in the pot and spread the roots out to encourage them to grow out and not just down.

Regards Ray

[cre8ivbonsai]

Hi Ray,

Nice to know I've got a better chance this time with this elm

Thanks for all those tips for procedure and after care

Cheers, Ryan

[cre8ivbonsai]

Ok so I kept eyeing off some roots popping out from the packing for a couple of weeks, and when I saw some of them dying off from exposure, I thought time to have a looksy ... and we have plenty of roots!

Upon further inspection I found a few parts of my process that were not optimal: using pumice turned the moss almost solid, and sped up drying out (don't use pumice), and, using the cloth to wrap the moss, this allowed the new roots to settle on the outside against the plastic, making it very hard to remove the cloth without disturbing the roots.

1 week on now, so I'll try and get some photos of the potted layers soon. they all survived the new years heat wave, so

Cheers,
Ryan

[Dario]

Well done Ryan!
I now use the pot method and I also drill numerous holes at different levels all the way around the circumfrance of the pot. With the many air holes I have had prolific rooting and find the results to be much better than using a pot with no holes at all...stacks more roots. That is why I prefer a pot compared to wrapping with a plastic bag or foil (which is the method I used for my first layers).
I now scrape the wood with a blade after removing the ring of bark to ensure that all the cambium is removed, and then I re-cut the edges again after scraping, as scraping can roughen up the cut edges a bit....which reminds me...
I would be interested to know if any members have used the "Toriki Scraper Method" when layering as outlined in the book "The Secret Techniques Of Bonsai" by Masakuni Kawasumi the second (ISBN 978-4-7700-2943-0).
In my opinionon the book is average but I am specifically interested in their claims re air-layering. In the book a tool is used that leaves a rough edge on the ring bark. It is claimed that..."the edges of the stripped area will more ragged than if a knife or blade is used, resulting in more natural looking surface roots."
The tool used is sort of like a rasp with deep grooves. The grooves are like the top of a classic castle wall...well, that is my description anyway
Anyone tried this, with any results?
Please drill plenty of air holes in your pot when layering and enjoy the added benefit!
Cheers, Dario.