Pyracantha air layer progression

[Kyushu Danji]

This post is partly in response to the topic posted a few weeks ago in relation to air layering pyracantha:
viewtopic.php?f=130&t=13300&p=139408&hi ... ha#p139408 *URL edited

I finally managed to find the time to take a few photos of an airlayer that I had going since winter 2011, which I severed this August. Normally, I would have just taken this as an urban yamadori, but this particular tree had its roots pretty much fused to a radiata pine trunk, making the task impossible. So instead I decided to airlayer it from as far down as I could manage.

Here is the airlayer just after I cut it from the main tree:





As you can see, there are plenty of roots present. In fact, when I first severed the airlayer, I had to be careful not to cut some roots that had begun growing out of the gladwrap I had used to secure the moss.



I potted it up into a large plastic pot. I have not planned so much for styling yet, just waiting for some good, solid growth over a few years. If need be, I might plant it in the ground to thicken the roots next year.



And this is the airlayer as of today. There are a few buds appearing at the very top of the tree, and I am hoping some will appear further down below, because I will probably remove this top later.



In my opinion the foliage after 3 months (and some occasional pinching) has thickened, and looks healthy enough. I am taking it as a good sign that the layer is now very sturdy in the pot.

So basically, my point in posting this was to document a successful pyracantha airlayer. As shown, large branches are easy to layer. If others have any to share, feel free to post also.

James

[Qitianlong]

Wow! So impressive!
Was it just sphag moss in the mix for the layer?
How long did you leave it on for?
When transplanting it, you just left the moss ball intact and put soil around it?

[Kyushu Danji]

Wow! So impressive!
Was it just sphag moss in the mix for the layer?
How long did you leave it on for?
When transplanting it, you just left the moss ball intact and put soil around it?

Qitianlong,
The mix I used for the airlayer was about half sphagnum moss, a quarter of diatomite and quarter of pine bark mulch. I set other layers at the time and they were not so successful, because the mix was a lot wetter than the mix I used for the pyracantha. I think it is important to make sure when you use this method, the mix only slightly moist.

As for how long the layer was left, I had it on from around August 2011 until August 2012, so a good 12 months. Maybe it would have been okay to sever earlier, but I wanted to make sure it was successful, so left it on this long.

In terms of transplanting, I cut as close as I could to the root mass when severing, unwrapped the plastic, and without disturbing any roots planted straight into the pot with the moss intact around the layer. Once the tree is more established again I will look at removing this.

Thanks for your interest!

James

[Hackimoto]

Love it, nice trunk movement. Looks like P. coccinea with the red berries. I'm waiting on some Pyra' layers to be advanced enough to sever too. Keep us posted.

[Kyushu Danji]

Thanks for the identification Hackimoto, I wasn't too sure what type of Pyracantha it was, although last autumn the berries certainly were a nice dark orange/red colour! All the best with your layers =)