AusBonsai

Hi

After reading leong from bonsai south book on figs
a have attempted to Bend Ariel roots down and attach them to the trunk attempting to fuse them to the trunk after they reach the soil and thicken .
The problem is the roots are always very fragile and snap as soon as I try bending them 90 degrees down.
I was wondering if anyone had any tips on this Process .

HI.

I don't know

But i would like to know

Have a Fig that has them, my first and only one, at this time.

Regards.
Irish.

The method I have used for years is to get the aerial root to grow to the soil, let it thicken to the point of being flexible and then either leave it as a banyan style aerial root or tape it to the trunk at re-potting time. The fast way to do this is to slip a drinking straw (split lenght ways) over the growing root and resting on the soil, and it will grow much more quickly due to the extra humidity within the straw. let the new root enter the soil in the pot and grow to the thickness where it becomes thicker than the straw (the straw is already split) and you can just peel it off and treat as above. If the distance is too great two wide drinking straws can be slipped into each other to get the length that is required or the cardboard inserts from alfoil /clingwrap or the like can be filled with sphagnum moss or river sand to achieve the same results.

very nice tip thanks Hackimoto

Here is one that I attempted in 2010. I chose roots close to the trunk and wrapped it with grafting tape.
And here it is this morning I think I will have to wrap it again if I want the roots to fuse to the trunk.

I also have one I have covered in sphagnum moss ( from base of trunk to lower branches ) to see if I can induce root growth through the moss and down the trunk line. I will leave the moss on for 1 year.

Terry

Hi.

Thank you Hackimoto.

Regards.
Irish.

Hi Paul

As Hackimoto said, to bend them they need to be a little thicker to be flexible. Generally once the bark is developing they get more flexible. To get a better angle from the trunk you can nick out a bit under the root to get them flatter to the trunk. If you want them to fuse better along their length you can approach graft along a length of the root and it helps create a better buttress effect.

Got any pics of what you are wanting to achieve?

Tony

In one of your pics it looks like you have young shoots just below the branching. Another approach is to allow these shoots to grow for a season then bend them down to the soil, use a u pin to bury them under the soil and have the leafy end come back out. Once the branch takes root, snip of the emerging tip of the branch and you have a new root which is easier to bend/fuse to the trunk. Hope this helps.

Are u sure about that phil . That is like trying to reverse the natural order of things .
I posted a question on this subject( can a branch be turned into a root?) and ended up believing it was impossible . Because the roots produced belong to the foliage being layered not the main tree . . But maybe not with figs??? I could be wrong.

Paulneill wrote:Are u sure about that phil . That is like trying to reverse the natural order of things .
I posted a question on this subject( can a branch be turned into a root?) and ended up believing it was impossible . Because the roots produced belong to the foliage being layered not the main tree . . But maybe not with figs??? I could be wrong.

What Phil was explaining is different to that thread, here you take a branch and place it under the ground, you can also slice a section of it, as you would a cutting, you leave some of the branch growing back out the soil, when roots form, you cut off the leaved section to leave the former branch and new root system as an aerial root.

This is a technique also known as ground layering, where you cut the parent branch and have a layered tree.

Thanks Ray, exactly right

Ray wrote:

Paulneill wrote:Are u sure about that phil . That is like trying to reverse the natural order of things .
I posted a question on this subject( can a branch be turned into a root?) and ended up believing it was impossible . Because the roots produced belong to the foliage being layered not the main tree . . But maybe not with figs??? I could be wrong.

What Phil was explaining is different to that thread, here you take a branch and place it under the ground, you can also slice a section of it, as you would a cutting, you leave some of the branch growing back out the soil, when roots form, you cut off the leaved section to leave the former branch and new root system as an aerial root.

This is a technique also known as ground layering, where you cut the parent branch and have a layered tree.

This one had me thinking and a bit confused for a while. It will never be an aerial root It is not root tissue. What will happen is that the very first dormant bud on that branch will shoot and try to restore the natural flow of the sap. This is the same as putting a cutting in upside down, the bottom (top) will develop roots but will shoot leaves at soil level to try to restore the natural flow. I'd love to hear that it has happened otherwise.

This ones got interesting.

Paul originaly asked about getting a better angle on the airial roots from the trunk I believe, and branches are now being turned into airial roots. I'm with H in that bringing a branch down to ground layer it and get roots will not turn that branch into an airial root. If that ground layered branch was grown back up and approach grafted back onto the trunk it could be turned into an airial root, but otherwise the sap is flowing the wrong way.

Tony

Something that is not root tissue will never be a root. Having said that it can visually look as though it is an aerial root, the same as a thick exposed set of roots can assume the function of a trunk but is not strictly speaking a trunk. Another method is to graft aerial roots or ground roots from the same species to the branch where it is required, making sure that the sap flow continues in the same direction.

The two aerial roots on the right of the attached fig were grafted on to the branch when they were much smaller, about twenty years ago to get some balance, as there were only roots on the right side..

Some good info there hackamoto I agree with u.
Nice tree It looks old
I am growing a few figs and have high hopes for them .
I am not planning on developing any Ariel roots coming from branches as I am under the impression that they cause negative taper and take growth away from the trunk . Also any branches being supplied with an extra source will become fat and may have negative taper
. I would like to know what u think as I am only starting out .

Regards Paul

Ps I suppose you can still have this effect so long as roots are Removed / shortened before they get too big ?