AusBonsai

hey guy's i have a very large pine tree in my back yard i think it may be a radiata pine? thats a complete guess and will this take well to an air layer because there is a very nice branch i have been eyeing off that would make a fantastic cascade if only i could layer it and finally does anyone know if this tree will die get a lot of die back if i try to cascade it?

any help is very much appreciated!!!

Considering where you live, it is almost certainly a Radiata. Pines, generally speaking do not take to aerial layering. You could, if you are really determined, try root grafting , using pots or plastic while it is still attached to the parent tree. You would use dug up roots from the parent tree. The younger the branch the more successful it would be.

I am yet to try layering a pine. But it is possible and radiata are easy to take from cuttings compared to other pine species. So I would give it a go as many people successfully layer JBP's.
You could even try a few at the same time...the tree sure is big enough and being that it is in your backyard, it isn't going anywhere
I'd try it for sure, maybe the torniquet method or a combination of that and the ring bark method.
Whatever you do, please be careful climbing up that tree matty-j!
Best of luck and let us know how it goes please.
Oh yeah, I am not disagreeing with Hackimoto at all I was just thinking that root grafting may be a little trickier if you haven't done it before. Air layering may be the easier option (or at least it would be for me).
Maybe you could try both methods as it is a good chance to practice them
Cheers, Dario.

Pines do Layer, but very slowy
Juvenile branches will take 3 - 6 months, and mature branches will take anything up to 2 years, and not for newbies unless you want to set up for a big dissapoint.

Being a pine, there shoud be plenty of trees around that have grown from seed and are ready for collection tho. That is why Radiata are now declared weeds

Ken

I have layered successfully but as Ken stated, it took about 12 months. It was very successful and i used a Sliver technique which leaves a small cambium strip on the trunk to carry nutrients.

Hi matty-j,
there is plenty of info on this blog http://muranakabonsainursery.blogspot.com.au/ regarding JBP airlayers, the info might be applicable for Radiata.

Cheers,
Mojo