AusBonsai

G'day all,
My first attempt at doing an air layer on my ficus. I'm not a fan of ficus (beat me up later!), but I have come to revise it is a fantastic tree to learn on. So this poor specimen will be my guinea pig...

Background: delivering water all over our town I see plant suffering in offices everywhere. I was permitted to rescue this one tree and nearly succeeded in killing it last summer. It came back slowly and I reported it into a much bigger pot with potting mix, cow manure and a little blood & bone (all that I had at the time). It's tripled its trunk thickness from then to now... I am in awe, even tho I'm not a fan...

Hacked it back relentlessly, it comes back. Trimmed it so it wouldn't topple over constantly, it came back. Then I choose a few areas and formulated a plan for them (mainly broom style, but one branch will be a cascade).

Took a sharp knife and cut the bark deep to the hard wood. It peeled off remarkably easy and then I scraped the underlying hardwood to make sure if removed all the necessary material. I then flared the bottom edge (of the top bark) because, and I may be wrong here, I suffer from the illusion that that would assist in building a flared base from the get-go. Tied a wire underneath the flare (may be overkill but I'm making sure) and brushed on a mix of rooting hormone (mix of powdered and gel). Brushed this in between the flares, on the edge of the bottom cut bark and a little underneath the flare on the inside (probably a waste, but I had he mix there).

Now I cut a piece of Plastic (no idea of dimensions, but did it about triple the size of the cut, as a guess) and wired the bottom shut with some random gardening wire I had.
Then I filled the 'bag' with moist sphagnum moss that's been hydrated for a couple of days and tied off the top with more of the random wire. So now I wait.

I open this up for discussion, please show me where I can improve or things I have missed.


I noticed that the smaller the material the more difficult it is to 'fiddle' it all in!


Cheers
Elmar

Looks great to me Elmar.
You've been learning and good on your for putting a number of additional techniques into place here.

The only thing I would say is that I've found too wet a mix can prevent root growth.
It's actually a bit of fine line I've found as I'm always so concerned about things being too dry that I often err on the wet side to my detriment.

Looks good Elmar. As long as the top of your cut with its flared bit is touching the sphagnum it should root in a month or 2, maybe even quicker over there.

I noticed that the smaller the material the more difficult it is to 'fiddle' it all in!

Do you mean thinner branches/ trunk? With figs cuttings are easy and it is probably easier to make cuttings of anything under finger thickness.

The only thing I would say is that I've found too wet a mix can prevent root growth.

Just don't tie the bottom tie too tight so that excess moisture can drain out. Should be ok then.

Hi Elmar . Make sure your bag has some holes in the bottom for drainage . The sphagnum moss should be moist not soggy . I also wrap 'glad wrap ' tightly around the plastic bag to keep it air tight . I have found the problem with airlayers is once you start doing them they get abit addictive . Just for fun I would try it on some local natives too .
Cheers Craig

Boics wrote:Looks great to me Elmar.
You've been learning and good on your for putting a number of additional techniques into place here.

The only thing I would say is that I've found too wet a mix can prevent root growth.
It's actually a bit of fine line I've found as I'm always so concerned about things being too dry that I often err on the wet side to my detriment.

Thank you - I did squeeze he moss but can not say with any certainty how moist it is... I can always get a needle and poke some hole into it at a later stage ... Will see what it looks like after tomorrow.
Then put up another picture and then let you comment.

shibui wrote:Looks good Elmar. As long as the top of your cut with its flared bit is touching the sphagnum it should root in a month or 2, maybe even quicker over there.

I noticed that the smaller the material the more difficult it is to 'fiddle' it all in!

Do you mean thinner branches/ trunk? With figs cuttings are easy and it is probably easier to make cuttings of anything under finger thickness.

The only thing I would say is that I've found too wet a mix can prevent root growth.

Just don't tie the bottom tie too tight so that excess moisture can drain out. Should be ok then.

Thanx Neil - haven't had much luck taking cuttings, not that I've stopped! But that'll certainly open up another few opportunities for me!

Sno wrote:Hi Elmar . Make sure your bag has some holes in the bottom for drainage . The sphagnum moss should be moist not soggy . I also wrap 'glad wrap ' tightly around the plastic bag to keep it air tight . I have found the problem with airlayers is once you start doing them they get abit addictive . Just for fun I would try it on some local natives too .
Cheers Craig

Haha - just beat me to it! I'm not sure I'll get glad wrap in there ... theres not a lot of room and I have passion fingers! Short stubby and not overly sensitive ...

shibui wrote:Looks good Elmar. As long as the top of your cut with its flared bit is touching the sphagnum it should root in a month or 2, maybe even quicker over there.

Nice Elmar. In line with Neil I would think about adding extra wires around the layer to ensure there is contact between the sphagnum and the area you wish to root. That is generally key to a successful layer. Good luck!

and now we wait.

I've packed the sphagmoss pretty tightly, but, as this is my first time, I'll be checking it every chance I get (reminder to self: No touching!)


Cheers
Elmar

I'm of the opinion that roots need a darker environment to grow. I'd suggest wrapping the layer in alfoil so the dark doesn't escape.

Checked this morning. Sphagmoss is good but maybe too moist - holes punctured into plastic wrap.

Will attempt glad wrap this Arvo, but I like Wayne's idea - alfoil as that might assist in sun radiation deflection(?!?)...


Cheers
Elmar

alfoil or black plastic (garbage bag etc) will help keep the area warm, and protect from light.

I have used these before with great success http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... 36&p=46938 and they have a black label to block light out.

With the glad wrap I think it would help in stopping the spag moss from retaining to much moisture .

Thanks for posting your experiment. Really interesting. I'm in the same position, been thinking of trying on fig I scored cheap sometime ago. Feeling inspired! Look forward to seeing how yours works out. Luck!!!

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