Japanese larch inspiration

[TrevorHayes]

I’d be interested to hear some feedback on this Japanese Larch. It’s about 40” tall nursery stock that went on sale after another tree fell on it, snapping trunk in the previous fall. It’s shown signs of recovered health, with buds swelling. According to what I’ve read, I am now beginning its best 7-10 day working window.
The trunk has some nice potential and I like the twist halfway up. But feel the base is quite long and boring. There also isn’t a lot of limb to work with as it has the accident about 7 months ago.

Is it Time for an air layer mid way up its trunk to take advantage of twists, and in time Jin the top?
And if you have any advice on larch air layering I’d like to hear it.
Or should I embrace the straight nature of it and work with it as-is? I’m open to suggestions.
Location- Bend, Oregon
Date- March 25

 

[jeremy_norbury]

I've been growing larches for almost 45 years - I currently have well over 150 of them.

- I've never had an airlayer work - I've also tried ground layers and they simply killed the tree. Other people assure me it's possible, but not for me.
- every single bud is sacred, they cannot be replaced.
- Buds low down on the trunk or on a branch close to the trunk are the most important and can be used to rebuild an entire tree.

Make it healthy and then get wiring.

 

[Jorgens86]

Well...i tried airlayer with succes but better stay aout of it because succes rate on larch isnt that big. Youl probably will kill the tree