Lets go airlayer my Japanese Maple!

[Poink88]

Grim,

That looks awesome!!! They collect extremely easy so take a look and get as much as you can. They airlayer fast and can be propagated via cutting as well and graft easily too. Right now, it is my favorite specie to bonsai.

If you are one of the lucky ones who can have them back bud, you will be in heaven.

 

[M. Frary]

Think it's O.K. to peek? The sections above the layers are still alive but they haven't put out any new growth. I figured if they started growing leaves that would signal roots growing .

 

[Poink88]

Think it's O.K. to peek? The sections above the layers are still alive but they haven't put out any new growth. I figured if they started growing leaves that would signal roots growing .

I won't. Here in TX (because it is hot), the trees mostly shut down and not growing. I know it is especially true for the roots.

 

[Eric Group]

There is nothing wrong with peeking from time to time. In fact, you might look and notice that the tree is trying to grow over the ring of removed bark, which could indicate you didn't go deep enough... Or you might just not have roots yet, or maybe the area isn't moist enough... As long as you don't have to violently disturb the rooting medium to try to see in there, you shouldn't have any issues if you look. This is the issue with using cheese cloth or tin foil, or some other sort of wrapping you cannot see through, if you do use that, you never know if there are roots without moving stuff out the way, which could damage young roots potentially.

If your wrapping is tough to remove to a point where you can view the exterior of your layer to see if any roots are emerging, then leave it alone a while longer. If you can get in there and check it out easily, there is no problem with peeking. It can give you a good idea of what might need to be done- I recommend if you can get in there... Go ahead and add some more moss... More is better with layers! You want enough roots to support the new branch and that takes a good bit of growing room for a branch of this size.

 

[GerhardG]

I'm going to take off the plastic wrap and add a bucket cut in half to fit around each layer with soil to let the roots grow into. Also I believe it will enable me to monitor moisture levels.

Hi

I exclusively use the split-pot method, more maintenance in that you have to water the layer, but then you can easily take peek.
If there's no new growth, there's likely no roots....

 

[Neli]

I am little bit worried about the cheese cloth...in case roots grow through it and in order to remove it you will have to break some roots. I normally put clear plastic and above that a black plastic from a planter bag, tied well so no moisture escapes...I can then open the black plastic and check the root system without disturbing the roots.

 

[sorce]

I am little bit worried about the cheese cloth...in case roots grow through it and in order to remove it you will have to break some roots. I normally put clear plastic and above that a black plastic from a planter bag, tied well so no moisture escapes...I can then open the black plastic and check the root system without disturbing the roots.

Me too! And also for 10 characters!

 

[M. Frary]

Looking through pictures and found this. The layers did work. The cheesecloth will have to stay on and rot off. No more cheesecloth. It did however make the new roots strain and get tough as they forced their way through. I left the layers on the tree for the winter. The worst part is this is the tree that the mice ate the bark off of. If the layers are alive in the spring they get put into collanders.

 

[M. Frary]

Nice work with the pictures! Sheesh!

 

[sorce]

Rooted just in time.
Damn VC.

 

[Eric Group]

Are those pics of the layers recent, or from before the winter?

 

[M. Frary]

Those are from August.

 

[Eric Group]

Those are from August.

I was just asking because the roots look really healthy... If they still look like this you should be good to go... If they are black or some odd color- too light or too dark you may have lost them over the winter...

Hope it is good to go for you this Spring!

 

[M. Frary]

I was just asking because the roots look really healthy... If they still look like this you should be good to go... If they are black or some odd color- too light or too dark you may have lost them over the winter...

Hope it is good to go for you this Spring!

So do I. So do I. Thanks.

 

[barrosinc]

did you cut these in august? I got confused

 

[Dav4]

For some reason, I can't expand the pics to get a better look. With that said, if that's what the roots looked like in August, I'm thinking you probably could have separated in September, potted them up, and they would have done fine. Don't forget that trees, as a rule, put on a lot of root growth in late summer into early fall, even in cold climates like yours. Hopefully, they survived the winter, but if you do this again, remember that roots are much more likely to suffer freeze damage if they aren't potted up or kept in a location that doesn't get too cold. Good luck.

 

[barrosinc]

is there such thing as going to deep with the knife?? I have some layers I did in december (southern hemisphere) that the leaves are still alive but a lot more red than the rest of the tree that is fully green.

 

[Eric Group]

Yes, I think you can interrupt the flow of nutrients up to the branch if you cut too deep. You basically want to get the bark and the green layer underneath that removed... Just start scraping into the white layer beneath on most species and you should be good to go. I try to remove just enough, but sometimes you can leave a little too much on which causes the tree to grow over the layer site... To make sure this doesn't happen again, I am adding a ring of wire to mine as well... Just gives you kind of the best of both worlds, without having to wait for the branch to expand and the wire to bite in before the layer starts to work.

I used to have great success with air layers, but the last couple I tired didn't take so I am just starting a new technique this year- using pots with Pearlite instead of plastic wrap with Sphagnum... Hopefully I can do a thread on the success later this summer! I started two early and will do another two later in the season, after the leaves harden off which is traditionally when I have done them in the past...

 

[barrosinc]

Yes, I think you can interrupt the flow of nutrients up to the branch if you cut too deep. You basically want to get the bark and the green layer underneath that removed... Just start scraping into the white layer beneath on most species and you should be good to go. I try to remove just enough, but sometimes you can leave a little too much on which causes the tree to grow over the layer site...

I might have messed up then.... oops.

 

[Dav4]

is there such thing as going to deep with the knife?? I have some layers I did in december (southern hemisphere) that the leaves are still alive but a lot more red than the rest of the tree that is fully green.

I've actually used a large knob cutter to bite through the bark and into the hardwood, and the layer was successful. I think it wou8ld be hard to remove "too much" unless the stock is thin trunked.