BonsaiOnTheBrainTX
Yamadori
I started this air layer 51 days ago off of a massive hollowed out Pear Tree in the backyard. I used clonex rooting hormone gel, sphagnum moss, plastic bag, 1mm wire, and some foil. I checked it after 4o days and didn’t see any roots. It’s also been extremely hot here so I opened the plastic and sprayed the sphagnum with a water bottle to be sure it had enough moisture. Checked it again 7-10 days later and it was full of roots! More roots on the top side that was receiving the most sun.
So I decided to lop it off yesterday and pot it up. It got a bit dicey when trying to remove the moss without breaking the roots. I put it in a bowl of water to soak for a minute so it could loosen up. Then I very delicately started trying to remove it with a chopstick. One side went alright, but then the moss ball felt like it separated from the trunk, tearing off all of the roots on that side. So from the point I just put the whole thing in the pot. So, 1. Im hoping it survives and that I didn’t fully rip off all those roots and 2. Im hoping that having the moss in the pot doesn’t hold too much moisture and cause root rot. I guess I’ll just hope for the best.
After the fact a person told me when they do this, they will remove the branch, then soak the root ball/sphagnum moss in water for;Ike half a day to really loosen it up. Then gently remove the moss. So I’ll give that a shot next time.
I like the structure of the branch, it’s kind of straight, but has some taper, and it has primary branches in good places already IMO. That I could see developing well. Another option would be to wait until next spring and do a trunk chop right above one of the low branches and use that as a new leader to get more movement in the trunk. I’m probably leaning towards that option. For now I just want it to survive though lol. Here are some pictures. Let me know what y’all think and if you have any feedback or recommendations. Thanks!
So I decided to lop it off yesterday and pot it up. It got a bit dicey when trying to remove the moss without breaking the roots. I put it in a bowl of water to soak for a minute so it could loosen up. Then I very delicately started trying to remove it with a chopstick. One side went alright, but then the moss ball felt like it separated from the trunk, tearing off all of the roots on that side. So from the point I just put the whole thing in the pot. So, 1. Im hoping it survives and that I didn’t fully rip off all those roots and 2. Im hoping that having the moss in the pot doesn’t hold too much moisture and cause root rot. I guess I’ll just hope for the best.
After the fact a person told me when they do this, they will remove the branch, then soak the root ball/sphagnum moss in water for;Ike half a day to really loosen it up. Then gently remove the moss. So I’ll give that a shot next time.
I like the structure of the branch, it’s kind of straight, but has some taper, and it has primary branches in good places already IMO. That I could see developing well. Another option would be to wait until next spring and do a trunk chop right above one of the low branches and use that as a new leader to get more movement in the trunk. I’m probably leaning towards that option. For now I just want it to survive though lol. Here are some pictures. Let me know what y’all think and if you have any feedback or recommendations. Thanks!
