Shishigashira (extreme) raw material

[Hoyonokuma]

Yes I would clean and recut the entire thing. Basically start over. Although I do agree with Sean that callous tissue is a precursor to roots, I have seen many cases where this happens and the callous just stalls never producing much of anything else. You can maybe wait, hope and see but I have little confidence that it will do much.

Good luck Federico, but again you should be able to air layer shishigashira quite readily.

Idk how much of a difference a few weeks of wait might do, but I just realized I have my double pot now to impede my movements, whereas I had a bareroot plant to work with before.
It might get much tougher to rework it than I thought.
I'll probably observe it closely now and proceed with it in latest 2 weeks.

Thanks again for coming up and support
I'll update as soon as something starts to move

 

[Maiden69]

If I remember correctly I heard Ryan say to score the bottom of the callous when he was layering his hornbeam. Another thing to consider is that maples tend to send roots from their rings easier than from the cut site, I would suggest elevating your sphagnum to above the ring, kinda where you have the tie around.

 

[Hoyonokuma]

If I remember correctly I heard Ryan say to score the bottom of the callous when he was layering his hornbeam. Another thing to consider is that maples tend to send roots from their rings easier than from the cut site, I would suggest elevating your sphagnum to above the ring, kinda where you have the tie around.

I have it right were you drew the line.. I just made space to give you all a clearer view
Didn't know about them growing roots easily from the rings. Good one.
Let's see what happens. Will upload latest in 2 weeks

 

[Maiden69]

I would just let it be and don't bother the location until you see roots on the bag. The more you disturb the area the more chances of breaking off tiny roots as they develop.

 

[Hoyonokuma]

Well.. It appears my layering skills need a few more years (and trees) for refinement
The tree did shoot some new roots after all but that's far from enough and won't separate it this year.

Neither I'll chop it yet, cause I'm keeping as many shoots as possible for hardwood cuttings, coming March.
I tried to take 4 semi-hardwood ones last june and of them took, despite my less than ideal setup
If more are successful I may even try some root grafting, to make up for the actual lack of new roots on the layer.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Can someone explain the relationship between root pruning and air layering? I was advised that if I repot and do some root pruning that I should not perform an air layer on the shishigashira that year. I simply don't understand why, especially if I am leaving a fairly massive root ball (in my case I'd be repotting from a 25 gallon to a box/the ground, first taking off the tap root and other downward growing roots).

Assuming I can get the layer off by fall, can I repot then instead?

 

[Wulfskaar]

Can someone explain the relationship between root pruning and air layering? I was advised that if I repot and do some root pruning that I should not perform an air layer on the shishigashira that year. I simply don't understand why, especially if I am leaving a fairly massive root ball (in my case I'd be repotting from a 25 gallon to a box/the ground, first taking off the tap root and other downward growing roots).

Assuming I can get the layer off by fall, can I repot then instead?

I assume it's because you want as much root-growing power as possible for one or the other. If you do both at the same time, the part of the tree that is growing roots in the air layer would not be sending any juice to grow the roots below it.

 

[Hoyonokuma]

Sooo long time no posting here lol

I've been a bit busy with work, and life in general.. So few time for proper caring of my plants and even less for keeping up with the forum.
I hope to find some consistency going on

Back on topic:
I followed your advice @Maiden69.
I did reperform the cut further up and set the wire accordingly.

View attachment 378860

After 2 growing seasons, I unwrapped the whole thing just before buds would start open fully.
To my big surprise, a pretty damn nice root pattern had developed from the lower branch that I was going to cut off anyway.
(sorry for the poor pictures quality)



So I proceded, and separated the two.



I did do some later root pruning on the daughter, as the root mass would have been excessive for the amount of nodes on the branch, but didn't get to picture it.




As of now, we have enjoyed a very nice, long summer.
The mother even put up some nice new growth, despite this being a zlow azz variety


Temperatures have been kind to us and haven't seen much fluctuation as autumn gets closer.
I expect them to get both into dormancy with enough sugars for winter, without much damage.

Now, many questions arise of course.
First off, I've noticed the bark of both kind of splitting up.

I find hard to believe this is roots rot, as the substrate is an (Ibuki) akadama-pumice free-draining mixture, with occasional bark chips and sphagnum moss for slight moisture retention.
In this case, whould I be in time for eventual root systemic??

My guess was some fungal activity but don't see much foliar symptoms.
What do you guys suggest as fungal treatment?

Further questions regard the long term goal with the tree.
Shall I be using the small one to root pruin the mother or treat them as singulars?