Second year air layer chop question.

Kazoo

I just looked at the Palmatum I air layered 2 years ago and potted this year. Hadn't noticed before, but the old part that was attached to the mother tree is rootless and just suspended above the soil. It looks kinda crummy and blackish. No way to get a photo as it's only visible ...through... the maze of roots that grew ABOVE the cut portion.

Should this stump be left on next spring? Or cut flush with the level of the bottom of the roots and dusted with Rootone and planted at root pruning time?

Attached Images

roots.JPG (21.0 KB, 54 views)

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Globalist1789

If it were mine I would hack the nub away when I repot. I don't think I really matters if you take it off or leave it. I wouldn't use any rooting hormone; it might encourage roots in the wrong spots. One layer or radial roots is the ideal.

soonami

use knob cutters to make good even cut along the bottom. Then repot making sure to keep all those roots below the soil line

Kazoo

Not knowing that it had done what it has, I have left the roots exposed to the air all summer thinking that more existed below.

Still cover them?

Dav4

If the tree is still alive, then by all means cover the existing roots with soil. Do the roots look healthy? I'm still trying to figure out how this tree survived a California summer with its entire rootball above the soil.

Dave

zen

Did the ends of the roots curve downward kinda, into the soil while also leaving a sort of nebari,...if you cut the stump flush, I would most likely use wound sealer or wood hardener on it rather than root hormone,...is there any chance of getting a photo up ?

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rockm

Sever it next spring. It's outlived its usefulness . The stub is left on in the first year for practical reasons, since you risk damaging the new roots if you try to cut it off then. Now that the new roots have toughened up a bit, it's easier and safer to cut it off. Cut down, if you an, to healthy green tissu.Skip the rooting hormone, the tissue is already root tissue. Hormone application is unecessary and could actualy impede new roots.

Kazoo

I tried a photo and to my surprise, it shows it.

Originally, there were a few roots at the bottom that apparently rotted off or somehow disappeared. I had wondered why the second (higher) ring of roots was so vigorous. However, I dismissed it as I figured the original lower ones were working and just sorta let it do its thing.

This could explain why the tree had such a hard time in the heat. I have covered the roots now with a finer soil to get some protection to the roots as they are.

Now I'm wondering if they should be UNCOVERED as that's how they have been.

What think?

Attached Images

MVC-001F.JPG (46.6 KB, 42 views)

Dav4

I'd cover the roots up just up to where they arise from the trunk. Usr regular bonsai soil. Cut back the stump next spring if you like but try not to mess with the roots much, if at all. If the tree had a hard summer, it might be worth waiting a year.


Dave