Crucial tips for air layering Japanese maple?

Alasdair

Soak your sphagnum moss in the willow water and use it in the layer. I have no idea if it interferes with hormone treatments, but they are not necessary. The salicilic acid in the willow acts as the root hormone.

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I can feel another "I wish that was my tree" moment coming on...
Currently studying BSc Plant Biology at the Universty of Wales, Aberystwyth

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Carl_Bergstrom

Whoa...hold on.

You're right - you can make your own rooting hormone using willow. But is this really good advice to be giving cato in this particular circumstance? Cato was talking about a mission critical layer here. In his original post he explained the pressure to this one right. And what sort of experience do you have behind this advice? We've had a number of people who have advocated conventional methods and described their experience on Acer palmatum using these methods.

How many maples have you airlayered using just willow water, Alasdair?

I'm not saying willow water doesn't have the desired effects if one gets the production process right and the concentration right. But I am curious why on earth you're recommending that cato switch to this new procedure that he doesn't have experience with, for such an important layer --- especially when one will have much better control over rooting hormone concentration if one mixes it up from powder or liquid than if one sticks a "willow branch in some water for a week."

Carl

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Adam_MA

Carl,
Great point! And from everything I have read making willow water is a much more involved process than soaking an old branch in some water!

Thanks Carl for speaking up and most likely saving this critical layer!

Adam

cato42

Thank you, Carl, for helping us achieve clarity and maintain perspective; as this is a rather important project for a rather important person (at least from my perspective), I was never really tempted to try the willow water route, but I did find it intriguing, at least from an intellectual perspective. (I suspect that alasdair got a little carried away with the concept, and, after all, I did ask for some more detail, so, well, no harm, no foul I suppose.)
I hope no one is disappointed if I stick with the "tried and true"--and that with which I have some experience. All indicators are that this shouldn't be too difficult, but....I try hard not to tempt the fates too much.

Thanks again, everybody--all comments are appreciated. Now I shall go read Naka again...who, by the way, says that July is the best month for air-layering. FWIW.

Ta-ta for now. Cato

Will_Heath

The tried and true is always the place to start, good thinking. (Good call Carl)

As for the Naka time frame you mentioned, remember he was speaking about the climate he lived in. It is worth checking with experienced people that live in your growing zone and climate to determine the best time for you. An example would be that some on this forum repot in December yet, here in my area, you'd need an ice pick to do that.

good luck,


Will Heath

cato42

Will--

Thank you for the kind words and excellent advice. The general run of advice locally (n=3) has been to try the air layering in the mid-to-late spring, once the tree has "gotten going" for the season, but before we reach the summer doldrums. Then, my own thought, amplifying on that, and reminding (at least myself) of a point made previously, is to then be patient and ensure that the rooting is well underway and properly maintained before attempting to separate and pot, but then doing so with sufficient time to allow for as much establishment of the plant as possible before fall. (You're absolutely right, Will--I wish I had Naka's southern California weather he writes of! Right now the outside temperature is--ahem--twelve degrees F. Predicted low of three deg. F. Brrrrr! )

Will_Heath

Cato42,

When you get a chance go in to your user CP (see link on top of this page) and add your location, growing zone, and other information there. It makes it a lot easier to give someone advice if you have an idea of the climate they live in.

Good luck,


Will

DavidN

Thought I'd share this with anyone trying to air layer standard Acer Palmatum. The below picture aren't the clearest but it hopefully show the successful air layer in this maple just above the old root base. This tree will never be anything special so I decide to at least try and air layer a fairly large trunk. In one of the photos my hand is showing and might give you an indication of the trunk thickness. I ring barked and then used a wire torniquet as well, standard rooting hormone, spagnum and filled the rest of the pot with soil.

I left this tree in a corner and basically forgot about it for a long time. Might of been 6 months to a year. Then remembered it at the end of winter last year when I was repotting. Oooopss!!! It had so many weeds and grass growing out of the pot that I thought the air/ground layer would not work. I removed the tree and found an abundance of roots in perfect symmetry around the wire torniquet. I was shocked. The new roots had even started to flare and create the start of very nice nebari. Then I found that the old root base had totally died off. I could believe how easy it was to layer such a large trunk with so much negligence. However in Melbourne Oz we have a very long growing season so luck could of played a lesser part of it.

Hopefully the photos are clear enough to see the tree and then how I cut off the old root base.

Attached Images

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	airlayer2.jpg (42.3 KB, 63 views)
	airlayer3.jpg (63.1 KB, 60 views)