air layering on the main trunk

Discussion in 'Maples' started by PoorOwner, Jun 29, 2005.

  1. PoorOwner

    PoorOwner Active Member 10 Years

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    It it possible to use air layering just below the graft to bring the graft closer to the ground?
     
  2. Andre

    Andre Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Yes, that's usually what we do for bonsaï.
     
  3. PoorOwner

    PoorOwner Active Member 10 Years

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    Can I do that on 1 gallon maple with a pencil sized trunk or is it too mature already?
    Is it easier than regular branch air layering because I heard people just just a pot of soil to cover the cut area.
     
  4. Layne Uyeno

    Layne Uyeno Active Member 10 Years

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  5. PoorOwner

    PoorOwner Active Member 10 Years

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    I want to try it on my tree. I am just wondering if it is too late to do this or not before winter comes in.

    I want to try using the pruning shear to make two cuts and twist the bark off with pliers like in the article that I saw. I have a question about how hard or how deep to make the cut, this probably takes the most practice.
     
  6. PoorOwner

    PoorOwner Active Member 10 Years

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    Thanks everyone I now have read alot of information about air layering.
    I have went ahead and performed air layering on the tree I wanted to "fix". A KiHachijo which has a distinct white bark but it is grafted high. From the calender 12 weeks from now is Sept 23th which does not seem too unreasonable.

    There seems there are many variations of the method so I went with what I thought is easiest. I girdled 1" section on the scion above the graft, peeling the bark and scraped until all the green tissue is removed. I poked few stakes and taped a slit 5" pot over the wound and filled with superthrive soaked potting soil. I used one with at least 50% spagnum peat moss in it.

    It's experimental for me and I'm prepared for failures.. without someone showing me in person, hands on experience would be all I need.

    My question now is that what happens when you cut the branch off when it is ready, does the part of the trunk below the roots just rots away or it become a tap root?

    And to the under plant that was chopped, does it need at least one internode above the graft to grow again? Well we will see if that comes back next year.
     
  7. mr.shep

    mr.shep Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I think you could have accomplished what you
    wanted without cutting into the rootstock of the
    Maple. It makes it tough to give advice when
    someone wants to play around with their plants.
    Serious on one hand yet have a cavalier attitude
    on the other. If you did not like the high graft
    of two similar yet different bark colors then why
    buy the Maple? Experimenting is okay but do it
    with unnamed seedlings that do not matter much.

    I learned this from Toichi Domoto with some
    high grafted dissectums. He would take them
    and plant them in one of his famous mountains
    of a berm of ground bark and would place the
    Maple deep into the berm with about 2 inches
    below the graft showing on let's say what was
    a 6 - 8" standard. He would let the area below
    the graft produce roots all on its own and the
    4 - 6" of bare trunk would fill in with roots
    later. He was careful not to use any soil and
    would leave the Maples in their spots for a
    few years and then would pull them out with
    one heck of a root system and then plant them
    in one of his higher end landscape jobs. As
    long as we do not cover up the graft union we
    can get roots to develop from the bare trunk
    of the understock right below the soil surface.

    Jim
     
  8. PoorOwner

    PoorOwner Active Member 10 Years

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    You are right.. I admit I tend to be too eager sometimes.

    I got this maple before I understood how to look at grafts on maples. I was only interested in foilage and not taking note of bark color at all. I did not even know what a graft is nor understand its purpose then. So I was the typical plant shopper and saw a tree with pretty foilage and I picked the tallest one I could find. :(

    Now I have seen more maples, I do find there are a variety of graft quality out there. Some have the graft just above the soil level barely visible and some have the scion merged to a stub cut diagonally like you would find on fruit trees. Why does the OSH unknown tree have a fruit tree graft and the seiryu from home depot have a graft that is barely noticable? I do shop carefully now and the graft is the first thing I look at.

    I went through many postings on the bonsai newsgroup about air layering methods, but I might have missed one thing, and that is I am trying to root above the graft, I might end up with a weak plant, but is it not different from people trying to propagate by layering a side branch on their maples, do these layered plants become weak plants? Is the main purpose of grafting Japanese maple to save time, or some cultivars really do not do well on their own roots?
     

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