Appreciation: Alternative propagation

Good evening,

Yesterday I did start 2 airlayers on a cultivar that is not easily available everywhere, for the purpose of gifting it to a friend that has no access to it in the market.

I was suggested to make a thread about it, so that is the reason of my post.

Before posting it just let me introduce some thoughts:

I believe that most of everyone here knows about airlayering and I am aware that I am not doing anything new and that this propagation method is very popular and can be found on many forums and videos on the web.

Unfortunately I did not learn and experiment how to traditionally graft yet so this why I mainly do propagate this way.

I think it is a good and rewarding alternative that has almost zero cost for the amateurs that wants to experiment or multiply one of their japanese maples.

I am not attempting at all to teach or say that this is the proper way to do it and I'd like to warn anyone that is not familiar with this, that the success rate is never guaranteed although it is very high depending on the cultivar you choose.

Reguarding the vigor and survivability of a succesfull airlayer over the years, I can only speak from my experience which is so far not that bad but depends a lot on aftercare and cultivars proper weakness or not.

These are the cultivars I airlayered so far:

Shishigashira:

works well but can be very random when it comes to have radial roots all around, sometimes half part of the trunk will die.
The most aged i have is 4 years old and doing well on it's own roots.

Koto hime:

Very easy candidate i guess because of his dense foliage and short internodes.
Only experienced a 1 year old of mine but i do have others more aged so I think they do very well on their own roots.

Palmatum:

No problem at all

Seigen:

my only attempt was a success but had to wait spring before separating it.
I'd say that if you like to play with roots like me each spring, this cultivar or any other else that didn't produce enough mature roots during the process should be grown carefully and almost untouched until he has a dense root system or it may die in the first year.

Crispii:

Same as shishigashira and kotohime.
Lots of foliage and short internodes.

Jerre Schwartz:

Easy but not strong on i'ts own roots, at least it is my experience.
The grafted cultivar i own does have a lot of dieback each year so it may be a sign.

Deshojo:

My only attempt failled but i have heard a lot of other poeple had success with.

Bloodgood:

Seems to work but i did it on a 50 years old tree and it was my first attempt so i guess I wasn't enough experimented, only had a few roots and it didn't make it through winter.

Overall i think only 'dissectum' types are almost impossible to root from layering but i can be wrong as I have never tried.
Any other palmatum cultivars should be doable with perseverance i believe.
But a high density of foliage is a condition required to grow new roots easier.

On the air layers i did this years you will notice my plastic bags were poorly sealed and could have been done it way better, as I think if you seal the bag completely with wet sphagnum moss you won't need to water it at all during the season.

And a last thing I'd like to say:

This is just a friendly thread with no special intentions, and if it interested someone then it has sense to exist.
If not, please, just take it easy and be constructive or ignore it.

Here are some pictures of the process of airlayering Goshiki Koto Hime:






















Continuation just under...

 

This is an excellent tutorial for anybody starting out in Air layering. As you say I a lot of people in here already know the process, but a lot of people look in and do not become active members, so this thread will definatly help those people.
Very impressive.

 

Then a ground layer of Mikawa yatsubusa:





Another airlayer of Beni chidori using a plastic pot and akadama on the bottom instead of a plastic bag and only sphagnum moss:














(I continue under again...)

 

Then there is a picture of a Kotohime of last year just before separating it from his parent:



And pictures of his roots this spring:





Then later in leaf this spring:





Here is also the Seigen just after beeing ground layered last year:




And more pictures showing his roots this spring:

 

And finally pictures of him takken today where it is slowly leafing out:

 

I know that there are members who have asked recently asked about air layering and have been a bit fearful of trying. These threads by I @Shin-Deshojo should put anyones minds at rest about giving it a go.
Also showing the various cultivars is a bonus, as often I hear people say, "well what about this one then".
It has obviously taken a lot of work to put this thread together I, so a very well done and thankyou.

 

And now a finished product, brilliant!!!!

 

Thank you D,
It was not easy to sort all the pictures and post from the phone but I hope it worked well.

 

Very well indeed I.

 

I have now added a tag to this in Maple resources as it is worth being posted in this area.

 

I found back these pictures to illustrate the process.

It was a cutting from 'Phoenix' to make a bonsai, but the trunk was too thin and too high, so I air-layered it. In this case, it was easy because I could put a plastic pot on the soil.

I started it late, in mid-July 2014, so I waited until the next spring (March 2015) to severe it. In the second picture, I removed the "flakes" around the ring, of course, it was just to show that you need to make sure all the cambium is removed :

 

Awesome @AlainK ,
You made it more clear than me with only a few pictures.
Good job.

 

Fantastic result Alain, can I ask what happened to the doner?

 

I expected the lower part to bud back lower, but to my surprise, it didn't...

Another one from last year, started on June 20th and severed on Sept. 20th the same year. This time, the lower part survived :

 

Oh well you got a lovely pre Bonsai out of it. Great photo instruction Alain.

 

Unfortunately I think this mikawa won't do it...
He got badly hit by frosts.
Shame on me for trusting the forecasts and not protecting it.

 

That is sad I, I know this doesn't help, but everyone is getting hit this year, so your definatly not alone.

 

Yeah, it is ok D , I have 2 others mikawa yatsubusa on the ground.
I know you are the most annoyed by the frosts this year, just wanted to share that you are not alone.

 

Lol, does it show on my postings???? Didn't realise, hmmm...

 

Don't be too pessimistic, there's still some green, it might survive.

 

I just think it will not replace the damaged leaves as I removed the cambium so I do not see how the layer could make roots without new leaves.
But maybe am i wrong?

 

When did you remove the cambium ? If you did it erecently, yes there's a risk it might have some difficulties to make it, but if you did it last year - what I thought, there's probably enough roots for the tree to survive. So don't touch the leaves, even if some are damaged, perhaps there's enough living tissue for photosynthesis to work.

Can you post a couple close-ups of the leaves ?...

PS : have you thought of putting a plastic "bell" (with holes in it) on it and place it in semi-shade ?

 

I airlayered last month i think..as soon as it was in full leaf.
I m affraid 80% of the leaves are totally dry and don't do their job anymore, only one branch at the bottom is ok.
I spotted some very few new buds but not enough and dunno if they can wake up.
I will leave it as it is and see what happens.

Thanks for your time Alain, i will just take it as a lesson for next spring and also as experiment, as i will observe what happens in the next months.





















Edit: that maple was weak anyway, he has been struggling in the ground for some years now, that's why I was airlayering it.

 

Ah ! Too early, much too early if you don't keep it in a greenhouse.

The best time is between mid-May till mid-July, or even later if you can keep it frost-free for the winter.

But I still think there's a 6 to 10 chance that it will take...

 

I will update this post with this maple whenever I see positive or negative changes.
Cheers!