Jim,

When is the best time of year to air layer ashimpaku? I have one with a
similarly unwanted low branch.

Lee
Tasmania, Australia


"Jim Lewis" wrote in message
news:000901c2ea40$86f365e0$55112cc7@pavilion...
I have a shimpaku that has a long gangly lower right branch that
I wish to air layer. I cannot find any sphagnum moss in any of
the local nurseries or garden centers, although I can find
decorative spanish moss. Will that work also? Or would it be
possible to place a pot around the layered area and cut the
decorative moss into smaller pieces and mix with turface and
grit? I have never tried layering a shimpaku and don't want to
lose this branch. I have read and re-read BT 83 and it seems easy
enough, but I just want to be sure before I give it a go. My only
other choice is to take all the side branches and make cuttings
out of them.

=================

It's a H-A'd nursery that does not carry sphagnum moss! Even
Home Depot, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart carry it around here. But
Spanish moss will NOT work.

You can put a pot around the layer site and fill the pot with
potting soil. It will (or should) layer easily that way. BUT be
certain that you sprinkle rooting hormone over the exposed
cambium area if you use soil. You should use the hormone in any
event, but the sphagnum moss contains a substance that actually
_promotes_ rooting, and makes layering a lot easier.

I'd recommend that you re-visit those "nurseries" and see if you
can't shame them into obtaining some sphagnum moss for you. You
have a while before you want to be layering the juniper, anyway.

Juniper are relatively easy to do from cuttings, too, so you
might try both.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden


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