Greetings all;

As I sit here watching the snow slowly melt in my back yard, I'm considering
trying my hand at air-layering later this spring.

I have a number of good donor trees. A great Acer palmatum "Bloodgood", a
crab apple, and a weeping cherry.

Basic questions ..... When performing an air-layer should one leave the
entire branch in-place during the root development process, or should it be
cut back to a more reasonable length ? Should I wait for the roots to appear
(end of the growing season) before shortening the branch and cutting it from
the donor tree?

I'm not certain what role existing leaves play during root development. If I
chop the branch back prior to the appearance of roots, I assume there'll be
less leaves, less need for roots, and therefore the roots will grow slower.
(Newbie assumption !!)

All comments greatly appreciated.

Mark Hill - Harrisburg, PA - Zone 7

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Thanks Jim

That was my assumption .... but I've been known to be wrong before !!
Like I mentioned in a previous post, I have a Bloodgood covered with great
looking potential air-layers, but the branches are 6 or 8 feet long with
hundreds if not thousands, of dormant buds.
Logic told me the more leaves the better, but my logic often fails me.

I look forward to air-layering a dozen or more Bloodgoods and Prunus in a
couple of months.
I plan on letting them produce roots until next fall, then I'll remove them
from the donor tree, cut them back to a reasonable length (foot or so), and
stick them into large pots in my cold room for the winter.

Sound reasonable ?

Mark Hill





-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf Of
Jim Lewis
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 4:32 PM
To:
Subject: [IBC] Basic Air Layering Questions .....

Don't cut back at all. The leaves are very busy making surgars,
etc. for the energy needed for those roots you hope to form under
that plastic wrap. And the tree itself is under a bit of stress.
Since the water comes up from the REAL roots and flows UNDER the
scraped-away layering area to serve the leaves, they won't wilt.
So, the more leaves (the merrier!) the more roots.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

************************************************** **************************
****
++++Sponsored, in part, by Marc Zimmerman++++
************************************************** **************************
****
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Marc Zimmerman++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++

Thanks Jim

During the past year I've read all of Brent's collection of
informative
write-ups, including Andy Walsh's discussions regarding
air-layering, in
addition to Andy's articles in the ABS Journal. I've also
researched
air-layering in our archives (thanks Carl) and visited the U of
Florida's
Cooperative Extension site and read their entire collection of
articles
regarding propagation. I've also read dozens of books about the
air-layering
process and still haven't been able to answer my original
question which was
..... how long (in length) should the donor branch be
throughout the summer
months, during the root development process ????? and .......
are more
leaves beneficial to root development while it's still attached
to the donor
tree ??


Don't cut back at all. The leaves are very busy making surgars,
etc. for the energy needed for those roots you hope to form under
that plastic wrap. And the tree itself is under a bit of stress.
Since the water comes up from the REAL roots and flows UNDER the
scraped-away layering area to serve the leaves, they won't wilt.
So, the more leaves (the merrier!) the more roots.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Marc Zimmerman++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++