Air layering

[Lazy Gardener]

I may try air layering my apple trees, and my elderberry. The apple trees are infected with tree borers. I may try fishing in the holes for the grubs, as well as squirting some Neem or similar product in the holes. But... I don't hold much hope for saving the trees. One tree has about 5 holes that are each about 1/3" diameter, the other tree has 3 holes. The elderberry has never thrived in it's location. Just kind of "hanging on". A fair amount of die back each year. I do believe they are fairly easy to root. I could always order some trees from a nursery, but I relish the challenge of starting my own.

 

[CrealCritter]

@CrealCritter did you check out your local nursery for pots? I don't know if you have a Green Acres near you, but the one near me has good quality thick plastic plant pots for just a couple bucks. I reuse the pots the plants I buy come in too.

Thanks but I already ordered them from eBay, what I had posted. Ebay said they shipped today.

i'm starting to get "my stride" per say. I live far from the nearest town, 20 minute drive. So by the time I go to town, stand in line at the store and drive back it's at least an hour wasted on something I could be doing around here. I'm now trying to plan my trips to town at night so I'm not "burning daylight". If I need something that's not immediate I'll order it on-line and have it shipped. Country Life... 😂

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Britesea]

we have a nice big one in the empty lot next to us, but the last couple of years the drought has prevented berry production. They bloom, but the berries just dry up on the tree before they ever fully develop. I'm thinking of running the hose over there and giving it some water at least once a month this summer, to see if that helps, since my well is very deep. I have a lot of dried elderberries "put by", but I would like to be able to harvest some so I don't run out; only God knows how long this drought will last.

 

[CrealCritter]

I bought some of those air layering pods, they arrived yesterday. Going to try those, plus some assorted containers to air layer the lilac, a jasmine, and some of the branches off my avocado.

Does it matter if you use liquid or powder rooting hormone? Should I try both ways to test which one works better?

I've always used the powdered rooting hormone. Just make sure you apply it immediately after removing the bark, while the wound is still good and wet. I've not tried the liquid so really can't say how well works. Don't forget to post some pics

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've never had luck with rooting hormone, and have found that any time I do have success, it is without any added "stuff". Perhaps I'm putting it on too thick... or my powder has been old.

 

[CrealCritter]

I wanted to add... with all talk of different kinds of rooting hormone. I've had air-layering failures in the past, with powdered rooting hormone. But the worst that happened to the plant/tree was the the wound gulled over and self healed. Kind of like when a deer rubs a tree. The bark grows back to cover the wound all by itself. My failures didn't seem to stress the tree/plant and it went back to the business of growing.

I want to believe my past failures are from not applying the rooting hormone to the wound fast enough and also peat moss dried out because it wasn't packed in tight enough. However these are just my suspicious based on experience and common sense (not science).

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Well, 8 air layering pods applied. I will check them in 2-4 weeks. I couldn't find the rooting powder so it's just the damp moss stuff. I soaked it in a bucket and squeezed the water out then packed into the pods.

2 on the lilac:

2 on the jasmine:

1 on a guava:

And 3 on avocados:

The first avocado I started from seed several years ago, and it has a lot of low branches that need to come off to make it more tree shaped. The second avocado was also from seed but for some reason it grew two trunks up instead of one, so the smaller is hopefully going to be air layered.

I hope they make it! The branches I chose on the guava and avocados have to go, so it they don't succeed air layering I will just cut them off. The lilac is an attempt to save some of the plant before it gets removed. Same with the jasmine. Those two are too close to the house, and where we want to have a future addition to the house.

 

[CrealCritter]

Well it looks like I may have found a peach tree pattern and have to correct my previous statement of one branch with the clear goo. We have had a lot of rain over the past week. idk if that's a contributing factor or not but it's worth noting.

I now have 3 air-layer peach tree attempt branches with clear goo coming out of the top of the rooting balls. The commonality is they are all old branches. Meaning the bark has already turned gray. Not a new growth branch with reddish colored bark. Again my only real option is to leave the root balls alone until 3 to 5 more weeks and hope the rooting hormone worked. Just felt it was worth noting, since the results may help answer some questions in the future.

I'm kind of interested to see what becomes of my air-layering attempts. Nothing beats experience... But experience is a rather strange thing, you get it right after you needed.

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸

 

[Hinotori]

I can't for the life of me remember which gardening book I got the info out of. It's been decades now. I know certain willows work better. You can just peel both bark layers off of new growth and use that to soak. The wood doesn't add anything.

 

[Hinotori]

Do you use this for air layering? Would you try it in the heat of summer? I can get some willow.

I've only used it on common house plants. I've never air layered a tree. It works nicely for cuttings.

Only air layering I've done outside is on blackberries and those follow different rules. I can prune and do minor break repairs but that's all the tree experience I have.