Air layer

[nurvbonsai]

This tree is grafted right here. It is common for the scion to not have the same diameter as the understock and there are many options to fix that. Sometimes the best thing to do is weigh options first then come up with a plan.
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For your next air layer you don't have to strip a lot of bark off, just enough to stop the flow of Auxin and nutrients to the roots and prevent bridging. It's also recommended to let the cut dry out for a day before putting soil around it. This is helpful if your airlayers keep failing due to bridging since this gets the last of the cambium to dry out. About this much bark should be removed for this diameter of tree. The top and bottom cut should be sharp and clean.
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Thank you for the detailed notes. Based on what you’ve seen what are the chances of my first one working?

 

[Wulfskaar]

Thank you for the detailed notes. Based on what you’ve seen what are the chances of my first one working?

Try to get a nice, clean cut, especially on the top cut. You only need an inch or two of bark and cambium gone.

I did my first air layer in spring 2023. It didn't put out any roots by fall 2023, so I re-shaved the stripped part to make sure there was no cambium left. I tried to focus on clean cuts, like in this picture.

By summer 2024, I had roots and was finally able to separate. If you clean up your top cut now, add rooting hormone, and re-wrap it, you still have a shot at getting roots by fall.

 

[namnhi]

Thank you for the detailed notes. Based on what you’ve seen what are the chances of my first one working?

I give it 75% chance of taking. You definitely overdid the cut for sure.

 

[shohin_branches]

Thank you for the detailed notes. Based on what you’ve seen what are the chances of my first one working?

There's a chance, but you won't get root development to start until after it leafs out. You need auxin to force the root growth and if your tree is still dormant auxin won't build up near the top cut to trigger roots.

You may have to go a bit deeper on your cuts it looks like you may not have removed all of the cambium. Here is my Japanese maple after a squirrel stripped the bark off of it and here is that maple 8 months after I cleaned up the edges of the damage and covered it with cutpaste. This shows you just how much Japanese maple bark can roll over in a short amount of time. Just seeing white isn't enough you have to go a little into the sapwood to remove the cambium or it will just heal right over again.


Here is a visual of how deep I cut into a willow leaf ficus for an airlayer

 

[SeanS]

For future air layer attempts there is very little reason to deviate from the technique @leatherback demonstrated in chapter 2 (0:30-1:02) of his video I posted earlier.
An added bonus of leaving some bark below the air layer is that you may get lucky if some buds pop from the existing nodes that may be present on the trunk below your layer meaning you could end up with a usable 2nd tree after harvesting the layer.

 

[nurvbonsai]

I give it 75% chance of taking. You definitely overdid the cut for sure.

I give it 75% chance of taking. You definitely overdid the cut for sure

I give it 75% chance of taking. You definitely overdid the cut for sure.

once I started cutting it just seemed to all fall off without much effort and intention.