JBP air layer removed!

[Graydon]

Here's a little JBP that I started layering early this spring. I removed it from the parent plant this morning. I suppose I could have waited a while longer but there seemed to be plenty of new root tips poking thru the colander. I was anxious to see the root development and to try to salvage the parent plant with some chopping and a severe bend making one of the side branches the new apex.

First photo is from a while ago showing the root growth thru the colander. Second photo is of the severed layer with all the new root tips and the third is from the bottom showing the chop. Notice that the diameter of the trunk at the soil is at least twice that of where it was chopped.

 

[Graydon]

I removed it from the colander as carefully as I could. The root ball although wet from my irrigation seemed to stay intact. The development was better on 2 sides and it seemed to form a nice rectangular shape. Just right for a rectangular pot I have. A little big but I can reduce it again in a few years.

First photo is the root ball once removed from the colander. Second shot shows the tree and the root mass and the third is a close up of a very nice surface root. Not bad for 6 or so months.

 

[Graydon]

Here's a couple of it going in the pot. Yes that is the same soil that it was in the colander. It's less than a year old and seems to be a good mix so I simply used it to pot in this pot.

 

[Graydon]

A few shots of the tree in the pot. There are a couple of nice fronts but it needs to rotate a bit and tilt a little. That will need to wait for a year or so. The root mass fit nicely in this pot and I didn't want to disturb it much more.

Next up is to think about the branches and begin to plan the wiring job ahead of me next spring. I believe I will haul this tree in for a traveling artist workshop next year. I could use some advice in person on building a nice and proper tree with what I have to work with.

Hope you enjoyed and feel free to comment.

 

[grouper52]

Graydon,

Thanks for posting this, and great technique and great results!

I've got one I was planning to try this spring using the technique Deborah Kershoff describes in her book. I like your use of the colander!

Deborah recommends a single ring cut through the cambrium at the base, with a circumferential series of bark/cambrium flaps then lifted and propped up, and perhaps cut to a wedge, to stimulate quicker rooting than would otherwise be seen in JBPs. Is this the technique you used, or how did you do it?

Did you use any root stimulating hormones?

How long was the layer in training before harvesting?

Thanks for any info you can post.

 

[Graydon]

Deborah recommends a single ring cut through the cambrium at the base, with a circumferential series of bark/cambrium flaps then lifted and propped up, and perhaps cut to a wedge, to stimulate quicker rooting than would otherwise be seen in JBPs. Is this the technique you used, or how did you do it?

That sounds too complicated for me. I simply cut 2 rings about 1.5 x diameter of trunk apart and peeled what was between. I allowed the peeled area to dry in the sun and them cleaned it with alcohol to make sure the cells were indeed dead so it would not scar over (thanks to Brent for that pointer!). I cleaned the top cut after the cell killing treatment and applied a paste of powdered hormone and water. The hormone I used was 0.80% IBA similar to Hormex #8.

I would never do a layer with moss and plastic bags again. The colander and coarse soil mix was great and no special watering was needed. An added bonus was it came right out of the colander and in to a pot in the proper soil with no cleaning moss from the new roots. It was also loaded with lots of divided fine roots.

I don't keep very good notes but I believe I started the layer early spring this year. I figure 7 or perhaps 8 months before I cut it free. I attempted to layer it once before but the cut area grew over. Take heed of Brent's advice on cleaning the peeled area. He told me Walter Pall uses a butane torch to do the same.

 

[Rick Moquin]

Nice work thanks for sharing. The future can readily be seen. What does the parent tree look like theses days.

 

[Graydon]

What does the parent tree look like theses days.

Not so nice.

This section harvested was pretty much the best part of the tree. I removed one of the bar branches below where the layer was removed, carved it out a bit with a concave cutter, added a wire spline and bent the remaining branch up as an apex. It does have a nice moving base with some decent rootage so if it kicks in and starts growing well I may begin to add some lower branches over the next few years as a grafting project.

I am trying to keep new trees in that 1:6 ratio. It's tough when they are tall and skinny. It's even worse when they suck and they are tall and skinny.

 

[anttal63]

brilliant !!! thanks for sharing a great lesson.

i wonder how this technique would go on mugos, scotts and jwp's?

 

[Brent]

Graydon

It's very exciting to get that kind of root growth in only one growing season. Did you get roots all the way around the trunk, or are there places were it only callused but didn't root? I have one really nice potential airlayer on a pretty crappy tree, so now I'm jazzed to get it started this winter. I agree with you about the pot method. I have been promoting this for years, for just the reasons you cite. I simply cut down the side of nursery can and cut a hole in the bottom for the trunk. A Bit of aluminum wire around the top of the split is enough to hold the can together after the soil is added. For overhead irrigation, you need do nothing else, for drip irrigation, you just put another emitter in the pot.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
see our blog at http://BonsaiNurseryman.typepad.com

 

[Graydon]

The root growth was all around the trunk, however some of them are larger and stronger that others. There is an area on what I am calling the back side that has a large undercut with callous and fine roots below where I would have liked to have them. I may scar and hormone that area again in the spring to work on better surface rootage. For me this project is all about trying to build a pine with a nice nebari and trunk to height ratio.

I'm glad you pointed it out Brent, I did add an emitter just for this pot so I would be sure that it was watered several times a day with my other trees. I didn't want to risk not having it wet enough from the overhead stuff.

 

[rlist]

Deborah recommends a single ring cut through the cambrium at the base, with a circumferential series of bark/cambrium flaps then lifted and propped up, and perhaps cut to a wedge, to stimulate quicker rooting than would otherwise be seen in JBPs. Is this the technique you used, or how did you do it?

There was a thread on IBC that showed this technique. I want to say it was in early '05. I did a quick search, but did not find it. Maybe another member remembers this and/or searches it out.

 

[art-rodriguez]

jbp air layer

There was a thread on IBC that showed this technique. I want to say it was in early '05. I did a quick search, but did not find it. Maybe another member remembers this and/or searches it out.

hey rich
see page 55 of IBC galleries authored by CJ LEO around October /05

 

[irene_b]

The root growth was all around the trunk, however some of them are larger and stronger that others. There is an area on what I am calling the back side that has a large undercut with callous and fine roots below where I would have liked to have them. I may scar and hormone that area again in the spring to work on better surface rootage. For me this project is all about trying to build a pine with a nice nebari and trunk to height ratio.

I'm glad you pointed it out Brent, I did add an emitter just for this pot so I would be sure that it was watered several times a day with my other trees. I didn't want to risk not having it wet enough from the overhead stuff.

Any special ferts added?
Irene

 

[rlist]

hey rich
see page 55 of IBC galleries authored by CJ LEO around October /05

Thanks Art. That is not the specific thread I was refering to, though the one he attempts to link in the old forum that no longer exists might be the correct one. The thread had pictures of the "flaps" Will referred to, with little bits of pumice stuck between the bark and the trunk wood to space them out. The picture is worth more than the thousand words I have now typed...

 

[grouper52]

The thread had pictures of the "flaps" Will referred to, with little bits of pumice stuck between the bark and the trunk wood to space them out. The picture is worth more than the thousand words I have now typed...

I scanned in that picture from Deborah's book to email to a friend (stupid email program gives me a hard time with attachments, so it never got to him ), and I'd post it here but I believe copyright laws prohibit such stuff -

But . . . I'm planning to use that exact technique this spring on my own JBP air layer, and will try to get some good pictures to post here then, but let me see if I can produce my own crude picture, since, as Rich rightly says, verbal descriptions are not as good. Back later with a crude drawing . . .

 

[Graydon]

Any special ferts added?
Irene

Nope. Same regiment as all my trees. Solid organics all year with 20-20-20 liquid applied once or twice a week as I remember.

 

[grouper52]

Here's a rough idea.

http://bonsainut.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif

 

[Chris Johnston]

Graydon,
That's a top job and thanks for posting it! So much for the old saws about air layering pines, the key is simply having the right technique!

I am pretty excited about all this too, and can't wait to get started doing some air layering on pines!

 

[bonsai barry]

Graydon

It's very exciting to get that kind of root growth in only one growing season.... I simply cut down the side of nursery can and cut a hole in the bottom for the trunk. A Bit of aluminum wire around the top of the split is enough to hold the can together after the soil is added. For overhead irrigation, you need do nothing else, for drip irrigation, you just put another emitter in the pot.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
see our blog at http://BonsaiNurseryman.typepad.com

I use plastic electrical ties to keep the pot held together, they're fast and cheap. (However, I suppose you can reuse the wire which is an advantage).