Manzanita Air Layer - 0 for 6

BrianBay9

BrianBay9

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I kept asking if anyone had tried air layering manzanita, but never got a response. I finally found myself in a place where I could give it a try. I've seen them naturally ground layer themselves, but every ground layer I found was pretty much as securely rooted as the mother plant.

So I tried six air layers. Ring barked - rooting hormone - sphagnum moss - cling wrap. Started them the beginning of May of 2019. I watered them once a week through the summer until the wet season around here, then just checked them weekly to make sure they were moist. The picture below is the best I got after a year of waiting......


Manzanita air layer attempt.jpg

One freaking root and a bit of callus. The other five didn't even have that. I've successfully air layered all kinds of things, but I don't have the patience for this. I guess manzanita is off my want-list.
 
Well, it isn't nothing. There is no law that says layering must happen in one season, so maybe you just need a bit more patience.

Maybe there is another way to skin this cat. You say that you've seen them spontaneously ground layer themselves. Maybe it is just a matter of keeping some moist stuff around a node as nobody is out in the wild girdling manzanitas. IOW, try something that resembles the circumstances you've seen. Azaleas will root by simply pegging a stem to the ground. Where it is pegged is a low spot so there an excess of auxin develops on the bottom of the dip (the end of the stem needs to be above ground with leaves) causing cambium cells to morph into root initials. Also, one can make a slanting cut going up into an azalea stem (like an upside down veneer grafting cut), stick a toothpick in it, and it will root into whatever damp media is around it. I realize manzanita isn't an azalea, but you may succeed if you try less conventional things. Blaze some new territory!
 
Patience is not my strong suit. Maybe if it was in my front yard. Manzanita seems to be one of those trees everyone wants, lots try, almost all fail.
 
That's a start, I would have left it. I've always used dip N grow undiluted and now having better results with live sphagnum as have others. Too wet or too dry is another tricky issue.
 
Leo in N E Illinois said:
IF it is not too late, re-wrap and give them one more year. Even on supposedly "easy to air layer trees" like apple, I have had air layers sometimes take 2 years.

That is if you have the patience.
Click to expand...

To care for this I have to drive a bit and hike a couple of miles. Keeping it moist throughout our arid summer last year was more trouble than I'd care to repeat. This post is just to say I've tried it, and it's not a routine air layer. One would have to have an extraordinary desire for manzanita to go this route. Good luck to those who are digging these trees. I hope someone works our the magical mix of harvest and after care to make a great manzanita bonsai.
 
BrianBay9 said:
To care for this I have to drive a bit and hike a couple of miles. Keeping it moist throughout our arid summer last year was more trouble than I'd care to repeat. This post is just to say I've tried it, and it's not a routine air layer. One would have to have an extraordinary desire for manzanita to go this route. Good luck to those who are digging these trees. I hope someone works our the magical mix of harvest and after care to make a great manzanita bonsai.
Click to expand...
For desert work I used Terra sorb to keep the moss moist longer.
 
BrianBay9 said:
I kept asking if anyone had tried air layering manzanita, but never got a response. I finally found myself in a place where I could give it a try. I've seen them naturally ground layer themselves, but every ground layer I found was pretty much as securely rooted as the mother plant.

So I tried six air layers. Ring barked - rooting hormone - sphagnum moss - cling wrap. Started them the beginning of May of 2019. I watered them once a week through the summer until the wet season around here, then just checked them weekly to make sure they were moist. The picture below is the best I got after a year of waiting......


View attachment 298426

One freaking root and a bit of callus. The other five didn't even have that. I've successfully air layered all kinds of things, but I don't have the patience for this. I guess manzanita is off my want-list.
Click to expand...
Lol thank you for your sacrifice and courage to post very helpful failures!

It's still on my want list, but no longer on my "I'll try this" list.
 
Have been reading this thread with interest. I would say don't give up on air-layering if it is not too difficult to tend to it. I, on a whim, decided to try my manzanita after my gingko seemed to fail. My Louis Edmonds cultivar manzanita in the ground is almost 8 ft. tall after planting from gallon pot around 7-8 years ago. For the airlayers I used sphagnum around the cut and pumice in a small pot cut to fit around the .6in. branch late spring 2020. By autumn one of them had a bunch of pearly white roots in the pot. The other had some, but not enough to remove. I removed the first one, but lost some roots removing the pot. Still I planted it in part pumice, part potting mix, stabilized it and kept out of the hardest rains. It is blooming now, same as the parent and nothing looks dead yet so am hopeful. No pics yet, but will keep camera handy when removing other branch.
I have tried putting cuttings in rooting soil, but not had success. Has anyone done this? What type of branch would work the best; ie, new or older growth?
 
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