Possible Air Layer / First Spring Exposed Root Pine

[missionBonsai]

Hello!

I have been inspecting my parent's crabapple for possible air layers and I don't see much that is interesting enough to try. However, there is this one spot, but it has old scars and I'm not sure how that would effect an airlayer. And further along, it would have a huge chop right on top, but I thought that maybe that could be carved into something interesting?



Another note, I started these exposed root JBP last fall. I suppose the setups I made are real hack jobs, but they lived. I followed steps from Bonsai Tonight; I wanted to make them real small and used body armor bottles so that I can see the progress. Anyway, some first roots are coming down, kind of cool.

 

[Shibui]

You can layer the crab at that spot. Roots will not grow from the dead wood in the scars but should grow from the live parts all round the scars. I agree that that layer will require a big chop. You may be able to carve and grow a new leader but could also be quicker and easier to start with a small tree or thin cutting and still achieve a better trunk quicker than converting a thick trunk with ugly chop.
Good to see new starts for exposed root pines. It will be interesting to see how these develop.