Show us Your Airlayers

[dbonsaiw]

This branch reminded me of my BonsaiNut emoji so I layered it. Nebari is looking good.

 

[shimbrypaku]

Japanese maple, unknown type, from yard tree.

 

[shimbrypaku]

And two more in the pipeline,
Thanks

 

[dbonsaiw]

And two more in the pipeline,

Nice. In the pipeline, I have a regular JM, Seryu maple and a Shin Deshojo.

 

[19Mateo83]

I just separated a kotohime

And my deshojo layers are showing roots at the cotton of the pot.

I also just started one on a tamukeyama on a shoot growing off of the root stock.
I also have several edible fig layers in the works.

 

[19Mateo83]

Here's one I just repotted (Holy Mother of God I hate combing out sphagnum moss). I'm not yet finding the ready made trees, just shooting for some movement I can work with. The roots did come out nicely.

I gave up on using moss in layers for this reason. If I use it at all I mill it down. For the most part I just use bonsai mix. The trees seem to respond to it well.

 

[leatherback]

Separated the second succesfull airlayer of the year yesterday.
A twisty juniper in the making.

 

[Tbrshou]

$25 Trident ended up being a clump from air layer with a left over possible broom.

 

[Tbrshou]

Little small Japanese maple with a possible left over clump/triple trunk

 

[Tbrshou]

Regular green maple turned out to be a future twin trunk and possibly 2 more trees left over

 

[Lorax7]

Mulberry layer, taken from a tree in the yard. Not necessarily the most interesting material as it is now, but it’s a head start on a thick trunk and first branch. Also, air layers set you up for good radial nebari.


JM Sango Kaku, on its own roots. Still have a long road ahead with this one as the trunk needs thickening. Getting rid of the graft was just step one.


JM Katsura on its own roots. I won’t need to grow the trunk as much on this one, as I am aiming for a shohin size tree. Air layering got rid of the graft, setting it up for nice nebari, and allowed me to set the first branch low enough for shohin.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Not quite branches, but some great starter material from air layers!

 

[dbonsaiw]

Not quite branches, but some great starter material from air layers!

That's what I'm talking about!!!!

Do you find that the better layers come off material you are already working on, as opposed to from a yard tree for example?

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

That's what I'm talking about!!!!

Do you find that the better layers come off material you are already working on, as opposed to from a yard tree for example?

As long as the tree is healthy, well watered, and well fertilized, I haven't noticed much of a difference. I had failures on a landscape Arakawa last season because the tree came to me weak, and not fertilized. After a season under my care, I already have 4 ready to seperate!!!

Larger layers like the ones above take 1-2 months longer.

 

[SeanS]

Layer from 2021, I’ll post a better current photo this weekend once the tree is bare (the last photos is an IG story from this past weekend)

Later separations, Jan 2021




Spring 2022 (this current season, southern hemisphere)

 

[haidij]

Crabapples - I put 20 on at the same time and 13 succeeded (we were removing the tree). I find doing the layer at a junction with a younger branch improves success on the large ones.

 

[Javaman4373]

I did an air layer on one trunk of a foundation yew in the spring of 2020 and separated it in September of 2021. This is the air layer now. Unfortunately it got hit with a late freeze this spring and the frost killed the new buds at the apex. That should recover next year.

 

[BrightsideB]

The beginning of a shishigashira forest. Started roots on the upper two. Now just need the larger bottom one and I’ll have five. Two on the apex died early on. I have a good beginnings on the primary trunk for a bonsai hopefully layer it next spring. Been developing taper with doing this in mind for 5 years. Was a $25 tree two year graft when I bought it. They almost doubled in price now. Crazy!

 

[dbonsaiw]

Took my maple layers yesterday - seryu, shin deshojo and a plain vanilla Home Depot JM. The amount of foliage feeding the layer really seems to make a difference. The plain vanilla was jam-packed with roots, the seryu not so much. The foliage of the shin deshojo is interesting - above the layer the leaves remained a more reddish color, whereas the foliage below the layer turned green.

I only layered the top half of the shin deshojo and the rest will be used for grafting and eventually become a landscape tree. The seryu grew a branch below the graft, and the tiny stump has decent enough nebari so I'll see if this can be grown into another plain vanilla JM bonsai. The Home Depot JM has a thick stump over 2" wide but nothing grew below the layer. I'll see if anything pops lower down.

 

[Wood]

Picked up a yamadori Cedar Elm from Bjorn, originally collected by @hawkeye_bonsai and @hawkeyebonsai_dharmawolf11

Put four layers on in early March. Two unfortunately died, probably from underwatering


Separated the last two last night and I'm stoked to see these trees develop. Before separating:


#1:


#2:


I'm planning on putting two more layers onto the top of the tree, just because I can. Might make a classic shohin broom out of it. It seems like these trees just don't slow down