Brugie, I am thinking in the spring the roots will grow like crazy in the wet moss.
What size peat pots are you using? The root balls that form in the moss are good sized, maybe they could squeeze in a 6 inch pot but that would be pushing it. I would think a 6 inch pot with wet dirt would be heavy to stay up on the trunk. I have good luck now that the roots are so big before I cut off limb so they take to their new pots so much faster with minimum fuss. Of course I am doing large diameter side sprouts that already big enough to be an alley tree.
In fact I now grow top of the Y cuttings for their sidesprouts just so I can cut them off for alley trees. Side sprouts can shoot up so fast and gain in diameter quickly. I have a 5 incher now that I am doing.
Air layering pots
Kell, I don't use peat pots. Just fill the plastic wrap with spaghnum and secure it to the stalk. I didn't have to water mine at all.
try aluminum foil next time.......... you can do it with one hand......lol and I think it attracts more heat. No tape needed. I didn't have to water mine again either.....I just forget about them.
Here I disagree with Ludger. Fertilizing will not fasten up the rooting process. Roots supply nourishment and water for the plant. If the roots will find both right beside the trunk, there will be less root growth and therefore a poor root ball is developed. Fresh potted plants should be watered throughly and then again, when the soil has become dry. The roots will continue to grow while searching for nourishment and water. Plants thrive better, when the pots become dry and then watered throughly. Its an old gardener trick. Many plants root easy with air layering, but some will not unless the cut is made and the mother plant is not watered and fertilized too much. Is this understandable english for you?
Monika, please read my post again: I didnt say fertilizing during the rooting process but after this. I mean the time point if you could cut the airlayered trunk. Most time I keep it at the motherplant for some more weeks. During this time I water and fertilize the peat pot roots like the pot from the motherplant.
I do not, because after seperating the trunk from the mother plant, it is important to have a solid root ball within a short time.
At least I seem to be doing my watering correctly! LOL Thanks Monika for all your insights! Some of it is bound to rub off on me.
Monika, I am very glad that both of us somtimes are going different ways. You are in the highlands - I in the lowlands. All times we can mix or change our experiences,thatīs very very good.
See the seedlings and doubles you gave to me for watching here. You will get some reports this spring and summer.
You will watch some HG x Avalon seedlings this summer for me. Will bring to you in May.......
I like this. Together..
GL
I just got my pots today,tomarrow I will use them all on some brugs I have had trouble rooting looks like they will be easy to use I'll soon find out.....glade to see it only taken a week to get them
Keep us updated Pete on how they work.
I got mine today. They are smaller than I thought they would be, but look like they will work well. I won't be using them until spring when I try a couple on my variegated wiegelia. I know that is spelled wrong, but don't remember how Evert said to spell it.
Today I tryed one on my double candida white one small thing is that the branch can't be much larger than a pencile and if its not strait its a little cumbersome to place the lid on. the pot has a little water reservore in it to keep it moist and if it drys out you can water it some more through the top. so we will have to wait now for a few weeks and see if it helps
I did some air-layering yesterday...can wait to see the results! I used the kitchen-foil method cause it's so easy and my mam always has some in the kitchen..LOL I placed rooting hormone containing fungicide, on the wound to increase my chances of sucess!
I did some interesting grafting too!!! Fingers crossed! :o)))
MrP. Sounds like you are really getting into this now. Wish our weather would straighten up so I could do more. Hope your roots grow and your grafts take. Will be anxious to hear what you are experimenting with.
Good Luck Pete. Hope that one day our weather will be nice enough that things grow and I can try the pots. I had good luck with a baggie and moss last year. Guess I just like to try new things. Hope you have good luck with yours.
I may try grafting........ I would love to have one that has different colors coming out of it!
Well..my main aim on saturday was to graft various dwarf mutation chimaeras of the Arborea Group to rootstocks of the Aurea Group to improve vigor but i'm experimenting with a few others too as i've a feeling the dwarf chimaeras may be difficult to graft and i'm guessing a low success rate, but we'll see what happens!
The airlayering is mainly with x Flavas at the moment!
I'm gonna try everything i can think of with these plants..LOL
Just to follow up on my earlier post of 2/15, I had just airlayed 2 brugs, each about 6 feet tall that were side sprouts from a mother plant. I had just put wet moss and silver foil around the moss and left it alone. No cuts, no rooting hormone. Today (picture below just before I cut it off) I cut it from the mother tree and potted it on its own. The roots had grown so fast. Though to be truthful, I had also cut a brug down about the same time to toss but kept one 5 foot limb that I had cut and it seems to have rooted just as fast by just putting it in straight in wet soil.
How did yours do Bruno?
Hi Kell, The air-layering of the arborea group seems to be much slower but it's looking good as Vulcanicola 'Vulcanstaub' has began to callus! Vulcanstaub is very difficult to root cuttings of!
I just realized that its almost been 3 weeks guess I should go out and take a peek