My First Attempt At Air Layering

LOL.. wish me luck. I'm going to attempt to air layer my NBJ and Buddleia. Hopefully it will all go well, crossing my fingers anyway.

I'm also going to attempt cuttings from both of my Mandevilla's, will be a first time for that too and still keeping an eye out for the Salvia seeds, tho Im not sure exactly how successful I'll be in collecting them! Woot!

Any pre advice will be welcomed as Im still a bit nervous about the cutting thing.

No advice, I just tried my hand at air layering as well. I haven't had much luck with cuttings except for rosemary and christmas cactus. Hopefully we will both do well on our first try!
Karen

well, if anything, we can compare notes, lol.

They will root just fine IF you make sure the moss is moist under the saran wrap - keep us posted on how they do.

Hi cue_chik, Please keep us posted on your air-layering sucess. I just bought a $3.98 bag of sphagnum moss from Lowes and re-read the instructions from the Aggies web site that came from the buddelia propagation thread about Apr. 7th.

The web link is http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/ornamentals/airlayer/airlayer.html

I'm not sure what to try to air-layer. I think buddelia, crape myrtle and figs are too easy to root and air-layering is overkill. Should I try dogwood? I have a bunch of wild ones growing in my back yard woods. they are blooming right now so I can "select the best cultivar" to try.

Any other air-layering experimenters, please chime in with comments.

Paul

Paul, I can't think of anything that won't eventually root via air layering, except fleshy plants in the succulent family - if it has a leaf node, you can most likely air layer it.

I have done this with Roses and Harry Lauder's Walking Stick with 100% of cuttings working. Good luck. I found my instructions on the American Rose Society's page. It was easy!

About six or seven years ago..........possibly a bit longer the collumer apple trees hit the market. I have air layered them to give to friends. All are on their own roots and looking like their parents above the ground. Those that are three or four feet tall are starting to show some buds this year. Can not say if they will stay the course because the nice growth has just started. They look good at this point.

My air layering experience came from an elective my senior year in college. That was 1958. The expertise was simple....soak a handfull of moss, wring the water out to damp dry, wrap in a bud or two, wrap with clear plastic, tie off and step back. Simple enough. The following spring some of us went back to see the rooting. Another class cut them free and planted them. A layered nursery was born. Most survived. Some of our work is still growing on campus. Half of my class are dead and gone. I can just point in the general direction and say one of that group of trees is mine. No one including me can remember that well and by now most of us don't care about anything but the memory which is also hard to come by these days. After a few hot toddies the trees even become a bit blurry and refuse to be identified or associated with any special alums.

aww, thats a great Story doc! I havent quite begun my air layering adventure yet, but i did tumble head first into attempting to root cuttings when I accidentally broke a stem from my butterfly bush. 2 weeks later, the cutting is still healthy, but no roots yet. I did try my Night Blooming Jasmine, but it just wilted and died. I'll try again in a few weeks, but for now, I have several BB cuttings doing well (no roots yet tho) so Ill continue to coddle them till they do.

True story such as I can repeat it. I did overlook the fact that one trick the field course leader did teach us was to chop up some alfalfa and make what he called a rooting tea. The final soaking was using alfalfa tea that had been in a bucket of water for a week and aeriated with a paddle daily until we used it. He said it would contain safe nutrients, trace minerals and a growing hormone. That was our course as far as biology went for the student body left. Someone among us probagated everything but a broom handle in that field course. Many of us have enjoyed it for a lifetime of gardening pleasure. With experience I have learned that a Bud Bottle will not root. I have been known to empty a few and try. They just will not root.

Today the magic words are to use kelp, yucca and alfalfa teas as equals. I have played with all of them. My belief is that any of them or any combination of them is as good as any purchased rooting hormones I have used.