AusBonsai

Hi
I got myself a $15 maple from bunnings the other day with the intention of air-layering it, I've noticed people have done their airlayers at the start of spring and I'm wondering if its too late to do it now( one book I read said early summer).

also heres a pic of said maple, I saw it a few days earlier and when I went back someone had exposed all the roots(nebari?) so I figured I'd better grab it, I mainly grabbed it for the top and base and all the side branches to make experimental maples with(I love maples), and for something else to play with while my $8 stick in a pot grew, and I found or purchased more trees.



red circles are approximate intended air-layer points, I'll also be removing some of the branches via air-layer or cuttings for replanting.

Personally i would place it into a larger pot with a very nice larger agg mix and then feed like crazy. Yes this tree will need to be cut down to bonsai and air-layering will give you multiple trees, however by air layering you will end up with multiple trees with a year or two to receover and grow roots & leaves before it starts to add to its bulk.

What i would do with this tree is pot it as stated and fatten it up for those 2 years. As you already have developed leaves and roots you will get much faster growth. I would also selectively chop/prune a few branches back to promote further branching. More branching = more leaves = more sap flow = thicker trunk quicker

Remember when you prune you take energy out of the system, keep more branches and leaves on it then you increase energy uptake. Imagine the tree as it is now, cut the branches back to about half their size. Instead of the remaining branch length having about 4-5 leaf nodes, the tree will form 2 branches and then when they grow out to 4-5 leaf nodes you will now have 8-10 in place of the original 4-5. At this stage you won't care about branched or placement etc, just fatten this puppy up as fast as possible and then when it starts to look like the ones i have (see pic) then start air layering it apart and you have great thicker trinks to start bonsai development on

I would air layer it now and then repot when it goes dormant. Not sure if you know much about deciduous trees but you can't bare root it now or disturb the roots too much while they have leaves. If you do the tree may die. So I would air layer now then by all means repot into a larger pot/ ground grow or grow box. You should also start root work as it can only be done once a year and takes years to get a goot root system.

I will be doin on few days time. Should only take about 6-8 week to take them have few months before winter slows them down

Thanks for the replies and advice

hmm I repotted it into a larger pot about 2-3 days ago as a longer term plan to fatten the trunk after air-layering,I wasn't aware I could kill the tree at this time of year. I didn't do anything to the roots just teased them out and put it in, and I thought if the general advice was to air-layer it now then do it in a week or two.

so given that I've probably stressed it enough already, would you say leave it until next year for air-layering?

If you bare rooted it you may be in trouble - if you slip potted it the tree still may not like it. Either way I would keep it in the shade and give it some seasol for a couple of weeks. If it is still healthy then by all means do the layers.

Bougy Fan wrote:If you bare rooted it you may be in trouble - if you slip potted it the tree still may not like it. Either way I would keep it in the shade and give it some seasol for a couple of weeks. If it is still healthy then by all means do the layers.

Ok thanks for the tips Bougy. I've got the perfect spot for it, it should only receive direct light until around 9-10am each day. I hope it lasts I wouldn't mind so much if I killed it through my first attempts at air-layering

I would leave it alone till next spring now, but do what Boughy says,keep the seasol up to it it should be alright if you didn`t disturb the roots too much,there is no hurry with this tree,let it recover but remember do not repot deciduous trees when they have leaves on then,do them just prior to budswell (late winter.)

chingngiy wrote:ahm.. hi doktee.. i think Bougy Fan
was correct

Everyone is different and depends on how hard you want to push a tree to get what you want, and where you live.
It sounds to me that you only Slip potted rather than root pruned which is good

if that's the case, Keep up the aftercare, and see how you go for a month or 2, and if you get good strong recovery you can try to take them then

K2 all is correct that taking layers off will slow the tree, but I prefer to do that early rather than have a much larger unmangeable tree for a few years to thicken.
if you do waited, you wodu have to have 2 - 5 years to add girth, Then and other year to set layers and then another 2-3 years to develop the branching on the main tree.
Each layer will take 2 years to build initial nebari then have to fatten each one of them as well.

For me, I am going to put the layers on the smaller tree and then next summer have 3 trees to develop Nebari and fatten up.

Ken

Just an update, the tree is healthy except for some leaf burn the last few days, it has new shoots busting out at different node points, so I'm going to layer it tonight tomorrow I couldn't find any cheap pond liner type plastic, so I bought some jiffy pots and I'm going to put those around the sphagnum moss, and use grey plastic bags to cover it up. Hopefully in a month or two the layers should be rooting

I also took some cuttings as an experiment and planted them I think they would of worked if I kept the leaves more moist as roots were starting to grow after a couple of weeks.

doktee wrote:I couldn't find any cheap pond liner type plastic, so I bought some jiffy pots and I'm going to put those around the sphagnum moss, and use grey plastic bags to cover it up. Hopefully in a month or two the layers should be rooting

I used bubble wrap. Worked fine.

doktee wrote: I also took some cuttings as an experiment and planted them I think they would of worked if I kept the leaves more moist as roots were starting to grow after a couple of weeks.

I've created mini green houses from modified PTE bottles - a few small holes in the bottom, a circular cut 95% around the top for a hinged lid, a little latch of old wire and there you are!

Photos shortly.

thoglette wrote: I used bubble wrap. Worked fine.

excellent, I've made 3 air layers considering with the plastic bags

thoglette wrote: I've created mini green houses from modified PTE bottles - a few small holes in the bottom, a circular cut 95% around the top for a hinged lid, a little latch of old wire and there you are!

Photos shortly.

now why I didn't I think of that, I'm going to do it next time it will save me having to spray them half a dozen times a day lol

Just an update, I got 2 out of 4 of the air layers to root, one of them being the one I wanted the most at the top of the tree. End of winter or early spring I'm going to try get the other 2 and probably a 3rd as I feel like if I chop and discard whats left of the tree it would be going to waste.

Thanks everyone for the advice I also have a Dawn Redwood to do next spring as well now, found it sitting all lonely in the back of a nursery we happened to stop at just to look at fountains and for $9 for something 1.5-2 meters tall bonus.