air-layering vs girdling

bonsai barry

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The pioneers used to girdle a tree to kill it. They would remove a ring around the trunk depriving the tree of water. Will an air-layer do the same thing if you remove too much of the cambium layer? I have a bald cypress that is dead above the air-layer and I'm wondering if that is the cause.
 
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Smoke

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No it will not kill it. The function of girdleing or an airlayer is to innterupt the motion of the fluids going down, not the water going up which happens much deeper in the plant. Here in grape central, Thompson seedless growers have been girdleing grapes for a century to get the really large table grapes that everyone likes so much. By girdleing below the grapes, the sugars are forced into the fruit rather than back down to the roots. It does weaken the vines over time and is usually done two years then they rest the vines for two.

edit: if you girdle a tree down low and deprive it of water about the wound untill it grows roots, then yes it would die.

Good luck, Al
 

Behr

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The pioneers used to girdle a tree to kill it. They would remove a ring around the trunk depriving the tree of water. Will an air-layer do the same thing if you remove too much of the cambium layer? I have a bald cypress that is dead about the air-layer and I'm wondering if that is the cause.
Mr. Barry, I assume you mean 'above' the air-layer' rather than 'about the air-layer'...To use the ring bark method for air-layer purposes on a bald cypress is nearly the least effective of all layering methods...Occasionally it will work and you will get a successful layer, but rarely so...To go further into your question; yes to girdle most trees will kill it, which is why we apply damp moss or soil that will keep the layer cut from drying out and destroying the pathways that transport moisture upward in the trunk/branch...

Regards
Behr

:) :) :)
 

bonsai barry

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Mr. Barry, I assume you mean 'above' the air-layer' rather than 'about the air-layer'...To use the ring bark method for air-layer purposes on a bald cypress is nearly the least effective of all layering methods...Occasionally it will work and you will get a successful layer, but rarely so...To go further into your question; yes to girdle most trees will kill it, which is why we apply damp moss or soil that will keep the layer cut from drying out and destroying the pathways that transport moisture upward in the trunk/branch...

Regards
Behr

:) :) :)

Yes, I did indeed mean "above" rather than "about" the layer. Your response does beg the question:
If the ring bark method is least effective, then what is the most effective? Of course, this is a hypothetical question since the tree is beyond resuscitatation.

Thank you and thanks Al for your timely replies.
 
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Behr

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Yes, I did indeed mean "above" rather than "about" the layer. Your response does beg the question:
If the ring bark method is least effective, then what is the most effective? Of course, this is a hypothetical question since the tree is beyond resuscitatation.

Thank you and thanks Al for your timely replies.

Mr. Barry,

Before finally coming to the realization that very few layers on bald cypress are worth the effort due to the ease of growing what you need from seedlings or even seeds and the low cost of landscape nursery material, I did attempt many layers using an assorted group of methods...By far the most successful for me was to use a tight tourniquet on the tree until sufficient swelling occurred above the tourniquet...Then score, cut notches, or make holes through the cambium, all the way around, apply rooting hormone, wet sphagnum, and cover with plastic...Using this method you do not take the chance of depriving the layer of moisture, which is sure death for a bald cypress...Caution should be used with securing the upper edge of the plastic...The bald cypress grows so fast and the sap wood is so soft that the wire or string used to secure the top of the plastic will quickly cut into the bark...I discovered a wide piece of tape worked best to secure the top of the plastic, and even then I cut along the folds and re-tape about every month...

Reagrds
Behr

:) :) :)
 
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