Cjr bald cypress air layer

Cajunrider

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I bought this bald cypress at Lowes September 2018. I didn't have many to choose from and wasn't happy with the unbalanced nebari so I airlayered it. It was the wrong time of the year to airlayer but I did it anyway. 20190302_075131.jpg

March 2nd the airlayer is harvested. The leaf buds are 1/8 inch long. The roots are not profuse but there are enough of them.
20190302_075713.jpg

I spreaded the roots out radially.
20190302_080237.jpg

Planted in cut off 55 gallon plastic barrel and braced for strong wind.
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Chopped tree ready to bud out again.
20190302_082931.jpg
 

Cajunrider

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Both the base and the air layer are budding out all over the place. In about a month I should have picture update with them all green out.
 

Cajunrider

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I bought this bald cypress at Lowes September 2018. I didn't have many to choose from and wasn't happy with the unbalanced nebari so I airlayered it. It was the wrong time of the year to airlayer but I did it anyway. View attachment 229919

March 2nd the airlayer is harvested. The leaf buds are 1/8 inch long. The roots are not profuse but there are enough of them.
View attachment 229927

I spreaded the roots out radially.
View attachment 229928

Planted in cut off 55 gallon plastic barrel and braced for strong wind.
View attachment 229929
View attachment 229930

Chopped tree ready to bud out again.
View attachment 229931
40 days later.
20190411_192520.jpg
 

maxajax

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Hey Cajunrider! could you describe a ittle how you made the airlayer? or maybe if you have some pics of the process. I tried airlayering a bald cypress but i only used sphagnum moss (and i think i used a small amount) and after 4 months it hasn´t shown any roots so im planing on redoing it again. how long did u wait when u re did de one that failed? What did u use as the substrate for the air layer? would you prefer to keep it fairly wet or leaning on the drier side? thanks for any help you can provide wit this!!
 

Cajunrider

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My BC air layers:
1. I cut the bark, scrape it clean, and left it to dry for 48 hours. Every time I rush this step, I have more failures on my air layers.
2. For the mix I just used Miracle Gro potting soil. It seems to be a little wetter than the normal air layer material but the BC seems to like it wetter.
3. I make my air layer quite a bit bigger than normal. That worked out better for me.
 

Cajunrider

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Amazingly this survived two major hurricanes and is now budding. I think I will chop it this year. Or should I give it a year to recuperate?
20210312_172611.jpg
 

Cajunrider

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The bottom of that tree also survived and is budding.
20210312_172630.jpg
 

HENDO

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The bottom of that tree also survived and is budding.
View attachment 360462
Looks like a fun project!

From this last picture it appears like you could leave the leader to thicken a bit more before the next chop? Maybe a bit early to do the angle chop even.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how these roots turn out. Are you getting any sort of buttressing from them yet?
 

Cajunrider

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I bought this bald cypress at Lowes September 2018. I didn't have many to choose from and wasn't happy with the unbalanced nebari so I airlayered it. It was the wrong time of the year to airlayer but I did it anyway. View attachment 229919

March 2nd the airlayer is harvested. The leaf buds are 1/8 inch long. The roots are not profuse but there are enough of them.
View attachment 229927

I spreaded the roots out radially.
View attachment 229928

Planted in cut off 55 gallon plastic barrel and braced for strong wind.
View attachment 229929
View attachment 229930

Chopped tree ready to bud out again.
View attachment 229931
3.5 years later the air layer is now in a BC forest. The radially set roots resulted in a beautiful base.
6764A5AF-2170-4053-9D58-1C2397288061.jpeg
7319DA3C-AAF4-4E94-B748-33EE94413454.jpeg
 

19Mateo83

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Man that air layer sure took off. I can’t believe you gave it 48 hours to dry after you cut the bark. Does it really improve your results that much? It really did give it a great base too.
 

Cajunrider

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Man that air layer sure took off. I can’t believe you gave it 48 hours to dry after you cut the bark. Does it really improve your results that much? It really did give it a great base too.
I was trained to give the cut 48 hours to dry before putting the air layer on. Now that I've done many, the result is inconclusive. It doesn't hurt but I am not sure how much it helps if any. As for the base flare, I find it really easy to do with bald cypress. The buttressing is much much harder to get. I think the BC has to be fairly large for that to happen. Out in the wild I see buttressing for BC 20 ft or taller.
 

19Mateo83

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I was trained to give the cut 48 hours to dry before putting the air layer on. Now that I've done many, the result is inconclusive. It doesn't hurt but I am not sure how much it helps if any. As for the base flare, I find it really easy to do with bald cypress. The buttressing is much much harder to get. I think the BC has to be fairly large for that to happen. Out in the wild I see buttressing for BC 20 ft or taller.
Speaking of swelling based, I have a few saplings through a washer and those ones bases are getting wide really fast. It’s only been one season and the base is double the trunk thickness. I’m thinking about trying it with one that has a 2” trunk using a piece of plate steel.
 
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