Air Layering A Chinese Elm aka Lacebark Elm

Frog · May 18, 2015

Hello all! I am in the process of trying to air layer a Chinese Elm. I was wondering if you could tell from the pictures if I went deep enough on the sap wood or not? I can go back and do more trimming seeing how I just did this yesterday evening.

Thanks.

Frog · May 18, 2015

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Frog
May 18, 2015

Air layering

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Frog
May 18, 2015

erb.75 · May 18, 2015

Frog...I just did a couple air layers on my elms...don't know if they worked or not, but you can look at the thread...http://www.bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/radialayer™-a-season-saver.17046/

Frog · May 18, 2015

Thanks! I will take a look.

Eric Group · May 18, 2015

You did it yesterday and still haven't wrapped it?

Looks plenty deep from the pics- primary concern is getting all the green off

If you are concerned you didn't go deep enough, wrap a wire tight around the top of the strip you cut off. This should keep any callousing/ growth from bridging the gap if you left a little strip...

0soyoung · May 18, 2015

Having left it open to the air for a day or so, you've killed all the xylem initials (cambium on the wood), so you won't have any bridging problems. You are good to go.

On a vertical stem (such as this) I like to split a pot around the girdle and fill it with your favorite bonsai medium (Turface MVP or Pro League for me; use a dab of sphagnum to fill the holes in the pot and either support the pot with screws into the trunk below or suspend it from above) - you will need to water it as you would any of your bonsai and/or wrap the works in polyethylene film. Of course, the old standard wad of of damp sphagnum under polyethylene is always an option and relatively care free.

Frog · May 18, 2015

Thanks for all the info and suggestions. I should have said this sooner.....I already wrapped it with sphagnum moss soaked in dyna gro kln, right after removing the bark and scraping off the wet looking area.

I wrapped it with a ziplock bag using vinyl tape and then covered it with a piece of a black trash bag and taped that on loosely. I was just wanting to make sure I went deep enough so it will take root.....if it were not deep enough I would rather remove some more now than waste a month waiting with no results.

This will be my first air later. Again, I really appreciate the help and I am going to put a piece of wire on it tomorrow.

Eric Group....Should the wire be really tight or kinda snug?

Osoyoung......you said damp moss.....how bad is it if it's dripping wet when applied?

0soyoung · May 18, 2015

Frog said:
Osoyoung......you said damp moss.....how bad is it if it's dripping wet when applied?

Probably not an issue as long as it didn't look like a full fish bowl.
Some air needs to get in. A poor seal to the trunk all that is needed, but you can poke a small hole in the bottom and one in the top of the zip-lock bag to be sure that standing water drains out.

Eric Group · May 19, 2015

Frog said:
Thanks for all the info and suggestions. I should have said this sooner.....I already wrapped it with sphagnum moss soaked in dyna gro kln, right after removing the bark and scraping off the wet looking area.

I wrapped it with a ziplock bag using vinyl tape and then covered it with a piece of a black trash bag and taped that on loosely. I was just wanting to make sure I went deep enough so it will take root.....if it were not deep enough I would rather remove some more now than waste a month waiting with no results.

This will be my first air later. Again, I really appreciate the help and I am going to put a piece of wire on it tomorrow.

Eric Group....Should the wire be really tight or kinda snug?

Osoyoung......you said damp moss.....how bad is it if it's dripping wet when applied?

On the wire- as tight as you can get it!

Frog · May 19, 2015

0soyoung said:
Probably not an issue as long as it didn't look like a full fish bowl.
Some air needs to get in. A poor seal to the trunk all that is needed, but you can poke a small hole in the bottom and one in the top of the zip-lock bag to be sure that standing water drains out.

Ok...thanks.

Frog · May 19, 2015

Eric Group said:
On the wire- as tight as you can get it!

Ok

Frog · May 19, 2015

Just double checking.....I should wrap the wire on the upper portion of the cut.....now do I put it on the bark or just below the top cut on the exposed wood itself?

Pattik · May 19, 2015

Frog said:
Just double checking.....I should wrap the wire on the upper portion of the cut.....now do I put it on the bark or just below the top cut on the exposed wood itself?

I just did an air layer on a hornbeam in my bonsai basics class and the wire is wrapped on the bark above the exposed wood at the top.

Frog · May 19, 2015

Pattik said:
I just did an air layer on a hornbeam in my bonsai basics class and the wire is wrapped on the bark above the exposed wood at the top.

Ok, thanks

0soyoung · May 19, 2015

Pattik said:
I just did an air layer on a hornbeam in my bonsai basics class and the wire is wrapped on the bark above the exposed wood at the top.

To layer a tree, we interrupt the phloem (through which photosynthate is transported from the leafs) and cambium (through which biologically active auxin - aka 'rooting hormone' - is transported. There are two ways to accomplish this end:

Girdle the stem, meaning remove the bark and cambium (leaving the wood) OR
Apply a tourniquette, meaning wrap a wire tightly around the stem - the phloem and cambium is interrutped as the stem thickens.

With girdling, one must take care to remove/kill all the cambium on the exposed wood; else the tissues that were removed will regrow and cause the layer to fail because of 'bridging'. Some people have recommended adding wire at the top of the girdle (on the top most bare wood) to compensate for hasty/sloppy/poor technique. One line of logic is that if a tourniquette alone works, then a tourniquette on the bare wood will prevent bridging - indeed it will, but so too will simply leaving the girdle exposed to the open air for a day or two or wiping it with (70%) isopropyl alcohol before covering it. The other line of belief is that bridging is caused by new roots that go straight down (this is falicious even though new roots do sometimes go straight down instead of radially outward); so the wire is applied on the bare wood at the top of the girdle to defect these roots outward, away from the stem.

But, there is absolutely no point in cutting a girdle and applying a wire tourniquette on the bark above the girdle - the girdle serves no purpose in this configuration. I certainly hope you are not paying for such quackery, Pattik.

Eric Group · May 19, 2015

Pattik said:
I just did an air layer on a hornbeam in my bonsai basics class and the wire is wrapped on the bark above the exposed wood at the top.

I am sure either would work... But I have been wrapping it around the top of the ring of removed bark to keep the bark from growing over. But, that is just how I do it, and I generally have not done it in the past, but had a bad run of failed layers over the last year or two so I tried it as a way to fix it. So far two layers successfully rooted and separated from JM already, and I am trying one on a JBP now- just started a week or two back.

Frog · May 19, 2015

Thanks, Osoyoung!!

I did not get a chance to apply the wire this evening like I wanted to, I think that since it is so early in the air layer stage, I will just remove what I have on there double check that I have removed the cambium, if not I will clean it off some more and rub it with the isopropyl alcohol, just to be sure.

Then reapply the moss and plastic wrap. I will probably just leave the wire off for now. I really, really appreciate all the input. I also plan to layer a Trompenburg Japanese Maple, and a Hackberry.......trying to find a Hawthorne too.

0soyoung said:
To layer a tree, we interrupt the phloem (through which photosynthate is transported from the leafs) and cambium (through which biologically active auxin - aka 'rooting hormone' - is transported. There are two ways to accomplish this end:

Girdle the stem, meaning remove the bark and cambium (leaving the wood) OR

Apply a tourniquette, meaning wrap a wire tightly around the stem - the phloem and cambium is interrutped as the stem thickens.

With girdling, one must take care to remove/kill all the cambium on the exposed wood; else the tissues that were removed will regrow and cause the layer to fail because of 'bridging'. Some people have recommended adding wire at the top of the girdle (on the top most bare wood) to compensate for hasty/sloppy/poor technique. One line of logic is that if a tourniquette alone works, then a tourniquette on the bare wood will prevent bridging - indeed it will, but so too will simply leaving the girdle exposed to the open air for a day or two or wiping it with (70%) isopropyl alcohol before covering it. The other line of belief is that bridging is caused by new roots that go straight down (this is falicious even though new roots do sometimes go straight down instead of radially outward); so the wire is applied on the bare wood at the top of the girdle to defect these roots outward, away from the stem.

But, there is absolutely no point in cutting a girdle and applying a wire tourniquette on the bark above the girdle - the girdle serves no purpose in this configuration. I certainly hope you are not paying for such quackery, Pattik.

Frog · May 20, 2015

Ok, so I went back to the Elm and removed the moss. Upon looking at it I could tell that there was still some sap wood still intact. So, I went ahead and scraped of the remainder until all that was left was nice white wood.

Sorry, no pic of it due to the fact that I was standing in 8" of water.....all the rain has caused local lakes to rise and I did not want to chance dropping my phone in the water.

But, I did get some pictures of a nice little elm (not sure if its a Cedar Elm, American Elm or?) that I am air layering. As you can see from the pictures it has some nice natural curves and bends.

Frog · May 20, 2015

Frog · May 20, 2015

Air Layering A Chinese Elm aka Lacebark Elm

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