Air layer with one root

Bnana

Chumono
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I made an air layer from a Japanese maple last year and it survived the separation.
So a good start, but the layer has a ring of callus around the place where I cut with only one root. This root is pretty thick and has many side roots so it can easily support the tree but this is a crap nebari.
How can I get it to form more roots from the callus? adding rooting powder? scarring the callus? tourniquet around the only root?
 

leatherback

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You are now repotting after it was in the pot for a bit you mean? Or WAS there only one root, and you do not know what it lokos like now?

What I mean to say: I find often more roots pop after potting up.

If now: I usually cut the bottom half of these callusses, and trim back the main root during repotting.
 

Bnana

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It had one root when I potted it last summer. I screwed it onto a board and fixed it into a pot.
I just checked how it was doing by pouring of the substrate that was on top of the board (without taking the tree out) and there are no extra roots, just one healthy fat root.
As I wasn't sure about the best option I just poured the substrate back in without disturbing the roots but I can do a repotting, cut the callus and trim the main root a bit closer to spring. The callus should be able to produce more roots but I do not want to kill it.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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The whole "screw it to a board" routine should not have happened immediately after separating the air layer from the parent tree. The "Ebihara" method is not applied until AFTER you have a radial arrangement of roots. Callus needs constant even moisture to develop roots. Planting on a board, with a very shallow, thin layer of soil over the board, means that it will be too dry, or go rapidly from moist to excessively dry for the callus on the board. The air layer should have been planted deeper, with the callus at least 2 cm below soil surface.

To fix this, there are 2 options. Do another layer, air layer or ground layer. Or take the original, take it off the board, prune the one strong root back dramatically. Then bury the callus at least 2 cm deep, and hope the callus will put out a few more roots.

The whole "Ebihara Method" is a bit over used, or misapplied, in that before you start you need a radial root system. The roots won't form on a board, unless you bury the board deep enough that the soil on top of the board stays evenly moist. If the soil dries out over the board, the only roots that will survive are the ones that have already crept over the edge of the board and down into the media.

A layer of moss over the potting media would have helped with survival of fine new roots on top of the board. Mist or water anytime the moss gets the least bit dry.
 

Bnana

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I didn't use anything near the Ebihara method. But giving the hype I can imagine you think so from what I wrote.
After separating the air layer the tree is hard to fix into a pot without damaging the roots. By screwing a piece of wood to the piece of branch under the roots I can fix it to the pot. The whole callus and root are at least 5 cm below the surface as I want more roots to develop.
 

JonW

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I have a Mikawa Yatsubusa air layer that I left from last year - same thing, one strong root! I think it will develop more roots from the callus if you reopen, maybe reapply some rooting hormone and, if/when safe, prune the 1 root it has. As an alternative, you could consider something like a slanted planting in the opposite direction of the root, which will give the impression that the one existing root is holding the entire tree in place.
 
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