Air layering with upward cuts to improve taper on new stock

[Trenthany]

I recently saw a video with wedging up the bark after stripping about an inch thin making about 5 flaps 1.5” long that were wedged up. They also used a disk below those for promoting radial root growth, but I don’t know how to find it again. It was a video in a forum post (probably here?) Has anyone tried it? Has anyone seen the video? I want to know if you/they had luck!

 

[sorce]

IMO....that shit is human stupid.

It may work 2% of the time.

But other things like wide shallow pots, health, Time, that will give you good flare 100% of the time with no introduction of places for rot and death to take hold.

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

Still, I am intrigued.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Yep, I’ve seen this technique. I’ve also seen folks making the top edge wavy, with small triangles cut in the top edge and make small bridges of bark across the gap.

Personally, besides the straight cut method, I’ve only done the triangles cut in top edge. The jury is still out on this.

However the RadialDisk is awesome!

When I come across a reference on any of these techniques.... wait a minute I just found most of these in Peter Chan Materclass.

So Peter calls this the Skirt style airlayer.

Make a bottom circular cut, then make multiple (even # 8+ish) vertical cuts the length of the desired gap, carefully peel up the bark, place a wire ring underneath to keep from collapsing. Then stuff sphagnum moss around and complete the rest of the procedure.

He claims that if done in early summer that the air layer will only take 4-6 weeks to produce a new tree. He left out the RadialDisk!

btw: I’ve seen this technique explained multiple times. This is the only resource I could find it in quickly.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[leatherback]

It is one of those techniques where I am always thinking.. Show me the result.
I personally find it hard to believe this would really work well.
Any pics of anybody done this?

The saw-tooth layer I am also not conviced. It should create a more uneven nebari. I find that roots come from several levels around the cut site anyway. So why? Maybe more natural looking later on?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Yep, I hear you!

This technique and all the others I mentioned are also explained in Pieter Loubser’s 1993 Understanding Bonsai book (South African). I think they are older variation techniques that have gone out of fashion for whatever reason or just a European style technique. (I couldn’t find this technique in any US books.) Perhaps too complicated, not as good results, top secret info with an NDA?

Anyways I’ve got a couple Maples out front. I’ll see if get a kitchen pass to try this technique out on one of them.

If so, I’ll post the technique and my results on this thread.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Trenthany]

Yep, I hear you!

This technique and all the others I mentioned are also explained in Pieter Loubser’s 1993 Understanding Bonsai book (South African). I think they are older variation techniques that have gone out of fashion for whatever reason or just a European style technique. (I couldn’t find this technique in any US books.) Perhaps too complicated, not as good results, top secret info with an NDA?

Anyways I’ve got a couple Maples out front. I’ll see if get a kitchen pass to try this technique out on one of them.

If so, I’ll post the technique and my results on this thread.

Cheers
DSD sends

Can’t wait!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

2 July 2020,
We decided that two layers on the front yard Coral Bark Maple was enough. So the other candidate was a Acer Circinarum, “Pacfic Fire”, wuth the test on a branch I-was going to prune anyways. Certainly not prime for bonsai, but what the hey, I know a guy with a farm that would love this tree.

Test: The test is to see if the Skirt Style Airlayer will produce a decent airliner in summer in 4-6 weeks. No RadialDisc or other contraptions will be used.

Variables
1. I’m still a rookie and this is my 6th airlayer and one has failed and needed to be redone. Ugh!
2. It’s the Pacific NW and we’ve had late rain storms, up to today. However the position of the airlayer is facing SSW.

Weakness in the test
1. Only one trial. Regretfully thats all I have bandwidth for right now.... It’s back to pressure washing after this write up!

Procedure: Standard radial airlayer technique, with the exception of top skirt flaps with backing rings being substituted instead of a smooth top radial cut.

Important note: I actually tested this technique on the failed Coral Bark Maple airlayer ahead of time and learned a valuable lesson. Don’t use wide skirt cuts as the bark will fracture above the skirt with a wide cut, where it is less likely with a narrow skirt cut. Also, don’t manipulate the skirt a lot when doing this technique.... maybe this is why few people use it, it’s tricky to insert the ring. Dunno about stones. However, I kept envisioning myself running up and down the ladder getting stones that were falling out as I tried to manipulate the backing ring.

Here’s the key steps
Selecting the site - The spot just below where the two branches join looks good to me.


Cutting bottom radial bark strip - I wanted to have room to scrape off the cut and couldn’t see trying this with the skirt flaps. The is the procedure recommended by Pieter Loubser anyways, Peter Chan shows just cutting the flaps off the bottom radial cut.


Cutting skirt strips. Making narrow strips really helped here!


Inserting backing ring - I made this out of 2.5 aluminum wire. It seemed loose, so I added a second ring, which helped a lot with the slipping.


I ran into an issue putting in the first ring as the darn flaps kept closing up, preventing me from pushing up the ring all around. So I dug into my toolbox a found a 90* pick, which helped immensely.


Gently pack Sphagnum under skirts to prevent air gaps.


Finish packing the bottom and top. Make at least the size of grapefruit, or a little smaller than a Clincher softball! Close up.



and Bob’s your Uncle! Any thoughts about this operation?

Cheers!
DSD sends

 

[Oleg]

Well shown thanks, the results will be interesting. How do you separate the skirt from the wood.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good question.
You make thru vertical cuts, then slip your grafting knife, or razor gently underneath each and lift the flaps up, one at a time.
Best
DSD sends

 

[M. Frary]

They also say beating the trunk of a tree with a hammer will produce girth.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Any thoughts about this operation?

I will be curious to see the results. I guess the big question is whether or not cutting the strips impacts the ability of the tree to produce roots at the bottom margin of the strips. You wouldn't want roots projecting from the sides of the strips, since they will tangle with each other and not project radially from the trunk.

 

[penumbra]

It is an intriguing project. I hope you keep us informed
I had a fairly significant branch break off a Ficus Wiandi yesterday. I plane to do something similar to this on the 'cutting' as shown and suggested by another member recently. One difference is that I will not be using any sphagnum as it will be going in a cloning box I just put together that can handle larger cuttings.

 

[Trenthany]

One difference is that I will not be using any sphagnum as it will be going in a cloning box I just put together that can handle larger cuttings.

I’d love to learn more about your cloning process! I’ve been thinking for weeks about trying to design a better propagation system for expanding my collection. One idea was something like a bank air delivery system container based off of the pot/Tupperware airlayer technique using a neoprene/rubber collar to seal it ... I didn’t know it came as thick as your images showed or in a natural color. I was envisioning cut up wetsuits. Lol. This has me thinking I had the right idea and still need to learn more about these aeroponic(sp ?) cloning machines!

 

[Trenthany]

2 July 2020,
and Bob’s your Uncle! Any thoughts about this operation?

Cheers!
DSD sends

It’s almost exactly what I saw, and I can’t wait to see if it works! The video I saw the guy put little wooden wedges instead of a wire ring, maybe a variation on the rocks mentioned?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Any thoughts about this operation?

I just thought of something else. Maybe you could try this exact same procedure but AFTER the air-layer has sprouted roots. In other words, do it when you separate the air-layer. That way you get the benefit of the trunk flare, while still being assured that the roots are projecting from the leading edge of the slices.

 

[Trenthany]

I just thought of something else. Maybe you could try this exact same procedure but AFTER the air-layer has sprouted roots. In other words, do it when you separate the air-layer. That way you get the benefit of the trunk flare, while still being assured that the roots are projecting from the leading edge of the slices.

This sounds promising!

 

[jason biggs]

They also say beating the trunk of a tree with a hammer will produce girth
I've heard of people doing this to baobab trunks to promote branching.
apparently they smack the hell out of the trunk and after the welt forms branches grow.....

 

[penumbra]

They also say beating the trunk of a tree with a hammer will produce girth
I've heard of people doing this to baobab trunks to promote branching.
apparently they smack the hell out of the trunk and after the welt forms branches grow.....

I know this was done more 'gingerly' with bonsai years back but I have not heard anything about this for many years.

 

[Oleg]

I developed a reverse taper on a Chinese Elm branch from wiring the area too much. Wiring and rewiring the base of the trunk including below the soil line might increase diameter/basal flare. In this case removing the wire before it is covered by bark. It wasn't the prettiest things I've seen though, you would need a few years growth to heal it.