Acer Longpipes "Gold Coin" Chinese maple on far left, not included in airlayering plans, but the Arakawa(middle) and Orange Dream(right) are. My plan is to get 2 airlayers on the OD, somewhere on the apex and where the white tag is for a triple trunk, although I also like the idea of doing one further up on the left to get a cascade going. I plan on doing two on the Arakawa as well
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If it were me,I would forgo larger air-layers ,so I could actually prune off the tops a bit and repot into a new aggregate type soil to get rid of excess fertilizer in the old soil.A proper Re-pot.Bareroot.
An equal 1:1 nitrogen to potassium level in weak strength is the way to go with mother plants for future propagation as nitrate will hide in wood and stall cuttings or rooting in general.Also excess potassium will do too good a job allocating nitrates to the wood which slows rooting.
That being said.....if you forgo the repotting,you can flush soil HARD.....maybe a natural hydro enzyme which can assist the process.BEFORE ANY GROWTH IN SPRING. Or just good ole’ water.
You will hate this,but ph your nutrient solution between 5.5-6.5. A bit higher for organic soil.
Now add L Glutamate and L Glycine (L amino acids).These will boost calcium uptake by 1000 times by making calcium ion channels on roots instead of 1 ion at a time through transpiration of water.
Now water with a 5:2 ratio of Fulvic Acid / Kelp.Added to your low strength,balanced base grow(1/4 or 1/8 strength Clonex is great for this) and your L Aminos........mix in some Cal Mag too,so there is calcium and iron which increases photosynthesis big time And has available calcium.Also a smidgen of Yucca powder to keeps organics and minerals in suspension.
Once a week AND NO MORE.... foliar feed a 5:2 ratio of Fulvic Acid/Kelp with a smidgen of Yucca Root powder as a surfactant to spread water around on leaves.
I think that is it.You want to stall the growth after leaves come out,so not all photosynthetic energy is wasted assimilating nitrogen.Growth will be large celled and weak.
For mother plants it is better for leaves just to be with minimal growth and excelled photosynthesis to produce it’s own rooting hormones which have a downstream effect to the wood and make more rooting powers.
The supplements of Kelp are carried into the leaf cells through foliar feeds every week by the low molecular weight Fulvic Acid in as little as 4 Hours.No foliar feed more than once a week because Kelp will burn the leaves.
Kelp has cytokines which increases and triggers many good chemical reaction to increase photosynthesis and rooting power along with the the iron.Calcium makes better vascular system in plants and HIGH BRIX( sugar content).
Low nutrient/high bio stimulants.
Stall the growth on motherplants used for propagation.Increase their photosynthesis!
Stall them at least for about 3 weeks or so......so you get 3 good foliar feeds before process begins....then continue during whole process after cutting ring in bark...this whole regimen.
Ph foliar feeds between 6.2-7.0.
Do not worry about nitrogen in the amino acid as it is nearly totally unavailable to the plant.and will not throw off the formula.
