Chinese juniper air-layer 1

[AlainK]

I had a small Chinese juniper from cutting that a friend gave to me. it was just a thin, straight trunk with new shoots on the sides. No photos of it at this stage.

In 2014, I decided to re-plant it slanting in the same pot, use the bottom branch for a future "mame" or "shohin", and air-layer the rest. So I secured a wire around the branch that I wanted to air-layer, and in May 2015:

August 2016. I had put the lot in a larger container with coares pozzolane to mat it more stable and keep some humidity around.

The roots just went out on one side, in spite of my turning the tree regularly. So I refreshed the cut and applied some hormone on it before repotting it:

This is about how the whole thing looked like when my friend gave me a cutting, a bit thinner though.

And I still have the base for a "mame"

 

[just.wing.it]

Cool!
Can I ask about the wire tourniquet?
You did that some time before you actually began the air layer?
And why?
I've seen the wire used on air layers before, and I've seen them without it...
Just curious.

 

[AlainK]

Tht's something I often do a year before. The bark swells, so there are more cells for roots to develop. And as you can see in the photos, the part above the wire is already a tad bigger than what's under it.

 

[just.wing.it]

Tht's something I often do a year before. The bark swells, so there are more cells for roots to develop. And as you can see in the photos, the part above the wire is already a tad bigger than what's under it.

OK, I saw that yes...
Nice!

 

[AlainK]

The base of the tree, which is actually the part I focused on:

I know: I should have cut the air-layer further up to make a "jin", but I preferred to stay on the safe side and cut it just under the pot because from what I've read here and there, it may not be the right period to mess with the roots of a juniper. But the air-layered part was quite wobbly in its transparent pot, so after a couple of days, I decided to repot it.

Back to the base: do you think I can repot it now?

I mean I'm really bad at conifers, especially junipers. But the temperatures have been in the 30s these days (30° Celsius), quite exceptional in this part if the world for this time of the year, they forecast 34 for Wednesday, and 25-27 in two weeks' time, early September! (but with some showers of rain this time).

 

[0soyoung]

The bark swells, so there are more cells for roots to develop. And as you can see in the photos, the part above the wire is already a tad bigger than what's under it.

The only thing that really happens is more wood grows just above the tourniquet. I agree, though, that this may be the best way to have a nice basal flare on the explant.
The bark remains the same thickness. The thickness of the cambium is unchanged as well --> there really is not more cells to develop roots as these come from de-differentiation of cambium cells.