yamins
Yamadori
In Nov. 2010 I received a 2' tall Hondo spruce (P. jezoensis hondoensis) from
Brent Walston at Evergreen. The tree had a 4" gap halfway up the trunk that
was devoid of branches, a design obstacle that wouldn't be left on the tree.
More to practice the technique than through any hope it would work, I decided
to put an air layer on at that spot in April 2011.
Since the trunk was very straight and bare, I used the bark-ringing technique,
covering the 1" wound with a ball of sphagnum moss held in place by a plastic
bag. Clonex rooting gel was liberally painted onto the top of the wound as
well as infused into the sphagnum a bit (well, into the water bath that the
spaghnum was wetted with). I punctured the bag with a number of sizeable
holes to allow air and water flow, and the sphagnum was kept moist by irregular
waterings as needed. The tree was kept in a somewhat shady area to prevent
any drying out during the summer.
By August it was clear that a strong root system had developed, so I probably
could have separated the layer in autumn. Anyway, things got busy so I ended
up finally doing the separation yesterday, about 11 months since the layer was
initially put on. I put the newly separated tree into loose turface mix, but
didn't seal the bottom wound with any kind of sealant. We'll see how this
works out.
Obviously this was not a beautiful artistic endeavor, but was horticulturally
interesting since spruce layers seem comparatively rare (in the Bonsai
business, anyway). I'll post back on how the separated tree does if there's
anything of note either very bad or very good.
Brent Walston at Evergreen. The tree had a 4" gap halfway up the trunk that
was devoid of branches, a design obstacle that wouldn't be left on the tree.
More to practice the technique than through any hope it would work, I decided
to put an air layer on at that spot in April 2011.
Since the trunk was very straight and bare, I used the bark-ringing technique,
covering the 1" wound with a ball of sphagnum moss held in place by a plastic
bag. Clonex rooting gel was liberally painted onto the top of the wound as
well as infused into the sphagnum a bit (well, into the water bath that the
spaghnum was wetted with). I punctured the bag with a number of sizeable
holes to allow air and water flow, and the sphagnum was kept moist by irregular
waterings as needed. The tree was kept in a somewhat shady area to prevent
any drying out during the summer.
By August it was clear that a strong root system had developed, so I probably
could have separated the layer in autumn. Anyway, things got busy so I ended
up finally doing the separation yesterday, about 11 months since the layer was
initially put on. I put the newly separated tree into loose turface mix, but
didn't seal the bottom wound with any kind of sealant. We'll see how this
works out.
Obviously this was not a beautiful artistic endeavor, but was horticulturally
interesting since spruce layers seem comparatively rare (in the Bonsai
business, anyway). I'll post back on how the separated tree does if there's
anything of note either very bad or very good.
