DrTolhur
Mame
This past summer I attempted an air layer on three separate trees, but they all failed. On two of them, the tree completely died and there were never any roots. On the third, the tree is fine, but still no root growth. I know it's impossible to have anyone tell me what specifically went wrong with these without having more information, which is why I'm just wondering if there's one or two most common mistakes that are likely the culprit for beginners failing at air layering.
I'd love to have some confidence in air layering for when it matters on trees I really don't want to lose/waste, but right now I'm completely unwilling to try on anything I care about, which prevents me from being able to buy anything grafted that I'd need to layer the graft off of.
What details I do have:
- All three were started in June, I believe, and either died and/or had no roots come September.
- Two were on recently transplanted trees (probably a bad idea, as they're the two that died).
- One Bloodgood, one Coral Bark, and one Rubrum. (Can you tell I like maples?)
- Two were about half-inch base, one was 2"+ base.
- All used little cups with wet sphagnum moss and covered with foil to prevent overheating.
I'd love to have some confidence in air layering for when it matters on trees I really don't want to lose/waste, but right now I'm completely unwilling to try on anything I care about, which prevents me from being able to buy anything grafted that I'd need to layer the graft off of.
What details I do have:
- All three were started in June, I believe, and either died and/or had no roots come September.
- Two were on recently transplanted trees (probably a bad idea, as they're the two that died).
- One Bloodgood, one Coral Bark, and one Rubrum. (Can you tell I like maples?)
- Two were about half-inch base, one was 2"+ base.
- All used little cups with wet sphagnum moss and covered with foil to prevent overheating.