Time taken for air layering Wisteria

[Nishant]

Hello Friends,

I live in London and my wisteria has just finished with flowers. Its a big spread wisteria aging several years. If I air layer it now, how long will Wisteria take to root? Any suggestions on branch selection for making the air layer successful.

Thanks
Nishant

 

[Paulpash]

Will depend on a lot of factors, but I can normally separate most layers by September. Best method is not to go by a date but by observation - when the bag is full of roots it's time to separate. Choose a branch that has lots of foliage above the layer site and preferably some nice movement.

 

[Sn0W]

Followinng as I will hopefully be doing something similar here in Bristol. One of my clients is moving house and they have a huge wisteria along the back property wall. Probably 10 ft high and stretches 20 + ft until it runs out of wall to climb.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I'm 300km away from you, or something close to that. Wisteria took 6 weeks to form root-ready callus, and around 6 more weeks for them to develop into roots. Round the total to around 16 weeks or so, just to be sure.
Wood lice seem to love eating every root part that forms, and the bark covering those, so try and keep them at bay if you can. I have no idea how, but it would benefit the process. I had to start over because of that.

 

[Nishant]

Hello All, I air layered the wisteria today. I used coco-dust for air layering? Do Wisteria do well with air layering? I mean what is the general success rate?

 

[defra]

Yes they do well.
Succes rates are connected to ones skills to layer
Do it right = succes
Make one mistake = fail

Some layers fail because during the time of the layer it stays to wet
i can imagine that the coco dust wont be well draining and aeriating
it might work but i would personaly have chosen a different soil or just spaghmum moss

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Wood lice.. As long as you can keep them at bay, you'll be fine.
They chewed through every piece of forming root here, and then callus, and then down to the bare wood.
Coco peat should work, but it tends to rot in closed environments. Adding a dash of peroxide to the water could prevent that to some extent.

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

It can work, still its a little late in season. It depends on what kind of weather we get. Trunning your tree to the sun if possible. For air layering i'm using sphagnum or akadama and cutting powder. The openend section should be as thick as the diameter off the trunk or branch. Keep it wet.

 

[Nishant]

Hello Friends, Just a quick update on my air layering Wisteria that I had done on 15-June. I examined the compost yesterday and found one of them struck new roots. Some others failed. I think this successful one really had lots of foliage on the top. All were quite woody stems.

The Wisteria vines in my garden have started taking light Yellow hue: Possibly heading towards winter dormancy.

Question: Should I cut out the air-layers or leave them there to overwinter?

 

[Nishant]

Hello All, Just re-starting of this thread. I removed the wisteria in first week of September. It survived well and over the remaining season till its dormancy now. Out of the nine that I air layered only one was successful. A few of them bridged back and also there were wood lice in all of them. I want to be a bit early and careful next spring.

I was wondering if I can place the air layer as early as when the floral buds start swelling. To keep the wood-lice away, would it be okay if I were to spray insecticide in the ball occasionally? Can insecticides affect root formation?

 

[defra]

If it grew a bridge the ring was not wide enough and/or you did not scraped the cambium off well enough
The last one is a mistake wich often causes a failed layer attempt

 

[Nishant]

Thanks Defra for reply. I want to save time next tear. So can I place the air layers when the floral buds start swelling.

 

[0soyoung]

yes

 

[defra]

+1 yes!

For larger layers i made a series of pics how i do it with a pot and soil
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/amelanchier-lachmarkii.33776/#post-563021

And spag and bag for smaller ones
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/chaenomeles-japonica-quince.26196/#post-455406

 

[0soyoung]

+1 yes!

The answer was so obvious I had to show off.
Apologies, It was specifically a question to you, after all.

 

[defra]

The answer was so obvious I had to show off.
Apologies, It was specifically a question to you, after all.

The outcome of the answer was the same haha you showoff!

 

[Nishant]

The outcome of the answer was the same haha you showoff!

I asked this question because I believe the sap flow would be upwards until leaves harden. No? There can so many theories.

But the bottom line depends on someone having done an actual experiment of layering in early spring and being successful

 

[0soyoung]

I asked this question because I believe the sap flow would be upwards until leaves harden. No? There can so many theories.

Established (for roughly 100 years now) facts: Water and minerals are drawn up (away from the roots) through the xylem (wood) by transpiration (which is evaporation at the leaves) and to a far lesser extent by evaporation through lenticels and buds. Carbohydrates from photosynthesis tend to be conducted away from the leaves the phloem (inner bark) - downward toward the roots for the most part, driven by gravity and pressure developed in the leaf phloem tubes.

Polar Auxin Transport, not sap,, is the remarkable thing about plants that can lead to the formation of adventitious roots.

But the bottom line depends on someone having done an actual experiment of layering in early spring and being successful

So keep us posted on how your efforts turn out. I'm interested, but not wanting to experiment on my wisteria.

 

[defra]

Established (for roughly 100 years now) facts: Water and minerals are drawn up (away from the roots) through the xylem (wood) by transpiration (which is evaporation at the leaves) and to a far lesser extent by evaporation through lenticels and buds. Carbohydrates from photosynthesis tend to be conducted away from the leaves the phloem (inner bark) - downward toward the roots for the most part, driven by gravity and pressure developed in the leaf phloem tubes.

Polar Auxin Transport, not sap,, is the remarkable thing about plants that can lead to the formation of adventitious roots.

So keep us posted on how your efforts turn out. I'm interested, but not wanting to experiment on my wisteria.

Amen!