Marc Wiehn
Sapling
I have successfully air-layered trees before, however those trees rooted all in one season (from several weeks to several months). They were ready to be cut off the mother tree before our winter weather set in in earnest. With the right aftercare I was able to coddle along even the ones that needed most of our growing season to produce some decent roots. I am stumped though when it comes to trees that need more than one growing season to produce viable roots. In particular I am planning to start an air-layer with fern-leave beech and several of the red leaved varieties of beech. According to all I have read so far the beeches tend to take much longer than maple for example to root. Which brings me to my question. What options do I have if the beech layers are not ready to be cut off their mother tree before winter sets in? These will be layers of trees growing in the ground outside, so moving the trees inside is not an option. Will the frost kill any roots that may have formed during the growing season?
Also, I always started my air-layers when the first flush of leaves had emerged and was somewhat hardened. Reading through several threads here it seems that air-layering right at bud break would work as well. I could try this and give my future beech layers a few more months time to grow roots. So, what would you do, what would you recommend? Start layering fern-leave beech and red-leaved beech in April/May or later? And what do if the layer is not ready in November to be severed from the mother tree?
Thanks in advance for your ideas and thoughts.
Marc
Also, I always started my air-layers when the first flush of leaves had emerged and was somewhat hardened. Reading through several threads here it seems that air-layering right at bud break would work as well. I could try this and give my future beech layers a few more months time to grow roots. So, what would you do, what would you recommend? Start layering fern-leave beech and red-leaved beech in April/May or later? And what do if the layer is not ready in November to be severed from the mother tree?
Thanks in advance for your ideas and thoughts.
Marc