Will SweetGum (Liquidambar styraciflua) air layer?

Gsquared

Shohin
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Good luck. I tried to air layer sweet gum, but no luck. Big callous, but never any roots. Trimmed back the callous. No go. Just don’t be discouraged if you’ve not done many air layers. If this one doesn’t work out try maples, they always seem to work.
 

Tommykeolle

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I got excited when I saw this title, had high hopes somebody had some success. @Gsquared I've had identical results..
 

Cajunrider

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Did you scrape off the sapwood after making the girdling cut and peeling off the bark? All of my past attempts failed until I learned this trick.

I only ask because it looks somewhat clean; maybe you're just that good though:cool:
On difficult species to air layer I peel off the bark, scrape the sapwood, and let it air dry for 3 days before putting it in air layer medium. Those air dry days seem to keep the cambium layer from healing back a little bit more.
 

Gsquared

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Alls I’m sayin’ is that better be one sweeeeeeet sweetgum. They don’t sound easy. I can see why mine didn’t work. I probably just peeled the bark and scraped a tiny bit. I bet I even sprayed it with water the second I cut the ring so it wouldn’t dry out. Sound like I was doing it just the opposite of what I should have.
 
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