Wood shavings for airlayering?

[Speedy]

Hey all. I'm working on a maple walking stick, using a Microplane "file". I'm looking at the shavings and wondering if I can use this as a soil medium for airlayering instead of sphagnum moss? The wood has been drying for a year or so. I also have some apple, cherry, and elm that I cut a couple weeks ago, some (green, live) willow.

Anyone used leave litter?

Anyone tried it? Any concerns?

 

[MrWunderful]

Willow maybe because it has natural rooting hormones.

But I tend to have better air layer success with 1:1:1 than I do sphagnum so I wont speak to that.

 

[River's Edge]

Hey all. I'm working on a maple walking stick, using a Microplane "file". I'm looking at the shavings and wondering if I can use this as a soil medium for airlayering instead of sphagnum moss? The wood has been drying for a year or so. I also have some apple, cherry, and elm that I cut a couple weeks ago, some (green, live) willow.

Anyone used leave litter?

Anyone tried it? Any concerns?

Not recommended, high organic, breaks down easily, unknown PH affect. Rapid decomposition will create anaerobic conditions with very high moisture retention.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

No. Phenols from the wood inhibit rooting. A good food source for infections.
Go with the sphagnum, it's a proven winner.

 

[penumbra]

Uncomposted wood shavings are never good around any plant regardless of use or intent. I am sure that in a layering you would end up with a smelly, slimy rotten toxic mess. If you have a bunch of this, feed it to the worms.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Wood shavings are bad for air layering.

Wood shavings are okay in a bonsai mix IF LESS THAN 5% of the total mix. They provide "food" for a number of mycorrhiza. In excess they encourage saprophytic fungi rather than mycorrhizal fungi. Some of the saprophytes can cause tree diseases. So keep the amount in your mix small, and it will be okay.

If you have a large amount of wood shavings, put them in a compost pile, or your worm farm. Once they compost for about 6 months they become a nice rich "dirt".

 

[PiñonJ]

Why don’t you do an experiment and let us know if it works? I have no idea what the answer is, but I do know that Randy Knight uses wood shavings/coarse sawdust for his high-risk collected trees and sees a much higher success rate for it. He has a big bed of the stuff and he just props them up in it, securing them by various methods.

 

[Speedy]

I appreciate the responses folks. It was just a thought. I'll just keep doing what I have been.