Rooting a living branch?

chiqifella

chiqifella

Well-Known Member
a branch can root in a cup of water, in jello, in dirt, in bubbles, taped to another branch, laying on the soil, buried, in styrofoam, rocks,
insulation...so yeah, this isnt surprising at all.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
I understand what he's doing and the purpose if it. I was wondering if anyone here has experimented with it at all.

Any benefits?

Seems like it would root a lot faster and much faster growth. Also looks a lot easier
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
Works great for some trees. Weed is pretty tough, chances are it will survive most any vegetative multiplying process.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
I would love to try this. It seems it would be at least a week further along than clones taken from cuttings in Rockwool.

I am wondering if you need to water the cube once it's on there or just wrap it up and leave it alone? Maybe soak in light nutes at 5.5 ph initially before you put it on and that's it?
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
Yes!

Thanks guys, knew there would be a name for it. Don't know why I never stumbled upon it before.
 
iPerculate

iPerculate

Well-Known Member
Nizza said:
air layering technique is also used in grafting :)
Click to expand...
Yes a lot of the information I seen regarding air layering also applies to grafting. It's all the same principle really.

I found this info on 420 Magazine, I think it pretty well sums it up;

What Happens at the Air Layer Site
The removal of the bark, cambium, and phloem, but not the xylem, prevents carbohydrates and photosynthates from flowing down the trunk past the girdling site but still allows water and mineral nutrients to flow upward to the leaves. This keeps the leafy portions of the shoot from drying out and maintains them with an adequate supply of nutrients. The removal of the actively growing cambium layer prevents the regeneration of phloem and healing over of the wound. Because of this the carbohydrates and photosynthates flowing down the trunk collect at the girdling site. The presence of these excesses of carbohydrates and photosynthates (esp. auxin) at the girdling site, plus the presence of the water in the sphagnum moss, causes dormant adventitious buds in the area to grow into roots. When there are enough roots to sustain the shoot independently the shoot is cut off of the tree and then planted or potted.

The Difference Between Air Layers and Cuttings
The propagation of plants by cuttings occurs by the same principles and has very similar circumstances. The difference is that the shoot is removed from plant at the start and water and nutrients flow up the shoot from the cut site by capillary action instead. This kind of propagation can only be done with small and thin shoots since the flow of water is insufficient for larger branches. Air layering solves this problem and allows the creation of new plants from very large parts of trees.
 
SchmoeJoe

SchmoeJoe

Well-Known Member
iPerculate said:
Yes a lot of the information I seen regarding air layering also applies to grafting. It's all the same principle really.

I found this info on 420 Magazine, I think it pretty well sums it up;

What Happens at the Air Layer Site
The removal of the bark, cambium, and phloem, but not the xylem, prevents carbohydrates and photosynthates from flowing down the trunk past the girdling site but still allows water and mineral nutrients to flow upward to the leaves. This keeps the leafy portions of the shoot from drying out and maintains them with an adequate supply of nutrients. The removal of the actively growing cambium layer prevents the regeneration of phloem and healing over of the wound. Because of this the carbohydrates and photosynthates flowing down the trunk collect at the girdling site. The presence of these excesses of carbohydrates and photosynthates (esp. auxin) at the girdling site, plus the presence of the water in the sphagnum moss, causes dormant adventitious buds in the area to grow into roots. When there are enough roots to sustain the shoot independently the shoot is cut off of the tree and then planted or potted.

The Difference Between Air Layers and Cuttings
The propagation of plants by cuttings occurs by the same principles and has very similar circumstances. The difference is that the shoot is removed from plant at the start and water and nutrients flow up the shoot from the cut site by capillary action instead. This kind of propagation can only be done with small and thin shoots since the flow of water is insufficient for larger branches. Air layering solves this problem and allows the creation of new plants from very large parts of trees.
Click to expand...
I've used it for taking cuttings off of outdoor plants that we're too close to flowering to root well. For reference I'm usually 90%-100% in 5-7 days. There's always a few that take a little longer but most are well rooted and potted up in that 5-7 day window.

The biggest advantages are that you can take a clone that already has roots (no stressful rooting period), you can take a clone that's even as much as 10x the size of a regular cutting, and people who have plant number restrictions can have a rooted "plant" that doesn't count against against their limit until they cut it off.

When I did it I ended up having to use a hypodermic needle to keep the plugs wet. I may have left them longer than needed since it was my first and only time and it was also the middle of summer. Still, it worked great. The only real problem I had was that pincher bugs (earwigs) had gotten under the seran wrap and we're eating the roots as they developed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top