Re: Air Layering

Anybody care to do the 2 minute summary for those of us who are not plant
propagators?  (yet!)

Thanks!

Libby
MD zone 6

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna" <justme@prairieinet.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 10:13 PM
Subject: RE: [CHAT] Air Layering


> Well Jim... now that is interesting!
>
> You are saying that even after time in the ground, something that was
> 'air layered' will never get a tap root? How in the world can they
> survive for any length of time without one?
>
> I have to admit I know nothing about air layering other than a 1/2 hour
> special that included some highlights among other things. Not enough
> info to really understand the process or how it worked.
>
> I am majorly confused here. ... nothing new:)
>
> Donna
> Hum... must of us got here.... like some of us didn't? LOL!
>
> > I've done some air layering, Jesse, but not a lot. It is the way most
> > litchis, macadamia nuts, and rubber plants [Ficus elastica], and, I'm
> > sure, many other plants are usually propagated. The Royal Horticulture
> > Society's propagation book [AHS published it as "Plant Propagation"]
> > has very good instructions in how to air layer stuff.
> >
> > The one disadvantage to air layering [verses propagation by seed or by
> > grafting scion wood onto a seedling] is that the air layered clones
> > will not produce tap roots. Most of the commercial litchi orchards in
> > south Florida were simply blown away by hurricane Andrew because the
> > trees had no tap roots.
> >
> > I think the general rule is that any plant that can be propagated by
> > cuttings, can also be air layered, but there are other plants--the
> > afore-mentioned macadamias and rubber plants--that do not [or only
> > rarely] respond as cuttings. Cuttings have the same no-tap-root
> problem
> > that air layers have but generally they are easier to propagate and
> > require a whole lot less time to do so. I usually try cuttings first;
> > then air layering; then seedling and grafting [provided, of course, I
> > have seedlings and access to scion wood].
> >
> > Sometimes I do just seedlings. "Just seedlings" is always a crap
> shoot,
> > but sometimes it's fun to see what sexual reproduction has cooked up
> > for you. I mean, hey, that's how most of us got here!
>
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