Propagation Through Air Layering

Hashist said:

... My Smart Pots get white "beards" from the roots growing out the sides - solid white walls of roots from mid-pot to the floor. I really is one of the two most amazing products I use in my grow (the other being Sea Green - I won't grow without either one any more).

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Normally I would not think twice about a costly performance enhancer, but I will keep this in my notes due to your glowing rec. I love the mental picture of a white bearded smart pot! I am running 3 gallon smart pots myself and though they are solid root balls at this point, no beards. Thanks again for sharing this info, much appreciated!

i gotta try this. good job, that looks amazing!

excellent thread, love the bonsai technique, good thinking. is this also known as "air grafting" i think thats the name it was taught to me for propagating flowring shrubs.
good job hashist

ever try doin this to small branches? like "air cloning"

Avinash.miles said:

ever try doin this to small branches? like "air cloning"

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I guess that depends on how one defines "small." The branches to be air layered have to be strong enough to support the rooting substrate, so the limb can't be too diminutive in size. I've air layered 1' branches, and that's about as small as I'd want to go, I think. Otherwise, the limbs just don't have the physical integrity to support the process.

that is pretty damn awesome. had only seen this in text books till now, thanks for showing us

Avinash.miles said:

excellent thread, love the bonsai technique, good thinking. is this also known as "air grafting" i think thats the name it was taught to me for propagating flowring shrubs.
good job hashist

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Thank you for your interest and taking the time to comment, Am! I have never heard the technique referred to as "air grafting." I have heard of grafting, but that is a much different technique that involves attaching a branch from one plant to a separate "host" plant. That is a technique I would like to explore some day, I believe.

bonsai books teach it as "air grafting":
http://www.ehow.com/about_6653017_air-grafting.html

once again, hashist, great thread, people w limited space and big ass moms can def. utilitze this technique as well as anyone tring to keep genetics alive without taking up tons of veg or cloning of clones over and over and risking genetic drift of clones...
great topic

This is an excellent alternative to standard cloning methods for folks that are not otherwise successful at rooting cuttings. Excellent explanation and your pictures illustrate the technique perfectly. This should be a sticky. Hint hint hint...

Avinash.miles said:

bonsai books teach it as "air grafting":
http://www.ehow.com/about_6653017_air-grafting.html

once again, hashist, great thread, people w limited space and big ass moms can def. utilitze this technique as well as anyone tring to keep genetics alive without taking up tons of veg or cloning of clones over and over and risking genetic drift of clones...
great topic

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Thank you for the edification!!! I always enjoy learning something new.

Ive done it on small branches 6-8" they just had to be supported. I used rockwool cubes and celaphane they took about 2 weeks to root it worked great. your method is very impressive.

Bumpo for awesome, should be sticky...

Thanks for the photos and information.

Apologies for digging up this old thread, but I decided to do so rather than start a new topic on the same subject.

My first ever indoor start to grow out seedlings from seed, has resulted in several lost genetics, given my lack of expertise in the use of LED light panels, and indoor growing in general, but now I am left with three healthy seedlings of the fabled Ace seeds Zamaldelica, along with three Candyland seedlings that all look like they will survive to adulthood.

My garden is close to the Equator, meaning that grow season is pretty much year round, so I got to wondering just how early in a plant's life cycle I would be able to create air-layered clones of these plants, so that I can increase the number of plants I eventually transplant outdoors.

I hope to obtain between three and four air layered clones off each seedling, just as soon as they reach their third or fourth node of growth under these cheap Chinese LED lights, and to avoid adding too much weight to the branches that I will try and turn into clones, I intend to support each earth plug with a broom-stick planted in the soil, as a means of taking the load off the donor plant's branches.

So my question to anyone out there who still practices the air-layering method of plant replication, is whether I need to wait until the plants are considerably bigger while indoors, or whether by adding small sticks to bear the weight of each earth plug affixed to various branches, I can aggressively take air layer clones off relatively young plants, even if it means sacrificing one plant to create say five clones.

Any thoughts on these musings of my idle mind, would be greatly appreciated.