How to Propagate with Air Layering

Air layering is an effective, easy, alternative propagating technique for trees and shrubs that are hard to root from cuttings, and are to high to root branches in the ground. With this method, you create new plants directly from the parent plants by forcing the branches to form roots, then cutting them off and replanting.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Begin the process in late spring or early summer after the plants have finished flowering or fruiting. Select a healthy stem from the previous years growth. Remove the leaves going towards the tip of the branch back about eight inches; this is the area where you will root.

2. Find the closest growth node (the Y shape formed where leaves have been stripped off). Using a sharp knife or utility blade make an angled cut in the branch about one inch long just behind this node, going towards the tip of the branch.

3. You may add some rooting hormone now to help aid the growth and formation of roots (found at your local gardening center).

4. Next, to prevent the wound from healing over instead of forming new roots, it needs to be propped open. Use a small stick, such as a matchstick, or some moistened spahgnum peat moss and gently wedge it inside of the cut.

5. Slip a clear plastic bag that has been cut to be open at both side over top of the branch and secure it with waterproof tape or garden ties just below the cut.

6. Fill the area around the cut inside the bag with a few inches of spahgnum peat moss, packing it in firmly around all sides of the cut. With a misting bottle spray the moss to thoroughly moisten it and then secure the bag closed, sealing in the moss and the moisture.

7. Throughout the summer, check the air layering to be sure that the moss mixture does not dry. When you find a healthy mass of roots growing through the moss, you can unwrap the plastic and cut the the branch off, being careful not to disturb the roots to much. If they have not formed enough, you can leave them out to develop over winter.

8. Plant the new cutting in a container and keep it in a sheltered area for at least two weeks to establish itself. It is recommended that you prune the top growth back by one half; the new roots will be less able to support the growth that was formed while still attached to the parent plant.

9. If you live in a cold climate move, or keep, the container indoors and plant it the following spring. If you live in a warm climate, you can go ahead and plant it outside in the fall.

[McGMom]

on 4/4/2009 Awesome information! Very detailed and useful. 5*s