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Thanks for the advice. Everything here is an experiment I suppose, and a learning opportunity.

@@Niemamoka right. The last time I checked them, all but one was decomposing. Thanks for the explanation, that makes good sense.

@@DavesBonsai thanks Dave. I’m definitely starting to notice a little progress.

@@SylFoss lol, I got over it last year. Or maybe I forgot about it? I can be pretty forgetful.

Yeah that's tough. I came home from work last week and one of my trees was drooping really bad. Lucky for me I caught it in time. I soaked it in a bucket of water and it perked right back up.

Thanks! I don’t have anything as well developed as your trees, but it’s a good start.

@@willbreeze397 we have to start somewhere Will. And you have made a great start, keep it up my friend.

It will be interesting to see how the roots grew the next time I repot.

Thanks!

@@1cleandude yes the first pot was just moss, but when I put it in the pot that you see standing on my deck, I had put some regular soil around it. I pulled it out of that pot this spring and untangled the roots, but I basically left it in the same soil/moss mess. I really should have put it in better soil, but now that will have to wait until next spring.

😂 yes we realized too late. But we also didn’t know at the start how much we would take off. Thanks for watching!

Thanks! Not technically a tree but they can look really neat. I like the flowering trees. I have a few cherry blossom trees now, but I’m going to try a few different fruit trees as well.

Good luck to you as well! I’ll bet that it will do fine. All this time later and I’m not seeing roots through the bag on mine yet. It might be time for me to open it up and see what’s happening in there.

@@willbreeze397 I did not want to open it. But I did want to redo it. I try to keep it wet every couple days. I made sure the bottom can drain out, I used regular soil. If you have a large branch it can take longer.

It fell out at one point too but got back in through the drainage holes. I ended up moving it to a pot of apple sprouts 😂

It’s always hard at first. Maybe she needs an inexpensive tree to practice with?

I’m glad I started air layering with something that big. The smaller ones never seem to work as well. I think it’s because there are so many leaves above which caused the roots to generate so quickly.

I ended up doing the massive cut taking out the old thick leader, then a little later I shortened the smaller leader. I guess in general that’s going to create some taper, but not so much movement. That was captured in two different videos. The tree is starting to push some new buds in weird places, so it has survived so far.

I’ve been trying to decide what part of the back yard to take over for growing bonsai in the ground. I have a spot in mind. The cherry is also still in moss. I guess I need to wait until next spring to do the root work and get rid of the moss.

Grüße! (I had to look that up 😂)

I’ve seen people say that a tree can die back from the point of the cut, but I’m not sure why that is. I noticed there was a lot of moisture coming from the cut. It wasn’t dripping but it was wet. So maybe without the cut paste, it dries out further down the trunk? I don’t think it could kill the tree, but I like to leave some leaves somewhere so there is still some photosynthesis happening. Some trees will backbud out of seemingly nowhere. I saw a neighbour cut a maple to the ground, and it didn’t take long for it to start sending up shoots all over the stump. I guess it also depends on how healthy the tree is. It has some capacity to store energy somewhere to use in an emergency.

Definitely some interesting ones out. I hear the robin quite a bit, and lots of chickadees around, but there was one I don’t recognize.

Excellent! It’s definitely a fun way to propagate a good sized tree! If you haven’t had experience air layering before, I would definitely recommend watching some videos from different people. Everyone has different little tips and tricks, and I don’t know if I explained it well enough. I hope it works for you! Good luck!

Woohoo, Thanks! I see you have a few subscribers yourself ;-) looks good, I’ll check it out!

Fingers crossed… that was three weeks ago, hopefully I’ll see some signs of roots soon!

Same. Here in our MN woods we have a variety of maples. I need to do a better job of identifying them.

Thanks! Yeah I guess that’s the handy thing about making videos about them. If I forget what it is I can look back at the videos 😂

And now… we wait.

Ahh… good idea thank you! That was a really frustrating experience.

Thanks! I think it’s heading in the right direction now.

Well, maybe I will give it a try. Put a tile under and away it goes. I need to clear out the moss and cut the stump, so I guess that will be next spring on this one too.

Yup, I definitely wish I had. I will have to wait until next year now. I’m curious how air layers heal on the underside. Do they heal over just like a wound on the branches?

Thanks, I guess I should do some testing and give it a try.

I’ve been using pumice, coco coir and a little sea soil. Some people use lava rocks, but I only ever see tiny bags of it around here.

So as soon as I say there isn't small lava rocks around, I find some reasonable bags at my local nursery today :-) I'll start adding in some lava now.

I think you are right. I should have developed the roots more. I was too eager to get a few trees into proper pots. I have lots of other skinny trees to develop though. I should probably stick a few in the ground to thicken them up.

@@willbreeze397 dig a hole,put a big tile underneath and fill it up with good soil and cut the roots around the tile once in a while but not all of them at once...while you leave it in the ground for 3 to 4 years ,you can style the tree as you like, the cuts will fast heal over...after 5 years you have a great tree to put in a pretty pot🤷‍♂️

@@willbreeze397 I made this fault alot myself by being impatient🤷‍♂️

Sounds like it’s doing well. Good luck!

Hi! That's awesome that you have a tree mission! I'm not aware of any limits on how big of a branch you can air layer. The trick will probably be that you need enough roots to support the size. Often when I take the branch off I will reduce it quite a bit to make sure there isn't too much demand on the roots. I also don't know about how many you can do at once. I've only ever done a few, but I've seen others on RUclips doing a dozen or more at once. Sorry about the beaver problems... I have no idea about that. I've seen trees before with a thin sheet metal collar, is that for beavers? Perhaps if you cover it with something they can't chew through?

@@willbreeze397 Thanks for the reply. The metal sheet idea is a great idea! I never thought of that and it is perfect for me, because I purchased 2000 pounds of thin aluminum sheet metal that was at my local Restore. I had planned to use them for roofing and siding, but I can sue some of them to save my trees from the beavers! I will be air layering nine 1.5” redbud trees all from the same trunk. It is growing in a place that I don’t want it to grow, so my goal is to move it. If it works I will post the video so others can do the same.

Yeah it was pretty funny. I took a look at the screen after I was done and it was zoomed in way too far :-) I cut most of it out so you didn't have to watch... lol

Nice! If you have a chance, try and pick an area right below some interesting features. What I’m noticing now in my potted tree is that it’s just too straight. I keep thinking I’ll have to cut it down further to make for a more interesting bonsai. On the other hand, it’s still super nice as a regular tree in a pot. It doesn’t have to be a bonsai.