what species you've airlayered?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

wow- what a gorgeous lychee tree- what variety?

Mauritius?
my guess....if not, brewster....??

[fruitlovers]

Mfajar, best time of year to do air layers is when there is the most active growth, so probably spring and summer. Make sure you pick a limb that gets full sun. Ones in the shade will not form roots. Try using sphagnum moss as that is easy and works very well. Suggest also doing several branches more than you want, so definitely some will root for you. I use 2 layers of aluminum foil to help keep the sun and birds out.
 Good luck.
Oscar

[Mfajar]

Lycheeluva & Adam, based on the what most of you guys guessed is a Brewster. I inherited the tree with the house.  Sometime ago I posted pics of the fruits in GW and you guys pointed to Brewster.  I pruned the bleep out of it and it grew a LOT again, if it blooms which I doubt I will take pics.

Oscar, thanks for the advice! That's what I did wrong, I tried one in the shade. I will try this again in spring, but to find one in the sun I might need a big ladder!

[fruitlovers]

Brewsters are very tasty but tend to have large seeds. For airlayering: the higher the amount of sunlight = the higher percentage of airlayering success. Just be careful on that ladder.
Oscar

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Mfajar, best time of year to do air layers is when there is the most active growth, so probably spring and summer. Make sure you pick a limb that gets full sun. Ones in the shade will not form roots. Try using sphagnum moss as that is easy and works very well. Suggest also doing several branches more than you want, so definitely some will root for you. I use 2 layers of aluminum foil to help keep the sun and birds out.
 Good luck.
Oscar

Oscar!!

Here in south FL, (well not here I'm in Central FL) and not sure where this tree is (although almost certain South FL)...the birds think what ever is in a foil wrapper is a damn sandwich! and they have a habit of disturbing regular shiny aluminum foil!!!  Chris Rollins, advised that you don't need aluminum foil as a cover, and you can use only plastic (best to use thicker gauge, heavier plastic than saran wrap).

Most common mistakes for failed airlayer:

Cambium not totally removed

improper moisture levels of medium around girdled branch to be rooted

Improper seal (wick like effect, of improper sealed marcott, where a bit of moss is sticking out exchanging moisture with outside environment)

ants!!! invade and aerate and ruin...

improper growth timing for marcott and poor branch selection

airlayering may not be best means for propagation (inga, annona, others...)

DON"T EVER USE BRAND NAME SARAN WRAP! IT HAS MOLD GROWTH INHIBITORS THAT CAN "F" UP YOUR MARCOTT SUCCESS RATE!

Dirty hands, infection

Please let me know if this is missing any element?

hope you get all of your marcotts to root! on things they said you couldn't airlayer in the book!

[fruitlovers]

I added some comments inside of Adam's comments below:

Oscar!!

Here in south FL, (well not here I'm in Central FL) and not sure where this tree is (although almost certain South FL)...the birds think what ever is in a foil wrapper is a damn sandwich! and they have a habit of disturbing regular shiny aluminum foil!!!


Birds here don't bother foil if it's thick, that is why i use double layer. Guess it all depends on what type of birds you have? Maybe you have wood peckers over there? HAHA


 Chris Rollins, advised that you don't need aluminum foil as a cover, and you can use only plastic (best to use thicker gauge, heavier plastic than saran wrap).

I advise people to use foil because it is by far the easiest to put on, and there is no need to tie it, like with plastic. Also i don't think it's good for sun to bake through the plastic. So if you do use plastic i recommend you DO NOT use transparent plastic.

Most common mistakes for failed airlayer:

Cambium not totally removed

That is a big problem! You have to remove all the way around, otherwise the plant will bridge it and will grow back, and NOT root.


improper moisture levels of medium around girdled branch to be rooted

Super easy, just dunk the sphagnum moss in water, let soak, and then squeeze all the water out.



Improper seal (wick like effect, of improper sealed marcott, where a bit of moss is sticking out exchanging moisture with outside environment)

After you've done a few you will get the hang of it. It's kind of like learning to roll a tortilla! Does your food stick out of the tortilla still? HAHA


ants!!! invade and aerate and ruin...

Almost every airlayer here gets ants, but they DO NOT ruin them. Bummer if you have to ship out and pass ag inspection. 

improper growth timing for marcott and poor branch selection

Yes you don't want to do airlayers there during winter. Any branch bigger than  sharpie marker pen will work fine.


airlayering may not be best means for propagation (inga, annona, others...)

Well yes, but that's true for EVERY propagation method.



DON"T EVER USE BRAND NAME SARAN WRAP! IT HAS MOLD GROWTH INHIBITORS THAT CAN "F" UP YOUR MARCOTT SUCCESS RATE!

OK, that's news to me. So saran wrap is good to put it on your food but not on your precious plants? 

Dirty hands, infection

Yes, you can give your plant AIDS if you're not careful! 

Please let me know if this is missing any element?

As usual you covered most of the bases. I just wanna say airlayering is super easy. An 8 year old can do it! Just need a little practice, like 3-4 of training and you are off and running.

hope you get all of your marcotts to root! on things they said you couldn't airlayer in the book!


There are other ways of airlayering we haven't talked about. For example, mysore raspberry like to touch soil and it airlayers itself. All you need to do is put a rock on top of a growing tip and it will form roots. Try starting from cuttings and it's super difficult.
Oscar

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I added some comments inside of Adam's comments below:

As usual you covered most of the bases. I just wanna say airlayering is super easy. An 8 year old can do it! Just need a little practice, like 3-4 of training and you are off and running.


Oscar

Child labor laws ! watch out! you don't have 25, 8yr olds doing marcotts for you do you ? hopefully just 8 or so 25 yr olds, all legal to !

[fruitlovers]

I just said that to counteract your tendency to make everything sound super complex. I don't want to scare anyone off. But really doing air layers is super simple. Even i can do it. So that proves it. HAHA
Really the most difficult part is assemblying all the materials you need to do the airlayers: I use
a) 5 gallon bucket with some 1/8 filled with water
b) some sphagnum moss soaking on bottom of bucket
c) a knife to cut and peel off cambium layer
d) aluminum foil, or plastic, or both. (Some people use here a layer of plastic and then foil over that.)
e) if you use plastic you will need some ties. You can use string or wire.
f) the will power to do it, toughest ingredient to materialize!
g) and ofcourse a willing plant victim. But don't be afraid you won't hurt them.
Oscar

[Tropicalgrower89]

I currently have two ruby supreme guava cuttings in a pot containing moist soil. Lets see if it takes. 

[LEOOEL]

Here in the U.S. there are male and female spanish lime trees. Pine Island sells both grafted types. In order for the tree to bear fruit, you have to plant 2 trees, of different sex, about 16 feet apart.

Your best bet is to have one tree with both male and female sexes grafted onto it. Full disclosure, I've yet to see this. But, I can't think of a reason why it couldn't be done, albeit difficult.

If you plant a Spanish Lime seed, the chances are that you will die before the tree produces any fruit. When, and if, it does bear fruit, it will not be true to seed. Thus, fruit could be inferior to mother tree.

When I've air layered Spanish Lime, about one third took, and the rest died.

I have three Spanish Lime trees planted.
#1   I don't know if it's a grafted male or female. It flowered once, after about 4 years of being planted, but because an opposite sex tree wasn't nearby or grafted onto tree, all the flowers dropped off.
#2   Is a grafted female tree. It's been planted for about 3 years. It hasn't flowered yet.
#3   I have a strong feeling that it's a seedling, and that I will never see it bear fruit. 
I plan to purchase a grafted male tree, and do some cross grafting with my planted trees.

I've heard that in Cuba there are trees with both male and female flowers on them. If true, I wish someone were able to bring and propagate a quality cultivar to the U.S.A.

Spanish Lime fruit is really tasty and refreshing. The effort is really worth it, to try & have a fruit producing tree, although it can be challenging.

[HMHausman]

I have two momoncillo trees that originally came from Western Puerto Rico.  A Cuban friend of mine, bought them from a nursery there and planted them out in his yard.  He grew them for 10 years and although they were supposedly grafted, they never bloomed.  He was ready to chain saw them, but I provided a reprieve and rescued them.  I have them in my yard for the last 12 or 13 years. One of the trees has bloomed twice and set fruits once.  The other tree has never bloomed.  The tree that bloomed barely did do.  And the one panicle of fruits that set, got barely peas sized before the Cuban May Beetles devoured them.  I am still growing them but I do not know why.  I keep hoping, but my hopes are dashed each year. I know the May beetles would be very disappointed if I chopped them down.  Momoncillo is, for me, an inferior fruit in the lychee, rambutan, pulasan world.  For me, it has only one superlative quality, it provides the absolutely perfect perfect sized seed  with highly adherent flesh to choke unwary children. They can be stately trees, but most that try the fruit, in comparison to other sapindaceae offerings around the world,  would rank it as clearly inferior.

[jabotica]

My first air layer was rangpor lime (citrus are easy)then i inarhed mango.Then I done
loquat,lychee,longan,mackadamia,antidesma,mamee americana,abiu
 this was done with foil and well soaked spagnum moss. I use sissors that are
ground down to make it easy to cut through the bark and a  plyers to take off the bark
 make sure the cut is clean. the more you do the better it gets

[FlyingFoxFruits]

thanks jabotica,

great info...I should quote you for the tip of the day thread.

My first air layer was rangpor lime (citrus are easy)then i inarhed mango.Then I done
loquat,lychee,longan,mackadamia,antidesma,mamee americana,abiu
 this was done with foil and well soaked spagnum moss. I use sissors that are
ground down to make it easy to cut through the bark and a  plyers to take off the bark
 make sure the cut is clean. the more you do the better it gets

[LEOOEL]

My first air layer was rangpor lime (citrus are easy)then i inarhed mango.Then I done
loquat,lychee,longan,mackadamia,antidesma,mamee americana,abiu
 this was done with foil and well soaked spagnum moss. I use sissors that are
ground down to make it easy to cut through the bark and a  plyers to take off the bark
 make sure the cut is clean. the more you do the better it gets

With all due respect, I'm very impressed that you've air layered a mammea-americana fruit tree. This fruit tree has been a great interest of mine for a long time. But, for some reason, it hasn't been very popular with the general fruit-tree-enthusiasts/public.

If I may ask, what happened to the mammea americana after you air layered it?

Can you tell me more about this reltively unknown fruit tree?

What is the fruit productivity, quality and yearly production like?

Do you have a tree that bears fruit?

Thanks for sharing.

Leo

[jabotica]

Leo- Sadly along some grafted seedlings the airlayer died after a freeze.
I got my seeds from a tree at the Mounts Botanical Garden another large tree is at
the Fairchild Garden in Miami. From the Manual Of Tropical And Subtropical Fruits
byWilson Popenoe 1920 edition--Christefer Colmbus described the fruit of the West Indies as big as a large lemon. It is a large tree .fruit is round 4 to 6 inches in diam
ater.favor is subacid and pleasent used as a sauce ,perserves ,and jam
 after 6 to 7 years to fruit they bear regulary and abundantly.

[fruitlovers]

Most commonly air layered is lychee, but i've also done longan, acerola, starapple, breadfruit, and miracle fruit.

[fyliu]

Yeah lychee is really aggressive at sending out feelers to bridge back together. Once time I guess I left the airlayer on too long and it bridged. I whittle the wood a bit after I scrape the bark so I was sure I took everything off. After that time I make the gap more than 3cm. Some sources say to expose the bare wood to sunlight for a week to kill off all the cells before wrapping.

Anway, I did lychee, longan and michelia alba.

[fruitlovers]

Yeah lychee is really aggressive at sending out feelers to bridge back together. Once time I guess I left the airlayer on too long and it bridged. I whittle the wood a bit after I scrape the bark so I was sure I took everything off. After that time I make the gap more than 3cm. Some sources say to expose the bare wood to sunlight for a week to kill off all the cells before wrapping.

Anway, I did lychee, longan and michelia alba.

Bridging of air layer cut  is not caused by leaving the air layer on too long. It is caused by not removing all the bark off. Exposing the cut to air even one day before wrapping can help stop bridging. What happens if you leave air layer on too long is that too many roots will form and the air layer will dry up and die.

[Tropicdude]

Improper seal (wick like effect, of improper sealed marcott, where a bit of moss is sticking out exchanging moisture with outside environment)

After you've done a few you will get the hang of it. It's kind of like learning to roll a tortilla! Does your food stick out of the tortilla still? HAHA

I have not tried air layering yet, the videos I see on the subject usually show someone wrapping moss around the area where the bark was removed, then placing plastic and/or aluminum paper.  looks tricky to do with just two hands.

I came across this video , this guy seems to have his own technique, seems fool proof for someone clumsy like me.

Air layering citrus tree(Part-1)الترقيد الهوائي لشجرة الحمضيات ج1

[HMHausman]

Very interesting video.  But did I miss something. My Arabic is not very good.  He never scraped the cambium layer from the surface of the cut limb.  Ir he was using moss, this would likely heal with the formation of bark, not roots.  Does using soil...I think he referred to it as compost, prevent the bark from forming?  I wonder.

[Tropicdude]

I noticed that also,  since i have no experience myself , i just assumed the cambium came off with the bark. the only word I understood was compost lol.  the follow up video in part 2, shows him removing the rooted air layering.

[BENDERSGROVE]

Improper seal (wick like effect, of improper sealed marcott, where a bit of moss is sticking out exchanging moisture with outside environment)

After you've done a few you will get the hang of it. It's kind of like learning to roll a tortilla! Does your food stick out of the tortilla still? HAHA

I have not tried air layering yet, the videos I see on the subject usually show someone wrapping moss around the area where the bark was removed, then placing plastic and/or aluminum paper.  looks tricky to do with just two hands.

I came across this video , this guy seems to have his own technique, seems fool proof for someone clumsy like me.

Air layering citrus tree(Part-1)الترقيد الهوائي لشجرة الحمضيات ج1

Never tried to air layer citrus,Ive done mango,starfruit,lychee,longan,macadamia nut and a couple others,I have some customers with some pretty cool citrus,guess when I get done air layering my own stuff this spring ,I will have to go on a citrus quest!wonder if that works with tangelos,I have 1 tangelo in ground that is awesome,my only citrus left that is in ground,will have to play around and see,anyone have decent luck in south fl air layering citrus??

[jabotica]

Bendersgrove - If you have done those airlayers it will be no sweat to do Citrus - I have done many - Citrus Grandus (Pummelo) 12 at at time.  Use the same technique as you have used on the others. 

Good Luck





Corrected CAPS LOCK

[jabotica]

Tropicdude - Airlayering is not rocket science.  Go cut off some branches that you can practice on.  Cut the bark down to the hardwood, if the comes off easy or it slips clean inspect it - Look for a good clean section between the cuts, get the feel of it before you actually do it for real.



Corrected CAPS LOCK

[fruitlovers]

Can you roll a tortilla? If so you can make an air layer. The two skills are very similar. Air layering is super easy. I'm sure i could teach elementary school kids to do it. I know it's not hard because even i can do it!  The technique used on the video will only work on very small branches. Try slipping a plastic bag all the way through a large lychee or longan branch! If you use aluminum foil and sphagnum moss it's very easy as they are easy to hold and to roll. Anyone coming to visit my place in October i can give them a 15 minute course on how to make an air layer.