Good day, I need your help finding a thread where someone did an air layer on a tall tree.  Does any remember that post?  If so, can you add the link here.  I'm about to loose a fig tree source.  My friend sold her land and is moving to Charleston, SC.  Her husband passed away and the land is too much for her to manage.  She has a beautiful unknown purple fig tree.  So say, the tree is a purple magnolia.  I've tasted the figs and they are great.  The first crop comes in June and again in July. 

I called and called her with no response.  So, I went by there last week and learned she sold the property faster than expected and has moved!  I asked to see the fig tree and permission was granted.  However, the  tree was severely pruned from 10 tall to 5 feet tall!  All the cuttings were laying in 2 huge piles.  My heart sank!   I went through the pile but all of the cuttings were all dried up.  I was a month too late!!!!!  I was able to get 6 good size side shoots from the large trunks.  Two of them are rooting fine.  The others will be started this weekend.  They are so large...I think I'm gonna plant them horizontal and keep my fingers crossed.

Well, I asked the owner if I could take a large air layer from the tree.  He said yes!  So, I'm looking for that post so I can see how this is done.  I'll post some pictures of this tree later.  Thanks!

dennis, 

there are number of them, but one of them is on below link. 

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/can-i-air-layer-main-trunk-5238353

i used following as key words in google. 

site:http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com large air layer

Thanks Pete!  Yes...that's the post I was looking for! 

Great thread.  I just did a similar thing to a 2" thick panache.  But I used a milk bottle and half the roots broke off trying to rinse them free from the plastic.  I have to hope it recovers in time to produce fruit.  The method you linked to would have been much better.

Dennis, if you have access to an 3.4 gallon Airpot (these pics are of two 6" Airpots attached together) and a few spare 5 gallon buckets you can cut the bottoms from, you can do something like this:

   

The bottom of a five gallon bucket is about the same diameter as the 3.4 gallon Airpot.  I wrapped this with plastic similar to the bag USDA cuttings come in and end up with something like this:

 

The nice thing about this set up (especially for larger trunks/limbs) is you can push through the plastic and break the tip off the root so it branches out inside the container.  Once you have pretty good root growth, remove the plastic the keep watering until it goes dormant or you have to remove it.

Thanks James!  As a matter of fact, I do have some 3g air pots just like those in your picture.  I'll give it a try.  thank you again.

As I am remembering the process... When cutting the bottoms out of 5 gallon buckets, drill the holes first. Use a jigsaw to cut a line from the center hole to the edge then around. The 2" holes on the top lid make it easier to fill the bucket while keeping it stable. If you need more support, you can drill a hole through the trunk and pass a dowel through.

It was Costas, in London who did a recent air layering on a very large fig tree...