Thought I would experiment, a little. I wasn't expecting such quick results, so didn't really record the time, but this is after about 4 weeks, maybe a little longer.











It is potted up and in the greenhouse. We'll see how t does from there. I have a few more still rooting that don't seem to be quite this far along. I think when I do this again, I will split the water bottle in half, rather than just slitting it down one side to the hole at the bottom. I didn't cover this with foil, to keep the sun off the new roots, though that was the intention - just didn't have time to get to it (that is the recommended method). Weather has been warm but not hot, and the roots were somewhat shaded by the leaves.

How much bark did you remove before attaching the bottle?

About 3/4" all the way around.

Aka "girdling"?
As for me, I have done "zero" for young shoots and
"full"  (360* - all around) for mature twigs.

Hi Jon ,
bottom of plastic bottle i can see im curious the other end (leaf end) did you tape it somewhat closed or leave it open its hard for me to tell.
Thanks .

I think there's a large enough root ball to handle the rest of the tree. Looks good.

I like to the suckers with cups over them. 100% success.

I will demonstrate as soon as I find a sucker. So to speak.

Normally when air-layering is done, you completely seal in the rooting medium, top and bottom. I did not seal the top. Just left it open, and added water when I watered the parent plant. This is usually down with sphagnum moss - I used my compost that I get from the green recycling portion of the local landfill.

Re: air-layering in general, many plants take a long time (several months) to root, so moisture control (by completely sealing the rooting medium) is important, and you might even need to add water over the course of time.

So, I want to make it clear, that this was NOT a good example of the way it is traditionally done. I cut some corners, and got away with it. Much like rooting cuttings, it is a matter of balancing the various factors. My point in doing it (besides making a new plant) was to experiment and gain some experience. My point in posting it was to show people that they can do it, too - it isn't voodoo propagation. Just go for it, and experiment a little.

Beautiful Jon !
I think the timing is everything. I waited 'til August last year & got zippo.

The year before, I got near 100% survival rate on potting the rooted cuttings:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=2942139

I have not found stripping the bark to be relevant, however. Maybe it depends on the variety? I think it is all in those magical nodes.

Thanks,

Very interesting and very helpful.  I am looking forward to trying this.

Thank you for posting this useful example.

Best wishes.

John
Georgia Piedmost
Zone 7b

My experience came from other things, and for some things the girdling or bark removal is critical to forcing roots to form. So I started from that perspective. Most of us probably know that a fig branch that makes contact with the soil, or becomes even slightly buried, will send out roots, and many ficus other than F carica will do likewise and/or grow air roots. So, for F carica girdling may not be necessary - but this technique is good for other plants, which was why I stressed earlier that there are more accepted/better practices than the ones I used, so that we don't encourage failure when someone moves on to other plants.

24 hours later, still looking good.

Another one removed a week later (along with two others).

What variety is it, in the last photos, that was splitting the bottle?

noss

Both of these were Vista AKA Violette de Bordeaux (UC Davis DNA test).

Thanks.

Jon
You said "Vista AKA Violette de Bordeaux ". Do you mean "Vista Mission"?

Very nice roots Jon is the secret in the soil to get roots like that? I too did some airlayers this march indoors and they both worked out well both girdled.

Technically Vista Black Mission.

100% compost from the landfill.

Fellows, I've air-layered hardened wood.  Someone please tell me about air-layering soft twigs.  Will they sprout roots without girdling, or with just nicks in the bark?

Chuck

I have seen some of my rooted cuttings, in a humid greenhouse, sprouting roots at the nodes of the new green growth, so air-layering should be doable.

Thanks, Jon;
I am traveling at the moment but will try a green twig air layer when I get  home.
Chuck

I did an airlayer last season on that current seasons growth (green) without any peeling or scratching using a plastic bag tied at the ends and it rooted fine.
Currently have a few going now using the plastic bottle idea from Jon and showed that in another thread using green current seasons growth.

I decided to try setting up an airlayer on an in-ground black mission Saturday, using a 3-liter soda bottle packed with wet sphagnum and potting soil. I melted a hole in the bottom of the bottle with a soldering iron, and left the neck in place (I just split the bottle from top to bottom along one side, and for a few inches on the opposite side at the neck and bottom hole, just so I could open the bottle enough to fit it onto the branch). I then sealed everything with tape, covered it with a piece of aluminum foil, and topped it off with an old rag to keep the sun from cooking it. It’s not sealed air-tight, but it’s pretty close.

Unfortunately, I was working from memory and should have looked up this post before getting started. I "remembered" reading that girdling was more-or-less optional, so I left the bark intact, but now that I re-read everything it sounds like girdling is recommended on older wood (this is last year’s growth, more than an inch in diameter). Should I go back and girdle it? If so, should the bark be removed near the top, middle, or bottom of the bottle? I also notice that Jon cut the top off his bottle so he could add water. Should I cut a hole in the top for the same purpose (or just stick a drip emitter through the side), and if so, do I need a drainage hole in the bottom as well? Any direction would be appreciated–thanks.

Hi Ken,
since reading this post i have done 8 so far on this years growth all were potted in about 4 weeks time no girlded on them. Recently have 2 going for friends .

Im thinking since scion which is usually last seasons wood roots in damp paper towel would do ok if not girdled but may take a little bit longer but still root.

I really like Jons simple method here is what i did . Trust me im no Einstein so anybody can do it !
I used the smaller type 10oz water bottles cut in half, i then cut the bottom in a small circular fashion and used duct tape so branch does not get cut by sharp plastic edges on bottom portion, i filled each half of bottle with damp potting mix nothing fancy . Now 3 hands here comes in handy but oh well, with duck tape already cut to measure i took each half and brought them together around the branch and taped each side. The top drinking hole i used a stick and its time comsuming but i wanted to pack the soil and then add more soil and pack add more and pack and used small water can and gave another drink course it runs out the bottom no big deal. It works great for me and theres nothing fancy about it.
When doing horizontal branch its best to have a branch near end of bottle for a stop as with weight it will want to slip on branch as it droops.
Here is example i leave top open as you can see.

All credit goes to Jon for showing a simple airlayer bottle method that cost nothing if you have bottle and tape handy.  ; )

Edit, on lower backside of that bottle there are some roots growing.

I found that after girdling, I can put a clothes pin on the part where the bark was removed, and it will not slide past the "lip" of the bark below it. The bottle can then sit on the clothes pin without sliding further down. That way I can put the bottle anywhere I want along the branch.