Visited my daughter and her Black Mission has grown some big branches that look like trees. They are about an inch and a half thick in circumference and are new branches. With winter coming soon can I start now and maybe cut branch off in December, the lows here in California will probably get to 50 degrees and highs in 60's in December, Need Help. Thank You.

Temps in October High 78 lows 60
             November High 70 lows 50
             December High  60  lows 50   and January high 50 and lows 20s

Rodney,

I'm in Central Texas and still putting air-layers on the trees.  I checked some of my pictures from last year.  The last air-layer I did was Oct 10 and by early December it had rooted heavily.  Here's one the later ones on 12/05/2012:

Thank you James, You are a life saver.  I thought it was bleak cause, and already imagined making thick cuttings. Will start airlayering tomorrow morning.

I have not seen a single root on close to 30 air layers starts including those started in the greenhouse  from July. Nothing different from previous yrs. I had a bunch of air layers from last yr that rooted well in late spring. Weather have been great in July & August. The strangest part is my greenhouse temp were always above 28*C, mostly in the 30+*C for July & August. Contrast to airlayers, I stuck some broken twigs into cups & they rooted. Strange.

Rodney, check the tops of your tree.  If they are actively growing, the layer will take faster. 

Paully, my understanding is the trees begin to slow down growth as the days get shorter (daylight not temps are the key).  Active trees produce roots in layers faster.  The days here are still 12 hours long and the trees are still in growth mode.  Perhaps the cuttings were still trying to send stored energy to the roots when they broke off from the parent tree.

Will start airlayering her tree and start some of mine. Thanks for the Hope.  It would be awesome to have some extra trees.  Ebay here I come..LOL

I started an air layer a few weeks ago, but we'll see if it works -- based on the advice above, I think my tree is not active enough to get much to happen, but here's hoping!

James............its terrible to disappoint friends. Option is to send cuttings or trees when they root by late spring. The economics is to send bare root small trees. Canadian postage is a killer compared to US postage fees.

Here in N.J. where our growing season is relatively short, I find it pays to start my air layers as early in the season as possible...I have mine set up and ready to go by the first week in June, and by Aug 1st the're fully rooted and ready to be transfered to their own pots.(so about two months, more or less)...in climates like California and Texas, I'm sure that the opportunity to air layer is extended much further into the growing season.

(James, love the ladybug in your air-layer photo.)(and the roots, of course)

Thanks for the thread. I had been thinking of putting an air-layer on a particularly nice variety of which I have only one rooted. So I went and did that just now. The plant is still actively growing and our October is usually warm. Since frost is rare here (and likely getting rarer) it should work. I only put a few nicks in the young stem since it might not have been old enough for fully matured wood/cambium layers. This way even if roots do not form, the branch should still live.