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Air-layering/grafting figs

Greeting From Indonesia ,

Multi grafting (air-layering ) in one branch of fig.
Any feed-back..?

Rgrds

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Pretty interesting!  Never seen it done that way.  So you are going to cut them apart, pot them up, and wait for shoots and leaves?
Suzi

Suzi ,

From the experiment ,  the rooting would start forming from the top of grafting/air layering part. In most cases , once the root is forming at the top then the bud at below the grafting would grow to become a young shoot leaves.

Then we cut them one by one starting from the top when the rooting and leaves were formed.

Rgrds

Are you saying the roots are at the top and the leaves at the bottom?

Suzi

Suzi,

I think what zaitun meant was, using the, last pic as reference, the top most cup will root first. During this time, the stem between top most cup and the second cup will also produce shoots.  Once the top cup is cut off, the second cup will start to root and the stem between second and third cup will now produce shoots.  This way, whenever, a cup is cut off, it not only has roots, the stem above it will also have leaves.

I hope I have not confused you further.

Tq , Martino for right explanation .

Best regards


Zaitun:

Looks cool.   Would love to see the final result.  My question is.......  What is the name of the fig to the left?

Some fine looking papaya there on the right. How do those taste?

Looks great!

Do you promise to post the final result?  We are all anticipating!  Sorry I didn't understand how that process works, and thank you Martino!

Suzi

Having seen pictures of more than one air layer per branch somewhere on line, I decided to try it myself on my O'Rourke and LSU Tiger. On July 27 I put two air layers per branch, with 3 such on the O'Rourke and 2 such on the Tiger. Each one had at least 2 nodes between air layers. In all 5 cases the lower air layer rooted first with roots showing in 7 to 9 days. As of yet none of the upper airlayers have shown any roots to this day July 29. To see if I could force the situation, I removed one branch from the tree right below the lower airlayer and planted it in a three gallon pot leaving the top air layer in place. It wilted slightly so I removed all leaves except those few at the bud which were smaller than 2 inches in size. The rest will remain on the mother tree until I see roots on the top air layer. Interested to see how your experiment works.
"gene"

Seems like a really good way to make a bunch of plants fast. Very well thought out and going to work great. Did you girdle any of the layers?

@Dfoster & @Suzi :
thanks , below is the pic result on june 2012.
The fig varietys  from the Left to the right are : ( Its taken from  FB - Small group of figs lover community in my country )
1. Purple Yordan
2. Panache
3. Sultane

@Rafed , Local Papaya fruit , its very good taste and sweet

@Gene ,
You are right . for some Varieties or certain of Condition  , the root could be formed at lower air layer , then  perhaps we could do start to graft the branch top with the interval time  1-2 day  . then follow to make the lower or 2nd , 3rd....4th air layerings of the branch. Otherwise we would wait additional 3-4 days , until all of air layering root are completely forming , then  we cut of them one by one.

@HBanana , With out girdling the branch/stem  also would work well but it will take longer time to form rooting on it .


Best regards

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It looks very interesting but isn't the idea of airlayering so that you end up with a well rooted tree once you cut it away from the mother tree. I also would think that you would be weakening the branch too much with multiple bark cuttings but I hope it all works out the way you want it to, best of luck with it.

I spoke too soon before reading all of the posts really explaining how this is supposed to work, now I understand it better, best of luck again with it, keep us posted.

I air-layer one branch at a time and doing fine. Your method is little complicated for me. I air layered figs, peaches, apricot and grapes and all rooted. I use rooting hormone which really helps.

zaitun....

Thank-you for taking the time to explain, and photograph, the theory behind the multiple air-layering technique.  This method of making many plants from one stem can mean dozens of plants each season instead of one or two, especially good for rare varieties.

Please keep this forum updated when you see results.  This multi-layering method will be of interest to many, many forum members.  I think the root-forming sequences will have to be carefully observed.  Ideally, the top should root first, then the section below it, all the way down to the last layer.

Please keep updating the results.

If this works as planned, this will be another innovation that can be exploited with good results for us all.

Frank

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  • FMD

Zaitun, have you done this before? Because, like Gene, my experience has been that the bottom air layers will root first.
I suppose, that if you wait long enough, they will all root at which point you can cut them off the tree all at the same time.

I guess the trick might be to do the top one, wait a few days or a week and then do the second one. Perhaps that would work, I might just give that a try. Thanks for the idea.
"gene"

Tq Gene ,

Basically this method is only helping/alternative for  us ( in my country fig group hobbyist) to have more figs cloning by Air layer , since using the stem figs cutting  propagation in our country climate would  always have  very low life/success  rate. (avg: 30-40%).

This another is Picture of the air layering from the group :

A. 1st-2nd , arrow sign  , just to show the root is forming usually from the top air layer than follows to the lower air-layer bag . (Panache figs at day 22nd ).

B. The 3rd arrow is showing , we had cut the top bag of air layer  ( it had enough a lot of rooting at day 22nd & put it in Pot container ) , then we would wait the lower air-layer to form root for another couple days.

Thanks and Best Regards


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I have tried this before with 3 layers.  The top layer definitely rooted first while there were no roots from the middle and bottom layers.  Once the top layer was cut off, the middle layer started showing roots.  It does seem that zaitun's method works but I would think rooting behaviors might be variety-dependent and maybe weather-dependent too?

While I have never used this method, there may be still one more alternative method of increasing the amount of rooted cuttings one can get from the original plant.  It is a technique that bonsai growers use when they want to create a forest grove of trees.

The plant material (fig tree) in half-buried in the soil horizontally, root-ball and all, making sure that the majority of the main-stem and branches touch the soil surface, even pinning down these sections if necessary. Think of the plant lying flat on the ground like a espalier, or like a plant trained to grow flat, on a trellis.

The bottom portion of bark can be removed everywhere the stems, and branches touch the soil.  Eventually, roots will start from these points, and sometimes other places, and upward pointing branches will eventually become new "trees", and so will dormant buds that will sprout from the stems and branches.  After these all form roots, the original tree can be sub-divided, and all this new plant material will have its own root system, and the original root ball will still live on to push new stems.  You may very well get dozens of new, potential trees from the original fig tree.

It sounds complicated, but it really isn't.  When used for bonsai, the new sprouts are not separated, but are allowed to grow, thus creating a forest "grove".

Maybe this propagation method might work with fig trees.


Frank

Just for Update :

@Gene and FMD , You are right. The root does not always grow first on the top layer.

For Panache fig , The 1st growing roots was starting at the bottom layer ( No 8 and 6 ) .
On this case , we have to extend for 1-2 weeks period  until Root-balls on No: 1,2,3 and 4  are completely formed.

Salam ,
Zaitun

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Cut from the top down ;)

Three weeks ago I started some double air layers on my O'Rourke and my LSU Tiger. On the Tiger the bottom one rooted first on both branches I tried. On the O'Rourke I got the same. The O'Rourke rooted fast and since it was a small bag it filled rapidly with roots. I took it off the main tree and put it in a 3 gal pot last week. Now a week later I'm starting to see roots on the upper airlayer. I took both airlayers below the bottom bag on the Tiger and potted them up a couple of days ago. Today I saw what might be root in the upper ones but rain kept me from checking more closely.

Speaking of rain, 3 inches yesterday and 1 1/2 inches today. Will it ever end.

"gene"

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