Hello all, I have a six foot tall Atreano that made several suckers. I air layered six of them and cut off/potted up 4more. This tree is young at 4 years old. The first day after I layered the six suckers, the leaves were a little wilted. I gave it a drink and put it in the shade. Two days later, the tree looks great. No more wilted leaves. Is there a limit to how many air layers that a tree can support? My Atreano has a 1.5" diameter trunk. Thanks, Eve

Hi Eve, I would think you can make as many air layers you want on a 4 year old tree. It is normal for the leaves to wilt a little at first. You also were right to move it into the shade which is generally recommended. My first airlayers maybe three years ago, I potted them up & left them in the sun not knowing any better. The leaves shriveled up and fell off, but I kept them watered and they recovered just fine and are now in ground productive trees. I do not recommend using my naive method, however.

I have done multiple air layers without any issues to mother plant. However when I remove air layered branch, I removed all
but kept 2 leaves and keep in almost full shade for about 2 weeks and then help it to adjust to full sun over a specific time frame.
I think removing most leaves of air layered branch helps in checking transpiration loss.

The whole issue is root mass versus leaf mass. The new rootmass, regardless of how big it is, is not ready to handle supporting a large leaf surface  (water loss through evaporation). You solve this imbalance by decreasing evaporation, since only time, and more roots will increase water intake. Increasing humidity or decreasing leaf surface both decrease moisture loss. More shade and less sun also helps decrease evaporation. If you have sufficient humidity, evaporation will essentially go to zero. Patience is a virtue,

With my air-layers early this summer, they went to a humid greenhouse for a week, or so, and then to mostly shade with a little filtered light for 3-4 weeks. After 5-6 weeks, the roots were coming out of the drain holes of a  gallon pot.