Time has gotten away from me and it's almost September. I have an in-ground tree that died back to the ground last winter (odd considering the warm winter we had) and has sprouted probably 10 "trunks". I'd like to propogate the trunks into new trees and leave 1 or 2 of the strongest growths in their existing spot. Am I better off air-layering or just digging out the suckers? I have a nice SW facing corner of my house that is perfect for a tree! I've relied on my dad's extremely bountiful fig crops to satisfy my cravings but he recently sold his house and my main fig supply is now gone :(
Fortunately, my tree was propogated from his tree...now I just need it to survive a winter!!! Thanks!

I used to live near Phoenixville,PA , so I know you are in a fairly warm part of PA. You probably have just enough time to get decent roots on an airlayer.
With 10 trunks to choose from , you can't do any harm by trying a couple of airlayers this late and dig a couple of suckers as well.
Best ,
Kerry

As an experiment I'm going to start some this week and see what progress they make by the end of September.  I can always just leave them one if there are not enough roots.

I may start some too, now that the heat isn't so intense.  We have at least two more months of sunshine.

Suzi

Thanks, everyone! I'll run out and get some moss ASAP. Any advice on how to remove the suckers? Do I just dig down with a shovel and try to extract as many roots as possible? Is there any danger of harming the rest of the tree or are figs that hardy?

It's not too late.  I'm actually getting ready to cut off two branches this week that I started airlayering ~4 weeks ago.  I usually airlayer up till mid-December in my zone, and I know people as far north as Pennsylvania that airlayer until into November.

Edit:  I forgot to mention - I started an airlayer this past winter while my tree was dormant, in January or February, and it took about 8-10 weeks, but I started to see some roots touching the side of the bag.

You don't need to use sphagnum to airlayer.  Soil will work.  I'll post some pics.  I'll also dig up a thread on suckers with video for you.

Watch this video on propagating trees from suckers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DIYEyIT287A

Also, here is a picture of the two Sal EL/Gene airlayers I made ~4 weeks ago (7/28) with plain old soil. I'll cut them off this week, and I like to cut off with about this many roots, although I know some guys around here wait till the bag has so many roots you can't see the soil anymore.

The first two pics are at 20 days after (weekend before last).  The last couple of pics are from Saturday, about 27 days after (this Saturday).  If you notice, pics 1 & 3 are the same shot/same side, so are 2 & 4.

[img]http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1378722[/img]

[img]http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1378723[/img]

[img]http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1378724[/img]

[img]http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1378725[/img]

Beautiful pics, SH! Do you girdle the branch before layering? Do you simply have a hole in the bag that you secure top and bottom? I'm going to try this!

Also, thanks for the link! Can't watch it at work but will forward it to my phone to watch in "the office" ;)

Very nice Jason.
Thinking about those and sunday spaghetti gravy  !