Airlayer technique using potting soil in a bag
Some of you have expressed an interest to learn how to airlayer a fig tree. There are many variations to the technique however the one I prefer to use is a ziplock bag filled with moist potting soil. Some folks will use moist moss wrapped around the branch but I prefer the soil method because I can easily pot this up in a larger container without stressing the plant too much and I can also mail this airlayer to a friend as is, without removing the plastic as you will understand later on in this presentation. I apologize to those who may find this material repeated.
First, cut off the ziplock side of the plastic baggie (In this case I'm using a quart size bag for this size of airlayer).
Next cut off the bottom seam from the bag.
What you end up with is a plastic tube.
I've chosen this branch to become my airlayer. I'm going to remove a ring of bark toward the base of the branch (far right in the photo). As a rule, use the diameter of the branch size to approximate the width of the bark you will remove. The airlayer will set roots just above the ring so try to remove this piece just under a node. In this case, it doesn't matter because the nodes are close together and I can remove the ring from inbetween the nodes.
Make two parallel cuts around the entire branch and then connect those cuts with a line in the middle.
Using the tip of your knife or even your fingernail, it is pretty easy to peel away the bark from inbetween the end cuts.
This photo shows you how it looks once the entire ring is removed.
Next, I pull the plastic bag tube over my forearm and gather up the small branches and leaves in my hand. This way, it's quite easy to thread the plastic sleeve over the leaves and down to the rooting location.
Take a piece of twine or string and secure the sleeve just below the ring of bark that was removed. Make sure that the end of the sleeve is entirely air tight. The reason being, if there is even a small opening at either end of the sleeve, moisture will escape from the rooting medium and the root ball could dry out.
Next, fill the sleeve with moist (not soaking wet)potting soil of your choice. Shake the sleeve so that some of the folded pockets fill with soil. Then leave enough plastic at the end so that you can secure this with string just like the bottom end.
Wrapping the finished product with aluminum foil will help reflect the sun and keep your airlayer cool.
Depending on the fig variety and the conditions of the process, most airlayers will show roots in about 4-6 weeks(some sooner). Here is a photo of what to expect when you see roots forming inside the plastic sleeve. This is the time when the airlayer is ready to be removed from the mother tree and placed in it's own pot.
Comments (39)
axier - Z10, Basque Country (Spain)
15 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
peg919
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
8 bags of potting soil ready to go, and NOW I find Al's mix!!
Comments (3)Al's mix isn't necessary - it is just the mix he uses, and he uses it because it offers excellent aeration and longevity you won't find in a peat/compost-based soil. Al is selling aeration - not his soil. ;o) He would be the last one to guarantee better results, but he's not shy about saying that the chances of achieving better results, and growing plants that live up to their potential are greater in a durable, well-aerated soil than they would be in a heavy peaty/composty, water-retentive soil. He also warns that the price to be paid for growing in these types of soils comes in the form of more frequent watering and fertilizing, but your plants will likely appreciate your extra efforts. If you read a few posts scattered throughout the forum, you'll find plenty of people who embrace the idea of a well-aerated soil, and a few who would be just as pleased if they could come here & not have to listen to the frequent conversation about it. You'll have to decide what you think, but his hope is that you learn something from some of the things he shares, even if you decide the soils aren't suited to your style of growing or your needs. Turface is a great product & you'll see it discussed here frequently. It's interchangeable with perlite to the degree that they increase soil porosity to roughly the same degree on a size to size basis, but Turface far surpasses perlite in it's internal porosity, so it holds more water. It also has an excellent CEC, so holds nutrients better than Turface. The reasons are varied, but I generally use perlite exclusively in container soils I consider short term - 1 year probable, two years max. For soils I intend to press into two years service (or more) from the beginning, I use a combination of Turface and crushed granite to make up approximately 2/3 of the volume of the soil with the remainder usually pine or fir bark. The variations on the theme are many. Al...See Morewhen to propagate ischau in Houston TX?
Comments (3)The easiest way to root figs is to airlayer them. Take a branh near the ground and pin it to the ground with metal pins or a rock. place dirt over the portion of the branch touching the ground. In less than six months you will have a rooted branch. Cut the branch on the tree side and plant it in your yard. I live down the road in Missouri City. Contact me by e-mail if this doesn't seem clear. Yadda out....See MoreAir-layering using a different type of soil
Comments (2)Yes, but the vine essentially climbs other plants to reach the light. The damp atmosphere of the rain forest, along with the moss growing on trees, allows a better grip as well as holding more nutrients from debris. But the different conditions of the mediterranean complicates things further. The winters are wet, but the atmosphere is dryer than in the rain forest (Plants in containers may need to be watered after a few days of clear weather). The summers are hot and dry. In-spite of that, The bare roots of the potos clinging to the wall would, at first sight, wilt in the dry atmosphere, let alone the summer drought. However, they stay fully functional year-round, not needing to wet the wall, and the fact that the stem above the air-roots grow better, means that they can even function as nutrients absorbants, like in your example. It would be interesting to research when do such roots secrete fluids to dissolve the nutrients around them (If my assumption is correct) and when do they re-absorb the fluids with the dissolved nutrients. Is it done at night, when evaporation rate is lower ?...See MoreDo you re-pot soil in grow bags each year?
Comments (3)Thanks for the tips. I thought it was going to be a bigger chore, but it turned out not to be too bad. We had a warm week last week so I decided to try and tackle it early. At first it was tough to empty the bags until I realized the soil was still mostly frozen. Waited a few more days for the warm temps to do their thing and gave it another try, then it was pretty easy. Dumped 2-3 at a time into a trash can, broke it all up with a pitchfork, moistened with water, added some amendments, picked out the biggest chunks of stems/roots, and it looked like new. Still a lot of fine roots (they were tomato and pepper plants) but I assume those are OK. My mix was 4-4-1 peat-compost-perlite. Still reasonably fluffy once I got it all refreshed. The compost was good quality variety in bulk from a local landscape yard. Much cheaper that way. I don't have a truck, but I have an SUV that fits 32 gallon trash cans which is a great way to buy bulk if you don't have a truck. Fortunately no gophers around here. Rabbits though. But I do have the grow area fences off with rabbit fencing....See More
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9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoGreat explanation and pics...
Can you ail layer on this years growth...the 2 ft shoots are still green and have no hardened bark.
Brad Edwards
2 years agoBrad Edwards
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