>Been in the wrap about 2 weeks now. This is far too early to think about roots coming on a layered Acer palmatum I would think-they are slower growers than other maples. I air layered a forsythia last summer and even tho this species is quite prolific in its gorwth it was still 6 weeks before I saw a good set of thick white roots . Also beware, the roots when air layered are rather fragile!

Glenn, I did not use any plastic wrap with this air layer at all, but I did cover the sides of the black plastic pot with foil to reflect sunlight and keep the black pot from absorbing all that heat (this tree was in 7 hrs./day of sun beginning late morning. I did not cover the opening of the pot at all, but the limb I used was at about a 30-35 degree angle (from the ground). The limb was also growing so that the opening of the pot was facing Northeast. Therefore, the opening of the pot got very little direct sunlight because in this part of my yard the sun doesn't break free of trees until around 11:00 AM. Again, one of the most interesting things coming from this experiment was observing how much faster this air layer developed than the one with moss, plastic wrap and foil - on the same tree. Just yesterday I saw the first white root has reached the plastic wrap (through the moss) on the other air layer. One other bit of information I don't think I mentioned in the original post was about this LSU Gold tree. I bought this tree in late March of this year at a home and garden show here in Jackson. A nursery from the gulf coast had come to the show and had a couple of these LSU Gold trees. Based on prior pruning this year would be the 4th full year for this tree. However, when I re-potted it (from a 5 gal.) it appeared to have lived its entire life heretofore in this pot, and it was very root-bound. Since it already had leaves and breba figs on it I simply re-potted it as it was and figured I would prune the roots when it is dormant. New growth at the distal buds this year has only been about 1 1/2" on this tree. Anyway, this info is probably meaningless, but as a beginner I thought I'd pass it on in case it might be important to someone. Henry

Dave, good luck with that! Let us know how it turns out. Sunseeker, you might even consider cutting out a center piece to graft onto an even shorter trunk, then you'd have a nice thick center-cut to root as well. In fact, you might be able to air-layer at two spots on the trunk, one about a foot above the other. That would be a good experiment. And to answer your question from the other post, yes, I did lose that inflo on Makaha when it got grafted. It was awful because the buds were so close to opening but the cutting was getting horribly shriveled and I was afraid I'd lose the whole thing. Now I have to wait another couple years to see those gorgeous buds again, which looked sooooo promising! The air-layering posts on MPG came up shortly after I discovered this on my multi-tip Intense Rainbow: For some reason it wasn't covered with latex though I found the break after only a day or so. Don't know what happened and if it was ball play damage, no one here is fessing up to it! After reading about someone's borer experience I freaked a little and quickly covered it with masking tape to discourage any boring critters that might want to make a home there. The break goes about 2/3 of the way around. I checked it after a couple of weeks and it, too, is starting to swell to form roots, but I decided instead of air- layering I would just let it heal and grow over like a graft since I'd rather have just one Intense Rainbow with several tips.

There's a lot of good info on air layering on the web with pics too. I've not heard of anyone doing air layers with sugar apples since they fruit rather quickly from seed. So not sure how well they do during the process and after. If I did do an air layer from that plant, I would take as large a branch as he would let me. Otherwise, I'd just order a grafted one. Go to Ong's Nursery in San Diego. I'm sure he has some. Has this guy even seen blooms on his tree? Would he recognize them as blooms if it did? Do a search on hand pollinating cherimoya and that will give you the best approach at pollinating sugar apples.