Air Layering. Leave about 6 inches of the tip of the stem above ground. Propagating Azalea Cuttings. In the spring, cut off the existing shoots about six inches above the ground, which will force the plant to put out additional shoots. The plastic containers used by supermarkets for pastry and salads, about three inches high and various widths and lengths, are ideal for small quantities of seedlings. Keep the mounded soil moist for almost a year and a half. Air layering is a technique to propagate fruit-bearing and flowering plants, such as apple, maple, cherry, and orange trees, to make smaller clones of the parent. It can help to build a box of wide 1″ boards to keep the mound in place. When the seedlings are about 1 inch tall, transfer them to 3- or 4-inch pots. Be patient. The rooting process is slow, but layering is often successful with azalea varieties that resist forming roots on cuttings. It can help to wound part of the branch that will be underground by making a shallow cut or by scraping off some of the bark, and putting rooting hormone on the wound. Use a two or three inch spacing, as they will probably stay in this flat for a year or more. Prepare it a few days before you will use it, and water it several times to moisten it well. Choose a healthy, young stem growing close to the ground. While a stronger rooting hormone will increase their chances of rooting, it makes it harder to get them to break dormancy and go into active growth. An alternative to making a shallow cut is to carefully cut or scrape the bark from the branch to form a half inch or so band of bare wood. You may want to place a stick, stake, or small rod in the ground and tie the top of the layered branch loosely to it to keep it vertical. When the seedlings have developed two sets of leaves, carefully transplant them into other flats filled with a similar mixture of sand and peat or leaf mold or perlite. For woody plants, stems of pencil size diameter or larger are best. Cultivating Bonsai trees from air layers In Japanese: “Toriki” - A slightly more advanced technique to propagate Bonsai is air-layering. With a liquid hormone such as Wood’s, use a 5% solution (mix 1 part of the hormone with 20 parts of water), and put the bottom inch of the cutting in the liquid for no more than 5 seconds. Figure 2. Azaleas produce seed pods that are ready for harvesting in fall when they begin to turn brown. For optimum rooting, make air layers in the spring on shoots produced during the previous season or in mid to late summer on shoots from the current season’s growth. In these cases, you may have more success with layering. In Georgia, we begin in March and can cut off the layered limb in August. Woody plants frequently propagated in this manner include magnolia, holly, camelia, azalea and many of the fruit and nut bearing plants such as citrus, apple, pears and pecans. Cover at least a few inches of the branch in the trench with good soil, and hold the branch firmly in the trench with wooden pegs, U-shaped wires, or heavy things such as bricks or stones. While brief exposure to early morning or late afternoon sun is not harmful, strong daylight sun will heat the enclosure and burn up the cuttings. The mother plant will now grow a new crop of shoots, even more than before, and the mounding may be repeated in the fall. By autumn the layer will have rooted. It is helpful to then wrap the union in damp sphagnum moss and cover the entire plant, scion and all, in a plastic bag. Use 75 watt incandescent bulbs or a mix of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, as close as possible to the cuttings without burning them, which is about 6 inches away. Excess auxin in the cambium leads to the creation of root initials. Connect the two parallel cuts with one long cut (a) and remove the ring of bark (b), leaving the inner woody tissue exposed (c). It may be convenient to soak it separately in a tub of water, and fill the flat with handfuls of the mixture squeezed free of excess water. Leave the medium loose to promote drainage and aeration. Use new growth for the cuttings, at any time from June onwards, depending on the weather and the variety of azalea. is an inexpensive way to fill your garden with plants. In general, evergreen azaleas root well without any hormone. The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Bibs On! When you can see a mass of roots at least 2 inches long inside the plastic wrap, cut the stem off below the roots and pot up the new plant. Think of layers as cuttings which remain attached to the parent until roots have formed. 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