Single Node Air Layers

[ThaiFigs]

Each formerly dormant node on the main stem has been forced to waken and now it's time to make some roots.

[tinyfish]

Looks very good. You should have some nice rooted plants soon enough.

[ThaiFigs]

I hope so. Last time I tried this, all the bark rotted away. Obviously it was too wet!

[cjccmc]

Is that a fig tree? Leaves don't have the usual shape.

[ThaiFigs]

Yes it's an Italian variety.Brogiotto Bianco. Immature leaves, see another photo in the comments below of another leaf shape.

[figwood1]

I was wondering how you woke up all of the nodes? That is really cool!!

[ThaiFigs]

See my previous thread alternative to pinching where I explain how to do it.

[AscPete]

You can also place any fig tree stem or branch perfectly horizontal (level) and prune off the growing tip (2 or more nodes) which will induce branching along the entire horizontal length.

[figwood1]

Thank you both, for the awesome information!!!!!!!

[figgrower]

Neat technique! Is that just foil, or is there soil inside?

[ThaiFigs]

There is damp media inside.

[Zuny]

Cool, hope they root well for you.

[ThaiFigs]

Thanks. I have a fairly high degree if confidence that the 3rd time will be the charm .

[COGardener]

Will be fun to follow, can't wait to see a huge mass of roots!

[ThaiFigs]

Each node is a separate air layer. Hard to see with the foil, but each air layer is quite small.

[Needaclone]

Were the branches at the nodes already there and just woke up and started pushing new leaves to support the creation of roots? Or did you physically do something to make them wake up? Or did you threaten them? (Sometimes that works with figs...)
Jim

[ThaiFigs]

I threatened to turn them into cuttings if they didn't form branches for me. And I used some hormone paste. Carrot and stick approach.

[Taverna78]

All the nodes
wet?

[ThaiFigs]

When they were really wet, the bark rotted away. This is version 3. They're each slightly damp Version 1 they dried out

[ThaiFigs]

When I started it was a 1.5 meter long stem with a few leaves at the top. I tried to get each node to come out of dormancy and form a new branch. About 85% did. Now that each branch is a couple inches long I'm trying to get each node to make it's own roots. Then when I finally separate the individual nodes they'll each have roots and a shoot. Shooting and rooting before cutting should give me about 80% success. Compare that to cutting 3 nodes together then rooting. At best you'll get 33% success, (1new plant for each 3 nodes) and that's only if 100% of the cuttings survive.

[ThaiFigs]

Immature leaves on new branches are mostly single blade (not lobed)

[AscPete]

Thanks for sharing the photos and info, good luck.

[jmaler]

This is a good idea form getting multiple plants from a single stem. I used the budding paste b4 and it seemed to work for me. Having the limb in a horizontal positon really helps budding as well.

Good luck with the effort.

[ThaiFigs]

I feel like Alex Haley today

[Zuny]

Oh wow, good job you did it. Glad to see that it worked out for you.

[ThaiFigs]

3 weeks to get roots. Lost one branch stem to fungal rot, but other two survived. I knocked the leaves off the small one removing the foil but it will grow back. So yes, I'm thrilled with the results.

[AscPete]

Congratulations on the "Roots", looks great...

[cjccmc]

Congrats! I was thinking of asking about your project a couple of days ago but figured you needed at least 5 weeks but looks like 3 was enough.

So what now? Does the airlayer go back on or clip and pot?

[ThaiFigs]

Clipped and soaking for a couple days to elongate roots. Then "steam" pot it.

[Fygmalion]

Nice!