Air-Layering with a Touch of Silliness

This is from a Bonsai Society of Portland (Oregon) video entitled ‘Uncovering an Air-layer.’ I found it on Michael Hagedorn’s Crataegus Bonsai. What’s with bonsai people? A friend of mine (she isn’t a bonsai enthusiast) once describe bonsai people as a ‘bunch of harmless nerds.’ I’m not so sure about the harmless part (just kidding?), but you might find a touch of nerdiness every now and then (not that there’s anything wrong with it). Anyway, check out this video. It’s instructive (in more ways than one). And BTW, the happy cackle belongs to Mr. Hagedorn himself. Michael inspecting the newly … Continue reading Air-Layering with a Touch of Silliness

Excuse Me While I Wipe the Egg Off My Face

Here’s a little note that I just received from Bill Valavanis I was just looking at your new tool and am wondering something. A few years ago in Japan I got a new tool which looks exactly like yours, but it’s for air layering. It has two sets of parallel blades, I can’t tell if yours has one pair or two. So I was just wondering if yours is actually an air layering tool or bark removal tool. And here’s my somewhat red-in-the-face reply Hi Bill. I think you are on to something and now I feel a little slow … Continue reading Excuse Me While I Wipe the Egg Off My Face

Truly a Simple Air-Layering Technique

This photo shows step two (see below). From this angle you can see that the current base of the trunk is a mess. After layering we’ll have a new base, though it’s unclear from this photo why this spot (at the top of the layer) was chosen. My guess is the author picked this unattractive tree for instructional purposes rather than for aesthetic reasons. The photos are from Bonsai Today issue 20. Your basic layering technique This one is actually simpler than the previous ‘simple’ technique. It’s the most common way to air-layer. It is quite easy and when done … Continue reading Truly a Simple Air-Layering Technique

A Simple (?) Air-Layering Technique: part 3

Ten years later. This Japanese beech is from an air-layering that we began showing several weeks ago (part one and part two). We promised a third installment (and almost forgot), so here it is. You can see the whole ten year process in detail in Bonsai Today issues 48 and 49. It this technique really simple? Though each step is fairly simple, there are so many steps that you might question our original notion that this is a simple technique. I guess your view of relative simplicity might depend upon your experience and your patience. Step 9 (one year after … Continue reading A Simple (?) Air-Layering Technique: part 3

A Simple Air-Layering Technique: part 2

Back to the beginning Mr. Sinichi Watanabe has decided that this impressive old Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) needs to be air-layered. The photo shows two assistants holding a training pot (cut in half for the photo) to show what the tree will look like after it’s layered. The original article appeared in Bonsai Today issue 48. Picking up where we left off In our last post we showed the first few steps in Mr. Watanabe’s air-layering technique. This post will show the last step in the previous post and the next series of steps. We’ll need a third post to … Continue reading A Simple Air-Layering Technique: part 2

A Simple Air-Layering Technique

This image is from Bonsai Today issue 48. The details are a little on the small side, so we’ll break it into pieces for you. Step 1. 4mm is almost exactly 5/32″ BTW: if you need a quality grafting knife…