Before a very sick cherry

To continue the story of what Dianne did next with the story of her 12ft air layer which is strange but true!

As it was to be our airlayering workshop last week I thought I should tell you about the one I’ve just done. It all began when Graham Simpson sent me a photo of his lovely Cherry Bonsai which was just my kind of tree – flowers AND autumn foliage.

It made me think I had exactly the same tree in my garden but a few years ago it had hardly any leaves but it didn’t have canker (phew) so I revived it back to health.

After with lots of TLC…

So I decided this was the year I can airlayer it. However a few issues to get over….. All the branches were out on the drive not in my garden and there were no low growing branches on the tree. So I set myself up with airlayering kit in pockets and climbed a ladder to do the deed.

The red circle shows the branch I had chosen to airlayer but I forgot to say the drive sloped downwards by 45 degrees….!!

So I’m on the top shelf of a 6 ft ladder reaching up above my head (hence the 12 ft airlayer!) to remove the bark and 2nd layer, apply rooting powder & sphagnum moss and enclose it all in 2 layers of plastic tied at both ends….. I chose that really windy day too and had to use the neighbour’s car to secure the ladder facing down the hill. Sadly there was no-one to get a photo of this but I did take photos of the airlayer as I did it…..am I barking or what?

And I even fitted a small bottle to catch the rain or my attempts with a hose pipe to keep it wet!

So all I need is for lots of lovely roots to grow & should have said due to every branch being out of reach I have this time airlayered a large branch which will make a smaller version of the tree in my garden and then I will have to airlayer again to get my bonsai tree version – if I haven’t bought one by then!! 🤣😂😆