Has anyone tried air layering for clones

I'm thinking about trying it and wondering if anyone has done clones using this method.

I have read and heard of people having success with this but never tried it myself.. following

Ive done it. I used this method to root branches on a mother plant that had gotten too big. I wanted a large clone so I could have new moms sooner rather than waiting for them to veg out for a month.

Yep. About to air layer up a whole batch of various medium-monster sized clones sometime this weekend. I hardly ever take little "cuttings" anymore when I clone new plants.

I'll have to take some pics, and show off my gravity drip fed air layering IV bag propagation system, that keeps the air layers mediums continuously moistened. I might actually try out a new version I'm working on that just uses a pump instead, for timed injections. Also have some other AL experiments I've wanted to test, and some other parts to fiddle around with. Mini DWC reservoirs that you seal up around the stalk temporarily with silicone or hot glue, and drop a small air stone into. Bare root hydroponic air layers sound good to me, and probably work better for the size of clones I like to take, and be easier to transplant into netpots right away. Without all the messy rockwool/coco/rootplugs..

Drop That Sound said:

Yep. About to air layer up a whole batch of various medium-monster sized clones sometime this weekend. I hardly ever take little "cuttings" anymore when I clone new plants.

I'll have to take some pics, and show off my gravity drip fed air layering IV bag propagation system, that keeps the air layers mediums continuously moistened. I might actually try out a new version I'm working on that just uses a pump instead, for timed injections. Also have some other AL experiments I've wanted to test, and some other parts to fiddle around with. Mini DWC reservoirs that you seal up around the stalk temporarily with silicone or hot glue, and drop a small air stone into. Bare root hydroponic air layers sound good to me, and probably work better for the size of clones I like to take, and be easier to transplant into netpots right away. Without all the messy rockwool/coco/rootplugs..

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Mini DWC pods? That sounds like an interesting concept. How you going to stop the airpump from popping it if it's sealed?

DeeBee420 said:

Mini DWC pods? That sounds like an interesting concept. How you going to stop the airpump from popping it if it's sealed?

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Completely unnecessary.
The air layer receives its moisture and nutrients from the roots of the plant, The branch develops roots because its path back to the plants roots has been blocked by the removal of the outer layer of stem and pith or whatever you want to call it.
Just moistening some sphagnum moss and wrapping the stem before bagging is effective.

DeeBee420 said:

Mini DWC pods? That sounds like an interesting concept. How you going to stop the airpump from popping it if it's sealed?

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Not sealed completely, just down below & around the girdled stalk/branch section, so the water doesn't leak out like crazy. I understand that some will anyway, and might possibly wick out right through the branch.. but not much the way i'll do it next time.. It will vent on the top section for the air lines.

Here is the normal "water air layering" method:
..which is cool, and probably works ok with many plants/trees, but I don't like slicing that way into cannabis. Besides it will likely root out slower than using a medium anyway, which holds more o2 than the plain water. Either way, I would rather remove the outer bark layers all the way around down to the xylem layer (like boatguy mentioned ^), and then poke the branch up through a hole in the bottom of the container\pod instead. Either a 2 peice pod with some kind of extra gaskets ( kinda like the ones they already make for soil), or cut a slit cut in the side of any old bottle like container to help slide the stalk in the hole, and then seal it all back up(except the top vent). Get full water culture exposure all the way around unlike poking a slice down into it.. Its gonna get cut off anyway just below the air layer pod, so big deal if you goop it up a little with some silicone or whatever just below the roots anyway, right?. I would much rather aerate the water/solution than just let it sit in a stagnant bottle like the above videos. Or just continue to use my IV bag setups, or finish my injection pump manifold system, and keep using rockwool medium like I have been. Hand watering huge air layers that suck the wrapped medium dry multiple times a day isn't really my thing, but neither is having bigger solo cup sized pots of coco as the air layers hangin out over the mom, flopping around everywhere & dropping chunks all up in my hydro systems.

It's not really a new concept, just no one is trying to do water culture or aero/hydro air layers these days like me I guess.. I'll get bored quick if I'm not always trying new methods out. Its more just a side experiment I want to try, and def unnecessary, lol. AL'ing is super easy, and probably the most successful propagation method in existence, used since ancient times. Just go for it, and wrap it up with some foil or plastic wrap, etc. Use soil, RW, or coco, root plugs.. whatever you got. Keep it moist

That's pretty sick mate! I wouldn't say it's unnecessary though. It's the best way to learn innit

Drop That Sound said:

Yep. About to air layer up a whole batch of various medium-monster sized clones sometime this weekend. I hardly ever take little "cuttings" anymore when I clone new plants.

I'll have to take some pics, and show off my gravity drip fed air layering IV bag propagation system, that keeps the air layers mediums continuously moistened. I might actually try out a new version I'm working on that just uses a pump instead, for timed injections. Also have some other AL experiments I've wanted to test, and some other parts to fiddle around with. Mini DWC reservoirs that you seal up around the stalk temporarily with silicone or hot glue, and drop a small air stone into. Bare root hydroponic air layers sound good to me, and probably work better for the size of clones I like to take, and be easier to transplant into netpots right away. Without all the messy rockwool/coco/rootplugs..

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love to see, that sounds something would like to learn,

you can do it diy but they also make these

Solo cups work in a pinch too. I needed to veg the air layers a bit longer on the big plant in the pics above, and keep my plant count low, while dealing with legal issues. They had already rooted, but I would just stuff it with coco in the first place had I known. It was considered only one plant by law, at the time anyway. Unless they chopped it up or something. Even though I was vegging like 12 huge clones on it for an extra month. Don't count on that benefit to air layering though, check your state laws first on what constitutes as a plant. Some states caught already.. I think..

No way was I gonna cut up my nice black plastic pots either, or buy a case of tiny water bottles, or wait for some pods to show up when I already had solos right there. It makes it way easier to water than injecting a bag. Not shown, but I stringed them upright too after filling with coco.

I don't use root riots (rots) or rapid rooters (rotters) anymore , but they work great and stay clean. Slice a single one like a hot dog bun, or wrap a huge branch with 4-5 of them, then tape around to hold em up while you saran wrap it.

I just use small wrapped up grodan cubes with gravity drip feed now days, going to each layer. I've even hung the IV bag on the mother plant before, lol. Then usually straight to DWC in small 3-4" netcups. The sooner its bubbling away in the system the better in my case. It rebounds the plant so it can self sustain, and roots out way faster than any other medium IME. With medium you have to baby the new air layers when they are huge. I would just use plastic sacks over them for a few days.

Anyway. That is why I know DWC air layer pods will be the ultimate method for me! I have every kind of cloner/propagation equipment there is, and will never go back to any of it. Waste of time space and money to take regular cuttings IMO. AL is the way!

This is generally about the size I would consider a normal cutting btw. AL'ing kinda spoils you

Tiny compared to some i've taken though, that were over 4 ft tall and wide. Someday I'll recover those pics, or do it again with another 12ft wide momma plant, oh ya! When you don't care if the mother plant dies, you can go way over 75%, and literally hack a plant directly up into all new plants, every branch. I love it.

Drop That Sound said:

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This is generally about the size I would consider a normal cutting btw. AL'ing kinda spoils you

Tiny compared to some i've taken though, that were over 4 ft tall and wide. Someday I'll recover those pics, or do it again with another 12ft wide momma plant, oh ya! When you don't care if the mother plant dies, you can go way over 75%, and literally hack a plant directly up into all new plants, every branch. I love it.

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Air layering is definitely a solution to specific plants that dont clone easy

Yep, that's what originally led me to trying it out. Even some cannabis strains can be finicky like that.

DeeBee420 said:

Mini DWC pods? That sounds like an interesting concept. How you going to stop the airpump from popping it if it's sealed?

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Thanks btw, you actually kind of solved the problem of using rigid pods by asking that question. I am going to try using bags of some kind actually. Thinking that the air pump will not only aerate the solution, but keep it all inflated at the same time, which also add the strength needed to hold the solution in the first place. Half full or something. Just a big enough vent pin hole up top that it will still blow up like a balloon. Otherwise it would just sag down without the air pressure.. Also, I can hose clamp it right around the branch, whatever size it is, top and bottom. One balloon pod to fit them all! FFS, I need to go buy some large balloons now too, to celebrate at the least.. Something I can seal back up actually, or stretchy enough to pull a round ring like section of it down and around the whole clone.. Maybe just a plain old plastic bag. It's kind of hard to explain atm, but yeah! DWC balloon pods! Makes sense to me.

I'll try it out, and take some pics. Gonna be fun!

Like this (I knew it would work like that!), but I'll use SS hose clamps for the inside section like the video (I like that idea), and a little sealant around the branch first to help make sure it doesn't leak. I'll go halfway with water though, and put the air line down in from the top, sleeved in a harder tube, and hose clamped as well. It will leave a few small holes that I can use as the vent. I can replace the water every so often by sucking it back out through the air line too. Now, if I just designed hinged\latching netcups to go inside the bag with it, I could fill with hydroton right way, and have the ultimate ready to go DWC clones in no time!

The cannabis grower community has never ceased to amaze me with our ingenuity and ideas lol This is mint!

Drop That Sound said:

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Off the top of my head that is the biggest clone I've ever seen.

I moved momma into a her own little space over the weekend, getting ready to chop her all up. I got a few extra weeks to toy around trying out some new layering methods. Old ones too, for some side by side action for the experiment, to see what works better. I'll try a couple of each medium, or cubes/plugs,etc on some more clones too. A little bit of everything, for comparisons.. Anyone else have any AL'ing ideas they want me to try out?

Got a couple good sized branches picked out for the DWC pod test. Going to layer them right into the water filled bags including the 3" netcups with hydtroton, just like I was imagining.. With air lines and everything.. It's happening, pics soon

Drop That Sound said:

I moved momma into a her own little space over the weekend, getting ready to chop her all up. I got a few extra weeks to toy around trying out some new layering methods. Old ones too, for some side by side action for the experiment, to see what works better. I'll try a couple of each medium, or cubes/plugs,etc on some more clones too. A little bit of everything, for comparisons.. Anyone else have any AL'ing ideas they want me to try out?

Got a couple good sized branches picked out for the DWC pod test. Going to layer them right into the water filled bags including the 3" netcups with hydtroton, just like I was imagining.. With air lines and everything.. It's happening, pics soon

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How about a rapid rooter wrapped in cellophane over the cut?
I would be willing to bet a cutting in some promix would root and grow faster than any air layer.