Has anyone tried air layering for clones

Trying out some crazy bridge/girdling techniques on the bigger one, check it out! Left a tiny cambium bridge down to the ring. Wonder how the roots will jump off it?

Drop That Sound said:

Trying out some crazy bridge/girdling techniques on the bigger one, check it out! Left a tiny cambium bridge down to the ring. Wonder how the roots will jump off it?

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What are you trying to accomplish by leaving some of the bark? Also, is the tube for watering purposes?

Ok the good part. Filled them up with my aw-20 aqua lift pump. Started with the small one.

All was good then I saw a drip. Cranked another hose clamp on and now she’s tighter than a kitchen sink.

The second one was good so that's the method I will use again, with extra sealant around it.

Filled them up with 350 ppm of clonex, and thats it. Might add some cal hypo on the next fillup, low ppm dose.

Anyway, been sitting and watching them bubble away, so satisfying.




I

The tube serves both as a way to suck out or add water, and also to pump in air.

I was gonna add tiny air stones, but left them bare

Ya i'm not 100% sure what I'm doing when it comes to girdling the branches like that. I've done quite a few air layers now and always try different things to see if I can unlock some ancient secret that will root out quicker, so I can become the canna AL'ing/bonsai master

I've previously tried many other ways, like leaving the bark on as normal, scraping it, adding different slashes around it, left bridges and bark hanging off, etc.. Just being curious ever since I started air layering for clones a few years ago. I seem to have better success when I fully remove the ring layer of cambium all the way around, also scraping any phloem remaining away from the xylem, just like the basic AL directions call for.

Gonna make up a few different sets of custom air layering pliers though(one specially made for cannabis), and start using them from now on instead of blades. I need to take 100's of big clones off all the fruit trees around here too, and need something that works quick. Something like these:

got any roots with the hydro airlayering method???

i tried normal air layering works amazing just slow.

amneziaHaze said:

got any roots with the hydro airlayering method???

i tried normal air layering works amazing just slow.

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I just filled them up yesterday, finally. The bags were hanging on there for a few days, lol. I have time to baby sit them now. Gonna do the other layers here inna few so they're all about the same timing, just a half a day off.

When I cut away the DWC bags, I could just keep vegging away till I got a bag full of roots. Leave the clones in the bag for awhile, lol. I'm gonna leave em on for awhile though.

I could sell\gift clones that way too. Ready to go hydro DWC clones right in the netpot, like buying a goldfish in a bag. Haha

It's nice and warm out lately, so I can only imagine I'll see a root poking out of the pebbles in no more than 2 weeks from now.

I'm gonna do another dwc water method one too, where I cut the branch angled, bend it open and poke the pointy end down into a plastic bottle (like the first few vids in this thread). I'm only gonna try because I don't like that method for some reason.. even though I haven't done it on a cannabis plant, and want to clear any bad judgments I have away. I'm sure it works good too, without taping bags on like I did. No way as good as my all new method though, and I should be able to prove it.

I know its kind of unorthodox, and seems like a waste of time, but I'm working on the ultimate perpetual hydro system.. Being able to layer a plant directly in half, and hydroponically asap without a bunch of organic mediums getting everywhere in my clean rooms is part of the cycle. It sets the lower half of the plant up in a bowl shape ( I call it pony tailing, and can show more pics if interested) without having to be trained the whole time. It immediately gets put in the flower room in another RDWC system under scrog nets, at the same time as I drop the upper DWC cloned half right back down into the veg system, where the lower half that is now flowering was. Hard to describe, but I'm basically just chopping perpetual vegged plants in half, and flowering the lower half in another room over and over.

Drop That Sound said:

I know its kind of unorthodox, and seems like a waste of time, but I'm working on the ultimate perpetual hydro system.. Being able to layer a plant directly in half, and hydroponically asap without a bunch of organic mediums getting everywhere in my clean rooms is part of the cycle. It sets the lower half of the plant up in a bowl shape ( I call it pony tailing, and can show more pics if interested) without having to be trained the whole time. It immediately gets put in the flower room in another RDWC system under scrog nets, at the same time as I drop the upper DWC cloned half right back down into the veg system, where the lower half that is now flowering was. Hard to describe, but I'm basically just chopping perpetual vegged plants in half, and flowering the lower half in another room over and over.

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It would be pretty cool to use an aero mister inside something to do this too cool idea dude thanks for sharing. This is a great thread!

Nizza said:

It would be pretty cool to use an aero mister inside something to do this too cool idea dude thanks for sharing. This is a great thread!

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Yep! All that is next up on the bucket list of methods to try out. I could just drop a small pump in there with a mister attached directly to the output. I also got a fogger ready to go If I wanted.

So, The big one has a slow, slow drip, luckily right over the lid. Not bad enough to worry, but it did lose some solution. The clone and cup is at a 45 though, and it can't possibly leak past the perfect zone anyway. I might add another hose clamp. Two* hose clamps seems to be the perfect deal, regardless of the sealant btw.

Oh, and I need to use a smaller air pump for bubbling the netcups. Without air stones its churning up some big bubbles, and shaking the entire plant, lol.

Its like 2 big heavy boobs hanging on her, with more than a half liter in each bag. Haha

Pretty sure the hydro DWC air layers are already rooting out. Hard to see with hydroton in the way. Before I had time to do the other air layers too, because I’m a slacker and have too much goin on and didn’t get em done yet lol.

One of the big branches I had to remove to make room for one of the pods is already nubbed out, and I cut if off atthe same time, so ya. Was just sitting in a glass with other cleanup cuttings from a week or 2 ago that I was saving for some reason..

Funny thing is the rest of the cuttings barely have any weak roots, or even at all, while the big branch is full already, and was only snipped off a few days ago. Could be the size I guess, or the fact I girdled it just like an air layer..

All I can say is.. girdle your cuttings!

Drop That Sound said:

I know its kind of unorthodox, and seems like a waste of time, but I'm working on the ultimate perpetual hydro system.. Being able to layer a plant directly in half, and hydroponically asap without a bunch of organic mediums getting everywhere in my clean rooms is part of the cycle. It sets the lower half of the plant up in a bowl shape ( I call it pony tailing, and can show more pics if interested) without having to be trained the whole time. It immediately gets put in the flower room in another RDWC system under scrog nets, at the same time as I drop the upper DWC cloned half right back down into the veg system, where the lower half that is now flowering was. Hard to describe, but I'm basically just chopping perpetual vegged plants in half, and flowering the lower half in another room over and over.

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You should post pics of this process. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

It works beautifully, I've never done it but I have a friend who does hydro and he will Air Layer clone huge ass branches for his net pots. I think the primary benefit of this is you can get a way more developed and healthy branch doing this vs cutting little branches and making them root after taking them away from the plant. At scale it could become pretty tedious but if you run a personal grow then I could see it being very beneficial.

Ya I'll throw up some pics and show what I mean by "pony tailing" later.

Also, its res change day, and need to refill the dwc pod bags again too. One still has the same water this entire time (murky from not washing the hydroton good enough too), but the leaky one I filled back up once with more clonex water days ago. Pretty sure I saw roots poking around the other night when peeking in. I know they're in there. I'll update later tonight on the status. I'm just gonna keep vegging them till I get a nice sack full too, for at least a few more weeks probably.

Decided not to take more air layers for now because I'm kinda done with this strain for a bit, and don't want a bunch of it around anymore. Just gonna take the 2 dwc AL clones and keep one as the new mom, and retire her out to one of my little greenhouses. Finish her off in a big res with a scrog net. Might even light dep her starting right away to get a kick start, and also do one or 2 more of the AL experiments while outside just for kicks..

As its looking, for my new 8 site veg system, I'll likely be setting up a secondary HPA system soon enough, to go along with it. Just for doing 8 hydro air layers in re-usable silicone bags. A mister for each pod. I'll be cloning the entire upper half of the vegging plants that are sitting in a hybrid LPA/DWC rail system, then dropping the big clones above (the whole upper plant in this case) right back down into the same veg system as its cut. I'll perpetually be taking the lower half of the plant out of the veg system as I do it too, and putting it into the flower room on a scheduled cycle. I can continue to train both the AL clone as its rooting out, and also the lower half that will be flowered before its even cut away, to some extent. AL's continue to veg unlike regular cuttings btw, and can handle light/wind/etc.

By pony tailing, I mean that I lollipop & then bunch up the air layer/s I'll be taking off the top of the plant like a bouquet, so that light gets down in to the lower part way before I cut them, and helps keeps them out of the way in the mean time. Like they aren't even there, so it keeps filling in. Then, when the clones are removed, Its ready to drop the nets right on top. I haven't done it much with smaller plants like I plan to work with (just on overgrown bushes mostly), but I can see it going just how I want it too. AL'ing with be an essential step in my new perpetual grow process, and the main form of propagation. Just keep cutting plants in half over and over

Oh yeah I forgot to update. So, I went in to look, and the double hose clamped DWC pod with the smaller clone leaked most of the solution out. Luckily it trapped enough on the other side to keep it moist. It developed a hole while I was moving it around (probably looking for roots), on some of the sharp hydroton that fell out towards the bottom. I knew I should have made mesh caps to keep it all in!

So anyway, I rolled up the bad part with the hole and put a mini clamp, but its still leaking.

Gonna let it finish leaking out, and then slap some flex seal tape on it, lol! If that doesn't work, I'll undo the top, and tape both sides.


Haha JK, or maybe not though, we'll see. I might melt it back together if I have to undo it.

Silicone bags will work great in the future. I just wanted to see this time.. That, or just cutting a few small circles of some food grade plastic mesh I have, and zip tying it on.

I'll be back again with pics once I straighten out the punctured bag. Otherwise, all is well, and the clones haven't skipped a beat. No bags full of roots yet though..

I upped the PPM of clonex, and started PH'ing the solution.

Oh ya guys, both my hydro air layers have rooted out already. I guess you could call it a success, lol.

Going back a few weeks ago to the punctured bag. Well, when I went to put on some flex tape (no bs, I eventally did!) I noticed my huge glass reptile aquarium up in the house had a vertical silicone seam pop and start leaking, and flooding out my laundry room with gallons of water by the time... Anyways, I spent 4-5 days messing with getting a whole new tank setup for my turtle (the priority), and that particular hydro layered clone was completely dried out the whole time. I was like wtf, why is the universe giving me leaks like this suddenly?

So fast forward a week, and I finally slapped on a few small pieces of flex tape over the hole\s, which was caused by the small sharp & broken hydtroton pebbles falling out, and also the plant vibrating\compacting them against the bag from the air bubbles shaking everything. Go figure... Filled it back up, and it seemed to hold water again, and ever since!.

I also realized that you need to crank the hose clamps down maybe an eighth to a quarter turn every few days or so, because the branch/stalk gets softer over time, causing really slow leaks if you don't. Take note!

Things were going good again, and I re positioned the whole plant so the larger dwc layer clone was more upright, because its the one I want to keep the most. Kinda messed up and let most of the hydroton fall out, but I got to see how the roots were doing on the weird girdle job I did. Unfortunatley it wasn't as far advanced as I had hoped, but I also had the thing hanging at a bad angle, and the bag sagged so low most the time it barely got saturated, also due to slow leaks. Got the clamp tightened back down and I was able to fill it way better with no more slow leak. I was scared to crank the clamps too hard at first, and risk snapping the branches, but now I'm more confident! Tighten them often!

Came back to check like 3-4 days later, and then the big one had a @#$ing leak too! Had lost all the solution for a few days at the least. lol. Then I realized my trucks water pump is leaking too in the same day, and needs to be replaced. MAn!

Slapped on some more flex tape, and filled it back up too, just like the other one days before.

Been a few days since then, and no more leaks since.. Definitely some huge setbacks along the way, but I learned quite a bit, and have solid ideas for the next runs that should be 99% problem free!

Gonna veg them out a bit more while still attached to mom, while I fix all the other leaks in my life! Got some nice roots going finally, even after dying off, so I can't complain!

Sorry pics kinda suck, and hard too see. Risky to take, because if I bump anything i’m worried It will pop again!