Air Layering Acer shirasawanum 'aureum' Write up and Pictures

My research for local nurseries with possible bonsai related material came up with New Dungeness Nursery as a possible source. They had commented on the Dungeness Bonsai Society's June show on facebook, so I figured they may have some potential bonsai material. I had also heard about Peninsula Nursery - that they had recently changed ownership and the new owner (some big shot real estate dude) had big plans to turn the nursery into some Butchard Gardens sort of thing, with micro-brewery, etc. So I didn't think they would have much in the way of material. My Saturday started off going to the Pumpkin Patch Flea Market, but oops, they're only open on first and third Saturday in the season. Meh. On my way to ND nursery I mistakenly drove into Peninsula Nursery. OOPS! I stumbled onto a half off everything sale going on! Alrighty then, time to look around! Most of the stuff looked like it's seen better days. Not sure what was going on there, I think maybe they had a small mishap. Likely some mismanagement of resources from the new owner, as he was quoted in the local paper as saying he had no previous nursery experience. Regardless, the trees I saw looked a bit battered, but not too bad. For half off, a bonsai find here would definitely suit my needs!

I talked to the nurseryman there (not the owner), let him know what I was looking for - looking to create some bonsai by air layering a tree or two. Looking especially for Acer palmatum (normal), trident maple, or crab apples. He said he did have some palmatum but not the other stuff I mentioned. He did show some Acer shirasawanum 'aureum' - Golden Full Moon maple! A rare find. They were a little sorry looking, and in shallow four gallon pots. I figured they were out of my price point. The price tag said $90. YIKES! Just a little out of my price point. Yet NICE! Ninety bucks for a rare maple... good price for a Golden Full Moon Maple! Then he tells me that these are half price -  so the actual price would be $45. 

SCORE!!!!

I bought my tree. I then went to ND Nursery. They had a nice selection, and the trees all looked healthy but the price point was what I thought it was going to be - pricey. A little too pricey for what I was doing, so I got out of there and after a few side trips, came home with my little prize: 

This is called the Full Moon Maple. Very similar to Acer palmatum, but the shape of the leaves are fuller, like a full moon.

It's kind of a Charlie Brown, sorry looking tree.Came home, watered and fertilized my trees and I did my air layer. It turned out to be so easy that I decided to do a second one. The key to making it easy was pre-prepping. 

OH! And guess what I found at Walmart during one of the mentioned side trips? Sphagnum moss. Yeah yeah, I know what I said about sphagnum moss. I totally pulled sphagnum moss out of my ass. This isn't the same shit I see in the books though. This is more akin to coco fiber. The bag cost me $4.77, so yeah. 

Sphagnum Moss: The shit of legend among Bonsai Masters!

Back to pre-prepping. I wet the moss just enough that it held water when squeezed, but not so much water that it was sopping wet. I decided I was going to use clear plastic. Bernadette had just tossed some tortillas, so I used that plastic to wrap the bundle. I cut the plastic to size ahead of time. And being I decided I was going to use zip ties, I made sure I grabbed them ahead of time.  I also sharpened up my paring knife, just to be sure it was very sharp.

Part of pre-prepping was to take a good look at the tree before I started. Examine it, make sure everything was good. I noticed a branch that was growing too close to the main trunk. This branch would eventually have to come off, so I decided to use this branch for my project.

My tray of schefflera arbicola seeds are more in focus in the picture, but you can see how the branch in question is just hugging the trunk. No bueno. I used some bonsai wire to wire the branch down, using the nursery pot as an anchor.  Once the air layer takes, I will be cutting the whole branch off at the trunk. The main reason for wiring it down is to make it easier to apply the air layer.

So now  had all my prep work done, it was time for the first cut. I don't have a nursery knife, so I used my paring knife and made two cuts into the branch, about an inch apart. I made sure these cuts made a complete ring around the branch. I then took my knife and made the first cut. 

Nice clear picture; you can see the ring I cut into the branch. Because of the ring cuts and the sharpness of the knife, that first cut was smooooooooth and easier than I thought. So I continued cutting the wood between the rings until ALL the bark was gone.  

After the bark was gone, I then went back and carefully scraped away at the white part under the cambium layer. I've read that this step is crucial to get the air layer to work.  

Next it was time to add rooting hormone to the cut. I had ordered some rooting gel, but it's not here yet. FUCK IT! I decided to use the rooting powder I have on hand. 

Ignore the grubby, filth digging thumb.

But I fucked up a little here. I didn't have anything to apply the powder to the cut. Again, FUCK IT! Time to improvise. I grabbed a tuft of grass with some spent seeds on it and decided to use this as my improvised rooting brush.

This worked pretty well to apply the rooting powder to the cut. 

Did I mention I pre-prepped the sphagnum moss and moistened it to just how I wanted? I did! I grabbed some moss, put it on the plastic and grabbed a couple of zip ties. This little package then gets applied to the cut, making sure you cover it up and zip tie it nice and tight.

If the plastic was tissue, it'd look like a healthy shit

I didn't  get any pictures of me wrapping the little package around the branch. It was a bitch to get it just right, okay? It really would have helped if I had a helper, but FUCK IT! I didn't, so I made do with what I had. Here's a picture of the finished job:

After that, I was feeling so accomplished and marveling at just how easy it was, that I decided to do another.  

Maybe if I cared, I would go back and cut off the zip ties. I don't really care. I'm a little concerned about the package drying out in the coming weeks, so I'll have to watch it. With some luck, in a few weeks, the roots will take and the whole thing will be coming off anyways.