Bonsai Propagation Techniques
Air Layering to creat the perfect Bonsai

Bonsai propagation, There are three basic ways that we get stock for bonsai. The first of coarse is God's way, which is from seed. The second way is an old nursery man trick, planting young branch cuttings. The third way to propagate bonsai is by what bonsai men all over the world refer to as creating air roots or "air layering".

Ever look at a 15 gallon potted tree at your local nursery and say "what a waste, if they would only have trimmed and pinched this tree ..." With air layering you can take a common nursery stock tree, one that is not a real good overall candidate for bonsai and get a quality bonsai starter (two or three for that matter) and still have the original tree. This is done by selecting a section(s) of the tree that displays bonsai promise and removing it from the parent tree.

Maybe the apex or top 10" of the tree has branches close together and evenly spread around and when you look at just this section you see a nice formal upright bonsai tree, all it needs is roots. Maybe there is a particular branch with good caliper and shape that would make a great cascade bonsai if it wasn't connected to the main tree. What if?

When this article is completed we will show you how to get multiple trees from one without a lot of bother and cost. Air Layering is an art that anyone can learn.

Stay tuned . .