The Complete Bonsai Handbook

A technique for growing aerial roots on bonsai fig trees has been presented in Darlene Dunton's book "The Complete Bonsai Handbook" [1]. She air layers the aerial roots in hardware cloth tubes instead of the seamless cellophane tubing that we use. Further, she induces aerial roots to form by nicking the branches, in contrast to our opportunistic approach of simply using whatever aerial root buds form on their own. We suspect that our tubes are more practical than hers, but her method of inducing aerial roots sounds beneficial. A brief excerpt from page 100 of her book follows.

``If you have a tree you especially like that has no long sideshoots on the proper branches, you may use the branch-tips themselves for rooting. Another method is to make hardware-cloth cylinders, nick the branch underside, apply root hormone, place a spagnum-packed cylinder under each nick so that the nick touches the spagnum, and secure it with rubber bands. Keep the cylinders damp, using the drip method or frequent sprinkling. Do not overwater the roots of the tree. This usually works but is very slow and doesn't take 100 percent of the time. Most often many roots develop where you wanted just one or two. As soon as the roots begin to increase in size carefully start to remove the top part of the packing, encouraging the roots to continue down to the soil. Select the strongest roots, cutting away the smaller ones.''

Bibliography

[1] D. Dunton, "The Complete Bonsai Handbook". Briarcliff Manor, NY: Scarborough House, 1979.

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