Brick Top
New Member
That sounds familiar...
Can you give a little more info please?
It is sort of like cloning without taking a cutting first, and usually using a larger sized part of the plant than is traditionally used for a cutting, like using a small branch.
 
You strip an area of the outer layer of the branch/bark lets call it, and coat it with rooting compound and then you take a rockwool cube (cut in half) or sphagnum moss and moisten it and put it around the stripped area of the branch and seal it in plastic wrap. Then you wait until you see roots coming out of the rockwoll or moss and then you cut the small branch just below the roots.
 
What it does it not separate the small branch from the rest of the plant so it does not dry out and die like some cutting from more difficult to clone plants will. It remains watered and fed while pushing out new roots into the rockwool or moss.
 
It also gives you a larger cutting to begin growing with than a traditional clone so you have a little more of a head start of growth. Yes you lose a small branch but if you take a lower one that may only produce a small amount of bud or just popcorn you have not lost much in comparison to what you gain so it is worth it and it is an easier way to get something rooted in some cases.
 
You can do a Google search for air layering propagation and find a number of different pieces of information on it.
(Pictures found on another herb site.)
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