I'm not sure why you want to air-layer, seeing that carica comes so easily and reliably from cuttings. To air layer the plant is to make a whole bunch of extra work for yourself.

Vigor is inherent in the plant and a genetic endowment. There can be no difference/advantage in vigor because a part of the plant has been air layered vs. vegetatively reproduced by other means (cuttings, stoolings, ground layers, etc). What a plant possesses in the way of vigor will remain constant, and it will pass that same level of vigor down to all its vegetatively reproduced offspring.

The vitality and robust growth you witnessed in the air layers would have been the same had you taken cuttings and exposed them to the same set(s) of cultural conditions. Vigor is constant and a genetic trait. Vitality is highly variable and a function of how well the plant deals with/responds to the cultural conditions it is subjected to.

When air-layering, there is little advantage in trying to layer branches so young and so much smaller than the size of cuttings that will readily root. You should perform air layers on well-lignified wood; and I would limit the technique's use to wood larger than what you think will strike as a cutting.

Al

Fignut, if I read your posting correctly you will be air-layering on year old wood (last year's growth). That should work just fine, but I wouldn't wait too long before getting started.
As for the vigor and why air-layering, answer to both is probably due to the large number of roots. I find that air-layer plants are one year ahead of cuttings as far as maturity goes, and that is reason enough.

Al, That was a misleading choice of words on my part. What I meant to say was that the growth was incredible with the air layered plants. Much faster than rooted cuttings under the same conditions. A Celeste air layer I did last year is actually larger than the mother plant now. The mother Celeste came from Paradise and was a good sized plant when I got it.
This is a Galbun air layer I did last year. It was about 12 inches.

This is the same plant this year. The shorter stem is 36 inches to the terminal bud and the longer 38inches. I didn't measure the other, smaller 3 stems.

Elder is right. The branches I'm trying to root are a year old, and as thick as what I'd use for cuttings, but they are still greenish and brittle. (I broke off one branch on the above Galbun).
I'm trying the Galbun (note the cups) as it isn't really important to me if those air layers fail - I can pull suckers. But I have some figs that I'd really like to propagate without fouling it up.
I think air layers are actually easier than cuttings (especially this year - I lost a bunch of cuttings).

Elder, I was getting anxious about starting them, but didn't want to mess up.
I leave the cups on the mother plant until they are completely filled with roots. Sounds as if you do the same. I had to stake the air layers, but they filled the new pots really quickly.

Thank you both for the help.

Fignut - Did U wound or take off an inch of bark during this air layering or just cup with dirt ?? I am doing a few just with dirt. My friend seems to do well with his ice cream container with no removal of bark. Thanks.

Paully

Paully, I just air layered a sicilian fig and I did not have to wound it. I just started another one about 3 weeks ago also, no roots yet but it took about 4-5 weeks for the other one to show roots in the clear up with covered potting soil.

Fignut, do you store trees in your GH during the winter. I am green with envy. I have a dream of:

1. Glass green house with nice windows
2. Water feature, love to hear that running water.
4. Flat screen tv to watch my shows
5. comfortable couch in my GH for naps with a water spritzer thing in case I get hot.
7. Lots of fig trees!

My two cents!

Paully, The Galbun pictured above had a ring of bark removed from the air layered stem. I saw roots in a little over three weeks. I didn't take the air layer off the mother plant until the cup was full of roots - probably another 2-3 weeks. I think the growth would have been similar to regular cuttings if it had been removed from the mother plant earlier with fewer roots. The difference seems to be the large number of roots as Elder mentioned.
I've also just put on a cup with no wounding. A Bayernfeige Violetta had very prominent bumps that looked like root initials starting, so I just cupped it without removing the bark.

loslunasfarms, I like your dreams - but I'd defintitely upgrade the glass to polycarbonate. Doesn't cost anything to dream, LOL.
I usually just put the figs in an unheated garage - the temperature fluctuates too much in the greenhouse (it's not heated). But I've never had as many figs, and I just put a bunch of them in larger pots. I'm not sure what I'm doing this winter. (Though I better figure it out soon, LOL.)

Jose & Fignut - thanks for sharing. Just went and checked both my air layered with bark removed & without. Good news, both have roots, especially with the bark removed -- seems to have more roots. This may also have to do with the variety. More roots from the Negronne than on Vern's BT.

I agree with fignut that I like Jose dreams. Well, I am getting a small 10x8 ft greenhouse this week and probably built another one before end Aug. Hope to double this one for figs in winter as well as recreational space. Right now there is a special for C$699 greenhouse with 6mm polycarbornate from Outdoor Depo. Wife says go & get it. Yahooooo.

I forgot to mention: I lost another air layer on semi-green one year old wood. This one was on a Jack's Quarter Pounder and it just snapped where the bark ring had been cut off. Even if this wood will root, it probably is a better idea to wait until it hardens up and the bark turns brown. The semi hard wood is very brittle.

paully22....I just got off of the Outdoor Depot site, I'm jealous. My wife and I would be dangerous in there.

loslunasfarms....What happened to # 3 and 6? And seems to me you're doing well on #7 already (probably better than I'm doing)

fignut...Sadly I'm probably not getting out to RI this summer (unless my grandmother passes). One day I'll make it there and hopefully get a chance to see that greenhouse of figs firsthand!

~Chills

Fignut, I never cut a ring of bark anymore, doesn't seem necessary, and one year I lost a large number of air-layers when a big wind came through the area. They had all been notched, and they all snapped in the wind. So, now I don't do anything to the branches to weaken them.

Chills, Considering the situation, I hope you don't have to come this summer. Be glad to see you when you do get to Row-di-len.

Elder, We had high winds yesterday and today and I lost another Galbun air layer. I guess this is what's called "learning the hard way", LOL.
Did you notice much difference (number of roots, amount of time to rooting) between bark ring removed air layers and un-wounded air layers?

While not necessary, I have also found that wounded branches produce roots faster. I'm not sure I would say one produces more since given time, the non-wounded limb will catch up. However, at a given time, the wounded limb generally has more root growth.

To avoid breakage, I use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer layers of the limb. If it is a thin limb, I will only take one pass with the peeler. Thicker branches I'll completely girdle.

~james

The vigor of an air layer as opposed to that of a cutting becomes evident to one who has used both methods to propagate Figs, and I think the reason for it may be obvious.

For me, here are many variables in rooting Fig cuttings, and many Fig cuttings are notoriously difficult to propagate, if each of the variables is not addressed.

Included, but not limited to, are the following:
1. Time of year the cutting was taken.
2. Age of the cutting when propagation efforts begin.
3. Constant and proper amount of moisture and heat to that part of cutting BENEATH the soil.
4. Constant and proper amount of moisture and heat to that part of cutting ABOVE the soil line.

But the main reason for inceased vigor in air layering seems to be the common sense factor that propagation efforts are being made to a part of the plant that is actually rooted and growing while the propagation efforts are ongoing. The air layer is receiving measured moisture and nutrients from a rooted plant, of which it is a part, rather than a severed cutting, which by its own separation from the plant must propagate from the vigor/nutrients contained within a 6-inch severed portion of a plant.

Severing a 6-inch cutting from a fig tree and placing it 4 inches deep in moisturized,containerized soilless potting mix/soil, and placing it in dry heat and/or direct sun, will generally wither and kill the 2 inces of cutting exposed above the soil line. As stated above, one of the variables is maintaining proper heat and moisture above and below the soil line--which are extremely difficult to maintain outdoors.

Performing an air layer--by providing moisturized, containerized soilless potting mix/soil to a portion of the living, growing plant (either scarified, or not), will NOT kill any part of the plant due to direct sun or dry heat, and, as long as moisture is maintained, will allow for the vigor of the living growing plant to propagate that portion where efforts are directed.

Other benefits: When air layering a portion of a living plant, once sufficient roots have become established in the soil/soilless mix container, that newly-propagated portion of the plant can be severed from the main plant, while in full leaf, and allowed to grow on in the growing season, anywhere its owner desires to locate it.

If one starts a cutting inground, in soil or soilless mix, even after that cutting develops sufficient roots, it cannot be safely separated from the soil (dug) while the plant is in full leaf, but one must wait until the plant goes dormant to remove it from the soil to pot it.

Air layers have a distinct advantage over cuttings rooted inground, for that reason. Cuttings rooted inground are the easiest way to root cuttings for me, but it requires that I wait until dormancy to pot them and move them from their nursery. No matter whether the cutting was placed vertically or horizontally in the soil, one must still wait until dormancy to dig and remove them, and always, injure and lose some root structure in doing so.

Air layers retain all their newly-grown and containerized root structure, uninjured and undanmaged, when severed from the main plant.

The above is not a scientific deduction, but an obvious and common-sense one, for me. Propagation from a living, growing plant, by air layer, does not require any special treatment for that part of the plant ABOVE the soil line, and excess moisture will not rot the bark for that part of the plant BENEATH the soil line, as tends to happen with severed cuttings whose moisture is not properly maintained, both beneath and above the soil line.