Recently, I am interested in proliferations.
Reading all the threads here I can find, I saw that the root systems of prolifs do not seem that amazing. Some people even dunk them in water for 10 days after cutting them to induce rooting prior to planting.

That sounded highly inefficient to me. So, I wanted to test if I could combine air-layering with proliferations to grow a nice root system while still attached to the scape, prior to cutting. After all, they are sitting on the scape anyway, so why not give them that longer time to grow big healthy roots?

I induced a prolif using a single drop of BAP to a bract. It was allowed to grow up a little. Then indoors, I cupped the base of it using a little aluminum foil that I placed soil into. June 9th.

This was watered to keep it moist, and sometimes I added diluted plant food aswell.

Today, Jul 2nd, was the "reveal" to see if any roots had grown. The foil was unwrapped, soil washed away. To reveal pretty thick tuberous roots (thickest was 4mm wide).

All done in a controlled environment. But can easily be tweaked for outdoor conditions. Here are the air-layering pods I plan to test outdoors (I got the smallest size):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DG2WWJ1/

Just thought you may wish to know to increase your efficiency of proliferation success.

That's really cool! I might try that this summer. Cheeky Cherry generally grows prolifs, it would be fun to experiment.

Thanks for the acorn, Char.

You're welcome. Cool experiment and should be helpful to others, including myself. Short growing seasons don't give prolifs a chance to grow good roots and rooting in water takes more time away from getting them settled in before cold weather. By getting the rooting process started earlier they could be planted and maybe have a better chance at surviving the winter.

Those roots do look much larger than what I would normally see on a proliferation. Do you think the BAP had much to do with the size of the roots, or do you think it was mostly from the soil and added nutrients wrapped around it.
I wonder how large the roots would have grown in that period of time , if the prolif had been cut and planted in the ground?

The prolif had no roots at all before I decided to air layer.
I do not think the BAP did anything there. They say you are supposed to combine BAP with IAA as the latter is supposed to initiate the roots. But I left that IAA out.

As you can see from my pics the reason for speeding things up for me is that the original plant had a single leaf left that was dying. I wanted to get as many prolif roots as possible before that last leaf died off.

If the prolif had been cut and planted that is anyone's guess. However, it would only have had 2 tiny leaves at that Jun 9th point. So, I doubt much would have happened. Stealing the energy from the parent plant, as well as giving the prolif food and nutrients directly, sped things up I am sure.

I am finding quite a few proliferations on my plants now, I may try that with some of them.

Cool idea, Orion! I had been eying the nice proflifs on Hakuna Matata and Ocean Depths, thinking about this game we play with prolifs, with varying degrees of success. This sounds like a nice way around some of the challenges. So I just ordered some of those cool cases. Looks like one could use the top branch opening as a sort of spout for watering. Hope the black coloring doesn't make the operation too hot in afternoon sun. We shall see!

I will keep updating this thread as things happen.
But I peeped at my first outdoor example yesterday.
So, this one scape had 2 sets of proliferations. I left the upper alone and decided to play with the smaller lower one.

Megatron lower prolif before air layering:


After air-layering (size medium) pod attachment Aug 23rd:


Snipped scape Sep 15th (23 days later) evening:


Grand opening :


Measurement of thick and 8cm (3.15") longer root (less than 1 month):


Notes:
(1) Megatron scape was thick so smaller pod did not fit, but the medium size was a good fit. Pods are not required. As mentioned elsewhere anything can be used (cling film, aluminum foil, etc as long as it holds dirt against the prolif base, without washing out).
(2) This prolif was also an induced one. I will make a separate post on this thread about inducing proliferations when I have time.
(3) The upper induced prolif from the same scape, that was not air layered, had no noticable roots.
(4) The pod was filled with a mix of potting soil and compost. It has to be kept moist so compost is really useful for that. It is like a sponge.

Where did you get those pods?

Amazon. I posted a link earlier in the thread.
However that link you have to buy individual sizes.
There are multiple sellers and you can get a mix+match aswell.
e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L4P9QBG/
Lots of sellers out there doing different combos, or selling clear as opposed to black.

But, as I mentioned, simple foil should be enough. I will post on that outdoor variation when it is completed.

Thanks Orion. This might be a good option for next season. Right now, I have to figure out what to do with prolifs I have.

Ok, now an outdoor example using household foil (like indoors previously), with Cliffjumper induced proliferation (or plural proliferations? - it seems to have 5 or 6 fans). No fancy pods needed.

Sep 3rd, the foil is attached as a cup shape, secured with a zip-tie underneath:


As you can see in this later image the thing is then filled with soil and held on by string, hooked over a scape branch. The soil is heavy so the whole thing would otherwise slide down the scape everytime it is watered:


Sept 24th, scape is snipped and foil/soil is removed for photo showing a fat root at least 5cm long (if straightened):


The thing was then potted up. Not sure if that root feeds only 1 of those fans, or if they are all linked somehow like a real daylily .

I think they are real daylilies and that they are all linked. I think they will all soon have new roots.
I potted up almost 40 proliferations this year. Still occasionally finding one now and then. I started on August 25th and potted them up in mostly trade size gal. pots. So today will make one month since they were first potted. After I take my wife out for lunch today I want to get back and unpot a couple of them and see what type of roots they have. The last I looked I think I had finally lost one and another one was not looking too good, but I was thrilled with that.

I've potted up nine so far, none of them are dead yet. I saw a nice looking one outside recently, but now I can't find it. I should have paid more attention to which plant it was!

plasko20 said: Ok, now an outdoor example using household foil (like indoors previously), with Cliffjumper induced proliferation (or plural proliferations? - it seems to have 5 or 6 fans). No fancy pods needed.

Sep 3rd, the foil is attached as a cup shape, secured with a zip-tie underneath:

Air-layering prolifs really works great.
I've been using plastic shopping bags, taped into a funnel shape. I tried just taping the bags to the scape, but they often slid down, even when I tried a high-quality cloth duct tape. Now I apply the bag, tape to size and shape, fill with potting mix, and shove a small garden stake into the ground to intersect the scape near the prolif. Then it's simple to use twist ties or tape to attach the bag & scape to the stake. It also stabilizes the scape, which is helpful once you have added a bunch of weight to it.

The original method of air layering will decrease weight on the scape. has anyone tried this?

I would moisten the bract and drop (1 drop) some rooting hormone liquid or a pinch of powder into the bract. wrap the bract with moistened sphagnum moss and wrap with cling wrap.

Not on daylilies, however this is how I used to try to root Camellias when I lived in Zone 8. Rough up the outer layer, drop on rooting hormone, wrap with sphagnum and cling wrap. Keep moist. Some rooted, some didn't. If I get any prolifs next year I'll give this method a try.

Honestly, just cutting them off with some scape and sticking them in dirt yields pretty good results. So far I still have 8 out of 10 although 2 are struggling.

I have my own little proliferation growing. Friend cut me a stalk that had the proliferation on it, set it in a light mixture of growth formula and it seems to be doing well.

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