Using Coconut Husk for Air Layering or Marcotting

The coconut husk is one of the by-products of the coconut industry. Coconut husk is also known as the mesocarp component of the coconut fruit. Many have found uses for the coconut husk especially in the agricultural and horticultural sectors - coco coir, coco chips, coco pith, coco dust and many more. Still, in some areas, it is discarded and then later dried as fuel.

I've used coconut husk mainly as part of my air-layering propagation materials. I keep coco husk pieces in dried form and kept in a plastic bag. It doesn't smell or rot and keeps for quite a while. When it's time to use it for marcotting, I just pick one piece or tear from a larger piece.

Air Layering Propagation Materials & Tips

This article is a continuation of a previous article on my Air Layering Kit. This gardening article discusses materials and other tools outside of the kit that you may need for inexpensive yet effective air layering on garden plants.

Air Layering, or what others call Marcotting, doesn't need expensive materials to be successful. This article discusses some readily available materials that are either cheap or free, depending on where you're located. It will also include a few tips on how these materials will be used in the air layering process.

Air Layering Kit and Propagation Tips

In a recent article, I discussed the steps in my air layering propagation technique as well as the instructions on how to harvest and plant the air layers or marcots. This air layering method has worked well enough for me on the garden plants I propagated like the Hibiscus, a Chinese Bell Flower plant, Nong Nooch Vines and several Mandevillas.

In this article, I'll discuss the tools and materials I have in my "Marcotting Kit" which I bring out everytime I air layer or marcot garden plants. The materials I use for air layering are cheap and some, virtually free. This marcotting kit is not only convenient to use, but it also makes your air-layering activities around the garden quick and organized.

Harvesting & Potting Air Layered Plants

After doing the steps for air layering on your plant, you wait until the adventitious roots start to appear. For the Chinese Bell flower plant, sometimes called Chinese Lantern, this can be as early as one week. For bigger plants with thicker stems, the time to root would typically be longer. Four to six weeks seem to be the usual range for most plants.

So what do you do while you wait? Nothing.

Shown below are the air layers I made on the Chinese Bell flower plant.

Steps for Air Layering or Marcotting

When I was in high school, a team of plant technicians from the Bureau of Plant Industry visited our school. They were to show a demo on various plant propagation techniques. I no longer remember what school subject that was, but like any other kid I was just happy we were in the audio-visual room for a change, instead of the usual classroom.

I remember the technicians supposedly show how you can make identical plants from an existing one. They had a live potted plant on a demo table and proceeded to show air-layering (or marcotting) and propagation from cuttings. I was incredulous of course. But I was a bit doubtful also especially after the technicians said it will take a few weeks or months before the marcots or cuttings would actually take root.

Many years, nay, decades later, I'd learn air layering is so easy to do and yes, it works.

Finding a Bird's Nest with Eggs

Removing and relocating plants are just some of the day-to-day activities of most gardeners. And I'm certainly no stranger to these tasks. But when I decided to finally remove the unwieldy vine (Thunbergia mysorensis), I was in for a surprise. Tucked underneath the thick foliage of branches and leaves of the mature vine was a bird's nest that had eggs in it!

For a moment when I saw the clump of hay, leaves and grass clippings, I assumed it was a huge nest for hornets or ants. I was almost prepared to be inundated with swarms of insects. When I sensed no such untoward activity, I peered through the foliage and found the nest to have a hollow depression.

It's a bird's nest! Looking further inside, there were two bird eggs! I was pleasantly surprised. This was akin to when I discovered honeycombs with bees in our garden.

Removing an Unwieldy Vine - Thunbergia Mysorensis

From my last update of the Thunbergia mysorensis, and after 3 years, it's curtain call for our Mysore Clock vine (Thunbergia mysorensis). This vine is also called Lady's Slipper and Doll Shoes vine. I've had this vine since 2009 when DH was able to grow the vine from cuttings we picked up from a Visita Iglesia.

It was a long wait of around 2 years when its first ever bloom appeared in 2011. There was only 1 flower that appeared in that year. In the following year, 2012, only 2 flowers appeared in summer.

That's a total of 3 flowers in the 3 years that the vine was with us.