Gevuina avellana (chilean hazelnut). I am trying to multiply my chilean hazelnut by root layering for a friend of mine who would like to have a tree. These trees are really hard to find over here and mine haven't yet flowered. Two people that i know didn't manage to root cuttings that i gave them, so multiplication is quite difficult. I found a low growing branch on one of my trees, took a sharp knife and made a cut upwards half way through the branch. I then bent the branch up to open the wound and i put rooting hormone powder on it. Then i wedged a little piece of a matchstick into the wound to prevent the tree from closing and healing the wound. I took a pot, filled it with earth and cut a slit into one side with a cutter. I had to raise the pot on a support to get it up to the necessary height.

I covered the pot with black plastic to prevent weeds from growing, because i used garden soil. I have seen videos of air layering where people wrap plastic and then tinfoil around the injured part and put earth around the stem and so forth. I think it must be very hard not to have that soil be too wet or too dry when you are air layering. I never tried that method. I am curious to see whether what i did will work. At the end of this growing season in october there should be roots where i cut the branch, if this works.