I had purchased a bunch of these plastic rooting balls that I wanted to use to help make new plants while still attached and fed from the mother plant. Has anyone done this themselves?
If so what has your experience been pro or con? Any insight or suggestions on this is welcome
For those asking themselves wtf it is ^^
update : don’t cut to the phloem with canna, just scratch generously the superficial layer.
I have these as well and I plan to use them to propegate apple trees.
Was just talking about these yesterday with @JustANobody curious to hear of others findings 
I’ve had some for a while now, but my bonsai mother plants are too small for them to be practical. I’m interested to see how they work for you.
They do work. A Farmer Friend and I did some of his Apple, Plum, and Peach Trees several years back. I was impressed as the “new plant” budded right along with the Donor Parent…impressive. SS/BW…mister 
So whats the point of this if your not grafting?
It’s a debate on itself for canna, but using the vigor and the full-throttle-feeding of the mother without interruption. You pass directly from the mother plant to another plant, without the clone’s intermediate state.
To make more trees. Most fruit trees aren’t grown from seeds, think of them as clone only strains.
@JustANobody so they do that above a node and cut below for a rooted clone? I’ve seen the method but never looked into how it works like you got a rootball now what it just stays there?
Have quite a few of these on my fruit trees now the buds are forming and the sap is rising. The technique is called air layering and it works fine.
Well you take the plastic ball off once you are ready to plant the cutting. The ball is just to hold soil around the exposed area.
Ahh that makes more sense. I thought it was just a way of creating extra nodes or branches and they left the plastic on
Also you need to “ring bark” / girdle completely the branch you are air layering or the branch will just continue to feed from the mother and not root.
Thank you for the tip.
Do you use soil or coco?
Yes I use them for air layering new plants.
This particular example had been lost in the post.
Then nursed back to health
Fwiw you can see a branch buried, it’s for a new mother in future, it rooted and I was able to cut that away to.
Yoghurt pots and cling film do the same job if your skint.
Very cool to see this being used by cannabis growers! The more ya know!
I’ve use rock wool cubes and cling film in a pinch.
It works fine but the clingfilm is nightmare to work with,
the cloning balls are really convenient though tbh I don’t see them as a cloning device
