Did you remove the bark/phloem from around the entire diameter of each branch, or did you leave a connected strip?

...also, can you briefly describe the procedure you used (rooting medium, covering, light into covering, moisture, etc, etc)?

An update: I had originally setup 6 branches, not 5. It turns out, 4 of them are still alive (I thought I had lost one of these when I made my original post but was wrong). Last week, I checked one of the living ones and saw ROOTS!! Thus, since 4 of the six are still alive over 7 weeks later, I conclude that the plant is difficult to air-layer but not impossible.

I used 6 "air-Propogator" http://airpropagator.com/index.php kits to do the job. The kit uses dip-in-grow liquid rooting hormone. I removed the entire bark layer all around the branch. I will try to do the technique where a bit is left intact next time to see if that is more successful. The covering is black, opaque plastic so no light can get to the media. The medium is described by the company as:

"The Growing Medium is a compound of pete moss and coconut powder, dry hydro gel, and other secret ingredients compressed under 200 tons of pressure. This growing medium is a crucial part of the success of our revolutionary new propagation system."

The 'secret herbs and spices' part might be marketing hooey, but who knows...wanna be there might also be something anti-fungal in there too?

I soaked the media compressed chips to expand them before setting the air layers. The thing I like with the kit has a vertical opening that catches rain water since I did neglected to re-water.

Forgot to mention, I used pairs of the three sizes of the air-propagator. The branches were two 5/8 in, two 1/2 in and two 1/3 in thick. One 5/8 in and one 1/3 in died.

This post was edited by Boukmn on Wed, Dec 18, 13 at 5:30

I think you might indeed have better luck with leaving a small strip of bark attached. Remembering to monitor moisture levels would also be helpful. Overall though, I think you have it about right. I even like your description of rooting medium: I think you got that right too (-: