Propagation: part XII based on my own experience

Well in Las Vegas all is well. My worms got out of their pen and I had a H*** of a time steering them back into their PEN. That is for Dave.

All the trees are starting to bud and bulbs are popping up their heads, so are far as my landscape is concerned, Spring has arrived in Las Vegas. Looks like we might be done with the cold. Cheap flights and cheap hotel rooms. But you will have to wait because Vegas is packed Super Bowl Weekend. Do not moan at the messenger. Remember in August we are above 105 degrees. Today we will top out at 60.

Well, so much for that.It would not print on here. so, you will have to go on Facebook and look on my wall. Sorry. I tried.

I am not snowed in Dave, I am frozen stiff. Talk about a miserable winter, and not being able to get moving. I finally got the greenhouse cleaned out and threw away alot of things that did not survive, plus counted my plant inventory and put it up on eBay and DG Market Place....Believe it ot not, eBay is starting to sell again. In fact, I had to postpone
shipping plants this week because of the freezing temps. I will not ship when it is below freezing.. It is just stupid to do that. Plants will not survive. I am hoping I can get the shipments out on Monday next week. But, we are to have snow tonight into tomorrow and then another coastal storm over othe weekend.. I am going absolutely crazy. It snows , I go out feed the barn cats, take them warm milk, warm up their food, try and keep the water from freezing. I am so thanful I do not have sheep and horses to feed this year. I would be dead.
I had another incident with someone ordering someothing on DG MarketPlace about a week ago and they have not paid yet. When I looked them up to send them a reminder in the event they did not get the first DMail, I found they signed up the same day they ordered and nothing since. That is like the fourth one of those I have had. I wonder what
happens to them. Total dead silence. Then I have to cancel the sale. Looks bad for me.

I have seeds to sew and I have decided this year, since I am having such a difficult time keeping the humidity high enough with this stupid weather, I am doing to use the Deno method. I looked it up and using either paper towels or coffee filters, I may have a better chance to germinate these special seeds.

I will talk about plants again. I cut some black and regular pussy willow today just to have them inside and see how long we have until Spring. I will root them and eventually use them somehow or give them away, cut now they will make me happy.
I have cutting of several tropicals that I am using peroxide and seeing if that will help.
I have had peace lillies, christmas cactus (four colors) and camelias blooming most of the winter. It has been nice inside.

That brings you up to date as of now. I am going to clean up some closets, etc. and hope and pray the snow misses us, but no, it will be another 2 inches ot more just to make life miserable. Stay warm you wonderful people. I love you all and I pray you all stay warm and well. Hugs. JB

Three days of below zero temps after three days of rain---UUUGGGHHH. Big heat wave today, up into the 20's, started tomatoes, cukes, and peppers the other day. Cukes are up, tomatoes just barely starting but coming up. I hope we are in the downward part of winter, white is nice but the color of spring flowers is so much nicer. I think we did better than most folks though, when you read all the post about the freezes in the south it is sad, at least up here were used to it and can prepare for it.

Howdy everyone:
sounds like everyone is getting some forward momentum. I am still spinning my wheels at the moment. I will let them loose tomorrow and see how far it propells me. we have snow in spots on the yard and then we have grass. daffodills and daylilies are pokeing their heads up. I am suspicous of my hostages in the new front bed. the few I looked at seem to be brown. I am hopefull they are working below the surface to come back again. well thats about it for now. Jb Glad to hear you are getting things done. with - glad to hear the veggies are popping up. i still have to get mine planted.
Procrastinators unite ....tomorrow
Dave

withad, did you winter sow them? The cukes etc? Isn't it pretty early for you to have them up? What do you do with them? I thought you said you didn't have a greenhouse. What kind of light do you have on them?

Well JB, at the risk of getting kicked off of here for discussing politics, I will tell you that the Reps said right off the bat that they were going to put him down and they are doing their darnedest to do just that. His problem isn't with them. It is with his own party.

I guess since Dave no longer has control over this site, maybe the new corp. doesn't care what we discuss or say. We probably will find out.

No, I just used a seed starting tray on a heat mat under a shop light. Might be early but I was getting cabin fever, if I have to I'll put them in 1 gallon pots until they get to go outside. I have an attached screen house that is covered in plastic and if they get to big I can put them out there with a space heater if I have to. Even without the space heater it's always 20+ degree over the outside temps so the space heater should keep it decent by the time they get put out there.

Well withad, if you up-pot a couple of times, planting with the soil clear to the top couple of leaves that will not only keep them from getting leggy, but give them a much better root base for when you plant them outside. Or, you can end up with them in a bigger and deeper planter for your screened area. What kind are they?

Boy, do I understand the cabin fever thing. I had that last year we had so much snow. In all my life I cannot remember a winter like this one. It is wonderful. We got 4 inches of snow one night and within 2 days it was gone. It has been cold, but no snow. Everyone is going around with a smile.

I am sorry, I did not mean to TALK POLITICS, I usually say what comes to my head at the time when the TV is on and the President was talking again and I made a comment.If that is talking politics, arrest me.
I was raised in the newspaper business and pretty much stay alert on what is going on both locally and nationally. I was never one to like being censored and will to this day not accept censorship by anyone. At 81 I say what I think but I try never to offend anyone. I do however respect the rules of these forums because no matter what you say at times, someone can take it the wrong way especially on the subjects of religion and politics. So, nuff of that. Jnette, I agree with you. The systm is broken and needs to be fixed. LOL
I do not have the time or energy to fix it. I have to think Spring and plant some seeds soon.

Good afternoon everyone:
Jb: I am guessing you have seen it all. I know in my brief exsistence I have seen a lot myself and who could imagine what did happen? yes spring has sprung. my daff's are poking their wittle heads up and my dl's are showing green on everyone in my planting bed so theyt are all alive. now if I can figuire out who is who. a couple of tags are missing their markings. rut ro.....
well i guess winter has decided to be a real &*^% this year because we have 2 chances for snow this week but we are poping up and down around the freezing mark.
I am looking forward to getting the rest of my cart filled up as well as the other shelves. I just don't seem to have the drive this year as much as I did last year. It has to be the cold wet winter we are having. Oh well any day above ground is a good day
Dave

Yes Dave, the alternative isn't pretty. We still have that darned crust of ice on the ground so even my helebores are not up yet. We just did not get the snow to insulate them. Normally they come up thru it. But the ground is still frozen solid.

yuk...I hope they are still alive down there.

Morning everyone, this is one of those days again. Yesterday it snowed again, then it went up to 40 deg. and is all melted. The Daffies are up about 4 inches and they have just said we are to get 12 inches or more snow starting tomorrow night and all day Sat,.
Honest to God, this has to be the worst winter I have ever lived thru. If it would just stay at one temp. and snow or rain, but this below freezing temp. with winds up to o40 or 50 MPh just tears me apart. I do not even want to walk to othe greenhouse. I can not keep the humidity up in the GH and I have shipments to make but it is too cold. Oh well. I keep on moaning and that does not help. I think I will think Spring today , clean my birds and go for groceries and cat food. Wow, I couldd use a trip to the beach..........at least I am
going out today becasue once it snows another foot I am in to stay because I am afraid I will fall. This little one is so pretty. Can not wait to be able to sell some of them.

I would hate that. I already have spring fever but a storm is coming, it is warm enough to put the air on in the car yesterday and last week too. It is ugly here though in the summer, if is any consolation to you. The landscape of the high desert in summer is brown and browner and then a ball of skeletal plant remains blowing down the street on a windy day, piling up in your landscape from the desert or lazy neighbors. lol

sounds like all you need is 2 gunfighters and a cheezy song in the background.... JB welcome to the yoyo weather cycle. we get it every year. at least the summers are consistant 90 - 100 everyday in late june into august.
Dave

I think we all can hear the cheesy song already.

I think I am going to sow seeds today, perhaps. I have some that need to start soon.

Ya know I sent money to some people and have not received my plants, have you ever had that happen? I am not saying they are saying that they sent them but it should have been sent by now, so maybe they are waiting till the out of state check clears. It is unnerving though since I never have done this with anyone other than a friend I already have made here?

I am also waiting on a root from a nursery here on daves to send me a root that I paid for? How long does it take normally?

It depends. i usually get stuff within a week to 10 days. I also normally will send the plants out even if the check has not cleared unless its a tight budget week and I can't cover the postage myself or its something I bought in to resell.
so what kind of root did you buy? I bought me a budha belly bamboo the other day I can't wait to get it in. My black bamboo is finally showing its color. of course I read yesterday where it takes 3 years for the black to show.
Dave

Did you order from a place colder than your own? You warm zone folks often forget that much of the country is in a deep freezer now. Major snow/ice/rain storm is moving across the country. Maybe those places are just waiting for warmer weather to ship so the plants don't die in transport.

Karen

Get the straight jacket ready,I am about to watch the weather report. Went for groceries and animal food this afternoon and spent several hundreds of dollars. Now I just got it put away and I have to feed the flock and the dog and then I think I will have some gin considering the TV is going to make me crazy when they say how much of this crap we area going to get. My outside cats are all happy now because it was actually 31 deg. today. I got everything done that I needed to do because they were not sure when the stuff will start coming out of the sky. I have the foot doctor coming tomorrow to check my foot (I have arthritis in my rt. foot and they think I may need something made to put into my shoe.) Something else. LOL. Have a good evening all of you. Hugs and stay warm. JB

Karen hit the nail on the head. That was my first thought. I have lost plants in transit. I always take that into account. If it is the vendor in freezing weather that is one issue and they are not going to be the cause of losing the plant on their end. However, if I am the one that am in the middle of a very cold forecast I wait to order. I might even go for it using paypal if the weather report is suppose to be above freezing in my area for a couple of weeks. But, a check, no way.

A vendor would be a fool to send a product out before the check clears. If you expect them to trust everyone that orders from them, you have never experienced having your own checks bounce because you don't have it covered when theirs bounces.

JB, wish one of those corrective supports would have taken care of my problem. I had my entire foot rebuilt, after many of those supports, last year and now have arthritis in that ankle and it has to be fused.

However JB, I can sympathize with you over your weather. It sounds like what we had last year. I about lost my mind 'cause I couldn't get out at all with all the snow we had we could hardly get the doors open on the car. And I had the foot surgery so I could not put any weight on it. I felt like a prisoner in this house. I was ready to sell. Still thinking about it. This winter is a fluke. I have never in my life experienced such a nice winter. Cheer up, maybe next year you will get this one.

I just got a confirmation that they would tell me when they got the check but that was the last I heard and it was a while ago, on the 25th or something?

You could be right, but I don't know why I have heard nothing? I would be in cabin fever mode and claustrophobic by now with all that snow> I lived in Ohio and I don't remember that much snow when I was a kid at all, now really freezing days. Some but not overwhelming. Maybe it was because I was a kid and not shoveling it. In Ca. if it snows for 40 minutes straight, they call off school, no lie, they are not equipped to drive buses here in the snow and the liability is too high.

Helen, most vendors I have had wait 2 weeks for a check to clear. Then you have mail time. That is assuming they don't have to worry about the weather.

Haven't heard anything? Send them an email. They may not have time to keep every buyer apprised of every step of the way.

Did you check the vendor in Watchdog? I would hope that is the first thing you do before sending a check to anyone.

It is a member here I think and they are good so there must be something since I never heard more. I dmailed them.

Do you watch your bank statement on line Helen? Go in and see if your check has been cashed and when.

Jeanette

well I know some vendors are sending stuff overnight to fight the fridgid weather. I also recieved a bamboo plant I won on ebay...it arrived today and was just hunky dorey....I do know I get antsy when I am waiting on a delivery. it will go thrugh ...provided the mail did not get stuck in transit...
I do consider where they are and am I willing to chance it
Dave

I got 2 tropical plants 2 weeks before Christmas and the leaves had been frozen and I lost them, but the rest of the plants were ok and will just have to grow out of it.


and btw, I had emailed the seller and asked that they hold them up for 2 weeks because it was so cold, but they didn't do it. I heard nothing from them at all. Like they hadn't even seen my email.

This message was edited Feb 5, 2010 6:09 PM

Know that feeling Dave, I ordered some tropicals from Stokes and they were reluctant to send them to me because of the weather so I told them to wait. Now every day I check the forecast to see when it will be warm enough to take the chance. Haven't lost anything yet due to wrong time shipping ( except my sanity ). I think most of the shippers are concerned about loses due to weather conditions and while we want them the moment we see them in their catalogs they do tend to look out for us.

I am the same way especially when I see the newest plants coming out of tissue culture. there are a lot of good ooking corriopsis and echinacea. I am hopeing to get some of them later this spring. Its all in timing. and how far my mad mney will let me go.
I do understand about the weather man. they never get it right. I have never seen a job where you can get as much wrong and still have a job.

I have a dozen orders I am holding just for that reason. I just hate to send the plants and take a chance of them dying. But, I contacted everyone and all know I am waiting for better and warmer weather. It also depends on where they are going. Sometimes I can ship South when I can not ship West. I feel like a weather freak. I keep watching and waiting....oh well, Spring is just around the corner. Stay warm and well. JB

Jb the weather looked like you would be snowed under. this winter has been a really wet winter. I hope we are not going to have a wet summer as well.
Dave

How do you do the tissue culture? Is it hard to do?
How do I get a license to be able to buy wholesale? I think you talked about this a long time ago, but I couldn't find the post. Are there minimum requirements to sell retail?

It is Viola Valley and they are in TN, so I don't know if it affected them as much, but they did email me, but it was still not clear if they received the check and did not say anything about weather. They mentioned digging the root out within 2 weeks of receiving the check though, usually, they said. Oh Well, have you any experience with them? It is a big ole Joe Pye weed they advertised here.

Well, Helen, they have a 5-1-8 rating in the last 12 months. 5 positive, 1 neutral, and 8 negatives.

Not good. I would not buy from them. Now you know why. That is what Watchdog is for.

Did you check to see if your check has cleared your bank? I don't know what is a proper length of time they have to send it. I know one time on ebay I complained to a seller because I thought she was taking too long, and she advised me that she had 30 days from the closing date. And that was probably business days. Don't know if I ever heard on here.

Lynn, tissue culture is a whole different setup. I don't know that it is hard to do, but if I remember correctly, it is something you have to learn. I think one of the DGers was either going to go to classes one time or give them. Don't remember. He was constructing almost a factory of greenhouses, huge ones, in Oregon. I sure would be interested to know how he did. He sent me a picture of his layout. 3 or 4 huge greenhouses. All for tissue culture. This was about 3 or 4 years ago. Can't remember who he was. Darn. I will do a little research and see if I can find him.

Lynn, I think the main thing is quantity. The more you buy the better discount you can get.. Most places will give anybody "wholesale" prices depending on how large an order. But they aren't going to on one or two items. I don't think a license is required until you resell the items. Are you going into business? I could be your best customer!!

Just my thinking. Will be interesting to see what Dave says.

Bob messed with that cloner until he got what he was after. He called me out to look at it on the deck and he sure did have it misting. He used the brass mister head that I use on my fuchsias etc. but did not use any pvc tubing. He just used a piece of hose to put it directly to the pump and boy does it spray. I want to see how it does tomorrow in the light. It was dusk when he called me out there and there was spray all around it on the deck. .

Are you getting that snow today JB? They said that over 2 feet just in one storm today in WA DC. Will that reach you? Sure hope not. That's a lot of snow.

Lynn:
check with the local agriculture department. they should have a website and tell you who is or is not suposed to have a liscense. Here its 20 plants a year sold you must have their little piece of paper. Please don't get me wrong its a good thing to have and you do want to stay within the law.
once you get a liscense they might send someone out to look over your plants and they can come anytime during business hours. Its to make sure you don't have any pest or disease in your plants. the inspectors can be a wealth of knowledge too, when it comes to how to get rid of a piticular pest or disease.
another good place for advisce while I am talking about it is the extension office. they have all kinds of hand outs and online stuff to help and they will visit you to help if you ask them to.
I have my liscense and I do everything by mail so I do not have to deal with the odd duck that is off their rocker about something or another.
when I managed one garden center a man came in and expected us to replace his ficus tree he had over watered, I know this because I took the time to go to his house and inspect the tree. bad root rot and he bought it 10 years before I was working there. thats the odd duck I like to avoid.
Are you planning to sell retail? if so you will need a resale liscense from the city/state. What are you planning to sell? I/we always like to know and hear all about the plans others have. we also love pics.
I will be posting my pics from my last group of cuttings I recieved in the mail. Its right at 400 cells.
being in washington you will need to keep up with the epa regs as far as what you use on your plants.

Part II:
Tissue culture is an area I want to get into I just never had the funds to do it or the time and energy. It is micropropagation. check out the book plants in testtubes. also there is a home based kit you can buy if you really want to get all the way into it. I am hopeing to give it a whirl next fall. I have been aquireing the tools to do it as time and $$$$ allows.

http://www.kitchenculturekit.com/index.htm

I recomend you also look at youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYvJByYrSPg&feature=related I kind of like this one. it seems everyone has their own how to on tc on youtube.

A while ago I said I was going to do it and do a step by step with those who wish to join in or just lurk. anyway Its past my bed time and I must toddle off to bed. .....yes I know everyone is saying bed time your on all times day and night anyway good evening to all. stay safe and warm
Dave

Do you have to nick and soak rose seeds from the hips? How long till germination?

I should have looked up the stupid nursery but since it was one on here, I thought they were all screened as good ones. grrr!

Hellen:
I use the seed as an indication of wheter to nick it or not. I have not seen any rose seeds before I have no idea as to wheter or not to do it. You might try one to see how thich the outer coating is. I use a pill splitter and am very carefull when using it. I split a few seeds in half my first attempt with it. I just get the blade part ways into the seed. a good question by the way.
Dave

Somewhere on here, and I will try to find it 'cause I got rose seeds in the seed swap, someone told step by step how to grow them out. Helen, just hold onto them and I will try to do it today. What are the seeds you have?

Various Everblooming roses, mostly Florabundas, one climber. My friend here said to refrigerate them and watch for a little sprout to emerge. So maybe that is it. I hope you don't go to any trouble to find out for me. I used to saw with a knive till I nicked my mg seeds, I have even used a small drill bit. I have bitten them too, if they were not poisonous seeds. I tried to nail file off some before. I have Canna seeds soaking in H202 and water, some are floating and not nicked, most are sitting on the bottom, odd?

Why don't you try some in a wet paper towel and put hem in a zip lock? Let me know if any of them sprout.