Propagation: part XIV based on my own experience

Thank you so much. I am taking a quick break from doing the dreaded INCOME TAXES.

Know what you mean. I just did mine yesterday. Isn't that awful? And I am getting over a thousand $ back. I usually do, but I still procrastinate.

Maybe it will be here in time to pay my property taxes by the end of the month. In one hand and out with the other.

Jeanette

Dave, I haven't heard anything from you about how your unrooted cuttings are doing. Verbena? How did you do with them? I hope better than my seeds. I planted a lot of seed and don't know if I have the amount plants for the count of seeds in one pack counting all of them. Never again will I grow verbenas from seed!! The problem with getting plugs is that you get so many of one color. Can't afford too many and what do you do with all of them?

What else did you get? Can't remember.

Jeanette: I got in 2 different lantana's 2 different verbena coleus and lotus vine. They all did not do very well. I had them all in the proagation cart. Even without the mats on the heat builds up so high and the humidity is really high. I was using my kelp and other micro nutrients but everyone looked like they wanted more food so I am going to break out the hose-on injector to feed everyone. I managed to get by last year without useing it too much but I am thinking I need to feed as I think the slow release is most likely used up and I will not have anyone moveing slow this year.
I have been looking at possibly getting some lger plugs of annuals to fix up my baskets and planters for the house. I just have to find the right plants. I am thinking impatiens, verbena, begonia's and double impatiens. I know the ncfarms plugs are too small for what I want to do. I am hopeing to start with larger plants in the early winter so the plants are big enough to look good in my baskets. I realize buying flats will be some logistick shuffleing to share the good deal on plants.
I am going to the lake this weekend so I will get some much needed R & R. an of course its scotty time too. My parents have 4 scottish terrier's. they are a handfull at times but so cute.
Have a great weekend
Dave

April Showers bring May flowers, soggy sneakers and stinky dog.

LOL, funny JB.

That's right Dave. That is why I bought 4" coleuses for one planter, even tho I am starting some myself and they do grow fast. I am buying the from Gephart's, but he doesn't have plugs that I know of. I bought, paid for, and picked my date I wanted them delivered. That gave him time to take the cuttings and grow the plants out so I should have pretty nice plants to start out with. I did this 2 months go for mid May delivery.

Dave, there is a coop for lantana, verbenas, calibrochoas, coleus, and herbs and something else I think. $1.25 for plugs plus shipping.

alright, now I'm ready to really rock and roll with my seeds...

got my first order in today of 450 3.5" square pots, 1000 white labels, and 10 120 plug trays.... I can't wait to get started....

sad thing is the plug trays don't fit into my other trays... so I might just have to cut off one row so they do and I can water from the bottom...

I really feel like I'm starting down a road that I've wanted to for a long time... growing plants from seeds.

later, got to hit the sack as I've been sick today and have a conference tomorrow to go to.

night all.

Janet

Janet you will have a ball.

Janet, you need to get a life. Had many appointments with doctors for DH. I will head back into the front landscape tomorrow and get the major cleanup completed. I have a garage garden full of coleus, in green houses, just waiting for above 60 degrees nights. Should be some time next week]. Next year I will pick for my delivery date be the first week of May. Live and Learn. Next year we will have 100 degrees in April like we had two years ago. Have a great Saturday. I am sending you tumble weed seeds. Something you do not have in your garden. LOL.

Sharon, what do you mean she needs to get a life??? She has a hobby. Gardening. Funny how you go on and on about your gardening, but she needs to get a life?? Weird.

I ordered my coleus to come in mid may. Our last frost date is normally the last day of May.

Worms

Get a Life is just what I'm creating, with my DH, collies, soaping and now addicted to plants and gardening... LOL

Off to seminar.

Everyone have a wonderful day and I hope the sun is shining at your place we have frost again, but I pray for the last time (which in reality I know it isn't........)

Janet

Janet, zone 5!! One of these days maybe they will change our zone to 1. I swear we are never going to get rid of these cold nights. It is 8 o'clock and 24 degrees. How can the ground warm up or the plants grow in this weather?

Oh, the sun is shining bright. Still only 24 degrees. AND frost!!

Jeanette

Hey girls, get your long johns out and keep them on, this stupid weather is making us all weird. We had a week of high 70's and 80's now overnight Dave sent the storms through two days ago and it has not gotten above 64 the last two days and goes down to the 30's at night. The poor daffodils are actually turning brown along the edges of the flowers due to the cold nights and the wind is absolutely out of control Not just wind gusts in the 50s but all the darn day the gusts are a mess and so much so I had to bring the cut flowers in yesterday becasue they were blowing out of the bucket. I hate it.

Hey guys, I was kidding. Like we all have a life and that is gardening. I have my coleus in the greenhouses in the garage. Still to cold at night. 80 today, 53 tonight. 63 tomorrow again with high winds. My tomatoes are just siting there. Couple of my basil plants have burned leaves. Experts tell me not to plant coleus until night temperatures are above 60.

If i did not have gardening, my garden or neighbors, I would be one very unhappy lady. Have a great day.

JB - I thought the daffs liked the cooler weather, as mine are finished if it gets to be over 70 degrees...I guess that is why they are still coming on so late as usually by April, the daffs are done. Do you think it might have been the warmer temps, and then cooler? They don't seem to adjust to the varying temps too well...

I guess I am beyond blaming this weather on anybody. That would be cruel. LOL

Worms and Dave what beautiful grandchildren. They are just the best things to warm your heart. Who knew?

I have two one year old gd, they are 18 days apart. I will post after I download the pix, since we are sharing.

I have to say I am jealous about you guys and your ability to grow from cuttings. I only got a few things to root in the fall, and I have not succeeded with any since and all the stuff I soaked did not root and the stuff in the cloner turned black, however my ws was a success, by and large. I discovered the cloner germinates seeds fast. So I am doing that. I have a gopher or two or three tearing around the perimeter of the yard and two came in and are trying to bury seedlings right and left. I have put poison all over the place, bated with carrots and pushed poison in the carrots, with more piles of poison. We will see, meanwhile, I have my jalapeno/caster, pepper, hot sauce, dish soap, amonia, concoction that repels them from the good stuff they love.

My greenhouses are the plastic, three tier that Pirl from Coleus put me on to. I had them in the house and took a lot of cutting end of September of my Coleus and then Pirl sen some cuttings and I received cuttings from other DG members. Well it was my first year of coleus cuttings and I totally failed. Bu I did learn a lot. My biggest problem was over watering and gnats.

The coleus I have in the garage my sister brought from California during our reunion and then my order from Rosey Dawn.

Thanks for the compliment on Grandson. He is just a great happy baby. We have 11 grandchildren total. 4 boys and 7 girls. 19 years old to 4 months.

This is son and his dd Shelby.

I do think the drastic changes in the weather has all plants confused. We had May weather in March and now April is cooler and the plants came in early and are just really confused. I feel sorry for the cherry people with the blossoms coming in and now the cold weather....the cherry crop will take a hit this year if the frosts keep coming. I am not concerned because no matter what the weather, the blooms are beautiful and I do enjoy them. It takes longer to cut for selling because you must hunt for perfect flowers. LOL
Have a good day guys and stay well. Love and Hugs.

Oh Dave, take a look at Instagarden.com and look at that cocoanut coir Bob has in a bag for tomatoes. Really interesting. Also, I am really fed up with Miracle Grow to start anything. It does not hold the moisture and everything I have started this past few months in the miracle potting soil has not made it. I think they have decided to make more money by making all sorts of soil so you need to purchase a new bag for each job. That is crap in my book. I can not store five different bags of soil so I am going to use it only for potting and use the coir for starting.

Meadow, I lost all the black pussy willow I started in the MG soil so I have started another cutting in coca coir and hopefully I will have some for you in a few months. Sorry about that. Did you get any pink yet?

JB, the pussy willows, both black and pink, that you sent me appear to be rooted in the soil. They are getting new growth, and when I pull on them a bit they won't budge. Does thaqt mean they are rooted?

The ones I put in water are not starting. I wonder if I should plant them?

Jeanette

I did not send you pink Jnette.....I do not have any but I want some. If they are not rooting in water, I am not sure they will root. Try putting them in soil and see what happens.

If the are getting new growth they are going to make it. Yippee. They must be the black ones. I do not remember sending you any regular PW but if I did they were just the plain white ones. I want pink ones and Meadow said she was going to get some. I should order some too I guess. I have just been so darn busy.

I guess they must have been the plain white ones but they did have a pink, and also a greenish tint to them. They were so big and puffy. Very beautiful. I will nip the ends off and give them a shot of dip n gro and stick them in soil. Wouldn't hurt to have more than one growing. LOL

Well, it has been raining, and now the rain/snow mix...by tonight or tomorrow, snow for sure. I hope that all of you are getting better weather. JB, I am sorry to know of your losses due to the weather, and you are right. I cannot imagine all of those who have crops, losing so much this year, and now even more. I hope everyone is stocking up on canned goods as high food prices and shortages will be sure to follow. I know that all of you know how to take care of your plants but many will be without greenhouses and/or basements to save their plants.

Good luck to all of you!


Evelyn

We are stocked up to the gills, with all these earthquakes, we need to be too. All our emergency personnel in the area will go straight to Los Angeles to to the most good, for the most people, so our people will be on our own, it will be vigilante justice here like the wild west. My h is locked out of his job right now, Union crap, so the union has been sending us food which we said we may as well stock pile for a rainy day, which may come soon.

I heard the West will have a overly hot summer again, they predict, thus far.

Good afternoon everyone:
Had a great weekend... we went plant shopping this weekend...we managed to visit a grower who wholesales mostly but opens up for 6 weeks to the public. got 2 new cooriopsis, a bleeding heart, and a pale blue scabocious (or how ever its spelled). I discovered I managed to buy 2 bags of the wrong Miricle grow whis giving me fits. I try to get the blue bag with moisture controll and slow release in it. the stuff I bought is crap... I agree too many kinds of miricle grow.
Fungus gnats as we all remember from last year are a blight we all have to deal with. I tried the ole water the cells with hydrogen peroxide and it seemed to slow them down but still adults live. I sprayed them twice and it seems to have cut them down quite well. I try to use light sprays on my cuttings so it does not harm the cuttings. I also mixed in some dawn dish soap to help. I sprayed down my Daylilies also. The aphids were already in overwhelming stage so I am hopefull the 2 sprayings helped.
we have had great weather for the last 10 days and I hope it continues. I over did it this weekend so I am going to just look over the plants then go back inside and rest. I know I was so excited about the weekend that I did not sleep well thursday or friday nights.
the wholesale nursery hade 20 - 30 mini hoop houses just tall enough to walk down the middle of. they had all kinds of heaters it was like looking at an inventory of the evolution of heating for the small grower reaching upto medium size ....
well thats about it for now
Dave

Most years, we have an overly hot summer....

Dave the best thing to get rid of aphids if the plants are of a manageable size is to blast them with a real strong one from the hose. Doesn't hurt the plant at all and also the top of the soil. To get rid of the eggs.

Also, here is Al Tapla's recipe for spray that is pretty good for most bugs.

Al Tapia’s insect spray

1 pint rubbing alcohol
1 pint very hot water
1 tsp pure, cold-pressed neem oil
3-4 drops Murphy's oil soap

Add neem & soap to hot water & shake well. Add alcohol. Spritz plants thoroughly, covering all surfaces - especially underside of leaves & leaf axils. Be sure to shake vigorously as you use the spritzer to keep the neem mixed with the solution. Works great - the neem oil renders all the insects it contacts unable to complete metamorphosis or reproduce, while the alcohol provides reasonable knock-down for current generations.

Try it for the gnats, white fly, etc.

Sounds like a good brew, here are some others from Jerry's Mixers 'N Elixirs: Peppermint soap spray, this brew is a nightmare-come-true for hard bodied insects like weevils, the secret ingredient is Peppermint oil, which cuts through a bug's waxy shell so the soap can do it's fatal magic. 2 tbsp of liquid dish soap. 2tsp, of peppermint oil and 1 gal of warm water. Caterpillars hate 1 cup of chopped orange peel(s) and 1/4 c of boiling water, blend and pour the boiling water over them, let it is over nigh at room temp, strain the slurry through a cheese cloth and put the liquid in a mist sprayer. or sub lemon, lime or grapefruit peel.

For non edible plants, with mites, 1 lb. of rhubarb leaves, choped and 2 tsp. of liquid dish soap and 1 qt. of water boil leaves for 1/2 hr, then strain out. You can bury the leaves NEAR you cabbage family plants to fend off clubroot.

Nematodes tonic, get rid of them fast, 1 can of beer and 1 cup molasses, mix in 20 gallon hose end sprayer and thoroughly soak. APHIDS, MIX 1 CUP OF VEGETABLE OIL AND 1 TABLE-SPOON OF MURPHY'S OIL SOAP, INTO A PLASTIC squeeze bottle (ana empty ketchup or mustard bottle is perfect) and 2 cups of water, combine these ingredients in a hand held mist sprayer and spray roses from top to bottom. shake the bottle now and then to keep oil/water mixed. Repeat in seven days. Aphid antidote, 1 lemon or orange peel coarsely chopped , 1tbsp of baby shampoo and 2 cups of water, blend, strain out pulp and use hand help mist sprayer, repeat in 4 days, the aphids will be dead.

Squirrel beater tonic, 2 tbsp of cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp of tabasco sauce, w tbsp of chili powder, 1 tbsp on Murphy's Oil Soap and 1 qt of warm water, mix all and then pour the mix in a hand held sprayer and sprayeyour trees from top to bottom.

There are a few things to toss around.

I got his literatue today too Hellin. Most of the things I figure have at least one ingredient that works and the rest sound good.

I wouldn't mind getting his book just to read it, but they are pretty expensive even on Amazon. I see he has gotten away from the nicotine. I'll bet people were giving him hell for that one. It is poison to most plants and he was using it lot.

Ya know what I did, I copied a bunch of the pages of the book, that someone let me read. You can get them at the Library and copy the pages out of it. I just kept the stuff that looked good to me. Gopher ridder, insect repellent and killer, fertilizers and bloom enhancers and the like.

OMG, The copy write police are on the way. I did the same think at a book store but I took photos with my cell phone. Lung Specialist said today my Asthma is getting better but I should stay out of the wind. That is hard to do in the desert in the Southwest.

Sharon, I think it is bad everywhere this time of year. Talked to mil in Seattle yesterday and the pollen is so bad she can't work out in the yard. I Seattle!!

Come to snowy CA! Well, you won't have to worry about the pollen...now if you are allergic to mold spores...once it warms up, you will wish you were in NV...so stay put, and hopefully the ones that stir up your allergies will be over soon.

I'm feeling your pain Evy. I know it is nice at Christmas and then you are over it, in California.
Polins are horrid here usually, last year especially. We have a million acres of rag weed in the desert here in the Antelope Valley.

I have never had this before April of last year. My Doctor jokes that I am allergic to retirement. No way. I love retirement. Anyway, the same time this came on so did major cold sweats. I have never sweat in my whole life. I could be out in 110 degree temperature and everyone around me had water running off] their face and I was as dry as a bell. Then starting last April, 2009 all I had to do was walk across the room, vacuum, do the dishes, think, yes I am a heavy thinker, and I would start. It has gone away about 80% but still there. When I tell my Doctors, even my son the Doctor, they look at me like I am nuts. So getting older each day has its surprises.

Jnette, I am driving up to Spokane some time the first part of June in a convoy. My daughter-in-law is driving with children, dog, probably her mother, so I am going to follow with my SUV and take the dog and maybe an older child. The hospital is paying for moving but you still have to get the car up there. Maybe you can come into town or I can drive out your way and we can break bread. I will bring the bread. You can roast the garlic. I will bring the balsamic vinegar and ground pepper.

We have no rag weed and "I" was thinking about planting it for the caterpillars. Crazy me. We have snow in the mountains behind us tonight and high winds I have said this many time, these high winds in Florida would be a level 1 hurricane. We have had twice as much rain in the first quarter than we had all of last year so I pray everyday and say thank you. Can you in Washington state believe we have had 4 inches of rain ytd. That is probably less than you get in a day. Love you all. Talk tomorrow.