Plant propagation part XV based on my own experience

Happy Mother's Day to all. This discussion about Vitamins, etc. has been very interesting and if I were in the business of plants like you all grow, I may know what you are talking about. LOL....actually, the Tree Farm is run by my SIL and I have no idea when he sprays what he uses, I just know we have wonderful trees. I also know we do soak them when they come in bareroot, but I never ask what he uses.

So, NO, I am not one to use all these things in my business because I grow mostly tropicals and tender perennials. I boought Vitamin B1 back some months ago when someone suggested it and I have never used it. I use Iron and Miracle Grow and seldom anything else unless I have a specific problem and then I research it and get what I need for that problem.

The Iris and daffodils, pussy willows, etc. are just for fun things I play around with and they are in the field. They get sprayed by my SIL and I never ask what he uses. Frankly, I do very little extra because I have such good results with my old fashion method I just never bother to change unless I have a problem. When it becomes too involved and complicated it is no longer fun. LOL.....I also am very particular in what soils I use. I only use the cocoanut coir for cuttings now. It is wonderful and much easier to root. I even used it for some seeds and they actually grew. You know me and seeds.


Tropicals are much different than annuals and outside yard perennials. The temperature and humidity do more harm than anything and to control that is my one big problem especially on a day like today when the sun keeps going in and out, the temperature dropped 20 deg. overnight and I had the heat on but almost did not set it high enough for the sudden drop in temp. It went down to 56 in the GH last night. The tropicals outside took a beating with the 50 mph winds yesterday but they got lots of water today and are perking up again. Gardenia blooms got brown but they still smell good.

Rambling on here, must go and pretend to rest today. It is Sunday and tonight will be lobster night for all the Moms in the family. Love those lobster. Later friends. JB

Lobster night!! What a cool tradition. That alone would make it worth having a baby! LOL. Have fun, and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all of the rest of the mothers out there.

Jeanette

Thank you and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers...of children and our "plant children"....

Happy Mothersday to everyone. I hope everyone had a great day. My dear wife fixed this massive spread (of Course my niece was drafted to help). we had a chocolate fountain with strawberries, marshmellows etc. ham and turkey breast an egg cassarole, cold shrimp. It was a nice peacfull morning without all the trouble of the fancy places that charge $30.00 a head. It was all on nice plastic plates and utensils so clean up was a breeze.
May you all have the best day ever
Dave

Dave, your wife is very ingenious. Good for her. Sounds like a great way to start the day. Put everyone in a good mood and the rest of the day takes care of itself.

Jeanette

Happy Mom's Day to you mamas. I hope you all had a day where you felt loved.

Well, thank God that is over. I had such a nice day but I get tired of the little ones and their funny little habits. At one point I took four of them and gave them a tour of the bird room and left them touch one of the little parrotlets on the head. That was the highlight of my day. LOL.....after we stuffed ourselves on steaks and lobster, potato and macroni salad, fruits and frozen pastry I went home and shut the door. I think they all left about 8:30 but I was not about to hang around and chit chat.

Wow Dave, I can not wait to see what she does for Father's Day. It would be hard to top that. What a nice loving Mother to prepare all that. I think I like her. Give her a hug for me.

Today the wind is picking up again, the temperature was about freezing and my outside tropicals are all having a nervous breakdown. I brought a few in and covered the aothers with beach towels. So far I have not lost any but only by the grace of God.

Dave, I do not remember if I answered your question about the Jap Maple. There were six that were going to be thrown out at the nursery a few years ago when my son was there. He took them off the throw away pile and brought them home. They looked really crappy but with some TLC they are now beautiful and out in the field. We lost two minitures but the other four are really nice. He went to the public sale the other day to see what they were selling for and they were going for $5 to $15 each. As I told you they stopped the sale after an hour due to the poor bidding. Now I guess they will all just rot in the fields unless they try another inventory sale later in the year.

I need warm weather without wind and then I will be happy. Have a good day. Just came from the chiropractor and now I must pack plants to ship. UGH. The worst part of selling online. Take care and stay warm, those of you who are in my zone. LOL JB

Sounds like you have a big turnout for your lobster day JB. LOL, somehow I can understand that. Altho, I have never cared too much for it myself. It is awfully sweet. Rich. My daughter loves it.

I could go for the steak tho.

I am very curious about the JMTs JB. You said yours were kind of ratty looking when you got them. What did you do to bring them back? I got mine a couple of weeks ago and so far the wind has not been very nice to it. Then, the night time temps have been below freezing some nights so you see, it is really being tested. Poor thing.

I can't believe them selling for $5 to $15. No wonder they stopped the sale. I have never seen them for under $40 and up. And very few at $40.

Jen, it was terrible. Big beautiful trees and they did not bid. They wanted everything for nothing. Rob was heartbroken when he came home. He loved that nursery. He was there 26 years when it closed. Worked his way from labor and mecanic up to Vice President. He stayed to the very end and he is still miserable in his new job with the State but it is a job.

To be honest, the JMT were stuck in a row in my flower field because he did not expect them to live. He fed them with the regular and I do not know what it is, Then he just left them go and nature took its course. We have wonderful soil in the fields and it is on the sandy side. We were sorry to loose the tiny ones from the winter. We were not sure if the others were going to make it but they are beautiful and the color is outstanding. He was hoping to sell them for like $200 each. What a letdown he had when he went to the sale. LOL Oh well, I guess I am stuck with them in my field now for awhile.

You just an not win anymore. I rushed into town and back to start getting the plants ready to ship. The one order was for three of the Tea Rose Begonia starter plants. I was pulling off damaged leaves and noticed it was full of mealybug. Now you know I just had the inspection, but the temperature was so crazy I had to open the doors and vents and then it got really cold and I had to put the heat back on. Well, I guess that is what happens and the little buggers are all over the beginias. I washed them a brought them in the house to spray them with the neems oil mix and wipe the leaves with alcohol before hand, but to be on the safe side I emailed the buyer ,. told him the truth and said he can cancel the order if he wants with a full refund, or I will check them out and try and ship them tomorrow or next week. Whenever.

Wow JB, Your area must have a real infestation of them. Don't the plants outside show any stress or anything from them? I have been taking my brugs outside every morning and bringing them back in at night because our nt temps are so low. From the extended forecast this morning it appears that we might be getting into the high 30s to mid 40s. I can live with that. So, Bob is going to help me transplant a couple today.

I will put them in holy 5 gallon pots and then plant those in 20 gallon muck buckets. They really do pretty good that way. But they are too big to haul back and forth so that weather report better be right.

I do not know where they come from. They just appear. The outside plants show no signs of them. I wonder if the neighbors grass field has them in there? I am at a loss to know where they live before they get here. We are in the high 30s now...hoping to get up to high 50s today. We were in the high 80s last week. Crazy.

JB, right now I would die for an 80 degree day.

JB: I would think your SIL could contact some of the local landscape architects to see if maybe they need any specimine JM. There has to be a market to sell them to, especially local grown. All the big box stores truck all that stuff in and its a crap shoot as to who will survive.
Sorry to hear about the mealy bug issues. I know they just apear out of no where, its like the parachute in overnight.
brace yourself as we have cold temps here 50's - 60's and going to drop tonight and just for fun we have tornado warnings all over okla. I closed my GH to try to keep any issues from happening with a temp drop.
Have great evening
Dave

Frankly, Dave, he is not in that big a hurry to sell them. They are pretty and they do not bother anyone. Someone will come along, we have alot of landscapers who come in and out of here to ask if we will sell them the Christmas Trees. Of course we do not do that. We have one field that we will dig just now becasue we are in the process of re planting and digging out stumps, etc. One of them is bound to see them. We have such a good reputation we do not have to do much advertising, and we are on the corner of one of the main roads. Traffic is heavy at times.

I have already turned on the heat in the GH plus my SIL has just put the shade on it. Thank God. It was going up over 100 when the sun comes out and everything is open I can possibly open. I bought a new shade cloth and this was the first he had time to get it out of the box and put it on. We are so darn busy here with the horse park activities and the plants. Gotta go cover the plants on the deck as soon as the winds settle down.
They are still blowing like crazy. Nite all.

Sounds like you have it all under controll. we have a tornado running to the south of us...it will hit the news tomorrow maybe tonights late night news. baseball sized hail. its just rain and wind here.
Have a great evening all
Dave

Take care Dave and you other OKies, that may lurk.

Well we go from 90m degrees to 70 degrees to 80 and then back down to 70. Tomorrow we are going to be a high of 71. Friday a high of 91. Poor plants do not know what to do. Along with these wild temperature swings, we have our high winds. In Florida they call them hurricanes and in the Southwest, they call them high winds.

But who can complain. I just read all the tax increases and salary decreases in Greece. OMG. 23% tax on any purchase that is not food. Teachers salaries being reduced by 20 percent. Water and power being increased. Maybe it was put on the front page of USA Today and Wall Street Journal because congress paid them so we would think we were doing great. Reverse physiology.

Found a fruiting mulberry down the greenbelt with the help of the heads of the landscape company. It is full of berries. Tomorrow we are going to take cutting and try to root in the EZ Clone. They think a bird probably brought it in because they are illegal to ship to many states. I tasted the fruit and it is excellent. The tree is 15' tall but could probably be trained. Wish us luck. I will try to get enough to pass around my DG friends. I will take a photo tomorrow when I take the cuttings.

You were right Dave, the storm hit our news last night. Today we are cloudy and about 60 deg. It is to rain for the next three days. Oh POOP!

I went to breakfast with my neighbor who is a sheep farmer and she was telling me about all the problems she has shipping wool and how people try and get some by saying it has bugs in it, etc. She is so funny and what a lovely person. You drive in her driveway and are greated by sheep of all sizes but when you stop the car, they run and go back into the meadow where they belong. They have just learned how to get between the fence boards and they are just this years babies and so adorable. I miss my sheep, but not enough to go back to that again. LOL. Flowers do not need to be fed in the snow, sleet and rain.

Good morning to everyone:
Yes I am fine I can't say that about others in the state. Its unfortunate. I pray they had time to get to shelter as its the only way to survive that kind of devastation. Has anyone seen the movie twister? Yes its just like that.
One that was running early yesterday evening took out a bunch of buildings and the news people came on and said you need to seek shelter, tonights airing of house will be rebroadcast at 10. at that time there had been one fatality & several critically injured. It was like come on folks lets keep our eye on the real issue not some stupid tv show.
They tend to run south of us and north of us. There is a story where the indian tribes said that Tulsa is built on protected lands. It has been proven that we are on old tribal lands but protected.... I think it all upto the guy upstairs. if he wants you he will get you, no matter what.
I went into one house about 25 years ago where a tornado had taken out 6 or 8 houses...one here 2 over there etc. well the house I was in had a 2x4 that had been punched through the roof and hanging out ib the livingroom ceiling.
I worry about hail. My BIL has an old house as a rent house. he lost a storm window as well as the regular window. The twister that had ran so far last night took out 3 trailers a mile from Kims 2 brothers houses. They live nextdoor to each other.
I apreciate everyones prayers.
Dave

BAAAAHHH BBAAAAHHHHH

jeanette you box is out and on its waaaaayyyyy baahh

So glad you and your family are OK Dave. I was out gardening and the temperature took a dip to 63 and clouds and high wind. I am back inside and will do some paperwork. Not a day to garden.

Oh Dave, thank God you are o.k. News said 4 people died. How sad. You never know.

Dave

good to hear you are ok. I don't know if I could live in that part of the states seeing as how those things come right through there every year.... At least with the hurricanes in Florida you can get out of the way, twisters and earthquakes you just don't know. I've been through hurricanes and earthquakes but never a twister and hope to never.

Janet

Friday was like spring had finally arrived, and now, we have had another brief snowstorm. In case you think I am making this up, notice the leaves are out on the oak trees...much larger then the proverbial mouse ears, which are usually indicative of the safe time to plant.

I am glad that all of you are safe, as I believe that this crazy weather may be with us for quite a while. Everyone stock up your larder and fill your root cellars. We are in for a bumpy ride.

Of course, these gals aren't worried a bit....

I agree hurricanes are more predictable but even when they are headed for florida or other parts its difficult to get out of the way because everyone believes "oh its going to miss us" and then the roads are packed and no one has a brain who is driving then.
I feel if its my time its my time nothing I can do to change that so I try to live to the fullest as much as possible.
Thank you all for the kind words.
Dave

Very glad that my prayer was answered for you Dave. I think it is funny because you mentioned the movie Twister and one of the towns that was hit was that little dot of town, from the movie, the town where the guys, Aunt lived, and it was destroyed in the movie.

They just said they expect more bad ones tomorrow Dave. I know how you feel about if it is your time to go and all that, but there is no need to tempt it. So, buckle things down and make sure your family is safe.

Sorry to hear about your scary weather, Dave. I just saw it on the news. (Hubby has been down with a fever..) Are you over your flu?

I can't imagine what so many are going through these days....earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, volcano eruption, hurricanes, and of course homelessness, and loss of jobs, starvation...

For whatever difficuties we may face, many are doing worse...

We count our blessings and do the best we can to enrich other's lives. DG is a good place to do that.

Evelyn we are going to Tahoe in two weeks for our anniversary, Would it be safer to take the 5 to the 80 or 395? We can't afford to be stuck in a chain area or freak storm and lose our money and our special 10 year anniversary plans too.

Should come to Vegas. It is warmer and cheaper. Besides you have a friend in town. Lake Tahoe is a toss up. You can never tell what the weather will be. They just had snow in that area today. Better take your winter clothing and your snow shoes.

We will plan for snow, but don't want it. We got a really nice place with a view in a 4 star place one night and the next in a Casino.

Vegas is too not special for us for our 10th Anniversary, since it is so close that it's a place we are too familiar with. When my kids were young, all of our friends and us used to take all the kids to State Line for 3 days on all the holidays.

Now we go to Laughlin or Freemont st. in Vegas to just have a short, cheap get away and we don't gamble much.

I need to just go visit you some time, but it won't be something I could do for a while since I have to go with my son for his 21st birthday, just him and I, in June sometime. That would be nice.

I have had success with marginal plants and ones not supposed to survive in our zone and some luck with Annuals, being like perennials, in sheltered areas. would be fun to see your yard.

I have given up trying to figure out the weather, especially this year. Even the "meteorologists" on TV don't usually get it right...they just said snow in the mountain passes...nothing about the foothills. Now, I am told today, it snowed all the way down to Diamond Springs, which is about 2000' in elevation.

I am not going to bring in the tomatoes. I have some I brought to the back porch, and the "cherries", I started late, so they are not even in their cell packs yet. With all the time put into them, if I lose them, well, it will just be a loss. I was hoping to donate a lot to the homeless shelters and food kitchens in the nearby towns. We'll see...At least they weren't planted yet.

Hellen...no telling..prepare for anything. I can't do any better than trained meteorologists...so your guess would be better than mine. I doubt that the snow would be melted by then, but don't quote me.

Evelyn my name is Dawn. lol Everyone used to think my name is Helen but it really is Hell In Zone 11(Sunset).

That will be fine as long as we don't get stuck where we need chains. That happened to us going to visit my sis in Susanville a few years ago, for Thanksgiving. We left on a Sunday and it was pouring snow and we drove about 15 miles and the road was closed and impassable. Saw all these headlights in ditches. Don't want to reenact that one, if we can help it. Thanks for giving me your personal opinion though. We can dress appropriately and stay snuggled in.

Good mornin everyone:
snow still... yuk.I hope our weather holds for snother few dsys. I have so much to do and not enogh time to get it all done. oh well
take Care everyone

What month is this? It is cold and rainy but no snow, thank God. You can't win. We finally go the shade cloth on the GH because it was so hot and the sun was burning my cuttings and now it is nearly freezing weather and rain and NO SUN. But, nothing like you are goin thru and I am so sorry to hear it is so ugly out there. Sounds like a few of you will be bending your arms at the casinos and hopefully you come home with more than a sore elbow. I have not even been to the new casino they built not too far from here in PA. It is massive and yet I have not had the urge to do any gambling. Money is so tight and I am such a poor looser I think it best I do not go.
Haave a good day everyone. I must really get some cuttings in the soil. Hugs. JB

Dawn, the reason we were calling you that, yes we could tell you meant hell in zone 11, but you never gave us anything else to call you. Maybe some people don't want the world to know who they are.

Now see if I have this right, Dawn is hell in zone 11? And, Evelyn is in the garden.
Hmmmmmmmm.......Morning ladies, I am being bad today. It is raining and cold and I feel devilish. Don't want to work in the greenhouse, or anywhere for that matter. Dog is sick. I think I will eat something. That should take awhile. LOL...Love you all. JB