PLANT PROPAGATION.....THE BASICS II

JB, I had one in Seattle and it was about maybe 12 or 15 feet tall. I really did like it, but one day I found it lying down and hardly any root on it at all. Nothing to anchor it. It had been growing in the lawn and maybe it didn't get enough water. That is the only thing I can think. Willows do take a lot of water and at the time I had forgotten that about them.

I was so sorry to lose it. Jen

Oh that is so interesting JB. I love horse racing. I am proficient in the various ways to make bets and all and am not a real gambler so I don't do it often but I got started into it with my late friend and her husband who owned a race horse and we used to get into Fairplex free and watch the races from the center green. I am usually there in Vegas at the Sports book when I go, because so much time passes between races that I lose slower than slots.

I don't think my vines are making it Linda. I don't see any green yet on them and some are snapping already.

My roses are just starting to bloom, my gardens are coming along. All my Fall clean up last year paid off in one of my lazagna gardens.

I have decided to try my hand at propagating the Old Fashion Weigela or Weigela florida, wish me luck. Any suggestions, please let me know. Here is my stock plant.

Oh JB good luck. She is a beauty. ^_^

JB, the Weigelas have always been one of my favorites. I even had a variegated one in Seattle. I love them. Yes, good luck with them.

Amanda, I got another email from Zachary from Burpee today. We are becoming regular pals. LOL, anyway, he wants me to let him know how the seeds do. Wait until I tell him I poured boiling water on them. LOL. I will wait tho until they germinate before telling him anything like that.

No, haven't gotten the seeds yet. Jen

YARRGH.

So much for crowing.

Has anyone ever grown a shrimp plant from seed?

We ARE in the propagation forum!!! Cerinthe major purpurescens or something like that.

Blue shrimp.

I read all the plant files - was delighted when the seeds sprouted - grew nicely - I transplanted them and BAM! Crapped out. Well they WANTED to but I won't let them!!!!

So many of the PF entries say the seedlings crapped out when the seedlings were transplanted. I wondered why - when I was transplanting them I noticed they didn't have much of a root system even though the plants were at least 5" high. I wondered if I was planting them too deeply. Too much soil.

I think they liked what I planted them in - a soilless mix of just pine bark fines and peat moss. Rapid draining. Anyway - complete wilt - limp. I took them out and transplanted them AGAIN into nice and dry very fine seed starting mix - it's all I have, but I did this a couple of weeks ago with a single sunset hibiscus seedling which was also crapping out from overwatering.

Anyway - the hibiscus is doing very well now on my windowsill in a 2" pot with seed starting mix.

-sigh-

I will be really sad if I lose all the blue shrimp plants. They look so pretty. Good news is that the Vigna seeds all survived their transplant and all look very healthy and happy.

Jen - there is still only one sprout standing of the Burpee seeds, and I am not going to go in there rooting around. The seedling does look like the others out there, so maybe they are all the same after all.

Thoughts on the shrimp plant?

I'll let you know how they look tomorrow. :/

A.

This was posted on All Things Plants

Thought you might find it helpful.

Mixing charts for gardening with hydrogen peroxide

If you want to start gardening with hydrogen peroxide, you need to know how much peroxide to use. Here are charts to tell you how much!

To water or mist plants, to soak seeds, to add to water used to wash sprouts:

TO THIS AMOUNT OF WATER ADD THIS AMOUNT OF 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE --OR-- ADD THIS AMOUNT OF 35% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
1 cup 1 and 1/2 teaspoons 7 to 10 drops
1 quart 2 tablespoons 1/2 teaspoon
1 gallon 1/2 cup 2 teaspoons
5 gallons 2 and 1/2 cups 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon
10 gallons 5 cups 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons
20 gallons 10 cups 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
bathtub (aprox 25 to 35 gallons) * 12 to 17 cups 1 to 1.5 cups

* bathtub sizes vary. It is okay to use more water and/or less peroxide.


To spray on sick or fungusy plants:
TO THIS AMOUNT OF WATER ADD THIS AMOUNT OF 3% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE --OR-- ADD THIS AMOUNT OF 35% HYDROGEN PEROXIDE
1 cup 1 tablespoon 1/4 teaspoon
1 pint 2 tablespoons 1/2 teaspoon
1 quart 1/4 cup 1 teaspoon
1 gallon 1 cup 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
5 gallons 5 cups 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons
10 gallons 10 cups 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoons
20 gallons 20 cups 1 and 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons

Please be mindful to choose the correct column in the chart depending on whether you are using 3% hydrogen peroxide or 35% hydrogen

Gosh Amanda, that is tough. I have had large shrimp plants, but not blue ones. It has just been too long since I had it. Can't help you there.

Am anxious to try your method with the seeds from Burpee. No difference between the looks of the 2 I bought. The Yellow one and the Corkscrew. I truly do not know what the yellow one is. The picture she sent me looks like a Sweet pea. I fertilized it and it really took off. I had up-potted it just a couple of days before that.

I started seeds that I am sure I got from a grower that said Cobaea but my daughter didn't think they were and then I grew a seed from another grower and it looked totally different. I don't remember what they look like. Guess I will have to google them. Or maybe PFs. Jen

We crossposted Sharon. Who posted that Sharon? Sorry, just because it was posted there does not make it right. I do not agree. I think 1/2 Cup per gallon of water is too much. I have been using it for probably 20 or more years. I started out with 2 squirts from a little pump bottle in a gallon of water. That was a commercial plant food. And it worked really good. I had the best looking houseplants. I don't know that it will hurt them, but probably a waste of the hp.

It was posted by Rick Corey. I will forward you the web site he took it off.

Her you go kiddo.

http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html

Ok, I clicked on the main page it showed, and it was put out by the HP mfg. Like I said, it probably won't hurt the plants, but I would say a waste of the HP.

I know that if Rick posts things he usually has a good (whatever, can't think of the word I want) LOL, but you know what I mean. I still don't think you need that much. Would be interesting to run a test on them tho.

RICK? Are you game? Jeanette

JB ~ Beautiful weigela. I hope you can succeed. Just use that picture, and they will sell, unless you are just growing them for yourself for a hedge or some other landscaping ideas. I once had a 'Wine and Roses' Weigela, but I did lose it. Not sure what the cause was.

Sharon ~ I planted the hibiscus in the ground the other day. I will let you know if I kill it, but it looks like nothing can short of just not watering it. The bamboo leaves look a bit dry, so I have that in a pot for now. Once it recovers, then I will plant it. Thanks again.

Linda ~ It will be awhile for my hydrangeas to bloom, but at least they have leaves now. (Our last snow was April 13th...yes, Friday the 13th!)

Today I weeded the asparagus bed and ate along the way. I never knew how good raw asparagus is...yum! Then I planted parsley along the edge. I have more to do but at least I got a good start. I also put some parsley in the Square Foot Garden that I covered with row cover to try and keep some cool-season veggies longer. The cabbage is not quite ready and there is lettuce, celery and spinach in there too. It was warm today. I think it was 80° in Sacramento, but fortuantely we are a bit cooler here, it was a surprising 77° here with a nice cool breeze at all times.

The potatoes are coming along in the new raised bed in the ground as well as some in one of the Square Foot Gardens. Steve built a new one for me this year and I will have enough tomatoes to plant in there as well as some I will chance in the ground, hoping that the gophers do not eat them. Maybe I will put some blood meal in the planting holes. I do not know if that will help. I can hardly wait to start corn, beans, melons and squash. And of course, there are a "ton" of weeds everywhere, after this last rain storm. At least I was able to do some weeding in the winter, go figure! If I hadn't done those then, I would just throw my hands up in the air and say...#*&#@^&**##!! ^_^

You're on late Evelyn. Sharon went to bed sulking 'cause I called her Buster. She didn't like it. LOL Oh well, if that bothered her she needed some sleep.

I tried growing Asparagus one time 'cause I love it. But, in Seattle the morning glory, wild stuff, is just awful and it came thru and wrapped itself around all the stalks. Just awful. I gave up on the Asparagus after a season or 2.

But, it is Asparagus season and I swear I am going to get some this year while it is on locally. Think it is my favorite vegetable.

I have a sister who lives in Stockton and I think that is the banana belt of the growing in this country. She always tells me about all the stuff she grows and I am so jealous. I don't think I would want to live there tho 'cause it would be almost year round gardening. I think at my age I need the rest of winter. Maybe not quite so long.

Thanks for the post Sharon - I have seen that site too. Who can say how much is enough? None of us are scientists. Well I am not a plant physiologist. :D

Ummm, Evelyn sounds like you are having fun in your garden. Reminds me that I have to go and weed the raised bed I planted for my neighbor lady. There are more weeds than seeds I think.

About the shrimp seedlings - the emergency re-transplant last evening did the trick for some. Some I can see I will lose where the stems go into the soil are skinny and dark. Live and learn!

I also have news on the Vigna JEN.

I went in there to poke around against my better judgment. :P

One seed has a nice long root but was stuck in the shell I guess. Another seed is as hard as it was when it went in. Another seed is all bloated and I think on the verge of rot.

The difference is soil - The CA/South Africa seeds that got 100% germination were in a very light seed starting mix. The Burpee seeds are/were in a potting mix - MG organic, I think. My observations make me think that you can't plant them too deeply and you have to use a very light soil.

When you get your seeds you'll benefit from my mistakes. I hope!

xox
A.

Amanda, by light do you mean with a lot of peralite in it? Have you ever used Roots Organic potting soil? I think it is soil. Not soiless. But, it puts a lot of air in it. Sometimes I think too much so that the seeds aren't getting enough of the up close to the material and dry out. I am thinking that might be a good one to try after cooking the crap out of them with the boiling water. Waddaya think? Jen

Amanda, here is the picture of the plant I bought at a garage sale Saturday. She called this a Corkscrew PLANT. LOL, no, not a vine. Or a tree. No, it is not that crinkly grass. It is more like thick chives. No, it does not smell like onions. Jen

That's a neat plant! But not the one ha ha - you're silly. Maybe if you get sprouts you can let them grow up your corkscrew plant?!

I am not familiar with that product - I have never purchased seed soil starting mix myself, but a neighbor gave me a 5 gallon bucket full and another bag . . . Don't know what brand but yes it looks like peat moss and maybe the shiny stuff - it's not got any granules or sticks or anything. It is fine as flower or powdered sugar!

Remember depth - not too deep, but that's all I did - waited till the water came to a boil and poured it onto the seeds in a pyrex container. Let it sit like that overnight and then plant - see what happens! I think if I hadn't pulled those seeds today they would have rotted.

Planted too deep and this soil holds too much water.

A.

Well, that might be why this will work. It gets a lot more air in it. But, I don't want them drying out either. Maybe I should mix something with it. I am counting my chix before they hatch. I don't have the seeds yet. Jen

No no no - of course you water it once thoroughly the first time. I did mine like I would a cutting. Watered the first time and then . . ... See what you're doing is overthinking it. I did that the first time and killed all my seeds. :D

Well soaking my seeds was very interesting. I soaked two different green beans. One was a white seed and one was a dark brown. The white doubled in size. All seeds swelled. The darker seed had 5 that swelled and 4 that did not. So I planted all of them but marked the area where I planted the 4 that appeared not to swell.

In several batches all the seeds sunk to the bottom of the container. Some of them had portions of the seeds sink and then floaters remaining on top. It appeared that the floaters were not viable.

And I spilled one container and have no idea where the seed went. They were black and so was the soil.

I am going to soak seeds late tomorrow for planting on Monday.

Later friends. Sharon

Sharon, somehow I had the idea you were planting in your flower beds. Now, from what you say, it doesn't sound like it. Are you planting any annuals etc.??

I wonder if Weigelia will grow in my new area. That will be fun because it is 30 min. away but a whole different zone.

So Dawn, are you moving????

Jen, I was planting in my flower beds but I only have about 20 different bed all around the landscape. And then there are the very large pots. Actually the majority of my landscape is bed. I am planting some annuals Monday.

Vern is up, dressed and watching golf. I am going to get dressed, sometime today and take the puppies for a long walk down to the golf course. I have not gotten down there with my camera yet. By the time I do all the cactus will be done blooming.

Two children have called so far this morning. My son and one step-daughter.

I only have one appointment. Eye doctor on Thursday. My eye doctor is one of Todd's best friends and his wife died two weeks ago from cancer. Such a fine young couple.

Todd and Heather are in Walla Walls in the wine country. Been there since Friday night. Getting ready to drive home.

I will take a few photos today or tomorrow of what is blooming.

I sent Dave an e-mail and told him his package is going to have to wait. Too hot and to over whelming. Vern and the puppies are a full time job. Housekeepers were here Thursday and the house does not even look like they have been here. Muddy paw prints everywhere. I guess I will get the steamer out. I have the majority of his plants in my holding bed. They will just be held a little longer.

All of you have a wonderful Mother's Day and I will return later. Sharon

Sharon, you didn't say what annuals you are planting. Are you sowing direct, or did you buy plants? Do you know if you cut the flowers off of stocks, do the bloom again? Jen

Yes, Jen, if you dead head stock, they will bloom again. Same with snapdragons.

I will get my list together and give you a list tomorrow. I am planting seeds. I am forcing myself to use some of the seeds I have purchased. Some are annuals and some are perennials..

See you all tomorrow. Sharon

I need to dead head my stock. I just dead headed several Dianthus. Did any of you watch the Bachelorette tonight?

We are looking for a second getaway home in the mountains.

Do not watch the Bachelorette.

No Dawn, why do you ask?

Where abouts in the mountains? I hope there are places that aren't a long drive for you. You won't get there often if it is.

When we were kids my folks bought a cabin on the lake about 30 miles from home. That was real nice. Unfortunately that is way out of most people's price range today. 'course it was then too. But my folks went thru the depression and like most people that did that, they were very frugal and paid cash for everything. I doubt that my folks ever paid a dime in interest. Not even on houses. They waited until they had the money or they didn't buy things.

Guess that is why they could afford a place like that. All the money most people paid in interest they had to actually use to buy things they needed.

Well, I slept in this morning so it is getting late. Suppose to be 85 today. The last day and then it starts cooling off and rain. Oh well, knew it couldn't last.

I watched part of it and the southern accent drove me crazy so I went to sleep. I can only take so much of that real southern accent and her's is just too much.( Sorry Linda, just certain people affect me that way) I know that sounds terrible, but it is the same with the twang some country singers have. Makes me crazy. Of course I am sure people think I have a NJ accent when in fact it is more like Phila. LOL Just a quirk of mine.

Raining like the dickens here. We need it but it sure is keeping the workers from starting my deck. So, I went to breakfast with Theresa(girl that helps me around the farm) and her husband and then she and I went into town and did some errands. This was not her day to work but she just felt like running around, so that is what we did.

Have paperwork to do today. Later. JB

I asked about the show because I was going to watch it and I have been wating the series Bachelor/Bachelorette for about 10 years now. I like her accent because she seems sweet.
However they do show her telling a guy to get the F out, for calling her child baggage, sometime in the future on this show.

Jeannet the town is about 20 miles from here. We could go often. We are doing it for a retirement investment and putting about 30% down, maybe 40. We probably won't leave this darn area with my grand daughters here and my kids, though son wants to move. Prices are usually off the charts up there, but there are some affordable ones now so it is a good investment since we live in a triple wide mobile now, this will allow us to still live a simple budget friendly life and hopefully make good on a return one day so we can retire. We have owned this home for 10 years next July so the mortgage will start going down on the principal soon and we pay a little extra each month. The home we have an offer on is a Fannie Mae. They are asking much more than we are offering. We lost one offer already but we won't pay what they are asking when they are holding so much inventory back. It could make it upside down before we buy.

Are you saying it is a foreclosure Dawn???? Why does your son want to move? Is he the one with your grandkids? Is he trying to move with his employer?

It does sound like you have all your ducks in line Dawn and everything going for you. Good luck. Jen

It is a Fannie Mae but they countered with a 3K discount, when I know they have few homes on the market and are holding back many, many to keep the prices up. I refuse to be the last one to buy at the high prices and be upside down right out of the gate with another loan. Already upside down on this darn home.

We did not respond to them. We may wait a while and see if someone doesn't buy it and throw up a low offer again, but meanwhile, I can't see paying what they are manipulated people to pay, by holding inventory back. God forbid they unload more than the prices will go down. We wait.

Son just does not like the area. One of the kids is his but he and the baby mama split so Shelby will still be here. Don't know how he could leave her though, so he will probably be here too.

Just for general info... These things did not root in the propagator.....

ginger lily leaf ( I kind of knew this was a given, but I wanted to experiment)
coral vine ( this one kind of surprised me)
bee balm ( I thought for certain this would) maybe my cuttings were too soft
lantana ( I have tried these before and they just sit there wondering what i was doing to them)
chocolate vine ( this is the one plant that is supposed to be like kudzu and I can't get it to root!)

anyway, just thought I would toss those out there . Anyone else trying stuff?

LOL, Linda you are so positive. If they don't root in there it is because they won't.

I blamed myself when things didn't work in the aeroponic.

Amanda, I discovered the thermostat on my heat mat went out. So, in thinking how it works, or is suppose to work, I think maybe it cooked the seeds I had on it, including my Corkscrew seeds. Can you believe that? Also, the plant I bought died. I swear I was not meant to have one.

The Snail Vine is doing good.

Sorry Linda - I am a novice at cuttings anyway, can't imagine . . . ..

Jen - are you sure? Don't give up on them just yet. Knowing how hard those darn seeds are maybe you helped them after all! I don't know how you managed to kill the yellow flowered plant though.

The seedlings I planted out in the container look very strong and green. They are in full sun from at least 10 am - sunset.

I gave 2 away to good friends at our Roundup here in Greensboro yesterday. I will have to be judicious with these "rare" plants. If you don't get one I may have to ship one to you, but you said tuber. How long would it have to grow before I get a tuber? Like a dahlia or something?

From what I understand, the seeds will make tubers this year. In fact, that Snailvine I had a few years ago got a lot of tubers, big root, the first season in a pot that wasn't real big.

The yellow one is still kicking Amanda. It was the Corkscrew that croaked.

No, I will tell you like I said to Zachary at Burpee. If I can't manage to germinate the seeds, I just wasn't meant to have one.

Jen - did you have any germination? Are you saying you killed a seedling? Good God woman. Isn't there always something!?

I killed the Corkscrew that I bought off ebay. But, it really wasn't a real strong plant when I got it.

No, I don't know that I killed the seeds, however, I had petunia seeds in the same tray on the mat with the Corkscrews and I always have a good grow on Petunias. I barely got 3 6 packs out of that tray. So, if the CSs are sensitive, then I would say yes, I killed them. The thermostat going out didn't stop the mat from overheating. I hope that is the problem. I ordered a new thermostat on line. So, I hope my mat is still good. Hope I didn't ruin it too.

OK, mark your calendars, the Weigela cuttings are in the pots and in the greenhouse....we will see how they do. JB