PLANT PROPAGATION.....THE BASICS II

JB, how big a cuttings do you take for the Weigelias? Jen

Things get too damp for too long in my propagator and turn to much instead of rooting. Or the tiny roots break off when I pull it out.

I put this in the Begonia forum too. Dave, or someone, can you help me?

When tubers first start growing in the spring there are many sprouts coming out of the tubers. I want to take some of those off to allow just a couple to be nice strong branches to grow and bloom. But, I don't want to just throw those sprouts away. There must be a way to root and grow those into new plants.

Can anyone tell me how to root them without their rotting instead?

Jnette, I propagate begonias in vermiculite. I use the "forsythia" method with a clay pot inside the plastic propagating pot. Plug the hole up in the clay pot so it holds water. Keep the clay pot full of water at all times. I have had great success with this method. This winter I learned how to propagate the dwarf junipers.

Now if I could only figure out how to do the bottle brush bush.

I need slug killer, my plants are being defoliated nightly. I put a systmic on plants the other day but still alive, I see.GGGRowling.

Peg are you talking about tuberous begonias? I don't know how I can do that, leaving them attached to the plant like Forsythia, because I want to take these off when they are about 3" tall. So that the strength will go into the rest of the branches I want left on. Only 2 branches and I have a half dozen sprouts.

Several years ago I wrote to the Begonia Society, and found out I had the Canadian Begonia Society, and they were so nice, he answered me right back every time I wrote something. But he said that was the best way to start begonias, was those sprouts. I forgot what he said about how to do it. When I googled for him now to ask, I couldn't find the CBS.

I would think the BB would be the same as the Forsythia. And easy.

Dawn, I have never heard of using systemic on slugs. Diatomaceous earth, or slug bait. OR, MY FAVORITE, A DUCK. LOL, they love slugs. Problem is they leave as big a mess as they clean up. But theirs washes down with the hose and fertilizes too.

Jen, I had to look it up about the cuttings on the Weigela Plants. It said between 4 to 8 inches in length. Snip the branch off above a leaf terminal. Snip off the bottom 1/3 of the leaves if full foilage covers the branch. Allow the upper 2/3 of the leaves to remain. It says they will provide the cutting with nutrients to help it produce roots. I must tell you, they look darn droopy this morning. I gave them a good drink and opened all the doors and windows in the greenhouse so they would feel like they were outside. Whatever...

LOL, sounds like those "crappy" (was that the word you and Amanda used) cuttings of Mock Oranges I sent you all. LOL

Did I tell you Show from ATP sent me five beautiful Radican gardenia starters. They are beautiful and I hope I do not kill them.

The Weigela still look droopy. Jb

Oh Jen - the mock orange DID have roots when you sent them so it must have been me that killed them. I am going to take some cuttings this week and try again.

A.

Nooooooo JB, you kill a Gardenia????? I can't believe it.

Doesn't matter Amanda. Just had to get a jab in.

nite you all. jen

Hey Jen, i have killed many of them honestly. Aimee is the only one I seem to be able to raise. I have a yellow one that is not happy since the day I bought it and I have had it over a year. Also, it was Shoe not Show that sent the radicans to me..

Must get busy. Hugs. Jb

My flowers look so nice right now, thank God, since in a few weeks they will most likely fight to survive the desert heat. If I am lucky and we have a fall( which often we don't ) then I will have a pretty garden once again in the late summer through fall.

I got slug bait this time. I did not put it out yet but got it today along with squirrel killer and animal repellant. The darn ground squirrels got into my house and are living under it and in between my subfloor and what ever is under there. They chew under my tub. I hear them scratching. My house will smell like death again. Good grief. So much for having a party out in my pretty garden next week.

That happened to me Dawn. I used DeCon which is a stuff like cement and they have to have water and then that mixes with it and turns to solid cement. Only mine were rats. This was in Seattle. So, like you said, pretty soon you had the smell. The DeCon made them so thirsty they were licking the condensation off of the bathtub.

I had to take out the tub and the wall by the tub about 2 feet up. They had gone over the firewall inside the wall, and couldn't get out. There were 7 of them total. But, I sure had a mess to clean up.

Never again will I use DeCon. There has got to be another way. The pest control people use something different I would think. Exterminators. Couldn't think of their name up there.

I can't believe I lost my whole post.

I said that happened to me Dawn. In Seattle. I had rats and I put out DeCon for them and that is a poison like cement. It makes them thirsty and they have to have water. When they drink water the stuff turns hard in their innards like cement. I heard them under my tub, they were getting the water off of the condensation of the bathtub.

Pretty soon they were really smelling bad. I had to take the tub out and then the wall about 2 feet up. They had crawled up over the firewall inside the wall and couldn't get out. I really had a mess. A lot of work cleaning it up.

There has to be something better than DeCon. I am sure the exterminators use something else. You might do some research with google and find something. Might be rats and not squirrels.

Good luck. Jen

Dawn, I bet there is a way to get them to move out and go to another area. You just need to know what will attract them and then invite them to a picnic. Use Google. They will have ideas.

LOL I wish, too late we busted out the poison already it will be a matter of time. It makes me sad too. We went to our new house, Not really, but the one we want and want to offer another bid on it. Hope you all had a good day. My roses are so pretty right now and my hollyhocks are blooming too so the two look pretty together among other things.

Morning everyone, Just stopped in to see if you all survived the Memorial Day festivities and it looks like rats are the topic so I will be on my way. I had my share of rats but the exterminator put little blue blocks down the holes and the rats pushed the blocks back up and that went on until we began smelling these odors of death here and there so we figured they decided to eat those blocks instead of thowing them out of their holes. I have a feeling no matter what kind of poison you use, it all has the same affect. They search for water and die. And smell.
We had a lovely weekend of heat , food and work. All in all it was fine and everyone survived. They are all back to work and we had some fun.
I have shipping to do today and it is really too hot to do it, but the willow are tough and they will make it out of NJ and hopefully into cooler weather on their trip to their new home. Will return later with some pictures. JB

Dawn, do you have any pictures of the one you are bidding on? Would love to see it. Jen

Jnette, I think the begonia I have is a tuberous begonia. It definitely is not a Rex.
I don't have a pic right now.

Ok, no problem.

I do have a few but not many. We want to change the color. the view is the part we most love and if you lived in the desert, you would appreciate it so much more, everything dead and brown especially in the summer. Where you live it is beautiful. All of you guys. Let me find the pictures to post. We put in a second offer today. Who knows. It may not fly but we will try once more if it does not.

I can empathize about the rodents because in an urban environment we had a "situation" last year. The year before a couple showed up at the back of the yard to feed at my bird feeders and we thought it was cute. HA!

Turns out my bird feeding attracted them. Last year it was really bad. But they were not in the house. I had to stop feeding birds altogether. I did a lot of research online and almost everyone said do not use poison for the reasons you all mention - they say use snap traps. Since I can't kill a fly . . ...

I realize this is the propagation thread but let me just say that Court had an epiphany a couple of weeks ago - heard his father telling him that the wood pile looked "mighty snake-y." So we (!!!) put out a call for some snakes, and yesterday just before dusk a lady friend who does critter removal, among other things, brought us 2 black snakes to release in our wood pile.

This morning when I came out in the garden, 2 squirrels were up in the pecan tree screaming and the catbird that nests in our giant Camellia was screaming too. I couldn't see any activity, but I had an awful feeling about those black snakes.

On the upside - there won't be any smell in the house. :/

A.

Jnette,
Correction. It is a cane begonia and not tuberous.
You probably already figured that out.

LOL, Amanda are you sure Court's father meant snaky that way? When they say that here, it means that the woodpile wasn't stacked very straight and looked like a snake.

My daughter had to quit feeding the birds for the same reason. She was getting a lot of rats. Yes, the feeding stations get them all. I used to watch the mice out here at night eating from the bird feeder but then the dogs used to get the mice/voles. Now we have cats that do the same thing. And Candy digs up tree stumps. She doesn't mess with the little things.

Peg, I used to have a cane begonia in a coal scuttle. It stood about 4 feet tall. When it got any taller I would break it off and stick it in the pot and it would just keep growing. They are very easy to grow. I love them because they are hardy.

Jen - maybe it means something different here?

They are from VA beach. Court's daddy has been dead for about 10 years, so he "spoke" to him like it was a burning bush or something. Dunno - will let you know how it works out. :P

I knew what you meant Amanda, but then we think alike. Jen has been West of the Mississippi too long to think straight.
I must say, I prefer rats to snakes. If someone would bring me two black snakes I would shoot the snakes first and then shoot the person who brought them. No way do I like snakes. No way.
The cuttings of the Waigela are looking very sickly. I should know better than to try something new that I had never even researched enough. Crap.

We used to have a bird feeder. It attracted a lot of the wild turkeys and then they scratched up the garden beds when they came to visit. They probably ate some things too, but I am not sure about that. Needless to say, we don't have bird feeders out anymore. I have not seen any rats but there are ground and tree squirrels, gophers, moles and/or voles. Too many things to invade....only a few snakes around and we only kill them if they are extremely close to the property as to be a danger to any of us, otherwise, we leave them alone, and they leave us alone. In the over 22 years I have lived here on this property, I have never had a snake attack me.

LOL, sounds like those Mock Orange starts I sent you JB!! Now you can quit your bitchin' about them.

I had a little garter snake in my flower pots the other day when I went looking for the right size pot. Those little buggers are just fine in my garden.

No, we don't have those bad snakes out here. Maybe that is why we figured the wood pile was stacked crooked. Haven't seen a rat around much either lately, however, I doubt this little girl Candy would go after one. Probably run from it. LOL. Bob would not like me saying that.

We are going to take Spooky in to the vet for the same shots that Tiber got tomorrow. That is, if we can catch her. She is just that. Spooky. $89 for Tiger!! Can you believe that?? Yeah, I'm sure you can. These animals are getting so expensive. Wherever she was for those 2 weeks, she picked something up. A virus. Gave it to Tiger and so we decided best to get her done too. Another $89!!

Jen, I did not get any mock orange, sorry. I do not know what you are talking about. Wrong person, kiddo. JB

Amanda, would you please straighten that woman out!!! Or do you want to take the chance?

I like Mock orange it is so pretty and I love the blossoms smell.
I really wish I could have a real orange, love them but they frreeze here. So far poison must be working, two days with no crunching in the mornings.

It was me!!! I was the one that killed Jen's mock orange cuttings.

sorry.

A.

Bad Manda. Bad! lol

Ok you asked for pictures. Keep in mind things were still dormant and it is a repo, so....here is the house. I want you to see the view. Compared to desert it's great.

This is a view from al sides of the property. We are waiting to get approved, or not for the second time. We may offer one more small incriment up and then we are out, but we really like it, despite some imperfections. It is close to our dream within close to our budget. We could pay what they are asking but can't justify it in this market.
The blessing is that the original owners were big gardeners so a lot of the raw work has been done, laying out beds and terracing beds, a long side yard series of raised planters with a little waterfall built in, a huge Wisteria that did bloom and some arbors with roses that are hanging in there, some roses, in from, fruit trees in back, some nice flowering Almond or something with black bark that does not have fruit or nuts we've been told. Nice deck. Bears, deer etc. A unused park accross the street that just has hills and cattle grazing, empty lots in back of us and mountain views with cabins. Part of the back of the property you can see a corner of this lake, if I recalled from a past trip. The neighbors are nice on the one side and the old guy mows all the weeds in the neighborhood so snakes and brush fires do no damage. Trash is paid and snow plowed in the area for $450 a year, water is about 50$ for 2 months under a generous amount and 75 for the next increment. Our payment will be under 500 with what we put down incld/tax/princ/interest/insurance.

Needs some tlc and new paint and flooring because apparently dogs lived there for 3 months alone. Hate the color but all things in time. I'd like to maybe put stone on the front since it is the garage and paint the house and deck. Greg wants the deck natural and sealed. I am not sure if I would not prefer a nice complimentary color to the home. It has two wood stoves and one you can cook on if times get hard in the future or a disaster which puts power out.

Amanda, remember, I sent you and JB both one of those crappy little cuttings. Not just you!!

Ok Dawn, it is beautiful. Now would this be a retirement home? It appears that it is in a development of some kind. Is it close enough now that your husband and you can go to work from there? I didn't think you were old enough to retire??

So, you would have to buy with a contingent that you sell the home you are in, or would you keep both?

Just some questions I have. Very nice. Jen

Dawn.... nice photos... thanks for sharing...

Is this property in Rosamond? What are the summer temps there?

Nancy

Blank canvas. i do not want to do that again. Looks very nice Dawn. Sharon

Well, the answer is that we both work a little further than where we live now away from home. We can't retire yet, he is 53 and I am 49 but it would be a vacation getaway 1/2 hr away from where we are now but mostly for an investment.

We don't want a blank canvas again but it is not full time and if I want to drag all my plants and rent this out one day, I sure would be able to live with the sacrafice.

I have a lot in pots now and my roses can be dug up and cut back in the Winter and moved if I want to. There is so much beauty around that the pressure to do all that asap, is lessened for me. I have many years left till retirement so there is time to do it. We wanted a move in ready home but this is a higher priced area. Normally we can't afford crap in this area.

Thanks for the compliments. We are not rich nor will we be rich but that is ok, we would be blessed to have the home and afford the other one too. We are greatful for all we have and if we can't do it, we will be fine then too.

Nancy it is in Tehachapi, in the mountains between Rosamond and Bakersfield and Lake Isabella.


This message was edited Jun 2, 2012 8:38 PM

This message was edited Jun 2, 2012 8:40 PM