PLANT PROPAGATION.....THE BASICS II

Nancy your flowers sound so pretty. I don't know what jacarandas are and looked in the plant files but got no results which is strange for that file. Sounds big enough to be a tree. Also, I saw a picture of a gorgeous verbascum earlier in the year that I almost ordered. One of those things that you forget where you saw them so couldn't find them to order. Do you ever do that? It was snow white. All filled out and just gorgeous.

So sad about your tomatoes. I sure do know how that goes. One year we did that in Seattle where we waited and watched the first tomato. Finally, we decided it was the right time so we picked it and were sitting out in the yard having a beer, with the tomato on a small table between us, all of a sudden I looked down and the tomato was gone. Sugar, our Golden Retriever, was sitting there, behind the table, looking so pleased. Smiling. She really enjoyed that tomato. We thought she must have been watching it to get ripe herself. She did the same thing with the raspberries and any other fruit I grew. I even had an electric fence around the raspberries, but she would slide her head under the wire.

I'll bet raccoons got your tomatoes. But, they normally will pick them, not eat them on the plant. They look for water to wash their food. If you don't have deer, then I don't know what would do it.

Nancy, I had the same problem last year. They ate all the ripe and then started eating the green tomatoes. Rats. And I know it was rats because I saw them with my own eyes.

They frightened me so much, that later that evening was when I had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. I am not afraid of rats but they were running all over the place, about 6 of them and one dropped from the jasmine over the tresses above the gate to the tomato garden. My heart started pounding big time but did settle down. Then about 3 hours later i could no breathe.

I still had tomatoes on the vine but I had the landscapers pull them out of the garden because I could and still can see the rats running up and down the stalks of the tomatoes. This years tomatoes are just starting to ripen. With the new cat Izzy, I have seen no damage from any animal.

This is today's (day five) photo of my delonix. Ruler is beside it but you cannot see the numbers. It is 3 1/2 inches tall. So is the other one.

I forgot to attach photo.

I'm kinda new in this forum but have been busy doing cutting propagation. Over the past 3 weeks I've completed about 100 large flats of propagation and it's going pretty well. Today I was doing Daphne and although I know I'm supposed to take off the blooms, I left a few on as they looked so nice. I looked down at my flat mid-day and it kinda looked like miniature farming. Planting my mini-fields with hummingbirds whizzing by through the greenhouse. It's been rather Zen for me.

I've done propagation for another backyard nursery for years in the past but his operation was much smaller. What I noticed to happen at both specialty nurseries is that they will run up to you with a plant in a panic. I guess propagation is vital to a nursery. Unfortunately I've done it voluntarily at both places. At the current nursery they were using cinnamon. I looked it up and it is used as a fungicide so I mixed cinnamon with #1 rooting hormone powder and it seems to be working well. I have already noticed good strike on many cuttings that on earlier flats didn't fare too well. What I really found useful and sped up my production were 1"x2" sticks with nails hammered into them at equal distances. I fill my tray, press it well and then take the stick and gently insert the nails firmly pressing it. I take it out and I have nicely spaced holes in lines. Prep'ing the cuttings is mostly fast but this method made the whole thing speed up significantly.

Hopefully I can get another 100 flats done before the end of summer and get some good production in for this year.

Cheers!

WOW!! Do you have a nursery? If not, what are you going to do with all of those plants???

They look great. Not too sure what you do with the 1 x 2" sticks tho. Don't know what you mean.

Good luck with all those plants tho, no matter what you do with them. They are beautiful.

Hey Jnette,

I wish I had a nursery. The plants cuttings hopefully root, they go into 4" pots for winter in the greenhouse and are potted up to 1 gallon pots in spring for sale next year. There's normally a percentage of cuttings that don't take but it's kind of a guess. If you over-produce, you can always throw out the weak ones. These are heated tables on auto-misting.

Ya, it's kinda hard to describe those sticks but they work so well. Let's say that flat in my first image is 14" wide, so I grab the 14" wide stick with nails already hammered through it every inch. I take the stick horizontally with the nails pointing into the soil and gently press the nails into the flat. I gently lift the stick that is horizontal straight up while wiggling it to keep the holes clean and, "voila!" A set of holes spaced out at 1" from each other for the entire width of the flat. I used a broken pencil in the Daphne flat though and they weren't straight lines but the cuttings were so small.

Ok, now I understand. Where do you sell them? Is this a hobby for you? A second job? Or, just a fun way to make extra money? Whatever it is, it looks like you are doing a great job of it.

Good luck, and don't work too hard.

Jeanette

Oh, BTW, how do you keep them from freezing in the winter? Or, does it not freeze there? Probably not, you are pretty close to the water aren't you? A lot like Seattle.

growin.... thanks for sharing the photos!

What ratio of cinnamon/rooting hormone do you use? I'd love to give that a try....and btw... that nail trick is slick! Great idea! What are you currently propagating aside from the daphne? Is it necessary to have the heating trays all year? Or just during your colder season? What kind of potting soil do you use?

I read the UBER pop-up - 700 entries WOWSERS!! -:) That's fantastic... welcome to the forum. It's been quiet here lately as we all head into summer.... but we're pleased to have you join! I myself am a complete novice and soak up everything I learn here - there are others however who are very knowledgeable.....-:)

I appreciate all you've shared! Nancy

Hi Growin,

Nancy is obviously more observant than I am when she read what you wrote. Altho, it was pretty late when we were chatting last night so I am claiming I was tired. :0) But, I am curious too about the things she asked. The potting soil etc. I missed what you said about putting them in the greenhouse. But the heated beds are great as almost all plants like their feet warm . When I start seeds I always try to get them on the heating mat until they come up anyway, even when I am starting them in the house because the nighttime temps drop below what they like.

So the cinnamon is strictly a fungicide. What is the #1 rooting hormone? Also what is the pop-up - 700 entries you are talking about Nancy?

No, we aren't all real knowledgeable like Nancy says, guess she said some. LOL We are all learning.

Jen, put your cursor over UBER under his name. It will pop up a narrative about his contributions to DG and plant files. This guy likes to be busy.

LOL, you're right. Jen

I learned something also. I did not know what she was talking about but my brain kicked in and I figured it out. LOL. Sharon

Hi Jeanette, Nancy, WormsLovSharon & all,

I've included a pic of the sticks that I was using today on cuttings of Nothofagus antarctica. They line up the cuttings so nicely and I found I was breaking some trying to force them into the soil without the sticks. I'm sure it'd work well with seed too. You can see one stick pressed into the soil, one row of cuttings, a row of holes and what the stick looks like.

Nancy, I wasn't sure what mix of cinnamon & #1 to use so I use, I guess, 1 part cinnamon to 2 parts #1 Stimroot. It's only a guess. The mix gets kinda muddy with the wet cuttings though. The heating cables run along the tables in wet sand which heats the bottom of the trays somewhat and helps with rooting the cuttings. I remember coming across to reference in the past of using the heated tables for hardwood cuttings and it gets them rooting nicely. The automatic mister is a mesh metal piece on a lever which lifts when the moisture evaporates and sets on the misting. The soil for the cuttings is 1 part #4 growing media with microrhizome right in it, which surprised me (I think it's the first one on this page: http://www.sunshineadvanced.com/products). 1 part large perlite and 1 part small perlite. I also throw in a small amount of slow release fertilizer to give nutrients to newly developing cuttings. Mixing it well is so important and wetting it down first is important or the dust from the perlite goes all over the place, including up your nose, hair, etc and I think it's supposed to be carcinogenic.

The Uber pop-up, which I didn't even know about, isn't so accurate. Got much more "stuff" in plantfiles. Jen, I'm learning tons doing these cuttings. I wouldn't have been doing this propagation voluntarily if it wasn't cool plants so here's a partial list:

Abelia mosanensis http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/77963/ (Such a lovely fragrance!)
Abelia x grandiflora 'Hopleys' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78698/
Abelia x grandiflora 'Little Richard' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/368/
Argyrocytisus battandieri http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1702/ (This one's a hard one - tried several times over many years)
Azara dentata 'Variegata' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/110349/
Azara microphylla 'Variegata' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58448/
Azara serrata http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78615/
Berberidopsis corallina http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/143258/
Brunfelsia pauciflora 'Floribunda' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/126815/
Buddleja colvilei 'Kewensis' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78707/
Buddleja globosa http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2199/
Buddleja nappii http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/138162/
Buddleja salviifolia http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57953/
Bupleurum fruticosum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/78783/
Ceanothus 'Concha' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/98737/
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 'Victoria' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/67321/
Cestrum fasciculatum 'Newellii' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58281/
Cestrum parqui http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/88790/
Choisya ternata 'Sundance' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/76407/
Cistus 'Grayswood Pink' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/104393/
Crinodendron hookerianum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58038/
Daphne bholua http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/69259/
Daphne collina http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55795/
Daphne 'Lawrence Crocker' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/79486/ (which I think is the one in my previous pic)
Daphne odora http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54758/
Daphne odora 'Marginata' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/164171/
Daphne tangutica http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/84409/
Daphne 'Wilhelm Schacht' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/137146/
Daphne x thauma 'Reginald Farrer' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/169973/
Desfontainia spinosa http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/98990/
Distylium racemosum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/79551/
Embothrium coccineum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54219/
Exochorda x macrantha 'The Bride' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1713/
Forsythia x intermedia 'Golden Times' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/79755/ (HOT!)
Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/111426/
Fuchsia boliviana http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/93236/
Garrya elliptica 'James Roof' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/66043/
Garrya fremontii http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/138989/
Garrya wrightii http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/136782/
Garrya x issaquahensis http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/138985/
Hydrangea arborescens 'Incrediball' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/186622/
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Akabe yama' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/49158/
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nigra' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/49310/
Hydrangea 'Preziosa' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/49477/
Illicium anisatum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/51483/
Iochroma australe 'Alba' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/198516/
Iochroma australe http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1015/
Leptospermum lanigerum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56548/
Leucothoe axillaris 'Curly Red' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/166141/
Ligustrum japonicum 'Rotundifolium' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/126139/
Lonicera periclymenum 'Graham Thomas' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/80332/
Mahonia pinnata http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/142917/
Metrosideros excelsa http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2243/
Myrtus communis http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54005/
Myrtus communis 'Variegata' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/80759/
Nothofagus antarctica http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/97813/
Orixa japonica http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2620/
Osmanthus armatus 'Jim Porter' - no pf
Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile' http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2596/
Prostanthera cuneata http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53569/
Prostanthera rotundifolia http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54050/
Prunus laurocerasus 'Marbled Dragon' - no pf
Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Theta' - no pf
Ugni molinae http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/97641/
Zenobia pulverulenta http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2214/

.... and there's still a line-up of plants to do outside the greenhouse. Check out the Echinopsis bloom I noticed as I was leaving. So nice!

and the dog got to chase rabbits in the back field every morning and night. Like paradise.

I love your method of planting, by putting your nails like that you can move along at a fast pace. The bloom is so beautiful.

Jan

Welcome Growin, I am so happy to see this thread come alive again. Especially the fact that someone with your vast experience is willing to talk to us and answer our questions without it being an effort. Thank you so much for coming and please stay awhile.

I am curious about your cuttings. I would like to know what you do with your cuttings from the time you take them and put them into the ground. I worry I leave mine out too long and so I stick them in water. Is that OK? I cut mostly gardenias, jasmine and Christmas Cactus. The gardenias and jasmine had a very bad year and I lost all but 13 out of 105 jasmine Maid of Orleans this year. I could not keep the GH at the proper temps all winter because we had such a crazy weather pattern all throughout the winter. I had low humidity constantly no matter how hard I tried to keep it up. I do not use heat trays and many times I sit my flats in water since that is what they like until they get started then of course that is not a good idea. Over watering is a problem then.

I am so impressed with the number of cuttings you deal with daily. My God, I would get nothing else done, except you are so well organized you make it look easy. Most of my friends on this list grow seeds and I can not for the life of me grow a seed. So, I stick to cuttings.
The cinnamon is a great idea. I use that for ants...it somehow keeps them from remembering where they came from or where they are going. I think that is what I read, but as a fungicide, wow, how great is that. Thank you for that little piece of information. I love learning new things.
Smells good too. I am constantly trying to find the time to make a list of when to take cuttings. Every year I have to break out the files and look it up. Do you know of any such list on any of these sites? I know I saw one but for the life of me I can not remember where it was.
Your invention of the nails is great. I use a chop stick to make my holes because the cuttings are not that big, but pencils do work really well for the bigger ones. But, pencils are hard to find these days. Kabob sticks do good too. LOL. Just in case you are out of chopsticks and pencils. :0
Hope you all have a good day. Forgive me Jen, Nancy and Sharon for butting in, but I love what this man does and I just had to ask my question. See you all later. JB
Growin, I have a question regarding the information about two plants in the files, they are jasmine. Would you be able to answer them for me or are you not into that tropical group?

growin.....

I love, love, love your Buddleja globosa and your Daphne 'Wilhelm Schacht'!!!! I have never seen a buddleja that grew like this one.... the variety is lovely... and the color of that daphne... so beautiful!! I am collecting Iochromas and really love your alba.... do you sell any of these plants on marketplace or just locally? I am working on a church landscape/beautification project and could really utilize some unusual plants like these.

I am going to give your growing mix a try.... it seems that you have hit on a great combo.... thank you for sharing and explaining.... I have to agree with Sharon.... if you have more than 700 entries in the plant files...you really have been busy.... and as JB states... you seem very organized. Please do stick around as we are all eager to learn more about propagating.... Oh... and I should say.... these ladies are being modest... I have learned so much from all of them!!

JB ... no need to apologize... I completely understand your enthusiasm.... seems we have a new 'talent' on the thread!

Have a wonderful evening all... Nancy

Welcome Growin'

You surely are busy and we all wish we had the kind of space to propagate like you are!

I've worked in a couple of nurseries, small, and we never had that kind of mass production. Good idea with the nails on boards. There are ways to make some of these tedious chores easier.

Thanks for sharing.

~Amanda

Ibartoo(Linda)...do you have any pictures of your propagating system that you made that you can share or are there posted somewhere else? I remember Token(Tom)made his own back in 2008 or 2009, and showed us and JeanneTX (The Clematis guru) but I can't find it now. Guess that was too long and they don't have them up anymore in the archives.

Pippi21, I remember that, wasn't it in, or about the same time as when hydrogen peroxide was the big thing with starting plants with seeds etc.? That keeps getting bumped up, have you looked in there? It was such an interesting thread. And still is.

We all must have forgotten this thread and really, Dave is more interested in it than the chat room. so, he might show up.

I had great plans for starting rose cuttings using Seedpicker's instructions, got all the equipment, but just didn't seem to have time. Right now, I am spending my time, among other things, just keeping all of the containers I planted this year watered.

I did start some real cool ornamental grasses. Of course one was the black Millet which I love, one was a Jester Millet, and the other was a real neat multi colored ornamental corn plant. I doubt they will actually get the corn cobs on them, I don't think they do, but they do get the things like cat tails with the seeds. I think you can use those in dried arrangements too.

Anyway, I will take some pictures of them tomorrow if I remember. Here is a picture of my Angel Trumpet blooming. If this is the best it does, out it goes after summer.

I thought everyone gave up propagating and was buying their plants at Lowes or Home Depot. LOL Or Acme. Whatever.

I have a greenhouse full of about 6 or 7 different colors- Christmas/Holiday Cactus. They are growing great but it has been a real challenge keeping them damp enough and yet not too damp because of this heat. They do not take a lot of water but when they are rooting and growing they take more than normal... Al least mine do.

I have some Royal and Star Jasmine cuttings started.

Maid or Orleans starter plants are a year old now and looking great and are up on eBay and Cubits.org as well as my Website.

The Goldfish starters and the Tea Rose Begonia are also doing well and are up for sale too.

I have been playing around with camellia cuttings and I think I have it right. I have two that are growing. I have not taken many Amee Gardenia cuttings because I wanted to give the stock plants a chance to rest. They need time to recover the past two years. I have also been playing with the Gardenia Taitensis and I have two of them started.
It is so rewarding when these things decide to grow. LOL .

I had lost some of my stock christmas cactus in a storm this Spring and had to replace them. They arrived yesterday and are too small to take cuttings. Time will tell.

I had been sharing my cuttings of the Maid of Orleans with my neighbor who has the farm market. They were able to sell several, keep some for stock and this year they had a small supply from my cuttings. I am so happy for them. I purchased the original plant at the same farmers market when it was owned by someone else about 6 years ago. Now I have given the new owner back cuttings from the same plant and they are selling them as plants now. Isn't that KOOL????

Wanted to bring Dave up to date on what is going on in the GH in case he checked in. He always liked to know what I had growing. I do hope he and his wife are feeling better soon. JB

Wow JB, that's a lot of work!! You are doing great. Darn!! I forgot you said there was something wrong and I wasn't fighting with you. Sorry, guess I am losing all my fight. LOL I am going in to look at your plants elsewhere. whoops. Sorry, I should not say that. I changed it. I am not crazy about Cubits so will stick to elsewhere. I guess since I didn't applaud them I can say that. :0)

Yes, I wonder how Dave and Kim are doing also. I imagine the heat in Oklahoma is a killer for him. Hope he is able to keep his plants going. I had asked him to send me some plants but never heard anything from him. Maybe he is dealing with larger orders. Hope that is the case.

Gotta run, ttyl,

Amanda..what forum does Seedpicker post on?

Pippi21, I'm not Amanda and she is so busy with her new job and commute I understand, that she hasn't posted to us at all. So, I will say that I got Seedpicker's instructions for starting roses from cuttings from the rose forum. I have that link if that is what you want, but I don't know what else she posts on. I copied what I have a year or two ago. Jeanette

Jen ~ I am also interested in seedpicker's instructions, so if you could post a link, that would be great. I have a very small rose that is sending out long shoots now, so I thought those would be good to get started for more plants.

JB ~ It sounds like you have enough to keep yourself busy for the summer. My summer propagations have gone by the wayside as it just got too hot and things got too dry. I lost all of my seedlings...not a good time of year for me, as I am too busy in the gardens. I am aiming for late summer/early fall for my next adventure in propagation, since I have no greenhouse, and we needed some space on our back porch. I would just take over the back porch, but Steve wanted it all cleaned up....

Evelyn, I copied it into my files so I don't have a link. If you want me to send it to you via email I can do that, it is pretty long to post on here. If enough people wanted it I would do that too. I wonder if Seedpicker would mind if I do that. Probably not since she/he had a pretty big audience in posting it the first time.

Let me know and give me your email address if that is what you want me to do.

jen

I need to start trying to propagate stuff now, I have luck with starting things now and get some roots going through the Winter. you are inspiring me people. I have a whole new zone I should be excited but since I will have deer and nobody home until the weekend it seems too hard to waste much energy trying there.

Dawn ~ You can plant a large bunch of daffodils and the deer won't bother them. Look up the kinds that you like and order them now. Of course they need to be planted in fall, but to get your choice of selections, it is best to order them soon.

What zone will this "weekend chateau" be in? If you get an early fall, then plant soon...if not, you might want to keep them in the fridge until you do, if you get them early. A lot can happen in between ordering time and planting time...like an early snowfall. So if you can, prepare your beds now. Good luck!

Thanks. I am in zone 7a I think or 2 or 3 in Sunset zones. Not fall last we looked. Have not been in a couple of weeks though. Good to know about the daffs. Wish it repelled them from plants too. I don't have a watering system there yet but a manual one, so I probably will wait till next year but will get some for sure.

Oooo my goodness, I hope everybody found Seedpicker's rose cutting instructions. I can't remember a bit about it!

The rose I dug up a couple of months ago is doing very well, but is not getting enough sun where it is because one of my weeds (native wild asters) has gotten so huge. I took several cuttings of that rose when I dug it up and one rooted. It is still very small. It did much better inside under controlled conditions than outside. It had beautiful roots when I transplanted it recently. I will put it in the ground at a neighbor's/friend's house on a steep bank in the sun. I think it's more of a ground rose - not sure I don't have much experience with these, but it could probably be trained to grow up on a trellis.

Some of my schoolwork keeping me off DG lately:

Amanda, when you are ready, let me know and I will send you Seedpicker's rose starting instructions. Maybe you don't want/need them. That's ok too. Let me know if you do. jen

I need to rob some cuttings from my x's house, it is the season and my kids live there now and he does not. I know it sounds bad but I bought and planted them and let him have the house when we split so the kids would not be more disrupted. I take seeds and cuttings from him. I know there is an old English rose buried in the back of the garden and hidden. I'm going to ask for it because nobody knows it's there, it is hidden behind tall florabundas.

Go for it Dawn!! Jen

Ditto Jen.

I had two successes with planted seeds today.

Three Philippine Violet seeds were planted on June 16th. They showed up this week. All 3 germinated. I did not realize that some insect was sucking on the leaves of one of the plants until I looked at the photo I took this am. I just went out with a flashlight and could not find any insect. Photo #1

I planted 5 orchid trees/bushes about two weeks ago and they have broken ground are about 5 inches tall. Photo #2

Also attached is a current photo of my Delonix tree. It apparently needs some fertilizer. One of the Philippine Violets came up in the pot with the Delonix. I had no idea the seed was there when I transplanted the Delonix. #3

They look great Sharon. jen

Delonix is a name I am not familiar with, will have to look it up. I got 4 1 gallon Atriplex Canesence shrubs for my new house, can't wait to plant them. I remember how fast they grew in one year and the ones I have here in this house are monsters. I need some privacy areas and deliniators at my new house up in the back part of the property where the deer roam freely. They are salty so they don't like to eat them. I hope, I hope!

LOL, you are going to claim your property from the deer Dawn? Let me know how it goes. jen

Dawn, have you ever heard of salt blocks for deer? LOL....Sharon

Sharon, that's mean. jen

Jen, I was not being mean. Just stating a fact. The BLM, when I was a kid, would deliver salt blocks in the surrounding mountains for the deer.