PLANT PROPAGATION.....THE BASICS III

I just finished planting some seeds. I know, they will not grow, but I did it anyhow. Last year I gathered some Star Magnolia pods and dried them, took the seeds and put them in the refrig for three months. (That is what the book says stratify them for 3 months) I forgot about them and when I found them today I noticed they have tiny little what looks like sprouts on them. I quickly took them to the GH and planted 32 of those cuties. Wouldn't I be excited if they actually grew? YAHOO!
I love this bush and it is so beautiful when all the buds pop. It is a very early bloomer too.

I don't do all that well indoors with what I showed in the pics outside my seedlings have had no chance at all, last beautiful batch of Woodfield hybrid lupine went to casualty from ground hog. SUPER GRRRRR...
300 bachelor buttons went down to voles super grrrrrrr
This years hopes are better , and I feel that way also...^_^ Pretty Star Magnolia ..

Those voles are nasty. I had a dog, a jack russell terrier, who loved to hunt them. We would walk and he would cock his head and listen and when he heard one he would pounce on the ground , quickly dig a hole and darn if he did not come up with a mole or vole. He was a great mouser too. Miss that dog. We do not have too many here, cats keep them down too. We have squirrels, hawks, backyard birds, fox, deer, coons, grandhogs and so far that is about it. We are pretty close to humans and the other wilder critters stay away. Bear are getting closer.

Diatomaceous Earth as rooting medium for cuttings , what do you think?
I can hear some of you now ,oh no, here we go again!!lol

No comment. I am not good at soil stuff. I just use Miracle grow and coca core depending on what I am raising but remember, I do tropicals mostly and tender perennials.

The expanding soil made of coir is good stuff !!!! I have one block left , and will get more , Plus it is light and easy to handle when you do not feel well .
I had a web sight with a good price but lost it..

Years ago I got a big order from a guy called Coco Bob. I doubt if he is even in business anymore. Maybe you could google him and see. LOL Now I am going to get out of here. I love you guys but I have chicken cordon blu waiting and cheese cake for desert. Yummy. Kids brought it home for me. Love those kids too. JB

JB--Where' s the diet? Huggs, Lee

Interesting question about diatoms for cuttings. It would certainly control any insect activity. Not sure if you're using it straight what would be the result. I suppose there's only one way to find out!

Howdy Sooz. Like you - no idea what is in my seed stash. Most of them are trapped in my bedroom somewhere with the three kittens in between us. If I can just get past them for a minute, I might be able to pull some boxes. I have some things drying out on the back porch and in the laundry room from this past summer. I don't mind trying to start old seeds. Well, older seeds. Seeds are viable forever, especially if you use that hydrogen peroxide trick. Now Jen, where is that thread . . ..?

Hmmm.

So today I went out to feed the birds and it seemed so mild I thought today might be the day I go out and start cutting back old growth. Then Court told me it was 32 degrees. Ha ha . I guess it's my Yankee blood that makes a 32 degree day with sun feel like spring. :)

Ju - your seedlings are very cheery!

And JB - I'm excited to hear of your star magnolia seeds. I don't do much cold stratification if I can help it. That's what the winter sowing process is for. I only stratify milkweeds. I don't have enough seed or space in my garden to leave things to chance. Some annual flowers are okay to throw seeds down all over, but some of these crazy natives have really low germination rates so I have to watch them closely in containers or pots or whatever.

Guess I'd better get cracking. I always get anxious at the end of January to start seeds. I'll be listening to you all with your birds and blooms in March or April and my seedlings will just be an inch high. :/

A.

JB, if you saw little things like threads coming out of those seeds, they are roots girl!! Good for you. They will grow and wow 32 of them. You will have a new plant to put along side of the CCs. That is really cool.

Lee always has to mess with your mind over a nice meal and what was it? Cheese cake? Wow, don't listen to her about diets.

Good to hear from Amanda again!! Gosh twice tonight. one on each thread. Amazing.

Gosh, see it is 10 o'clock, guess I will read a bit and go to bed. Bob actually stayed up this late watching Law and Order. Think we have seen them all. 'course they just keep making new ones.

ttyl, jen

Took a nap woke back up .. I have been thinking about trying to do cuttings of bush cherry and blueberry and so forth .
I do have a 5 in 1 apple tree that makes green apples on one branch . I have a peach-nectarine that flowers and makes lots of fruit, squirrels get most of the fruit .. I have an Asian pear that I am awaiting blooms for the first time this year maybe..I have to get the first two though and will wait until someone decides to offer a trade.
Been mixing .
indole acid and growth hormones for plants ,not as refined as laboratory but not bad etc they seem to work , and it is interesting to do...Have bunches of grape vine cuttings and some shrubs to take a look at during our short weather warm up..
I am happy with this years starts and last years lavender cutting that rooted , every so often I come to know something good ,,

I guess now/here is the time to ask if Ju has rooted cuttings to share!

I garden for wildlife - if you had small fruits particularly berries I'm working on that aspect of the garden this year. Of course I prefer natives so we may or may not have anything to share.

JB - I will pay good money for a star magnolia someday. :D

Jen - I maintain that it's best to keep this thread for actual propagation purposes so we don't scare off anybody who might be looking for real information. Somehow, in spite of you all, I am still following this and that thread.

I have a navel orange tree that flowered like crazy inside this year and now has multiple tiny fruits. I do use a soft sable watercolor paintbrush to pollinate myself. Remember Jen I suggested that is what you had to do with your tomatoes in the GH a couple of years ago.

Last season it had fewer flowers (I've had it for at least 6 years and bought it in a 1 gallon pot) and one by one the fruits fell off.

I don't know how to keep those fruits on. Not last year but the year before I put it out in the spring and the birds knocked them off, one by one.

It does seem to enjoy the cooler temps and bright indirect light in this one particular room in my house, misting it daily, trying to maintain proper (?!) moisture in the soil. It's in a nice heavy clay (?) pot of some sort - only about 12" across. I'm doing something right.

Any suggestions on how to get it to keep its fruit? I do enjoy this plant. I know we had a lemon tree growing up. Mom brought it with her from Hawaii or someplace. I don't know if it ever bore fruit, but in Central PA the proper conditions did not exist.

A.

Amanda, I am only learning how , asking as much as willing to share so am I The only berries I have are white mulberries that are not setting , and to small huckleberries the annual type. (from seeds) more to come just testing ..
Learning to root and graft as is , There is a bittersweet vine that is kinda weedy here not much seems to use that though
As I get a few I will certainly share

Amanda you are welcome to any plant I have, no charge, you know that. If they grow I will be here yelling and screaming.

I have a couple of salmon hibiscus you could grow outside down there. I also have some begonias if you want any of them. Jasmine also of course. Just let me know so I keep them for you and when the weather warms up I will send them.

One of the Guara seedlings has split double and has partly red leaves ,, something interesting if it lives , a curiosity!! I meant to add earlier ,why do my clematis seem to root from the smallest bud slip cuttings instead of what the info /videos say and show?

This message was edited Jan 28, 2013 5:56 PM

What a morning. I was watering the houseplants (some stock plants too big for the GH) when I noticed on the one gardenia, those ugly little brown scale...they look like little brown balls and the little guy inside them comes out and sucks the heck out of the plant. They were on two gardenias GRRRRRR. Both plants are outside, had to scrub them down good and spray them. I hope they do not get too cold, it is only in the 40s and that could do it, but they had to be washed and I was not about to make that mess in the house and did not want to take them to the GH and possibly spread them to there. Does anyone else have those on your houseplants? Mealy bugs and those are my only real problems. I wonder if they live in the soil or do they hop on in the summer when these plants are outside and hatch this time of year inside. I wish I knew. Guess I better google them. Don't know what to call them. Not brown balls...............help.

I don't know what those are any more than I know what the white crud that has taken most of my plants that I brought in. I can't see any bugs, but they have to be there. It isn't the spit ones, this is almost like a fluffy chalk. Help here would be also appreciated. Can't google, don't know what to describe them. Lee

SOUNDS like tick aphid larvae ,, white mold to me Only as for me what the heck do I know ...lol I am walking back and forth to the garden ,,a little on the cool side .for that yet .....

Deciding how//....

Lee ~ Sounds like you have mealy bugs.

JB ~ Now that sounds interesting...."they look like little brown balls and the little guy inside them comes out and sucks the heck out of the plant." LMK when you find out...????

Lee, you have mealy bug. There is an easy way to treat them. You wash your plant with dishwasher soap and neems oil. I seldom have that anymore. These little brown balls make me crazy since I do not know what I am looking for to google them.

Little bugs see food , let's party♪♪♪♫♫♪♪ crispy crunchy salad with sap and syrup .. all right ..... Sorry I just had to...

MY camera broke , have to wait to post pics of the cuttings ,, they are leafy green and growing .... I am picking some at
E I...

Well a hair of a thread stray ,, I should learn to stay to the subject matter as is ,, nope no self control at alll!! lol

This message was edited Jan 29, 2013 5:16 PM

Sorry.... JB look up plant scale or plant lice,,, from your description you might find them in one of those categories..

Here is a pic of it. I have looked up everything but without a name I am flying blind. I posted on ATP and Insect ID on DG so maybe someone there can help me.

They are leaf Beetlle Leaf Beetles - family Chrysomelidae, Field Guild
www.brisbaneinsects.com - 920 × 657 - More sizes Similar to this






link givesa site that is not as easy to use as could be , but it shows a few things...

This message was edited Jan 29, 2013 6:49 PM

Thanks Ju, it certainly looks like it but it seems to be more of just a shell. Never saw legs, etc and I have used a mag. glass. I like that site. Thanks.

It was just for an idea or two and you are welcome Might be they are their ""Weevil"" selves
snare drum
du du dunt ♫♪

They are a scale. If you google gardenia scale it tells you about mealybug and scale. They are a mess to treat and very hard to get rid of. I am going to have to check all my plants tomorrow to be sure they are not infested. If they are, I am out of business.

That was my first thought when I saw them , a scale or that ,, Sorry for your misfortune that is a lot of work and time right down the old commode when that happens ,,
Try not to be disappointed or aggravated , it will get better..
I get seed lice here every so often , ruins every seed I collect or dry sometimes ,, frustrating it is ....

JB, if I had been on here a long time ago I could have told you it was scale. YOu said that in your first post about them. You have had mealy bug I remember. They are nothing like this scale. Do you have any neem oil? If you suffocate them I think it will kill them. Do you ever use systemic? It is kind of nasty stuff, but it sure works. They would take one suck and it would be their last.

Jen

JB, that scale issue has nothing to do with propagation. Amanda said she wants this to be strictly about propagation. In spite of us she said.

She forgets that this is Dave's thread. Anyone can move it on when it gets too long, but it is still Dave's. You cannot steal one like that. It is awfully difficult to just talk about one issue and pretty soon the thread dies a slow natural death.

Speaking of Dave. has anyone heard from him. I used to hear from him directly, but since Kim got so darn sick, and Dave not being able to regulate his darn pain, I haven't heard anything, I sure wish her would just check in once in a while so we know he is alright,. He is our leader, after all and we miss him. Lee

Jen, scale is a propagation problem as well and I will discuss it on this thread because anyone who is propagating plants has issues with scale, mealybug and all. Of course if this thread is not for discussing only outdoor plants and not houseplants, then that is different. I did not know we had a list of plants to be discussed on this thread and until someone tells me otherwise I will discuss it. Of course, those people who are not really interested may not like it. You know what. I am out of here. Not in the mood for every thread to be so specific. When I need specific help I go to specific threads to get it. But, when I am on a propagation thread that we have had for years and discussed our problems no matter what kind of plants you had begins to tell me what I can and can not say you can all just go plump to whereever it suits you.

Hey guys, it wasn;t Jen who said that about subject. Besides, I thought propagation was about all kinds of things having to do with raising plants!! I came here a couple of years ago and had questions about starting seeds--is that propagation??? Sure wish we could ask Dave. But then, he joined us in all our discussions and answered no matter what the subject was. Just wish he would check in and settle this all down!!!!!!!! Lee

No problem Lee, I am just cranky today and I am sure Amanda did not mean it to sound the way it did. I know she realizes insects and weather and all those things are part of the process of propagation.

I have written three posts to answer your last one and they are all NOT here. See if this one stays. I am not going anywhere, so relax. I am just fighting those stinky mean little scale. I hate to have to destroy stock plants because of something I could have kept from happening had I felt better and had more energy. It is all my fault.

Propagate on girls, I am still with you and I am getting over my cranky mood. Love you all. JB

Here are some Clematis cuttings in Diatom earth off to a good start , hoping for roots ,, sneak a tomato in here and a Diffenbachia ,DAYLILY seedling at the end..

Those cutting look great. Love that tomato. LOL I must try some other plants, like tender perennials of some kind but I need to have a plan to sell them if I grow them. Not sure what I want to try. I think I may try african violets again. The gang on the other forum gave me instructions and I think I will try them. Now I need a violet to start with. Not sure where I can get one this time of year. Too cold to ship.

Anyone out there have some leaves you can send me? I will be back. I am running late today and have some paperwork I must get done before tomorrow. JB

Sorry JB, I used to have African Violets, but they demand a very particular place or they don't do well. And I am lucky to keep my philodendrons alive. And, anybody can do that. But, yes, you are right, I have heard that you can start them from a leaf also. Have never done it.

Thanks Jen. I know they would freeze now in the mail anyhow. JB

I was wandering where the ideas went , any thoughts , or goodies , in general?

You lost me JU, what idea? I am so tired I can not think past this post. Please tell me what idea and I will give you an answer. It is still too cold here to ship anything so I am actually doing nothing except I got some of that insect killer, systemic granules, that someone posted about and I am going to begin to use it in the greenhouse if the weather cooperates. It is to snow again tomorrow so I am not sure I will be working in the GH. Has anyone used them and if so, your comments will be appreciated. Nite all. JB