Plant Propagation: The Basics Spring 2016

No lilacs in Houston, Jen- unless you count the Persian ones. Hostas surviving this heat amazes me, helebores I THINK I may have one...Martha Washington asparagus is the ones I have. It isnt aggressive here, I dont have to do anything but ignore it, or grab a spear occasionally. I love my thyme& nneed to trim it and cilantro back before I leave

1 screen the lettuce
2 daylily from seeds , might bloom this time ?
3 ,4 Coneflowers from winter sow
5 Tuberosa Milkweed

Thanks for dropping in TX Child and contributing all that knowledge. I'm sure your Salvia roemeriana would do great in the clay pot in vermiculite pot method, I agree with Kitt.

I don't know where to find a clay pot without a drain hole actually Robin.
The big leaved plant in the wide bowl came from a RU (roundup plant swap, texas style) a couple of years ago and I am beginning to think it is mother in laws tongue, but I really don't know what it is, except it is alive, always a plus.

I am tired but home. no photos today, except for the "what is this plant" photo from the job site I was on. Pond I've worked 8 years, new homeowner, plant leftover from old homeowner. We are thinking it MIGHT bloom. Any ideas? Oh, and I want to know how to propagate geraniums someday when I get some sleep.

These plants are about 3 feet tall and seem to spread by tossing seed, growing in a Fort Worth flower bed. Any clues?

So instead of vermiculite, could I use perlite? And like Gypsi, don't think I'd know where to find a clay pot w/o a hole in the bottom. However, I have so so many plants that I was given at our RUs that were small cuttings that I don't know why I really need to make a cutting of my salvia greggii.
Having little confidence in my ability to keep the little babies alive and not wanting to dig a new bed, I planted them fairly close to each other. I now find that everyone grew and they're fighting for space. Since I have 2 Flame Acanthus plants, both given to me in styrofoam cups, and both getting a heckuva lot bigger, I may transplant 1 or both to large pots. This is good. I'm thinking of my solution while still typing. Very unusual.

Once I figure out how to use the camera on my new phone, I'll post pictures. My sages are going crazy, irises are blooming, scabiosa just started to flower, hellebores still blooming, Greggs mistflower isn't blooming yet but definitely spreading itself everywhere, and much to my surprise I have milkweed that has started to reappear. And so on.

This message was edited Apr 5, 2016 11:42 PM

Joe has me put a collar of foil around the stems to an inch below the dirt for the borers. ( and cutworms) Since we have no garden now except for the three sister patch, I am doing cukes and squash on an arbor. I did that last year with great success of the zucchini and cukes, but the summer squash he loves always ends up dying before it gets going, so we just buy it when it is available.

I don't know what a cedar sage is.

Gypsi, I hate ants, and did not know they ate thru wiring. Great, just great. Keep the water boiling!
Kitt, Are yiu home now? Do we need to send you some 100% sun block?
Where is Jen?
I poked around in the small child pool I keep things in during winter ( like a root tub) and found the prickly pear pads, kalancho, and the wreaths of Virginia creeper and trumpet vine had rooted and sent out runners. Found my voodoo bublers in there got them out and planted them. Now I have a big professional grow light over that area, and will move Lil Bit to that area while I get Gamera outside and clean out the winter home for them. In the meantime, I found sever portions of the giant marbled philo had taken root, and the variegated ginger is going well I stuck down in there when I cut back the stem fans. the asparagus fern dropped berries ( i thought the turtles would eat them) but noooo now i have baby ferns popping up. Gamera had taken a liking to the wandering jew, and now it is all over the place from her taking a bite and then dropping pieces . Now, that is propagation! LOL

Ju, I'd find a way to use pet poo if I could, I do save gamera drops and let them dry and put in the bottom of a plant hole when transplanting. A gal at work has pet rabbits , she brings me their cage leavings. I just throw it around all winter. seems to work. I ALMOST was going to use a blender to make buffalo, turtle and rabbit poo powder, but Joe shut me down on that one.

Out of the three tropical hibiscus cuttings I did a couple months ago, two made it and one didn't. The one that didn't had too much moisture in its cup.
Bubblers are now holding passion vines, they are all over my ceiling downstairs.
I have no clue which ones they are,Tropicman gave them to me and forgot to tag them. Now those three little sticks are huge wandering vines downstairs, I'll have to cut it all back, to move it out to an arbor. So.. now begins the great let's see what roots on the vine cuttings. I'll have some to send out if anyone wants a passion vine.
I would love some mexican flame vine, Gypsi. I also have clerodendrum speciosa and the vining bleeding heart one. I've made three cuttings of that vine, and one is really growing to the ceiling already. I LOVE vines.
Robin, waiting a whole 6 days before I can get back outside is killing me.. LOL Joe added sand to the garden patch today. I'm doing the three sister method , really like 6 sister .. tomatoes, peppers, greenbeans, okra, melons, and maybe some basil. They can all hold themselves together that way.

Debra, I have a blender sitting on my counter I haven't used since I bought it, let me know if you want it for the poo-fertilizer blend, lol.

so tin foil an inch below soil surface to protect zucchini stems from borers. Have to run this morning. My garden isn't dug, but work calls. glad I got tomato plants in tidy cat buckets Monday night.

We use nails below and tite to the stem for cutting worms, will have to try the tinfoils wrap...ollas usually have no drain holes, but just ask Ju, holes can be plugged. Hmmm, seems I watched a youtuber on how to make your own ollas using clay pots...

oh! Nails! I'd have never thought of that. I am running that past Joe to see what he thinks. What about iron nails? Would they rust and become iron food all summer for them,? Oh the science of it all..

I found clay pots without drainage holes in Superstores that have a flower department, you can also find them at craft stores, I have no idea what stores are available in TX but if Meijer stores are there take a look at them. I found this link to show you the ideal size, it's a Rose pot shape and I'm not certain that the bottom is solid;
http://www.michaels.com/ashland-clay-pot-rose/10252042.html#start=2
You can place masking tape over the hole on the outside and fill the negative space from the inside of the pot with aquarium silicone. I have done that in a pinch. Make sure the silicone is properly cured before using.

TX child, I wouldn't use perlite as it doesn't hold water like vermiculite. The idea is to hold water while slowly flushing at the same time. This method seems to be the perfect balance. I also set the large pot onto a couple of pieces of scrap wood to raise it off the ground 1/4" and it levels the pot too.

Lol Debra, Poo Powder Power!

Glad I'm not the only one wondering about where to get a clay pot without a hole in the bottom. I thought maybe I was the only one who wasn't aware such things existed. (grin)
We have two big box stores here, Walmart and Lowe's. I'm going to check them out later this afternoon. In the meantime, I've been trying to think of how to plug a hole in a pot bottom. I wonder if wax would work, and how long it would hold up. I'm thinking that if a short piece of a candle that is just a little a little bigger than the hole, was wedged into the hole from the inside of the pot, it might work. Wedging the candle in would insure the wax would fill any chinks in the edges of the hole, and leave the remaining stem of candle that is inside the pot just bigger than the hole, so the weight of the water wouldn't push it out. I THINK. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Ju? What do you think?
I'll let y'all know if I find anything in the stores. No craft stores here to check out. Nor do I want to spend very much on a pot. I'm a tightwad, out of necessity.
Vern (Rusty)

Vern, you're probably fine using a candle, I doubt the amount of water in the little pot would be enough volume to force the candle out. Just wedge it in good, it wouldn't matter if candle was sticking out either or both ends. Try it.

I have some clay pots without holes I got at a large local Nursery, in the indoor plant section. I plan to try this too!

I call those self watering pots .. LOL... I have some I use for my bog plants. I look forward to everyone's propaagtion results from all these ideas. :D

Mipii, FYI. Iron in fenceposts, iron skillets, and nails are not digestible by man nor plant. The rust is called oxidation and is, by the way, highly poisonous to you. The iron used in gardening, the iron in neonatal vitamins is not the same. Sorry. Ollas are a desert type of tradition- when you water the top of the soils a crust is formed which you truly want to avoid. Using ollas gets water straight to the roots and leaves soft upper soil making plants very happy.

Took some pictures just now but will have to figure out how to edit and upload them. I have absolutely no reason to make cuttings. I do have many reasons to transplant. A guy is coming over tomorrow to look at my yard, such as it is, and where to dig a new bed and where to get some big guys out of their big pots, and give me a quote. If the quote is good, then I'll have to grill him on how he does his work.
Gotta get back out to the yard to catch the remaining rays.

I just you-tubed how to make your own ollas using clay pots. Olla is a cool concept for drought prone regions and yes Kitt, they work on the same principle. How many square feet can an Olla moisten?

Havent lived in Artesia for many moons, Houston we raise beds to plant flowers in so they dont drown. I have used various forms of the olla when up near Gypsi's world, can tell you, it depends on the soil how far the water saturates. Black gumbo clay, not far, sandy loam, great. By the way, you need to clean the pots occasionally after the season- limestone deposits seep, fertilizer salts,etc coat the clay pots.

Thanks Kitt, I also just found out it's pronounced Oya...who knew?

what I use for cutworms is either a pile of eggshells crunched down to quarter inch with molasses, or hardwood shavings, eggshells and molasses. (molasses keeps them out in the sun for the birds). I used to slit a drinking straw and use 1 to 2 inch sections around morning glory and moonflower seedlings (not the datura kind). but not fat enough for squash seedlings I think. Olla huh?

Thanks Kitt, for answering my question about the iron. I had been told by an old man that iron flakes from the iron works mills are often grabbed up by gardeners. That was like 15 years ago, I never got any tho..
Googled the Olla, since I really don't need that, I'll stick to my self watering buckets.. which I will take pics of as I set them out, as soon as I figure where I am going to set them out at, since nothing is the same now out there..

found a pic of my propagation method for hibiscus cuttings..
and also, found a purple oxalis has wintered over in Kansas outside, it is up and leafing! ( I must have forgotten that one) the bubbler is now empty on this black tub..
this white one is rooting vines, Main Growing room downstairs..turtle area, ( where things are rooting)

Debra ,, I have decided , I am definitely going to have to make turtle powder poop garden with a bubbler pot ,,No doubt about it !!!

Pretty pictures and good convo all . I wil be back if I ever see any blooms or growing interesting here ,,Rainy strange weather ,,

My mom was raised near Albuquerque- I see certain letter combos and it brings an accent to me, french, spanish. I never thought to enunciate it, chuckl. Most of Texas cities are Indian, Mexican, Spanish, French- like our 6 flags. Cadiz is a street in Dallas(and a city in Ky)- pronounced Kadies; Tejas is an Indian word, means friend; Mexia is Spanish- and pronounced Ma HEY ya. LaPorte is French- ends in an e, not a or o like spanish.
The ollas are southwestern (ll says y) and wouldn't do Debra much good- unless she has a drought year and tons of long heat. They DO make watering less time demanding for distance situations.
Wax, Rusty. My granddad whittled willow for plugs- it swelled to size in the water and seated, dried when water was discontinued and shrank for replacing. Aquarium sealer, wonder if touffa would make a decent plug?
Waiting for pictures!

Wow Debra your basement is AMAZING. olla - oya - wow. ok I learned something, going to bed now. And that bubbler bucket, you drop an airstone in it and put your pot with soil and cuttings in the grid area on top?

Good morning , Yes, those things work great. U can make your own, just use the lid to the bucket to cut a hold big enough for a pot to sit down into ( tight around the pot top ledge. I have done this with a huge walmart tub with 6 holes cut out of the lid and pots were over flowing with plants.as root system was down in the water and you add nutrients or fert as need and no worry about drought..
We are still thinking drought a lot since we went thu three years of it, and started saving our gray water in plastic tubs in the sink, we dump them around the shrubs and trees, great for bugs, the non phosphate soap we use is harmless for wildlife and plants.
Off to work, keep posting! ( you will have to cut a hole on one side for a air tube to go thru for the bubbler stone.) All I have learned has been from DG, by the way.. :D

This message was edited Apr 7, 2016 10:02 AM

I use toothpicks to protect seedlings from cutworms, even tho I don't have a major problem with them. The toothpicks just disappear.

Lisa what a great idea! I used shish kabob sticks one year in all my flower beds to keep the cats out, it worked just fine. Toothpicks are smaller, will have to get those out for this year, one cat just won't leave my south east flower bed alone. YUK

Thanks! Yes, kabob sticks work too. I read abt these on DG but thank goodness I've only had to use them a couple years. Put a couple around a seedling and the cutworm cant wrap around the seedling.

Yup on my way outdoors armed with bamboo skewers, wish they worked on snails too! Gonna plant a few more sunflowers too

Could you give us a photo of how you use the toothpicks and skewers?

I would love to but I haven't had to do it in a few yrs and I don't have any seedlings right now. It would be the same as Kitt discribed above using nails just put a couple tooth picks or skewers (you can make these shorter) right up next to the seedling on either side. The cutworm can wrap itself around but it can't cut offthe seedling with these in the way.

I haven't heard of using nails or toothpicks to foil cutworms, well done gardeners!

Indeed all ,,, this has been interesting ,, anyway to (fool) foil a bug ,, is great !!!

Got a question here, 'cause I haven't had any cutworms etc. I haven't used anything. But, wouldn't BT be easier? Or, would it NOT work on some of these critters? I have visions of you all building walls around every plant in the garden. Seems awfully time consuming to me. I don't think BT is a bad pesticide is it? I mean it just gets those things right? And if you don't put it on the flowers etc then it would not get your cats the butterflies pop out of would they? As I said, I am pretty nieve about these. I had them get a Brussels Sprout last year, but only had the one plant and didn't know until it was too late. jen

There are cutworms that work below soil, and those blasted army cutworms that work above soil. The cutworm works by circling the base of the plant like a ring, and chewing a girdle around the stalk til the upper half falls like a sapling a beaver cuts down. The nails, etc, keep the cutworm from making the circle - so they cant chew the stalk in two. Tuck the nail or whatever tight to the stalk and at least an inch or more into the soil.

I don't think you saw my post Kitt. You were posting right after I posted. But, I am really curious about the BT. How does it work?

bacillus thuringiensis = BT works specifically on caterpillars that eat treated leaves (or treated honeycomb - the azawai form is used on honeycomb before storing to protect it from wax moth infestation, the newly hatched worms eat the bt and die). From Wikipedia: "During sporulation, many Bt strains produce crystal proteins (proteinaceous inclusions), called δ-endotoxins, that have insecticidal action. "

I have used it on my grape leaves when I had grape leaf skeletonizer larva wiping them out, but since my yard is also a butterfly haven I don't use it much. The azawai form is more expensive, I have the cheaper feed store stuff in case the skeletonizers come back. I do not know if it would work on cutworms, especially the below ground ones, which are the only kind I really have trouble with.

personally I like my eggshells with molasses system, the birds do enjoy a cutworm now and then.

One year in Seattle a specific area had a real bad infestation of Gypsy Moths. So, the state spread BT by air on just that area. Seemed to work. I wonder if it would work as a drench Gypsi? Interesting. OH< BTW, when they treated that area they did it about 3 o'clock in the morning and let people know they were going to do it. I don't remember any complaints.

One year when I was a child I remember the Tent Worms were so bad they were even building nests in the needle trees. But they were so thick on the roads even the cars were sliding. You couldn't walk anywhere even not near trees and they would fall on you. Think they must have been carried on the air currents? Don't know. Terrible things. Not a tree had a leaf they were so bad.

Well, I did get another tray of seeds planted today. See I have a couple tomatoes up. 4 days. Well, tomorrow is Saturday, no appointments, should get a lot of them planted this weekend. I am sure I won't get them all done, and my daughter is coming over for a few days next week so she can help me.

Ditto on the bt- last resort- the ulper cutworms dont die with anything less than malathion and they are becoming immune. Catching the eggs on the underside of the leaf is the best squish of all, but the nail or skewrs are there for what you cannot anticipate.as far as that goes, self rising flour and cornmeal is candy the cats and cutters cant resist and it kills them.