basic how to on propagation based on my experience

lol. I like that one.

Here's one. An airplane crashed right on the border of Us and Canada. Where do they bury the survivers.?

Hey one of the twins is a Kaleb, just spelled different.! Show us a picture of the kiddos.

You don't bury survivors. lol

How old are the twins? Kaleb, cute name.

Jeanette

That is one of those jokes that people don't get if it's not in writing. !!! lol I spent 5 minutes trying to figure out where to bury them when I first heard it. Sure felt stupid when I realized what they said!!!

The twins were 3 in March. The other is Ian. I love that name!!!

Ok, what is the secret to rooting sedum, (the fuzzy kind) Can't get more than one or two to root.

My grandson is Ian. Of course I love it too. He is 19.

Next question I thought was going to be another joke. lol

Have you tried the dip n grow in soilless mix? You might be getting them too wet. Are they rotting or just not rooting? Maybe you aren't giving them enough time unless they are rotting of course. Also, I don't think I would mist them much either. The fuzzy would hold the moisture too long I would think.

'can't believe that Dave, trying to root Boxwood and saying it finally rooted the next summer. I really wonder if he left it in the pots or whatever, all winter. I never thought to ask him. Probably not. He probably just tried it the next spring and summer.

Ok Dave, what's the answer to the above? Did you leave them to root over the winter? LOL

Jeanette

That's probably it. Too wet. And they are rotting. I've had a couple root, or anyway, they are still standing up straight. lol Probably need to do them differently from other stuff. Now all I have to do is find out what to do differently! lol

HELP!!!!!!!

Just don't get them as wet as you would most other stuff.

Jeanette

Dave, out of necessity, I'll probably be using my sunroom as a makeshift greenhouse this winter. What kinds of things do I need to add or amend to make this a viable option (if it is one). Typical 3 sides get sun, the other attached to house. I'll set up some flourescent lighting to help, I can't completely regulate the temp, but it'll be close to 70/72 degrees thru the winter. What else can I do?

Howdy: Yep I left them inthe flat all winter. I am stubborn that way. next spring hit and had a gazillion trades so I forgot about them untill a few weeks ago i noticed they were growing. a sure sign they were rooting. I hope to have 40 boxwood b4 winter.
davis: what exposure does the sunroom have(N, S, E, Or W)? Also how much direct sun does it get? Is the glass shaded? When we were looking for a new house in june there was one that had a sunroom. I was sold b4 we could look at it. Its shaded all day long so its great for growing mushrooms... lol no I am sure its great for other stuff.. did that sound mean? Sorry for the tone today. I'm feeling the weather coming at us. Cold front and Gustoff is suposed to collide over us early in the am tomorow. suposed to be a frog strangler.
Ok back on point davis I don't think I would worry too much about any prep on the sunroom. You may want to possibly look into some shade cloth, Lowes sells it by the foot. or this is a great product. I use it on my green house it lets the light in but seems to trap the radiant heat inside.
http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?
page=_productdetails&productid=1338&s=1338&cid1=-99&cid2=-99&cid3=-99

the grow lights might not be a bad idea. but other than that I think it would depend on what you are wintering over. If the roof allows light in then I am sure the floor store some energy and releases it passively. you might secure the door to the outside if there is one. maybe store some water under the benches if possible. water in jugs or drums make a great heat storage device. I would check for leaks and things like that. anything you can do to help the room keep from looseing heat anyway you can. sounds like you have a great plan.
Dave

Ok,, speaking of using rooms for greenhouses. I don't have one, of course, so I have to be creative too. Or stupid. You can tell me which. I have a spare bedroom with two windows on one side, .

Lots of light tho.

Last year I put florescents in the ceilings,. Well put chains on them and hung them right over the flats. About 2 inches. Then when I needed to put them in other pots, I moved them where the lights were higher up. I got pretty good germ rate, but I know I would have gotten better in a greenhouse. Do you think it will be ok tho?

You'll never believe what I used for heat mats. Heating pads on low. I might actually spring for a real one this year!! Course it doesn't get really cold here, but everyone says I need one anyway?

The germination rate is all that counts. Not how you got it. Heating mats are expensive and a pain in the butt if you don't need one. I have done the same thing you just described. I think if you can get shelving tho you will get a lot more bang for the buck. A light on each shelf. But, if you got as many germinate as you need, don't knock success.

Jeanette

But, but, I want 100% success!!! lol Didn't you know I'm obsessive. Took a test once, made a 98 and 40 years later, I'm still trying to figure out why it wasn't a 100.! lol

I've got one self and I am going to put lights on it too. I know it won't take up as much room and can do more flats. So, gotta get out the screw gun and get with it.

One more question. Since I'm using florescent bulbs and not the growlights, which kind should I use?

I would use daylights. Jeanette

Warm or Cool or combo of both.

Lorraine any room will work. it sounds like you have many of the things required for a successful germination room. The adjustability of the lights will be key to success. Do you get any outside air coming into the room you do not want. of course it won't be as big an issue for you than those up north in the snow belt. You may want to line one of the walls with a reflective material (mirrors, a reflective poly sold in hydroponic shops or my favorite, alluminum foil anything else you feel will provide reflection I would try it). You may want to add some pans of smaller rocks to add humidity to the room (a word of caution though, too much humidity can invite mold and some deterioration of sheetrock (drywall)). You may want to pull the carpet back or even lay ceramic tile down. Some nice tile can be found at Lowes or home depot for less than $1.00 per sq ft. Personally I try to look at what happens when you want to turn it back to a bedroom so personally I would pull the carpet back but not out (unless you are feeling energetic and fell comfortable redoing a seam in the doorway) so that it is easier to put the room back together. I hope this helps address your concerns. There are a great many ways to get to a very successful propagation room, be it in a bedroom or part of the garage or a greenhouse. I have a pvc plan I will share later on this week.

So what do we want to hear about next? Soils, aeroponics & bubblers, mist/fog systems. Or you fill in the blank. Please let me know so I can get preped and get a lot of info and break it down into a no nonsense application for the ease of inplamenting into your own program.
Dave

soil for me, I need to improve what I'm using Dave. I've been using the hyponex planting mix. I'm finding when I water it doesn't go through the soil, it mostly goes around it & the top of the soil is sometimes the only thing wet. Should I mix it or what should I do Dave?

One quick idea for Lorraine. Walmart sells Mylar survival blankets for 88 cents. They are about 6 x 6 feet I think. Just hang a couple of those on the wall for reflectors.

Dave, I would like to talk about aeroponics but then that is just me. I doubt there are enough others that would be interested.

Jeanette

Once we get all the requests in and I will cover all as best as I can
;^)
Dave

Home made soil mix for me, please!

I agree aeroponics would be great, but any aspect of propagation would be just as good. I am fascinated by all of it.

I, too, would like information on "home made" mixes for potting up seedlings. I do a lot of container gardening and I cannot afford "store bought" potting mixes.

Davis: Are you refering to a newly planted/transplanted plant or is this a new container with a rooted cuttin(s)? It sounds like there is no airspace in the soil mix. any idea what the mix is made up of? Is the water running straight through or just bouncing off the top? Is the plant rootbound? I just want to make sure I am understanding the situation fully. If the plant is not rootbound and its just going around the media which it sounds like it to me. I would try either small sized pine bark or perlite to mix into the soil.
I am kind of curious on this one. Great question.

Dave - I don't know if it would be helpful but there is an extensive thread in container gardening on homemade soil mixes

Kitty Yes it would be helpful. There are a lot of different ways to mix your own soil and nothing says any mix is better than what you personally use and prefer, after all it a personal choice just like red vs green. At least its the way I feel about it. I've got my soil page done I just need to have it proof read for gaps, because I am sure there are some gaps or somethings I just glazed over which should have been explored a lot deeper.

Hey ya'll thanks for the help. Matter of fact, I used a room with carpet last year and moved everything to one without it this year.

Ok, I'll get the stuff for the reflector, but why am I using it. (Does the word "newbie" mean anything to you?) lol

I'd really lilke to know about the homemade soil too. Anythng you talk about is great with me, I need to learn it all. Would like to see your pipe thingy pattern.

Hi everyone:
Kitty is correct that there is a great thread already on DG that looks great. It goes deeper into why than I did because I wanted to keep it simple. When you get a chance please read through it. Its long winded like you would expect. Here is the link.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/527353/

I am going to post what I have writen for this thread.

Here is what I feel is a nuts and bolts breakdown and how I aproach things in my own growing. I hope it helps. Dave

Soil:

What is the difference in soil and dirt?? Dirt you find in the yard soil you use to grow plants in. I think this is a good place to discuss oxygen. Oxygen is needed for proper root growth. There are a lot of good mixes out and available at the local big box store. Most of the pre made soils have a good combination of moisture retention, air space and particle size to allow the plants to properly grow.
Air space is the empty area in the soil that the roots will grow into. When filling any container be it transplanting or setting up for propagation I like to water the soil very well. I look for the bubbles of air to escape and float out to the top of the water in the container. By doing this I ensure proper exchange of stored gasses from the plant and it refreshes the oxygen in the soil.
Moisture retention is mainly obtained in the peat and or soil in the mix. Vermiculite also helps in moisture retention and promotes cation exchange making nutrients stored with in the vermiculite readily available. Vermiculite also allows for a faster root development. It can be found at the greenhouse mega store as well as a lot of other suppliers. I am giving sources as a where it can be found. Some of you may find it at a better price than this site and I strongly encourage looking for the cheapest source possible, after all I am a bit frugal.
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SO%2DVER&gclid=CMPsl8mKxZUCFRJdxwodzjIhiw
Perlite is another component in a good growing mix. It adds an airy texture to the medium lightens the weight of the growing mix and provides great air space retention, giving the plants a place to both root into as well as provide needed oxygen.
Sand has been used for a long time as a rooting medium. I worry about the use of sand in the mix because of my own fears of what else is in the sand? Much of the sand available to the general public is harvested from either rivers or the ocean. My personal opinion is that I try to stay away from it. Its heavy, retains little to no nutrients and the chance of some pathogen hiding in the sand is a distinct possibility.
Pine bark is a good additive to a planting mix if you are using it to transplant our outdoor landscape ornamentals. It is a cheap additive that helps increase the airspace available to the plant by providing a larger particle size in the mix. One negative that must be understood is that pine bark can and will lower the ph of the growing media, so please be aware of the fact that you may need to adjust the ph of the soil depending on what plants you are growing.
Moisture crystals: I am personally a fan of the little guys because it provides more retention of both water and nutrients. By lessening the frequency of watering you are lowering the speed at which nutrients are leached from the soil and the possibility of your plants going into stress from lack of water. Let’s face it we all find ourselves on the end of a garden hose watering our babies in the blistering hot summer months, sometimes 2 or even 3 times a day. I would rather spend my time in under the air-conditioning. I am willing to bet that all of us have at one time or another struggled to save one of our prized plants only to end up with it in the compost heap.
Compost is a good additive to the growing media for transplants. The one thing we all must do if we do use it in our mix is to make sure that it is not “HOT”. I use the term hot in that it is still breaking down and is just that hot to the touch. I like it as an additive; however I must confess that with the exception of the prebagged composted materials, I have no practical experience with it. Unfortunately my limitations will not allow that to change anytime soon.
One of the best mixes will consist of about 50% solid materials (sphagnum or “peat: moss”, Perlite, vermiculite) 25% moisture and 25% open air space.
My personal choice for a propagation mix would be a mix made up of
2 cubic feet Peat
2 cubic feet Perlite
1 cubic foot Vermiculite

Just before sticking my cuttings I would drench the soil with a light starter fertilizer. I like to use jump start as well as a product by Schultz called “starter plus root stimulator”. I personally like to drench with a broad spectrum fungicide as well.

My personal choice on planting mixes for containerized plants. I have been using a prebagged product by Sta-Green moisture max with fertilizer. It has a light fertilizer in the mix so that I have a little while before I have to top dress the containers.
Top dress is the application of a product to the top of the soil in a containerized plant.


If I planned on planting lots of plants I would use a mix of

40% Pine bark
30% Peat
20% Perlite
10% Vermiculite
I would also mix in a slow release fertilizer like “Osmocote” or Dynamite following the recommendations on the bag.

These are recommendations I feel would be best for me. Every gardener has their own preferences and there are a lot of ways to achieve the same goal. I recommend you play with the mixtures if you want to mix your own media. I have seen operations that use a concrete mixer to get a good consistent mix. Use your own judgment as to what is best for your situation.

I feel fungicide drenches are as important as moisture content when dealing with propagation. What you are looking for is a product or products that work on pythium, rhizoctonia, phytopthora, and botrytis.

One has to ask the question is it smart to mix ones own growing media? The cost of materials will be as follows (may be more or less depending on your location and availability)

Peat Moss 3.8 cubic ft $12.00 times 2
Perlite 4 cubic ft 15.00
Vermiculite 4 cubic ft 20.00
Yields 16 cubic ft propagation media $59.00

Considering most premixed bagged media run from $10.00 to $15.00 per 2 – 3 cubic feet.

Ok, so that is what we use for rooting medium and germinating seeds or just rooting. I know, I need a book called propagation for dummies. Hey Dave, there's an idea.

I like the way you explain. You keep it simple, and I don't know about everyone else, but I want someone who knows to just tell me what to do. Wouldn't understand all the "master gardener" stuff. You know, the ones that talk to other people who know all of it already.

Thank you Lorraine:
I started to question the wisdom of going over the soils again when its been covered in depth. However I did notice what I call the eyeball glazing effect. You know when you start to read or listen to someone about a subject and the info goes way over your head and I start to feel intimidated by how they are coming across., your eyes start to roll back into the head and eyes glaze over and BOOM your lost.
He is completely correct in everything he is talking about. One thing he lightly covered is the reasons why we should be adding hydrogen peroxide in the water that we use to water your containerized plants. Now I am picturing that your back yard is like mine. I have a ton of containerized plants NOTE the picture. How do we get a solution of h2o2 added to our water we use to water our babies. Answer we use a fertilizer injector.
An injector will take a solution of addatives and mix it in with the water coming out of our hoses supplying. Now you are asking yourself ... Is he off his rocker??? welllll yes but not on this. Its a product called a syphonjett injector. it runs 20.00 each

http://www.growersupply.com/drhosi.html

I will cover proper mixes for use on our containers. and how to decide what ratio is best for your application. This will get very crop specific but I will try to narrow down the choices so that its not a confusing mass of information.
Ok now back on point propagation and fertilizers/chemicals. Hydrogen peroxide does a lot of good for plants. when it is introduced to the propagation medium the spare oxygen molecule will either attach itself to another oxygen molecule forming O2 or attach itself to the most redial available organic compound (i.e. diseases molecules). Hydrogen peroxide also neutralizes the chlorine in most tap water. Personally I plan to use the following as a pre drench on all my propagation flats.

2 teaspoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide
3 oz. schultz starter plus root stimulator
2 teaspoons of "jump start"
into 1 gallon of water

the roots of a plant require oxygen to grow and remain healthy. I feel this mixture will do the most to help the success ratio of propagation.
I also plan to use the same mix in my aeroponics system(which will be the next subject in this thread.
I will be researching where to find a more cost efficent source for all the chemicals and the injector. I know you are saying why do I want to add another confusing piece of equipment that I don't think I really need. By using and injector you will be able to push your plant into being bigger, healthier increase the bloom size and count.

I apoligize in advance for any confusion caused by me. I am sure there have to be a few questions so please ask. I hope this helps
Dave

I found the injector for $15.50

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=WA%2DHOZON

They also carry 4 cu ft bags of horticultural grade vermiculite and 4 cu ft perlite

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SO%2DVER

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SO%2DPER

I hope this helps
Dave

Really good information Dave. I read the other early in the summer. It was also good but as you said, my mind wandered. Good mind. lol

My question is, do you put peroxide in the water every time you water? Or, how long does it last? I suppose if you water without the peroxide that you either break it down, or dilute it so it is no longer effective anyway?????

Thanks for your work Dave, Jeanette

Dave, I just looked at that injector. So, you have to carry a bucket around with you? Or, would you screw it on to the top of a peroxide bottle? Why wouldn't one of those fertilizer jars with the dial measure on the top be better. Or would that only work for foliar feeding?

Just that mind working overtime tonight. Gotta go to bed before I lose it.

Jeanette

Jeanette:
The way it works is you mix up a strong solution in a 5 gallon bucket, screw the brass body on to the spigot from yout house . next you attach the garden hose to the end of brass body, then you drop the end of the little hose into the solution. now you turn on the water at the spigot and water you plants like normal. The water comming out of the spigot draws a small amount of the solution out of the bucket and mixes it wih the water comming out of thewater supply you would normally water with.
If you have ever read any of the technical paper's written for a college course or research paper on plants, they talk about ppm(parts per million) of fertilizer used.Once we get done with the lessons on parts per million you can play with the condensed solution and make one you relly like and use it to provide a continuous feed. its more precise than droping a handfull of slow release on the top od the soil in the container and hoping the plant will use it.. I like to use both so that you can get a bigger plant faster. thier are a lot of different concentrates that focus on any number of aspects of a plant and the stage of growth your plants are in. We can mix up a solution to help push the root growth for use when the rooted cuttings are freshly planted into their new container, or if your plants have rooted well and you want to have more flowers we can promote that.
I hope that I have not made your eyes glaze over and I lost you somewhere in the last few paragraphs. I look forward to any and all questions?
TTYL
Dave

I hope you don't mind me adding a few things to what you wrote Dave.
The first is that if you are going to make your own growing medium using straight peat-then you must add a slow release lime to it. Peat has a PH of 3.5 or less and that is way to acidic to grow in. This is where it gets tricky and where sometimes the compressed, bale soiless mixes may be a safer (and possibly in the long run a cheaper) alternative in that you can kill plants where the PH is extremely high or low. Too high or too low PH also blocks certain micro nutrients from getting to the plant-and just adding them won't help. You will have to adjust the PH in order to allow the plant to get those micro nutrients. Adding just the right amount of lime can be very hard to do, and you can easily get in a game of going too high, and then too low of the PH.

The other thing that I would add is that with a siphon mixer-you can't just make a strong solution. There are specific amts of fert that you add to the water in the bucket that will make up your concentrate. PPM is the first thing that you start with-how strong do you want the fert that comes out of the end of the hose to your plants to be? Generally you can safely go with 100-150 with plants that were just transplanted (seedlings) once a week. On the back of the bag, there will be a chart of amts that correspond to the PPM that you want, and the ratio that you are using-which with a siphon is a 1:15 (some are 1:16). The amt of fert that is used is weighed-not measured by tablespoon, so it will be in ounces. As an example-if you put 4 gallons of water in the bucket, then you would add 4 times the amt on the chart-which for 100 ppm might be 1 ounce (just guessing-too lazy to get up and look at a bag!).
I just didn't want anyone to burn their plants by thinking that the amt of fert in the concentrate wasn't that important.
Another thing with the siphon-it is only effective if you use 100' hose or less of the hose that you will use to fert the plants. After 100-it will lose the ratio and the concentrate is less. Thus a weaker solution

Aren't most fert measurements done by volume and not by weight, so one ounce usually means by a measuring cup and not a kitchen scale?

http://homeharvest.com/waterfertilizerinjectors.htm

Good stuff people, thanks (eyes only slightly glazed). Dave, I'm starting or transplanting fairly young plants so no problem with heavy root issues & the water isn't penetrating the soil well. By the way, thanks for answering, I thought you were ignoring me for a while there. What if I don't want to use peat moss? Aren't there environmental issues with peat? What other substitute might there be?

tigerlilly, I appreciate the reminder about ph, although I don't quite understand it all. Here's what I did yesterday, I got a few bags of composted manure, (directions said it wouldn't burn tender roots). I mixed it with equal parts of potting soil & potted up several things (including new brugs I just got). Now, thinking about the ph, I wonder if I put in too much manure? If anyone could comment on this thanks, I have time to repot today.

tigerlily:
Thank you for the input. you are correct about ph and the yoyo that can easily happen. And you are correct about the nutrients needing to be added to the soil mix. I have been out of the industry long enough to know that I have no idea of what is available to us to counteract the sterile soil. not only do young plants need nutrients they also have some specific need that may vary depending on the plant species. I believe that we need to locate a fertilizer that is well rounded and can be diluted enough to supply the necessary nutrients to the young plants and that wont burn the tender new roots. We need to be aware of the fact that once the nutrients are in the soil care needs to be taken to avoid burning the roots as well. burn can happen if fertilizer levels in the soil are high and we allow the soil to dry out between waterings. I realize that in most instances it takes a lot of fertilizer build up to cause damage to the roots. when we are talking about newly rooted plants it is a lot easier to burn the roots. This is why I tend to stick to the osmocotes and other time released fertilizers in most of my recomendations. You are correct in the care in measuring for your concentration must be strongly watched. In this Instance MORE IS NOT BETTER ... I believe what tigerlily and I am trying to get across is that, it would be a shame to take the time to grow up our new babies and then when we are potting them up to either burn the crap out of them, possibly lose them by burning off the roots or in the other extream to lock up all the nutritional avalability by not having a proper PH that allows the free transfer of nutrients from the soil and fertilizers. All of these senarios are real possabilities and personally I would feel horrible if I gave advise that caused anyone to lose even one plant. Most of the info I am churning out is off the top of my head and I always welcome input after all we are here to learn from each other.
Ph testing is quite easy to do and we all need to be aware of what the PH of our home made soil is. I don't like the stick a probe in the soil to get a reading of ph. I don't think they are acurate enough. You should be able to get a test kit for under $15.00.
Hopefully I am coming across clearer than mud
Dave

Davis:
i try to answer everyone I can. sometimes I miss one or two questions that I pick up on when I am trying to find out what the questions are currently. It sounds to me like you have a particle size issue. It seems to me that you are using small particle sized material and nothing to help create pore space for roots and air exchange.
Not being familiar with burgs, are there any special ph needs that they have? Azaleas like a lower ph so pine bark is a good additive to both help lower the ph as well as provide air space. I am not familiar with the environmental issues of peat moss and if there are any. There are some issues with the pine bark and cypress mulch as far as the enviroment goes. Peat is harvested from bogs in several locations. I know there are bogs in florida as well as canada and I would bet there are other locations throughout the U.S. You may look into some of the additives used by orchid growers. they use a lot of bark and other materials to givethemselves a nice open mix. When you make a soil mix you want to be able to form a soil ball (like the snow balls we all made when we were young). I believe it needs to hold moisture but not make a heavy compact ball. it needs to be able to crumble fairly easily and still hold moisture. I like to get my hands in the mix and feel the consistancy of the mix. You may try perlite as well.
Do burgs have any issues with florides? The plant genius Dracaena has floride issues and perlite should be used with caution. Perlite has floride in it as well as our tap water. It causes brown spots as well as burn on the leaves.
I like perlite because it lightens the weight of the mix as well as provides a nice medium particle size in the soil mix.
If I happen to miss your question it is one of 2 reasons. I am rolling it arround in my head trying to get the best answer I can or I just flat out missed it, so please ask it again. The only dumb question is the one thats never asked.
I hope this helps. please let me know what you come up with. If you can find it Back to earth makes a product called composted cotton burrs. Its the left overs from cotton harvesting. Its great for breaking up heavy clays and might be something to add for your bergs. I know you are our resident berg expert.
dave

Dave, I wasn't saying to add nutrients to the medium-you already said that and I agree totally. I start to fert (weak concentration -maybe 50-75 ppm) as soon as the plant starts to put out their first-second set of true leaves and I move it up to 150 ppm as soon as I transplant them into 3.5" pots-once a wk. I think what I was saying ( and I am really tired too-right smack in the middle of a pansy crop right now-so I am sorry if I don't make something really clear) is that if your PH was not right, then it would block the uptake of nutrients to the plant-specifically micro nutrients-which the plants need.

Davis-here is an example of what I am talking about with the PH. Pansies need a PH of about 5.5-5.8. That is hard to get to with the soiless mixes because with the lime added to them (lime raises PH-which the soiless mixes need because of the low PH of peat) the PH is usually around 6.2-6.5, which is fine for most plants. So, unless I do something to reduce the PH some, I will start to see pansies with yellowing new leaves. That is a sign of low iron (just in the new leaves). The iron is there in the soil ( most ferts have all the micro nutrients in them), but the higher PH of the medium is blocking the plant from taking it up. As soon as you lower the PH (fastest way is sulfuric acid-battery acid, which I add to the liquid fert), then the leaves start to green up.

With the mix that you did, I would be very concerned about drainage-or lack thereof. As Dave said-the absolutely most important feature of a potting mix is oxygen. the heavier the soil-the more it retains water, and water displaces oxygen. so the trick is to have a fast draining medium. Also roots grow more at night, so its better to water in the am and let the medium drain throughout the day so there is less water in the soil at night-
I never use potting soil,its too heavy and doesn't drain well. If I were you, I would definitely put alot of perlite in the mix to help with the drainage. Keep in mind that you can always water-but you can't remove water if its waterlogged.

hcmcdole-all ferts are dry weight, and are weighed by a scale. Liquids are measured by a measuring cup.


Edited to add that a potting mix made up of straight peat and whatever else, lacks a wetting agent that the soiless mixes have, and that really makes a difference! Has anyone ever tried to mix peat with water before? its a witch (substitute a b there....:) )

This message was edited Sep 6, 2008 1:37 PM

Oh dear, so what is exactly wrong with Builder's Sand? I have a friend that recommended it highly, he clones a lot of woody plants like roses & buttlerfly bushes with great success. Could you say that medium may be better for woody plants and use perlite/vermiculite/peat for more tender cuttings? He (a Master Gardener BTW) also said that a mix of peat & sand kept too much moisture (for what it's worth).
Thanks,
Vi