Propagation: part III based on my own experience

I have a few, perhaps Jim can comment on them (they haven't bloomed for me yet!); So Sweet, Fried Bananas (very vigorous for me) and Honeybells. I bought them specifically because they're supposed to be fragrant.

ibartoo, can you post a link to the beer recipe? DH always goes out and buys a 6 pack and then never finishes it. I'm always looking for a way to use up the full bottles (unfortunately I've never liked the stuff).

Sheryl, I don't like it either and when Dh said he wasn't going to drink it any more, Well it didn't take me long to find a use for it. This is what I mixed to use as a rooting solution:

1 12 ounce beer
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp. peroxide
1/2 tsp superthrive ( or miracle grow or seaweed fertilizer) I had superthrive on hand.
1 cup epsom salt
1/2 cup household ammonia
4 cups of water.
Mix well in a gallon jug.

I use 1 TBSP per gallon of warm water.

The original recipe from the brug forum can be found at the brug forum. ( I couldn't find the link so I copied and pasted it)

Some people want to know what I have been spraying my Brug cutting with to make them so healthy and green. We just call it the recipe. It is a work in progress because we change it up with any new information. There are a number of people in some of the Brug org. who are using variations of the recipe. I am posting here not only to help people with their cuttings but to start people to thinking about what else we could add to the recipe.

Some people use it as a spray to foliar feed and some feed when watering and some, both. We have only used it as a foliar feeder and spray daily. We have been using 1 tablespoon per gallon of water but will be increasing it to see if there are any improvements. Good luck.

2 cups water
1 12 oz can of beer
1/2 cup household ammonia
1 cup Epsom salt
12 drops Tea Tree oil
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses
1/4 cup liquid seaweed (Kelp)

There are similar recipes on other forums as well. it reminds me of something out of Jerry Baker's books, but I am seeing good results so far and it is certainly easy to use.

I should probably do some germination experiments with it, but I am not sure I am up for that just now. LOL Maybe in January.

Pagancat, I do the cables, then I buy 3/4 minus gravel, and lay a 1 to 1 1/2" layer. it radiates heat much better than sand. I was checking the temp out in my greenhouse today. it was a steady 70 to 75%F I have a cool greenhouse but I'm able to root several marginals over the winter. like Brugmansia. and several Sedums. Jim

Jim:
Could you post a picture of the setup. I am sure a everyone would love to see some pics.
Dave

"The Recipe" really works ya'll. Everyone I know calls it that too. lol

I love hostas and have lots of them, but have never been able to harvest the seeds. Can't find them. I've grown lots from seeds other people have given me, but never my own. Can ya'll tell me where they are. I keep looking around the blooms and don't see anything. I have a bunch that are still blooming and we had it freeze twice in the last 10 days. Guess they just don't want to give it up.!

I'd love to see your lights, Jim, but also pics of your hosta's.!!
Hosta's and EE's, my favorite things. Someone told me I couldn't grow hosta's in my zone, but they are one of the most popular plants around here. Just not much variety.
Ok, going back through the posts to find out what a heating cable is.
Don't know how I miss so much. Guess I need to find my brain and spoon it back in.

LOL!!!

Lorraine, that was gross, but funny. LOL

Guess Pagan and I are both gross too.

Jeanette

That was pretty gross, huh? At least I didn't talk about drool. he he.

Dave, I posted the pics in a e-mail. go ahead and post them. I didn't have the pics of the beds with the gravel. I'll take some on Monday and send them to you. also with my flats and cuttings in the greenhouse. Jim

Jim, we all would love to see all of those pictures. Years ago my dad took wires from an electric blanket and fastened them to a 4 x 8 foot board with sides and did the same thing. My mom used that for years. LOL, not recommended.

Jeanette

Hey, Jim. Nice to see someone I know here. I am trying to catch up with 1 & 2 . I have a hard time with work work and not much time on the puter, so I have printed them, and read them on my ferry rides to work. I'll catch up. soon
I do have a pic of your lights. when I was there. Hope you don't mind me sharing.

I went to his lovely place, so injoyed it. This is his Hosta babies under the lights. I want to do this, but have no place to put it. Sad...

I have approximately the same set up, but no where near as neat and organized! Guess the shower-curtain-humidity-tent kinda takes away the visual beauty of the rack, lol.

Tillysrat, stick around, you'll soon know us too! Quite a friendly (if occasionally gross, heh) group. We welcome you.

Jeanette, is there a story to your "not recommended" comment?

Jeanette, I agree about not using something that was intended for another purpose. I stick with the nursery heat mats plus the cables. the mats can be used for any of the germinating, cloning also. and they are much cleaner than a cable bed. I use the mats on my plant stand for germinating hosta seed. with bottom heat the seeds germinate anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. I use the cables in my greenhouse because they go a long way, the bed I just made covers 4 flats. I could have doubled that but lack enough room in my greenhouse. the cables come in all sizes and range in price from $15 to $30. I've never seen them in a closeout. or I would have bought them at that time. Jim

Ok everyone:
Jim suggested we do a workshop with a person from the kitchen culture showing us how to do that. It will mean travel for a few people I am just not sure where to hold it. Comments please. I think it would run around $100.00 each for the kits and the fee for the teacher would be split evenly amongst attendees. what do you think?
I am having trouble posting pics from my email at the moment. I will get it sorted out and post them.
Lorraine...big spoon or small spoon...lol
Dave

Ok here are the pics. 1 of 3

2 of 3

3 of 3
I need to hear from everyone interested in doing a Hands on workshop with kitchen culture., so we can figuire out where to make it happen.
Dave

Here is a link you can check out to see what it is truely all about. I have seen part 1 and its great. when it finishes it gives you the link to part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYvJByYrSPg&fmt=18

Dave

Dave, nice presentation! I think I'm getting motivated again to start TC. keep posting you findings, thanks, Jim

Dave, I added 1 1/2 inches of 3/4 minus gravel when I moved it into my greenhouse. the heat from the cable radiates an even temperature about 10 to 15%F above the ambient temperature. I put my flats on top, or pots of cuttings, Jim

LOL, no story Sheryl, just as Jim said, better not to use things that weren't meant for the use. At the time it was what my folks could afford with 5 kids to feed. Like I said it was many years ago.

Dave, I would love to participate but I'm afraid I am going to be out of commission for a while. LOL, will still be on the computer but that will be about the extent of it. Have to keep track of you all and what you are doing.

It really doesn't take much to get us excited and ready to start playing with the plants again does it Jim? That Youtube feature was really interesting Dave. Do you guys have a problem with the start and stopping of the voice? I wonder if I am doing something wrong because it was so bad I gave up. When I just x'd it out up in the corner, the voice kept going and not nearly as much breaking up but the picture wasn't there. What is my problem???

Jeanette

Jim, when I start my seeds in the spring I have the same setup you do, except I hang a mylar curtain behind it so I get a lot more light (reflection) that way. I turn my flats sideways so I get more to the shelf but my shelves are only 18" (I think) deep so I have 4" to hang over. But, with the mylar those get the light too.

Wal Mart sells the mylar survival blankets (in the sporting goods) for $ .88 and they are 7 or 8 feet by about 6 I think. I have never measured them but I have a lot left over with that shelf unit.

BTW, a couple of us were talking on another thread about where to get those shelving units. I looked in Costco today and they sell them for $99.99. My daughter had gotten me one at Costco in Seattle 4 or 5 years ago.

Jeanette

Jnette, Lowes usually sells those shelving units too. A restaurant supply store is also a good place to find them. I think both of mine came from salvage shops.

The survival blankets are a fantastic idea. With the silver blanket you can reflect so much light. I think I will try it with my shop light set up. Boy will hubby be happy now! Something else to build. LOL But hey .88 cents and some scrap wood he can't complain right......... I already have the light.

I think I will have to opt out of the tissue culture. I just have too much to keep track of right now. It is interesting though. Today, I will start some brugmansia and hosta seeds, I just need to find shelf space to keep them.

Gotta Go, I have to get seeds for the aviary today. Then maybe I can look for plants................ Have a great day everyone.

Linda

You too, Linda!

I'm going to look into those blankets - right now I have a reflective car windshield screen in there, lol... doesn't cover many shelves.

Dave and all, I would really survey the KCK website and maybe buy the plants from test tubes, before every trying to do it. the room he used on the you tube was adequit. but remember even 1 cell of bacteria will ruin experiment. hygene is #1 the main contaminate is dust mites or the fungus bacteria that live on them, which are everywhere. the kit will get you started but isn't enough to do some things like Hosta meristem culture. I still need some things like a good microscope to do the peeling of the meritem. the example he used was afican violets, which you all know are about the easiest to propagate. but is a good place to start. Jim

Thanks Jim:
I gave it a bit more thought and with my disability I couldn't do a workshop. I have enough trouble carving out a couple of hours to just plant seeds. I think its the cooler weather. I have noticed that barometric pressure above 30 seems to be a happy place for me.
I have read the book cover to cover and its great. I think this next spring I want to buy the kit and give it a whirl. I realize daylilies are not as stable as other plants but thats what I want to play with.
Linda: When the time comes I will do a thread and you can decide if you are still interested or not. I know there are a few of us in this thread that are the walking wounded so to speak. so I think we could help eachother out in figuiring out how to overcome some of our issues.
Dave

Thanks Dave, That would be great. Right now, I am rooting and seeding and that is plenty. ( at least I keep telling myself that. LOL) There are many things I will eventually get to, but not right now. I am however working a little each day and that is a massive improvement over the past year or so. I am happy.

I didn't get a chance to start the seeds today, but maybe I can start them friday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Linda

I know what you mean Linda. It seems like a big project just to get some seeds sown, But once I do I feel so great. I also love the outcome in the spring when I get seedlings poping up all over the greenhouse.
I am still trying to weed down my buy list as I have only so much money to buy with and I want it all...LOL
dave

We bought some poles (legs) 4 of them from a restaurant supply Linda and they were really expensive. We had some extra shelves so they worked out, but they didn't come apart in the middle like the first ones we got. Those are so easy to use in different configurations. The ones we got are one 6 foot piece and they were around $60 for 4 of them. The whole set with 6 shelves and the casters at Costco were $99.99. At the restaurant supply the casters were $40. So, the poles and casters alone, with no shelves, cost the same as the whole unit at Costco.

You were lucky to get some from a salvage place because shelving is one thing that everyone can use. You must have been at the right place at the right time.

Jeanette

Jnette, you are right, I wouldn't have been able to pay that much for them either. It must have been my lucky day. I am also very fortunate that DH can build anything out of scrapwood, so usually shelving isn't a problem as much as the space to keep it.

Dave, are you familiar with pinetree seeds? They have a nice catalog and their seeds are reasonable. The tend to package seeds for smaller gardens and I have bought from them for years with no complaints. I just got their new wishbook in the mail this past week.... I started doing the happy dance and My son said Mom, you're obsessed.LOL

Jim, do you know if Pearl lake is a fragrant hosta? I sure hope so, I was given some this spring and they didn't bloom this year, but I am hoping for blooms next year.

Well all the kids are out of school today so some friends and I are taking the kids to watch a local farm boil sugar cane into cane syrup. It should be interesting. We'll see. Have a good day.
Linda

Jeanette, I just paid 2 something at Walmart for the emb;anket, maybe there were more than one kind that I didn't see. I'll check it out when I'm in there. I saw the shelves at costco after I purchased mine at Lowes. the price was about $65. no casters. but it is the easiest thing to put together, which really impressed me. usually when I buy something like that. I would look at it for a week before attempting to put it together with all the screws and everything. I had it together in 20 minutes. I'm thinking now I might get another one. when my seedling hostas are getting crowed in the spring before I move them out in the greenhouse. Jim

Linda, I'm not familiar with Pearl Lake. some familiar ones to me, and what I own are, Guacamole, Fragrant Dream, Stained Glass, Hole Mole, but if it's fragrant it's from Plantaginea species. Jim

That is a big difference in price on the survival blankets Jim. More than double. Too bad. Wish I were closer to Wally's, I would check here. 40 miles is the closest.

$65 is much better than $100. I do like the casters but my daughter doesn't use them so she has 2 sets I could have. Do the poles come apart on Lowe's? I really like that feature because they are more useable to me. LOL is that a word? I have them set up in my basement in 2 separate units with 3 shelves each. I can reach that. Then when I do my seedlings I don't have room for 2 so have to go with the one tall unit.

Then I just rolled them out on my deck with the plants on them. So easy, I love them.

Jeanette

Well Lorraine got me over here and I have just got to ask!!! The heat cables are they anything like what you would use to put on water pipes out side to keep from freezing? And also I was wondering as to the heat pad , could you use a regular heating pad that comes from the drug stores that is thermostatcally controlled? And I need to know what a plant is doing when it is weeping, dying or what? Lots of questions, but Lorraine said I could ask questions without feeling like a DUMMY

Jnet, I am having to buy shelves too and I was looking at wallyworld and they have shelving there that is about 4 to 5 ft. high with somewhere between 3 to 4 shelves each. I know it is small type but for the price you could afford to but 2 or 3 of them . Some where around 29 to 30 dollars if I remember right and they are metal shelves.

Weeping plant...hmmm is it a big plant? Most of the time I see that is when I have cut off branches on a tree and it looses fluids from the wound. Is the plant healthy? What kind of plant is it? LOL and you thought you had a lot of questions....
I can never have enough shelves...LOL

I would avoid using a heating pad. I believe thats just asking for a fire... Hmm wood shelves electricity and add water sounds fun... Flower sorry if it seems like I am abit off...well its because I am at the moment..off my rocker...lol But seriously I would stick to outdoor stuff The heating cable for pipes might work I never gave it much thought. Worth a try.
Dave

FF, my problem is that I have to use the best shelving for the space I have. Like, I don't have much space. Also, I need 4 foot wide shelves. I put 2 4 ft florescent lights per shelf and I doubt that the plastic would hold up to all that weight including my plants. I get 4 flats per shelf on the wire racks. They can hold 600 lbs each. LOL, not that my lights and plants weigh that much. Plus, can you move the shelves to where you need them?

What kind of plant are we talking about? Can you post a picture? That would really help. Nope, as they say, the only dumb question is one that isn't asked. Or something like that.

Jeanette

Maybe Jim could help you with that question. I know you don't want to burn your house down.

Jeanette

They aren't wood Jnet they are metal about 4 foot wide. That's the only reason I mentioned them because that is what size I need. The shelves look like what a bakers rack would look like. About moving them I don't know if you could or not. I didn't really look at that part cause once I get mine in thats where they will have to stay. No other room for them.


Pugh, as far as what kind of flower I couldn't tell you. My sis just called me and ask me if I knew what was causing it, she didn't say what kind, it belonged to her daughter-in- laws' mother.