Propagation

Browsing the internet, Youtube has some very good videos on gardening practices. Search: Beef elite and you will find lots of info. Hope this helps.

 

Well now Mike, that may be a bit like returning to work for me. I spent so long propagating plants at the nursery when I worked there. Best job I ever had. I hope your video idea is useful for others

 

Thanks Tetters. Plant propagating is so interesting also plant pathology. OK commercial propagating is carried out on a gigantic scale, and perhaps at first sight the novice/newbie gardener might be put off a bit by all the misting etc, usually far too costly for the average individual. Thankfully most of these aids are available on a much smaller scale thus being more affordable for the average gardener. For instance misting can be done using a spray-type bottle, or the magic leaf mist sprayer.

The videos gave a good selection of propagating methods. Of course the number of new plants required, space needed as the plants grow etc.

Seeds are probably the easiest, but care is needed to avoid damping off and of course they have to be pricked out etc. A good variety of vegetive cuttings are shewn in the video. Grafting wasn't shewn.

I have just looked at a youtube vid by Jason of Fraser Valley roses. He bought to viewers attention, the con-merchants on youtube. All the magical methods of propagating. BEWARE.

 

I always seem to have trouble with seedlings damping off Mike. A bit too generous with the watering Although I had a big misting system here when I was providing the nursery and the best part of Kent, it's all a lot scaled down now I'm very retired !!
For some domestic cuttings the plastic bag over the cuttings seems quite successful, but I think taking material at the right time is most successful - I suppose that's where experience comes in.
There is something quite magical about creating a new plant out of a little bit of a big one. So very rewarding.
Do you take rose cuttings? They are ones I don't have experience with, but I think they are more hardwood cuttings, snipped off and shoved straight in the ground.

 

That's how I do rose cuttings. I do them as dormant cuttings. Cut a stem about the size of a pencil, shove into the ground in a garden bed during the winter. They usually grow some the first year and some will have a flower the first year.

I might try grafting some this coming Spring. I suspect that two of my climbing rose starts are actually rootstocks. I want them to be something I like more. They should be as easy as apple grafts, but I have tried that with roses yet.

 

I really must do some this year, they'll be worth waiting for - hopefully.

 

Have to admit Rose cuttings have not been on my list. My garden is small and due to local cats, I have had to containerise my collection of roses.

 

What damage do the cats do Mike? We have an influx of cats that moved in next door. There are loads of them. We find heaps of poo everywhere, but hope the perishers are deterred by the thorns on the roses - after all they were there first! As well as the cats (farm cats for goodness sake) there are four huge alsatians that are shut out in her yard - sometimes all day, and the poor things bark non stop - it drives us nuts.

 

That doesn't sound good at all!

There are lots of feral cats in my area. I've seen feces riddled with some sort of worms - not good when one is growing root crops. Fortunately, can't get into my fenced garden. I think the bird population has decreased here, but so has the mouse, vole, and mole population. My biggest concern is those worms and other diseases being in the soil and in the air when I dig the soil.

 

Crikey Daniel, I hadn't thought of that! I suppose the most important place that should be kept clean is where the veggies grow. I had a look on google and evidently this problem is a bad one and can infect soil for 18 months or so. The best suggestion might be to cover the vegetable areas with chicken wire to deter the cats, and cut holes in it for the veggies are.

 

Toxoplasmosis is the name given to infection of cat waste. A fair amount of info is online. In a similar way. Dog waste is also harmful. Some years back, there were studies done regarding child blindness and eye infections. So despite some comments claiming that such waste is not a threat imo should be treated with caution. For instance dog and cat waste is not useable as manure.
When my late wife was awaiting heart surgery in hospital. The woman in the bed oposite has a mystery ailment. Eventually the medics discovered it was toxoplasmosis.

Reason for me growing roses in containers. The garden is not very big. The soil, despite me having professionally cared for it is played out. A very large conifer has drained everything from the soil. Since Valerie's passing 2010. I must have spent around 6-7 hundred pounds on bare root roses, all but a couple remain. The past couple of years the cat population has increased so much. So this year I decided to buy potted roses. I grow these in 15litre pots. This means the garden looks more like a store yard. So much time is taken up picking the pots up and weeding them.

 

Mike that’s a great idea growing roses in pots. You’ll have more control for soil, fertilizer and critters .in my neck of the woods the only thing I can grow under conifers , pines are peony’s . I just limb up the tree to let the sun in and plant peonies . They all do just great. Sometimes I have to put down Plantskyyd to keep the squirrels from eating the roots.

I grow all my dahlias in pots. The gophers here are the worst. So I decided I’m not growing any more plant food for gophers and now grow all my dahlias in pots. The dahlias are all doin fine in pots. Last season all my dahlias knocked my socks off. I just cut them back in fall and pull the pots under a covered porch next to the house. Pull them out in late June .

Well as much as they say Portland is the ‘Rose City’ …I say bah hum bug. It rains way to much here and I don’t bother with hybrid tea roses they are way to fussy and black spot, trimming ….I grow other roses if the deer don’t eat them all. Some very nice ramblers and shrub roses. Many are over 20 years old. I do luv hybrid tea’s so beautiful..just to much time and hassle. I have a 2 acre garden most of which are easy care plants, shrubs and trees. And lots of hydranheas…

 

Pac & Mike, the more I think about this, the more I'm seeing the sense in the method. It could well apply to many plants that have ''special needs'' like half hardy ones, or ones that greedy mouths go for when they are tiny, as well as the roses, dahlias, or bulbs that otherwise get in the way during serious weeding sessions.

 

Tetters… yes of course.. many plants grow just fine in pots. I also grow fuchias, geraniums and many tender plants that I just pop in the green house for the next season. I also grow all my Lily’s in pots and put them on the back porch guarded by the dogs. The deer around here think my gardens is a salad bar just for them. Nothin worse than to go out and check all the buds on the lily stalks to find all the buds are eaten off and leaving just the stalks sticking up with the top missing. I figure…I wait thru the winter, then thru spring , spot a bit of growth popping up thru the ground, let them grow pondering how many buds each will have, until one day the deer bit off every single bud.
any who.. growing in pots actually is more efficient . The squirrels , gophers and deer never ever sneak a bite off them while growing in pots. Got some pretty big pots all on rollers…

 

I also grow lilies, fuchsias and dahlias in pots. My reasons are as stated, plus there are other advantages. Pots can be moved around. I would like my roses to be taken by family when my time comes.