Propagation: part XII based on my own experience

Hello to everyone and welcome to those new to our little chat. Plese feel free ask anything, as we try to keep it simple and feelwe should always pass along our own knowledge. Lurkers are also welcome.

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1055522/#new

As with all of the threads I stat I like to welcome anyone new to our little corner of Daves Garden. Please take the time to read all the past threads. Most of them have some great information in them. There are no dumb questions except for the 1 thats never asked.
Please check in if you are continuing on from part XI. I like to make sure we did not loose anyone.
I try to keep things on track and a nice calm slow paced thread that everyone can understand.
pic is Scabious boujolies bonnetts
Dave

Thought you were finished for the week Dave. Nice to hear from you. Do you go in for your shot tomorrow?

Well, it is late, so ttyl, Jeanette

Jeanette: I had my shot in the am of friday. It was one &*% of a day. counld not rest or lay down to help the shot untill 2Pm. luckily it did help and I seem to be doing a bit better. I just wanted to pop on and say hi and then l8r I will be on the main computer so I can wind things up on some stuff I need to.
do you start your own veggies? I am kinda new to them.... go figuire.... I like most people am aprehensive about them because I don't know them but like all seeds I will get'er done. whats the worst that can happen? loose all seedlings ..oh well it would bea learning experience and restart from there.
Its another balmy day in oklahoma. snow flurries and bitter cold high suposed to get up to 8 degrees ....yipee. did I say I hate the cold weather? I did get lucky yeaterday.... I went to fire up the bigger heater and noticed seedlings drying out I think I caught them soon enough. I just need to get my prop trays with out the holes. Oh well another adventure in lala land...
Chat with you this after noon
Dave

Dave, I start tomatoes and cucumbers every year. I started gourds and pumpkins for my niece last year too. No different than starting flowers. Only difference I can see is tomatoes. They can be pot up a couple of times to get bigger plants to put out. I thought everyone did their own tomatoes. Guess not or they wouldn't sell so many in the stores. .

Cold I can take Dave. Don't even mind snow. But I do NOT like 6 months of the white stuff.

Jeanette

Can't lose me that easy:) I usually start most of my plants on heat mats. This year it will be interesting. Dave sent me a bunch of seeds so won't list them all, however, it is pretty early to start. My "bar room" is still too cold to be able to put them from the mats and lights to the actual sunlite. Lots of sun here now, but still hovering around 0 or so.
Dave, I have started most of my veggies from seed in the past, especially the tomatoes, cukes, and any vining type of veggies. Don't have a lot of luck with peppers.Also, remember to transplant tomatoes to 1/2 of their growth, it makes for a much nicer, and healthy sturdy plant.
I have used peroxide for the last two years and won't do without it again. I know the local pharmacy is probably wondering about me, I buy so much. Wish I could find larger quanities here, just the quarts are available, even at Costco. Glad to hear the shot is doing well for you. DH had it in his neck last year and it did wonders for him, hope you are as fortunate. Anyway, dinner time is upon me, don't know what I will cook, but something easy, I am lazy today. Have a gr8 day. Lee

Lee, do you want tomato seeds? How many plants do you normally put in? Do you can, freeze, etc?

I posted a list of seeds I have in the strawbale forum that are up for grabs, do you want me to post the list for you? I thought you were more into flowers. We haven't gotten the seeds from the swap yet. I kind of expect them next week.

And, after having all of those seeds, I lost a big bag of seeds I had left over and some I was keeping for myself etc. For the life of me I can't imagine what happened to them. I looked every where today. I don't have any storage in this house so they can't be too far. Unless they got thrown out. Sure hope not.

Let me know if you are interested. I think there were a half dozen different kinds of tomatoes, some beets, don't know what all.

Every year at this time I tell the wife we are moving to Florida, this morning she told me "yeah right" they are colder than we are and those poor people don't have house heaters. She has a point, got to 0 degrees this morning and the heater ran allllllllllll night but at least I had a heater to run. Lucky, pipes haven't froze yet but I do have a pretty good set of heat tapes on them. So can anyone tell me where all this Global Warming is maybe I could move there instead. I don't think California is doing much better either and I know they don't have house heaters. Lived in San Diego for a while and all they had was a heater in the living room and it didn't put out a whole lot of heat. Oh well at least it's all green in here, every table, kitchen counter top and bureau top is full of nice green plants. Not making the wife any to happy but hey a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Starting to get all the seed catalogs now so spring can't be to far behind, can't wait for it to get here, at least up into the 40's, so I can start building my screenhouse.

Jeanette:
I am interested in the maters and any of the vining veggies. we are to small to do any mellons though.
I am specifically looking fore grape tomatoes. My dad loves them and thought it might be a good susprise.
I have to dig out my garden books from college. I did do a hands on class for sprin gardening. hmmm gee I took a class on flowers for the garden too and lookwhere that got me....rut row.....
I guess I should get the boys on setting up he raised bed. Oh what a chore that will be. a load of soil and ladscape timbers. I am thinking 8 x 16 if the yar will allow it. The only downsize to it is its small about 40 ft wide.I know I will do good look what I pack into a small space already
Have a gret day i am off to finds some onion sets and colder veggie's broccoli and such.
Dave

With:
Naa its a fairy tale they do have heaters just not to many times to use it. we used to hit the 20's a couple of times each winter and that was south of tampa. of course the snow birds thought I was funny looking in my down knee length coat on the open working golf cart. euntil I offered them a spin arround the course.
Just remember if you do decide to move . visit in july and august. if you can take that you have it beat. upper 90's humidity to match and just for fun an afternoon rain everyday. I hated loading enclose semi's in the summer. the humidity does something to the cold.it just cuts to the bone. at least that was my experience. of course coming from ohio as a teenager was fun.
I do know my grandfather fights the cold every winter in his garden
remember green side up
Dave

No, not really thinking of moving. I was raised in Pa. and will probably die here. Kind of like the seasons to much to move. A lot of our friends move to Florida for the winter and come back here for the summer, but I like staying put and despite all the complaints we do like the snow and having four seasons. There is something about waking up and seeing a totally pure white landscape especially when the sun comes out and shines on it. Of course I piss and moan when I have to dig the car out but I have a pretty good son-in-law who comes up and plows every time it snows. Plus when you live in the cold you can always add more clothes to get warmer, you can only take off so much to get cooler without getting arrested.

Not only that withad, all that snow is giving you something to do so you get exercise. What would you do if you didn't have to shovel the car out? Sit on your butt and watch TV and get no exercise.

See, there is always a reason for what happens.

If you can start flower seeds, you can definitely start veggie seeds! The big difference might be in which ones to direct sow vs. start indoors and which ones you need to start really early (peppers and tomatoes). It seems like flower seeds can require more complicated treatment, while veggie seedlings seem to spring right up.

One funny thing I did last year: I knew nothing about lettuce and spinach, just popped the seeds in like the rest of them. I ran my lights at the recommended 16 hours per day, which worked great for most veggies. With spinach, however, it was the perfect condition for bolting (seed producing), so I ended up with little seedlings trying to flower, ha ha! :o) Lesson learned.

You know what you need is that spinach you can grow all summer. It can take the heat, is a vine.

howdy:
it seems my kitten has decided he like the cmputer. so much that he removed the top of the o button. It was a bit tougher than i thought to put it bach on.
I kind of figuired veggies would do well. I havebeen reading up n some of them. teritorial seed has a nice selection of heirlooms as well as a howto n each veggie in the catalog. it says wether to start indoors or not and if a cow pot is recomended (they =ay say peat pot ) kitty again.
Thank you for the advise
Dave

Big fan of Territorial's catalog. I like that they always include the botanical names, too.

High Mowing Organic Seeds is another company that has lots of good information in the catalog and on their website.

Sounds like kitty wants to talk on DG, too!

sky: you ate so right. he follows the letters as they appear and follows the cursor as it moves. very snart cat.

Did I lose the thread? Haven't seen anybody here in days.

LOL, no withad, just been busy with other things. We are here and I am looking at building a cloner. Dave, I think this is something you need. Then you would be able to only buy unrooted cuttings and save a lot of money.

Good evening all:
I am doing URC's on my cart. Its got the lights heat mats for bottom heat and has a high humidity. so high I have condensation on the walls as well as some draining on the floor. I think its moist enough. I spotted moss growing on one of the cells I sprouted pampas grass seed in. I was suprised to see it in such a high light.
I agree I do need to build one and will at some point. I am sure they would make a great addition to my set up. I have a "bubbler" system in a bucket. I tryed it last year or the one before. I do have to admit the conditions were far from perfect. I had trouble getting it to work, so it sits in the corner collecting dust.
I guess it goes to the old addage go with what you know, and it seems to be working. I know if I could get a system with the spray to the rootzone I would pump out the cuttings.
My plan is to do 600 cells week after next and then I have to pause to refund the play money and order flats for phase 2, which is 3.5" cells with rooted plugs. I hope to have 1000 cells ready for spring. they will be for sale in the market place. Anyone else doing any kind of growing like this?
I realise to those who grow for a hobby it seems like a huge amount of plants. in the wholesale/retail market most growers are doing 1000's of one plant where I am doing about 20 different varieties.
I have the trouble of always thinking that everything I try has to make money and lots of it. If I could just learn to tone down my brain to just a few of this and that.
Please don't get me wrong I know it has a place in my setup and I am looking forward to doing it.
Dave

Glad to see all of you, I just finished my Bubbler and will start taking cuttings today and try it out. Didn't put a whole lot of money into it so no big deal if it doesn't work. I used an old filter pump my grand-daughter had but might have to buy a new one. Her pump is so loud it drives me crazy. Haven't started any URC's yet but plan on it, did start a bunch of seeds though and I was really surprised how much difference a heat mat can make. I ordered a few more singles and two of the ones that take 4 trays for when I get the Greenhouse up and running. Almost a heat wave the last few days, into the 30's, bright and sunny, I keep looking at the Veggie seeds and they keep looking back saying " plant me- plant me" but I keep resisting, just a little to early yet. Dave, when you do your plants, do you do them up in combination pots or just as individual plants? Last year I did about 1000 but most of them were as individual plants but the herbs I did up as combinations and they seemed to go better than just the individuals so this year I am going to try more of the combo's with the flowers, I only sell to people I know or people they know but would like to get into sales outside my "captured" customers. I just barely break even ( if at that ) right now and wouldn't mind making a few pennies on the plus side, right now I just do it because 1- I have the time 2- I like doing it 3- it keeps me from going nutso all winter. Plus we have " Farmer Browns ) an old mainstay nursery, who I would be hard pressed to compete with. She has been around here forever and even I buy from her, her stuff is really good and she has an outstanding staff. I've seen people bring back plants that you know they left in their car trunk for a couple of days in 80 degree weather and she just exchanges them no questions no problems. Hard to compete there.

Dave, did you see the size of the cuttings that ncfarms sends out? They post a picture of one on their home page. I think that the ones they sent to Lee is the normal size they send. I just think they are so small that you lose a lot. If they are sending coleus that size then I can't see how they root. They would not even have a node.

Also, in the URCs they don't mix them. On some of their plugs they have maybe 3 different colors of one plant.

I think they make their money on the rooted plugs.

Post a picture or email me one when you can of your cloner. I had a lady send me step by step with pictures, making one. Looks easy if you have a place to get parts. I am so far away from stores that that is going to be my biggest problem.

Jeanette,
I bought the coleus last year from NC farms and they had an assortment of three offered. Looks like they still have it this year as well, still have some that I am taking cuttings from now to try out the bubbler. They send so many extra that even if you lose a few it doesn't really affect the count that much. The only problem with their assortments is that you don't have a say in what you get, it their choice. Since I still have some of the coleus from last year I didn't order any of them this year, last year I stopped after putting up 72 and gave the rest away( probably another 50 at least ) and of the 72 I think I wound up with 65 plants, so not a bad showing for $9.00. I just wish they would let you order less than 600 to avoid the minimum order charge. I think they tack on an addition $25.00 if you order less than 600, which I think is alot.

I will have to take another look. I thought I saw a 2 flat minimum. Maybe they have changed that.

Do you know of any other of these farms that sell this way?

I agree about the assortment being their choice. You can buy coleus seeds now in a lot of the ones you didn't use to. I would like to have cuttings of things you can't get seeds for, like the lantanas and others.

They also saw assortment trays tho. I would have to look again for that. I thought it was 3 different types of plants. But they only have those and the assorted, or 3 of the same, in rooted plugs I thought.

Even at that tho, I can't imagine getting 100 or more of the same thing. I might if I had a greenhouse.

Hi Everyone,
I am back yet again. LOL, I hope all are well and a little warmer. Today is sunny and must be in the mid - high 60's because I got outside and checked out the daylily and iris seedlings, and moved a few pots around. I'm planning to begin seeding my flats with the daylilies this week.

I have always wondered about NC farms, but I could never order enough at 1 time for them to ship / sell them to me. This year, I think I will work with what I have on hand and try to build some stock for the fall. I had cut all of my brugs, persian shield, pineapple sage and a few other things, but I may have lost them while I was gone. Oh well, they are perennial, and if they come back ( after our 17 degree spell) I will root them again later.

Withad, you are going to love your bubbler! my hubby built one for me last year and it is awesome.

Hope everyone has a great week, I will try to check in more often now.

HEY was it on here you were talking about using peroxide on plants?

I use peroxide JB, what do you need? Jeanette

I use it also, mostly on my seedlings to cut back on damping off but I also use it on my plants as well, I noticed after someone mentioned it that it does seem to cut back on gnats. I use 1 oz per gallon.

Hi everyone got a few minutes so thought I'd write a line or two. I also use peroxide, and I just dash a bit into a gallon, probably about 1 oz or there about. It does seem to make a difference with the soil gnats, I don't have nearly as many. What is this bubbler you all are talking about? I know early on, I heard something about it, but need more info. Haven't started the seeds yet Dave. I have a hard time doing that with the snow still about 1 1/2 ft deep. Has really been nice here for a couple of days tho, so won't last too long, I hope. The crazy weather this year has really put a damper on things. My hands are itching for the potting soil tho, so it probably won't be too long. I have been filling my days with quilting, what else, flower garden pattern. :) Yes, ncf is a good company. They replaced my losses from last year, not only replaced, but upgraded from urc to rooted ones at no extra charge. I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again, and probably will next year when things settle down here a little. Thanks to all, and have a great one. Lee

LOL, Lee, you call it a dash, I call it a glug. Withad calls it an oz.

Yes, the weather is crazy this year. But I sure will take it any day over other years. Like last. That is the only thing about it. You want to get started but I keep reminding myself it is still January. We still could get into winter.

I know you had bad things last year Lee. But, didn't you order the sweet potatoes? What were you going to do with so many? Over a hundred weren't they?

I forgot to respond to the bubbler question. When I wanted to root brugs for instance. I got a container probably 3/4 as tall as the plant. Take an aquarium pump and put an air stone connected with a 1/4" tubing and put the airstone in the container and then water about a quarter to a half way up the stem of the plant. Adjust the pump so the airstone is sending out pretty good bubbles but not too strong. If you are in a hurry to plant the cutting room temperature roots them pretty fast. If not, then in a cooler area.

If you are doing quite a few then adjust the size of the container and amount of water. Some people put a little peroxide in the water. I do if I am going to leave them in there very long. The longer you leave them in there of course, the more roots they will get.

Another thing, i found that if I put them in a warmer room they were more apt to get aphids and mites.

Jeanette

Does anyone have a aqaurium heater in their bubbler? Also does anyone add any fertlizer to the water, and does a cover over the bubbler help in any way. I recall seeing one somewhere that had the same size tupperware container turned upside down as a top.

withad, seems like I tried a bubbler once. But, must not have done much because I never did use one. I think it depends on where you have it and the temps there. Obviously if it is cold it would be better to heat it some. No to fertilizer and no to cover. I suppose to each his own. I never had any problem rooting any plants just the way I described.

Now, I am thinking about building a cloner which is pretty much on the same order but is a mister rather than the roots sitting in the water. For some reason I have had people tell me it is better. Not sure why.

I can see that possibly they wouldn't have the chance of rotting as easy.

I also tried hydroponics, but just on a very small scale. Now, there I used an aquarium heater and nutrients because I wanted them to bear fruit. Tomatoes. Maybe you want your plants to bloom?

gOOD MORNIN:
I am sure we covered this but anyone got a good plan for the cloner/mister. I think I even did a how to but since I did not make one it kind of fell out my ears and now I can't find the instructions.
I am ordering cuttings wednesday from nc farms I will let you know how they look. I was chatting with another person and they said they always send a lot and they worked well for him last year. I realize Lee had issue with them. I am betting they were in a hurry to ship them and they were too short. It speaks well of them to send rooted plugs as a replacement. I am planning to use my grow cart heat mats and a misting bottle. It has worked great in the past.
I just went out to check on my containerized plants wintering over and low and behold if we did not have a nasty visitor. opossum. I think he is lost because when I left the house earlier I noticed we have a dead one on the other side of the brick wall in our back yard. I called animal controll and "they don't do possums" now they will send someone out to clean up the dead one in the yard but not the live one. so if I happen to be cleaning my shotgun and it accidently fires and I through it over the fence they will take care of it... No I do not plan on shooting the critter but I do have cats and opossums do cary rabies as well as a ton of other nasty things in their mouth.
I am giving it till tomorrow and then its on to more drastic measures. Fire works come to mind. I would hate to have to buy a trap for the bugger. I don't know any advise? Pics tomorrow.
Dave

Dave, are you saying you want plans to make the cloner? Jeanette

Just bumped EZ Cone thread. Should be at top of first page on this forum.

Yes, I had more than 100. Was just going to use them around the fountains, and in hanging planters. And of course share with my family and friends. I am usually the one they come to for something different, and I hadn't seen very many spv around town. Makes people wonder what it is, and lots of drop in visitors to ask. That is why I always look for something others don't seem to grow around here. Three years ago was the oleander. I will have to dig up some pictures of the outdoor room I do every year. It is like my own little tropical island, not necessarily tropical, but I have faked it pretty well. I'll see what I can find. Last years won't do us much good so will be from a couple of years ago. Lee

Would love to see the oleanders Lee. And others of course. Jeanette

Good afternoon all:
lee I do not know if you are familiar with them but a few years ago they introduced a yellow oleander. It was a nice addition to the group. Beyond the oleander catapillar and aphids they seem to be trouble free and easy to grow.
I have yet to go check on the opossum so its going to have a repreave today. Hi's in the 60's today and feeling like crap oh well go figuire.
Dave

Dave, I sent you a Dmail. Did you get it? Jeanette

Dave, where did you ind the yellow oleander? Feel better. I am under the weather with a lung infection because I did not take are of it from the beginning. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge.

Sharon you have dmail. Oleander is easy to root and seems to be popular. watch the sap its suposed to be poisonous. I have handeled the sap for years but I also washed my hands imeadiately after cutting or handeling. Just a heads up.
The botanical name for the oleander is Nerium oleander. Oleander is pronounced: oh-lee-an-dr. The oleander is an evergreen shrub in the dogbane family. Clusters of flowers appear on the oleander from May through October. Has sleander leaves and multi long stems from center of plant. Oleanders are pretty fast growers. They can tolerate pretty bad soil, lots of hot sun, and don't need much water.
They do tend to be long between nodes so it gets tall quickly but handles a hard pruning quite well. They are tender here in oklahoma and I am not sure where the line is on hardyness. They come in white, pink, red and I have seen some versions of double flowered plants.
Hope this helps
Dave