Plant Propagation the Basics Oct - 2015

Oh nooo Ju, big sigh indeed. I'm so sorry you lost your flowers.

Pistil, that's what happens when young smart people are involved, fun things happen out of stupid situations. I LOVE IT too! Kudos!





Still chuckling.

The Guara , Tuberosa , and a Big Red Hibiscus are the only real casualties , Have seeds for all except the Guara . and the Blue oat grass The Blue oat grass there are still two remaining of three ,

The Texas star hibiscus looks like it might have enough to make a comeback, but the guara is a sad thing to lose. I love mine.

Good thing is ; I did rescue my center stage Coreopsis , and my natural garden rocks , The big ones ,
Others , most will return even after the digger went through them ,
Shows me I sort of chose well , as in front plants get walked and stomped on , dry hard clay ,

Iris roots are laying everywhere , I will push them in lightly with my foot . Back they will come

Coreopsis is hard to get started - I didn't know it would grow that far north, hmm or the Texas star. Interesting. anyway good you rescued the coreopsis. Iris live through almost anything

Not a star Hibiscus , dinner plate ,, Hardy to at least Wisconsin ,
When a baby seedling , first bloom . 2001

Wow, what a mess that critter made., I think I have problems with a cat around here, he is using my flower beds as a sand box again, time to get the barberry cut back and spread them around the flower beds again, worked great in spring with the squirrel's..
Oak Mites are horrible this year, everyone is getting bit by them.
I have Texas red star seeds, Ju, among other things you might want to try..

Lots of Gaura, mine started from seed to a huge stand in one season, will send out some to you.

So JU, what happened? Are you saying someone turned on a fan over your seed cleaning area? Is that what happened? How awful.

Pistil, I love that story. I was telling my hairdresser about it today. She said that when she and her husband are out hunting they see a lot of that. I think it is so amazing since we have land fills where the things are separated out for recycling and not expensive to use them. Much more difficult to dump it out in the woods somewhere.

Bob is going to take the 4 wheeler up tomorrow, he is hoping the local ranger will go with him, and take some pictures, make sure whose property it is on. Very possibly could be on the Forest Service land. If so, they won't put up with it. Ours, they may not care too much. Just that we take care of it. We'll see.

JU, how did your tests go this morning? Were they a b- - - -? Keep our fingers crossed for the results. hugs, jen

Oh JU, I just saw the picture. What do you think did it? Tell me 'cause I had one show up here today while we were gone. A blue jay was digging in the mess of roots but the flowers were gone. The bird feeder was thrown off the deck, out in the weeds, the suet feeder was gone, all the water in the bird bath was gone, don't think I can blame that on whatever did it. I am thinking probably was a raccoon. Normally they do these things at night. But, that is the only thing I can imagine would make the big mess. The blue jay for some reason was digging in the roots of the whole planter on the deck railing. It was a huge planting of petunias.

Think maybe they did your first and then mine? With the time zone, I imagine that is what it did. jen

I was asleep until a few minutes ago , early's make me wear down , I have a few to try , some of those will be nice also Debra ,
Yes a digger can do that , Have whole new pipes to the street though and two clean outs valves , PVC with a long black CTS pipe under the walks and through some of the clay tile pipe that still was here
I will plant some I have and regrow more , I am slowly coming along , This was a long day ,nice day .

New pipes for plumbing , Backhoe Jen , Right through my front flower bed , Last time the pipes under the house and two large areas where the connections were ,This time about several feet from the house and the cleanout the old pipe collapsed ,
last time besides the house it would of cost nearly 8000 $s besides the nearly 5000 it cost for the house re-piping ,
With the pipe liners , it cost about 3500 for a 100 ft of installation of pipe , the liners they can seam to the PVC make it less expensive , takes half the time to install and it is industrial strength
Anyway , tub drains , toilet flushes , gooooood !!!

Well, it's peace of mind until you get the bill. But yes, the new stuff will last forever. Too bad they didn't have it when they put in the first stuff. You weren't there when they went digging thru your flowers?? Got a name for people like that. Not a very nice one either. jen

That ground is like gray rock , hard gray clay with seabed ancient firmament over the top ,
Shovel , even a good one bounces off .
A very few and little places to dig , unless your a Backhoe ,,

Well JU, I have all kind of plants I can send you. Just let me know what you want.

Now you have such a great hole, make it a compost and improve the soil.

Now that was a good idea JU. Put some kitchen garbage in there, some more soil, some grass clippings, etc. Like Sharon says, will improve the soil.

I agree! turn that hole into a rich compost filled soil garden. :D You will have it full of flowers in no time with all of us here to help.

Here you go JU, just the thing for poor soil...
http://www.parkseedjournal.com/keyhole-gardens-the-most-water-wise-raised-beds/

I've got a question I hope one of you experienced growers can answer. Once a seed starts to mold, is there anyway it can be rescued?

Hard coated like tree seeds , yes , most flower or garden seed rarely and I don't know the technique ,


I have been looking at stem running plants or plants that root from the bloom stem ,
Chicory , feverfew and penstemon of several types all seem to .

These green sprigs on chicory

Mipii, on the molded seeds, like JU said it will be easier on large seeds, don't know what you are talking about, but either way, use some hydrogen peroxide diluted with water. large seeds, with hard shell like coats, I would maybe soak them in it for a few hours, or overnight. Small ones, maybe water them with it. Spray from a bottle would probably be best when planting to germinate. Be sure to mark them so you know if it worked or not. Give them a chance and if they aren't going to take, don't waste your time or space, or potting mix. Depending on how much water you are going to use, I would put maybe several tablespoons, 3 or 4 in a quart spray bottle.

For your information, I put peroxide in my water when I water all container plants. Every time, Especially in the winter. And especially houseplants that are so easy to overwater in the winter.

You might already do this, it's an old remedy. If so, tell us how you use the hydrogen peroxide. jen

Hey, thanks for the info, I guess I could have given you more info. I'm germinating Daylily seeds and combining the Deno method with dampened perlite instead of the paper towel, put inside a ziplock bag. I used a capful of peroxide to a pint of bottled water to moisten and remoisten the perlite.

I had lots of germination at the five day mark, at least 60 % but a couple of bags seem to have a few bad seeds. I'm having a difficult time accepting defeat because they are crosses I don't want to lose, I may never have them again.

I'm just soaking this info up like a little sponge. Keep right on chatting there. My successful germinations are not terribly many except for tomato plants and texas star hibiscus

Yeah Gypsi, this method is working good for me. I don't think anyone has died from too much information, lol. These forums sure help me, I'm a sponge too.

I always enjoy the browsing around . About two that I learned this way , are that Hibiscus the perennial types and Daylily (hemerocallis) do not need to be stratified . but grow or germinate a little better when they are in northern zones , a couple of the Biggies for me
Filling pots today ,between errands and such ,


Pic's aren't much , but a saved Coreopsis now three plants

I meant to answer Sharon and Debra , with, all will be okay a reason to start more seeds it is , lol It is a definite obsession .lol

Has anybody got a reliable seedling friendly application for eliminating fungus gnats? Has anyone tried a diluted ammonia solution?

There are these, please list others;
Cinnamon sprinkled on medium
Sand as a top dressing
Chick grit as a top dressing


Glad you saved the Coreopsis Ju, that's a pretty one.

Diluted ammonia is nitrogen , stringy seedlings
I have read a few another was a moth ball setting by itself , pu ,
Or the capful of bugstop set on an upside down cup
I use De around the edges , not entirely successful either
another was the citron candle if the folks can handle that indoors ,
The mosquito plant leaf (tea of leaf) heard several ,,
Part of the tomato hornworm formula made from milk and red pepper juice I like the red pepper juice , but not all seedlings can take take that


This message was edited Oct 14, 2015 10:51 PM

I use a mix of windex and soap and spray the plants, hang up those fly tapes and let the few remaining gnats down there pollinate the blooming plants, so I get seeds all winter. I already do the sand on top and water from the bottom, and use mosquitoe dunks in all my watering cans, and crumble it up in the NEW potting soil. I have had a problem with some bags of potting soil already being full of bugs, so I only buy it if it is dry.

My daughter found a really cool salad spinner with a lid, and I use it to shake of the chaff and leave the seeds or vice versa.. but I spend my nights with two trays and a white paper plate separating seeds from pods, since I act like I am watching the latest football or baseball game while doing so..
I have a few water bottles sitting around the plants with a couple spoons of dark sweet wine in there, I see bugs in them floating all the time..

Part of my basement garden last year on New Years Day

Mipi- I have been using Azamax spray. I can't guarantee it is safe for everything, but so far seems to be OK. I spray it on the plants, but also on the surface of the potting soil mix, so any gnats hatching out there would be exposed. I heard about it here on DG, I think it might have been Gasrocks who mentioned it.

Wow you guys, what a lot of remedies. I'm so glad I asked, I'm looking forward to performing some trials for a while. This kinda stuff keeps me off the streets...

THANKS all!

Debra, you've got a forest in your basement, what an operation. It's also probably a good workout hauling those up and down the stairs.

Debra and following a green Christmas and greener spring after I presume that is !!!
pretty !!!

Pistil I remember that conversation

I am sorting seeds

Bob put a few little containers of vinegar around a couple months ago, I bought some of those things that look like apples, that are containers for fruits and vegetables to put them in. I have them on my kitchen counter fruit for one and vegetables for the other on two different counters so the gases don't make the others sprout. They are a very fine mesh. We have not had any gnats, fruit flies for several months now. Don't know whose trial worked but something seems to have.

JU, I didn't know Coreopsis came in that color. Very pretty. And Debra, love your plants and ponds in your basement as usual. Wouldn't Gemma and the other turtles get the gnats? Bet they would

OH, BTW, got those mesh things for the fruits and vegetables in one of those funky catalogs, think it was Carole Wright. $10 each. They look nice and do keep the veg and fruits together out of the way. Just one of my dumb things.'';;

One more thing JU, how is Judy doing? Good I hope. Haven't heard about her from you in a while.

Another thing just remembered, a small spray bottle of Neem oil mixed up and spray the tops of your soil will suffocate any eggs etc. in the soil. Also, my daughter swears by the Deno method for germinating seeds and she uses a coffee filter. Don't think she uses the hydrogen peroxide like I do.

LOL, well you all have drained my brain for the night. Guess I will read a bit and hit the sack, another appt. in the morning. And yes, in Spokane, so that will be an all dayer. 'nite, y'all. jen

Zinnia (color is off it is bright red Marigold Feverfew cutting
Some prep for winter sow , nothing fancy this time , old fashioned pot luck

Hmmm Backhoe Gophers ??? Digging it Bigtime .

Jen do you have a formula for that neem oil spray? I hope your Spokane appt. went well, I bet it was a long day for you.

That Zinnia is a really pretty bright red, I'm glad the Gophers didn't dig it up before you could snap that picture Ju. Are you getting ready for some winter sowing?

Mipii Wintersowing
Hackberry
Spicebush
Coneflowers , echinacea
Meadow rue
Zebra Grass ?
Daylily Hemerocallis(have a few seeds of Hyperion , my Hybrid orange , and another yellow I like .
There are a few more ,

A nice selection there, Ju.. my silly blanket flower took a second wind, and even after cutting back the clocks, they still wanna bloom.. I am starting cuttings of lilac, hibiscus ( tropical) and I tested my king kong coleus seeds and they have popped up, will show pics tomorrow..
all the glories refuse to quit, and we are getting tomatoes out the ying yang now.. so am saving seeds from those..

Really pretty Debra I am watching mine doing their last bloom , it is going to freeze here this weekend , Makes cleaning easy , but cooler weather is not fun for gardening , usually ,

Seeds in bags , while mulling , about four a night get added ,I am not real motivated except the planting and growing part , These are going to DG ,

I'm right there with you, Ju.. mine are in paper packets..
sorted out tithonia, giant yellow hyssop, zinnia,and morning glory seeds tonight while watching TV.
hugs to you all..

Oh gosh Mipii, I don't use a formula for the Neem Oil in the plants. Not a lot, say in a quart of water, maybe use a 1/4 cup of Neem. Wish we were closer I would split my Neem oil with you. For some reason I got a fairly large container of it. May be a quart of it.

Another thing you can do is spray some hydrogen peroxide on the soil also. With that, because I put it in the water when I water my plants, I put a couple of glugs in say a gallon of water in the watering can. Sorry, I don't measure it. I don't cook that way, honest. I follow a recipe when I cook. However, it puts oxygen in the roots of the plants, but there again I think, and it just my opinion, that it would have an affect on the little creepy things in the soil


. Maybe even the eggs.

What you can do is list all the suggestions we have given you and then cull out the ones you would probably not use. No point in keeping them all.

Where are the rest of you guys? Sharon, Evelyn, Kitt is probably sleeping, am really worried about Linda and her family. Rusty, Come on guys, you need to join in, I know you all have a lot to tell us about this stuff.

Going to read, ttyl, jen

All I know I'm wintersowing is Fragrant Snowbell and Dove Tree, I should have enough to share.
Yours is a very nice list so far.

Debra, beautiful flowers and equally beautiful pics. Ying Yang tomatoes, are they an Asian variety? Lol.