Plant Propagation: The Basics September 2016

Let's try a new thread for September, we came from here;
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1428490/?page=9#post_10253145

I think this volunteer is Wild Strawberry...

OK I am here. That purple passiflora started from a cutting from a local DG member a year or 2 ago. Stem cuttings don't tend to do well, root cuttings do better. Want me to start you one Kitt?

And good job starting September Robin.

Kitt, I am sorry for your loss, and the headaches that follow losses like that.

now , to bed. New foster dog could show up any time tomorrow.

This message was edited Sep 1, 2016 10:15 PM

They had an update roll out may have been the problem. I can find a root cutting I am sure! It may not like where I move it to!
Thanx guys, he went very fast, my bones ache from the chairs, and my eyes from paperwork.
Thank you fir a working thread!!!

Thanks Robyn for new thread. Sorry for your loss Kitt. Better days ahead.

I cheated and bought a couple .. he , he ,
Coneflower .. Delphinium ,, Sort of Etchies on you from Dell ,, phi ,, fee , foe , fum ,,,
he . he ,, again ,,,

Aw shucks guys, no big deal getting a new thread, I only had to do it twice to get it right.

Kitt, if you have to go it's sure nice to go quick. That to me is a blessing and one I'd like to have. It's still a piece of hell for those left behind.

Bless your heart Gypsi for fostering another dog. My adoption efforts pale compared to yours. In Toledo they have a humane society run spay and neuter clinic, I dropped off Neo at 7:30 am and picked him up at 5:00pm. They scheduled over a hundred animals that day and mine cost $45. If the cat was feral it would only cost $25. but they clip an ear for those. Neo didn't have a reaction to Tramadol like Ju's poor little guy but he's not doing great today. I had to take him back in as his temperature rose to 104 and was really lethargic today. My first thought was an infection but it turned out to be a virus. I'm trying to nurse him back to health.

Ju, I like your cheats...we all do it!

This message was edited Sep 2, 2016 10:39 PM

make him some turmeric paste Robin, I put the recipe on the Back Porch. If it is the virus I think it is will help a LOT.

Thanks Gypsi!!!! I'll go look for it. How do you get rid of ear mites?

Robin is that like the Matrix .Now we know ,,those bad old agents and virus ..
I am going to go take another look at that Tumeric recipe

Hope Neo is better soon ,

Zymox otic for ear yeast, mites. Really bad mites Revolution

This message was edited Sep 3, 2016 6:15 AM

9 pound 3 ounce Shiny Boy watermelon. My first watermelon. I have been trying for the last three years with no luck and swore if I didn't succeed this year I was done with them. All summer I thought I only had two but discovered this one well camouflaged in the leaves outside the bed last week and it is the biggest. We went on Google to find out how to tell if they are ripe. You will probably hear me in Texas when I open it if I got bad advice. We have already had 3 ripe canteloupe but they are easier to determine when they are ready as they simply fall off the stem

Ripe! Chuckl. Keith, that sunburn white spot they have from sitting on the ground gets more golden. The navel tells you gender- tiny navel is male, larger navel female. The females are sweeter. Dont thump the poor thing!
That purple passi - both blossoms that hit the ground to sprout, and new sprouts I watered and dug. Hopefully many will survive! They arent happy with me. The dirt is topsoil under the pecan tree, black gumbo clay mixed in. The water didnt work, so straight from dirt to dirt will be best, I hope!

Keith a nice fridge Melon !!!

Kitt Keep those Frits Happy , With some cheer for you
Not a lot of doing here
Butterfly, pears, and togetherness ,lol Backwards ,no less ..

OMG! Did you hear me scream in Texas. Mom done with watermelon and Google. This thing is nowhere near ripe.

Says Shiny Boy does 20#. Nope, I saw no ripe spot on it, no pale blotch in pretty green stripes. I covered my ears, Keith. We start them so early down here- every child near a melon patch knows how to snag the best melons...80 days to maturity, ground needs to be 70* to germinate seeds.
I am so sorry it was so immature!

I started these in the greenhouse April 27th. It's been over 4 months.

Oh no Keith, if only you had consulted Kitt instead of google, he was a beauty with much promise. On the other hand, I now know what a watermelon looks like when it's not ripe and what to look for when raiding a Texas patch.

Kitty love...adorable!

Bigger the yellow patch sweeter the melon

Keith do not take badly , I know the let down feeling , Growing a good melon in the north is tough ,
There was an 698 pd Pumpkin sitting at lowe's yesterday while I was there , 3rd place state fair from Alexandria Indiana ,
I might try a watermelon next season , every so many Tries I get a good one ,,
Some places it is tough , tough , tough . to grow them ,

I planted watermelons but didn't get drip irrigation set up, tbeyburned up

We start abt Feb/ March. Our light length is lower than north, but soil temp higher. 80 days from fruit set. It was a beauty. Google knows when watermelons ripe? Will have to check that out, chuckl

Think I should stick to what I know how to grow. Look at the size of these peppers and tomato. Peppers are Bobcat and tomato is Primo Red started from seed in my greenhouse. I have been growing the Bobcat for years but the Primo red is new to me this year because the Applause I usually grew was no longer in the seed catalogues. Wendy just did a weigh in and the tomato is 1 lb. 5 oz. and the biggest pepper is 15 oz.

very nice

Agreeing With Gypsi , Really , really Nice Keith

there are things that it is possible but very difficult to grow in Texas. Potatoes. define plant early? when it is dropping below freezing? well they freeze. If you hit the sweet spot and protect from freezing and harvest early they are ok. Don't grow spinach. It takes a precise temp to germinate and is tough and bolts if it gets hot too fast. Grow swiss chard, the stuff is year round and indestructible.

So grow what grows for you and import the rest

Good philosophy Gypsi. I'm not very good at following philosophies but I think I will try destressing my life a bit by importing my watermelons. But when it comes to the ornamentals I will continue to strive for the "tropical look in the Arctic". I guess you could say in that case I'm a "buggar for punishment"

You have a short growing season with MUCH longer days than I have (which causes some of my trouble with sweet potatoes, too few hours of daylight) and flowers are great, I'll bet you can even grow dahlias (I consider them an annual here, buy them and get a few blooms and buy more next year, I have a terrible time between pests and soil consistency). The trouble comes with getting large vine crops ripe, and it just takes too long

Okla and northern Tx you plant early - its what the old 5#? Coffee tins were for- to protect from wind and ice- banked with dirt. Each plant had a time- taters in before St Patricks Day. Even in Okla. Onions were also Feb, with the garlic. Problem in Tx with taters are millipedes, and wire worms since we havent had deep freezes like we once did. Okra was last in ground about June. Agreed abt growing what grows, but I havent been happy with the smaller melons- they are turning them less sugery and when they pick early, they dont continue to ripen off the vine.

Watermelons are ripe when the underside is yellow/white and the stem end is dried up. They are grown all over here.

I put almost NOTHING in the ground this year, and except for swiss chard and sweet potatoes, everything that went in the ground in the way of vegetables has died. I planted watermelon and cantaloupe, winter squash and summer squash, but I did not get my drip irrigation system built and we had sporadic rain that flooded, and hot wet dirt that turned to concrete. By the time I got home from work to tend the garden it was early june and the scraggly melon plants got pulled up and tossed on the compost and the whole area got pond underlayment topped with hardwood mulch. I grew my tomatoes in tidy cat buckets. Now I do have living grapevines and blackberries on the fence above the main garden, have a soaker hose I could set on a timer to water it, but squirrels stole all the fruit, the bee fodder on that fence row is also butterfly fodder and I do enjoy them and the hummers.

Wow, I feel like I live in the Garden of Eden after that report Gypsi. OMG!! I didn't realize how challenging it really was gardening in the south.

Not as bad here as in West Texas or New Mexico or Nevada

I think it depends a lot on where you are and what your micro climate is like. I use soaker hoses and timers but in the end nothing will grow if it doesn't have water or if it has too much. I have many years where I can't give my produce away.

Keith, you mite want to check out the Texas or Veggie forum. There is a lot of great info there and a lot of sucess stories. A DGer in Minn. grows watermelons.

I am only doing Onions and Greens for now ,, Leeks , mustards , lots of Bok choy
How to grow edible weeds . by me ,,lol
I have a few Snapdragons just now sprouting ,and lots of fennels Hoping they get large enough to survive winter

well I have got to do something with the main garden. I usually plant broccoli in it around now but I have 4 ft sunflowers and weeds, and potted peach trees. anyone want a peach tree?

Something ate a construction bucket full of my Bronze fennel seedlings last night ,,
Bok Choi Cabbage
oops green fennel
Silver Snapdragon
More aster and Tantacetum seedlings ..


This message was edited Sep 6, 2016 3:39 PM

More Mustards and Choy

5 a Blue Aster seedling
As said edible weeds it is ,lol

Aww. Maybe a hungry caterpillar? Hungry SOMETHING, love the fennel when it grows for me. Next year, next year, garden and wish I werent QUITE so old...chuckl

aww snap, Keith. I heard ya way up here ( I am in Buffalo, NY this week)
I know how much you were hoping for a nice sweet juicy one. Spent the first couple days up here clearing out my MIL's Privet row, there is some kind of berry tree on the other side of the fence that produces very aggressive plants in with her privet. I got them cleared out and trimmed up for her, still have the wild grape, some other kind of wild vining stuff with bright red berries and numerous other weeds and trees to clear out for her tomorrow. How the heck do ya get rid of bishops weed>? It has taken over her hosta patch! 1st pic is after my clearing out and trimming, second pic is what I still have left to do..in that second pic is some coneflowers I planted last year and some rudbeckia and phlox.. but for some reason all the weeds and golden rod are voracious! Her tropical's all are geting a cut back, last year I sent myself the cuttings in a box, not doing that again, all those cuttings were rooted by the time I got home in that box! Sure wish we could grow fuschia in Kansas, but it just doesn't grow.. you can't even buy it anywhere..

My post got ghosted ,,like it erased ,, I will try again later ,, I know , I know ,, I pressed the Button ,,,, that's not hard to do some days ,