Plant Propagation Discussions - July 2020

Echoing Sharon Happy Birthday Ju!

Nice melon Keith, and Kitt love the rock border in your beds, rocks hard to come by in FL. Garden's all looking good. Gypsi, all beautiful, fish too, waiting for water lily to bloom..

Happy Birthday Ju, a bit late. we share the same bday week. ☺

Some succulent pics for ya, Dog tail cactus, Euphorbia geroldii (thornless), Stapelia gigantea, Red Dragon Flower, Heurnia, White aloe hybrid going bonkers.

Thank you all for the Happy Birthday wishes , It was a Quiet day I enjoyed that .

Your all showing some really nice plants ,

I got a few plants before the day ,, still in pots a few days ago
Super chocolate joe pye weed small plant in front lower screen
Ivory Halo variegated dogwwod standing out
Summer rose Hibiscus behind the dogwood
And a Lacey Elderberry in back far top right , not to visible
Second photo Here they are planted with a summer wine Ninebark (far left ,
More to do of course .
3, 4, & 5 couple Daylily and an Eastern tailed Blue butterfly in the chicory .

Happy Birthday Ju, I missed the whole thing. beautiful plants! Glad you had a good day

Gypsi , only some of the gardens and hope of the truck for you . I would not miss the Birthday rising numbers , only the fun of birthday's
your Lotus and water flowers are nice and pretty too

Sun, if you want rock, come to Nevada. Bring a truck.

All the plants and flowers are beautiful. Hot here. Very hot here. Did I say it was hot here. Oh my I am getting old.

My tomatoes are still putting on. My neighbor has some very unusual ruffled, small zinnias. Thy are out of ton and I have been deadheading their plants. Of course, gathering seeds at the same time. I am going to scatter them tomorrow. They will come up in the spring. At a neighbor's memorial a few months back, in her program was a paper flower that had seeds implanted between two layers. I planted them today. She loved my green tomatoes. Made fried green tomatoes. She was younger than me and got Parkinson and went down fast. I deadheaded my violets and spread the seeds in the spring and they are coming up everywhere. Not suppose to do that until spring. I also have a sunflower type of flower coming up surrounded by coleus. Bird must have planted it. I will take a photo.

Garden looking good Ju. Quiet birthdays are nice, my son wants me to come over for a BBQ in his backyard, his yard is sunny and hot. I'd prefer to just stay home LOL.

Sharon, when we go to GA mountains, which in only a days drive from here, I go rock hunting, while most hit the tourist shops, I'm hitting the waterfalls looking for cool rocks. ((grin)).

Howdy all.. I do a lot of different culturing.
Anyone here have experience with propagation of Raspberry type Rubus, by cuttings? Most of my experience with Rubus has been with Blackberry permacane types, and then, only thru division and layering methods. I have a number of extra R. occidentalis culls, from a friend, and they need to be cut back anyway.. Insights would be great.
And, as I mentioned in that other thread, currently trying to produce roots on a Staphylea trifolia, in water.. Debating putting it to soil as the root nubs haven't done much in a good week now.
I have a lot of other projects going on and planned, and am currently researching my options for Corylus americana and Juglans nigra, regarding cuttings vs. air or mound layering.

Kimberly I have not done any culturing in a long while . However with Raspberry canes most any will root from the tips being covered where they grow , If they bend to the ground cover them , they root ,

That's generally how I've treated them, Anderson.. Or just laying them down completely and burying them. I think my issue is I see people talking about doing "cuttings" of these and my mind envisions a "stem cutting", when maybe they are really just talking about crown division, or rooted suckers. The thought of doing stem cuttings of these is interesting, all the same.

CF- Kimberly Wisconsin isn't bringing me a vision of where you are for some reason...I loved Wisconsin in the summertime, much better than where I live now! Some things in propagation just move slowly, but usually the simplest methods are the best and the most successful. Some of us (me waving my hand) can tend to use improper terms when we are maundering around in the garden, so forgive us our technical improprieties please? Thanx.
Holding off on planting stuff now, yeah Sharon, Houston doesn't grow rocks either- just like the tourists they get trucked in from other places. I have always wondered if the rock import industry will be what sinks the swamp and deer trails that is Houston....you see where idle minds go?

Love your rock hunting Sun. I climbed a hill out by Pahrump on BLM land, with my then 8 year old daughter, and we brought rocks down. Unfortunately most of them are in my old garden in Melrose New Mexico, but one or 2 are around here. I'd gotten off the plane in Texas before my Uncle told me taking rocks home was against the law, lol.

If I accidentally pull a plant (including black berries) when I'm weeding, I shove it in dirt in the garden, and if it roots great. I stepped on my desert willow around a month ago and broke a limb, shoved in dirt, and it grew, it's still in that pot in the garden getting sprinkled daily. I don't use rooting hormone or anything. Picture tomorrow.

Kimberly is on the East side of Appleton, just south of the Fox River.. I've also spent time working in various other parts of the state.. I grew up in the sand, but most of my career has been in the clay of the state, on the dolomite limestone.
I'm also a big fan of attempting the simple methods first. I try a lot of stuff I want to clone in water first, before anything else. Someday I hope to be good about keeping records and actually staying with scheduled project plans as well, which I'm sure will increase my success rates.
Can't say I'm familiar with Magnolia either, but my native Tepin/Pequin are from Uvalde, and I'd love to get my hands on some of those wild Texas walking cherry tomatoes I hear tales of down there.
I'm with you there, Gyspi.. I've had to tear out some of the most amazing crown specimens from houses and transplanted them on some of the sorriest looking roots.
One of the places I worked, I would go thru our "debris" pile every Friday/Sat before going up north to my family for the weekend.. Some of that stock had been sitting for days, in the summer heat, and still came back with a little love. I could have had a nursery on the side with what we tossed out at that company.. Still blows my mind when I think about the waste. Woody crown shrubs/trees are some of the most versatile and tough plants I've ever had the pleasure to work with.

Chuckl, Magnolia is where the Houston Ren Faire is actually held- about 1 hr north and a bit west of Houston. Uvalde has some awesome land- but it is growing so fast down there it is eye opening. Gotcha on the Appleton!

Anyone have recommendations for fending off chipmunks? I have one that has figured out how to get onto my balcony and has decided my plants are great for digging/eating.

Live trap and a trip to a nature preserve

Looking for sny tips from my southern friends on being able to tell when this baby is ready for the table. You may remember the last time I had one , I cut it way to early and it was barely pink. Dont want to waste another one

At least it isn't a Sugar Baby- those things are tricky. Keith, there is a curly tendril near the melons stalk, that should turn brown and die. As far as the white spot, the golder it is the sweeter, and what variety of melon are you growing? Google can give you an average weight for maturity, as well as days to maturity of that variety from planting to ripe. Also, I notice the melons are still green if the stem is still taking in water and will be tough ti try to remove, so don't. There should also be a powdery? look on the skin that means something, I can't remember that now...

Thanks Kitt. The variety is Shiny Boy

Shiney Boy F1 seeds ( can be grown true from seed ) I read 15# 17# 20# and even a bit more. reduce watering last 10 days to increase sweetness....that tendril will turn yellow after it stops growing, then another 4 days the curlique will turn brown and fall off. When you see that tendril curlicue turn yellow, restrict watering and this is when the rind tends to dull. Wait 7 to 10 days after the tendril is first brown to pick the melon. Good eating Keith! Let us know how it goes.

Kitt knows her stuff - I didn't know anything except when the tendril is brown...

Thanks so much Kitt. I'm afraid this is going to be a bit of a crap shoot. My support contraptions might have destroyed the tell tail tendrils. Both of these melons set about the same time. The first one below didn't grow much after I supported it. There are two dried up things that may or may not be the tendrils? The second one is much larger and I really can't see a tendril. It was having some stress from the support bag which had kinked it's stem/food supply line. I ripped the bag open a bit to allow it to straighten out . You can probably see where the kink was about an inch above the melon on the right side . When I asked Google how to tell when Shiny Boy watermelons were ready to eat this is what I got. It said approximately 75 days from transplanting which I found a little strange, because who knows how soon after transplanting they will set fruit. Using that info would suggest around September first as my best guess for transplant date is around June 15.
My Mom will be coming for a visit on Wednesday. She may be some help as my Dad grew Shiny Boys in his last gardening years. They are about 3 hours south of us on the US border which gives them about a 2 week growing season advantage.

I'm leaving comments to Kitt and your Mom as I don't have a clue.

Kinks won't matter. Tendril is brown, so restrict watering, BUT the stem still looks green and attached, needs to be less green still. 75 dtm means from sprout to ripe, or transplant to ripe, Sept 1 looks like a really good call on that melon, but if it fights you on not coming off the stem, it will still be too green. So tug it gentle and stop if it is still hanging on hard.
I did some more reading- apparently there is a difference of opinion when planting seeds on whether you use sprout date or first true leaf dates ( might mean 5 to 7 days longer) but transplant to ripe is always a firm date. I hope you squeak that melon in before a freeze Keith. Let me know what your mom says?

This message was edited Aug 23, 2020 8:43 PM

Mustard seeds(Purple Wave) planted the 22nd are up the morning of the 24th. Had to shade the bed since the sprouted ones I transplanted aren't handling the intense sun, so I have them shaded with a grass/straw shade. Will have to remove it if it rains or it will melt. Hmmm, I know I planted bulbs here, not sure what is coming thru.

Whoops, thought I put a reply on here this morning but I guess it went into the ozone.
Thanks again Kitt. Sounds like they are maybe more like a canteloupe than I thought. With those I just use a wee bit of pressure at the base of the stem and if it doesn't come off easy I leave it alone. We have been eating cantelouoe like crazy. Biggest was 3 pounds 9 ounces. Super taste straight off the vine. Very happy with those beds. You were a great help on those as well Kitt. Thank you

Chuckl, always glad for my errors and hindsite to help others! I shall miss all that rain heading to clip Houstons east side, I don't see enough to help us out. I think it is a melon thing Keith, that stem stubborn stuff. Tendrils, curlycues, act like an early warning sign, chuckl.

Congrats Keith on your first place winning photos. I just love how beautiful and neat your gardens are. The trellis garden should be on the front of Better Homes and Gardens.

Thank you Keith, I saw the pix and your garden is so much neater than mine, chuckl. I am cleaning up and tidying now, but the sun is still too hot to remove my makeshift insulation.

Amorpha Fruitcosa host plant for butterflies ,

Thank you Keith. My gardens are way too messy to submit for pictures. I do well to get any pics at all... Dug up my Pride of Barbados and tossed in a pot in the greenhouse. It took a long time to resprout, but it made it. Don't know if that counts as propagation.

Moved my remaining greenhouse dahlia into a bed with humus and good drainage and wished it luck, broke off one branch but with a callous of root, stuck it in a pot of dirt and watered it. The 2 bulbs have only one branch. I am not expecting any blooms this year but I am tired of toting to greenhouse in pots...

I found 2 swiss chard seedlings, right after I pulled them, quickly replanted and watered, wished luck, hopefully more than those 2 will sprout

Thank you all for your comments.

Kitt we have success to report on the watermelon project. My mom was not interested in making a judgement when she came. And the stem never did respond to my nudging . Finally the weatherman pushed a decision by giving us frost the last 2 nights. We had the melons covered of course. But with more cool weather in the forecast and no warming trend in sight I took a risk and cut into the smallest one today. Red and delicious. Not sure if it might be verging on overripe as the flesh is beginning to pull away from the very dark seeds. However still very crisp and tasty.

Gypsi pretty nice those flowers ,

Keith ,,super !!! and yummy ,,

Goji berry Hoping it makes it through another winter ,

Thanks Ju.
Have not had the Goji experience

Looks good, probably a tiny bit over, but not enough to mess with taste is great. Ju, I hope your Goji makes it one more time as well! We are having all day long showers. Dry showers since it took all day to get 1/4" of rain- and my water buckets have dirty water in them, so they go in my big plant buckets. I got to thinking about why I am having fits with my spinach popping up, so took my dirt t'meter out. Majority of the beds are still 88*, but that one bed is sitting at 98*. I had wondered if some of that stuff I bought was still cooking when I added it to the bed. I now have my answer. I can move some sprouts when they come up before they cook. Our days are still hanging tween 95* and 85* though the nights are now dropping to mid 70's*F. Humidity, love bugs and mosquitos are thick.

I'm going to have to buy a Goji plant Ju. My seeds didn't make it, my weather may be too hot to germinate one. Good looking melon Keith!

Got a couple inches of rain and wanted to go garden today but my thumbs hurt, I mean no strength and just ache, and my neighbor's GSD was loose and I didn't want to argue with her over whose yard it is.

going to try to get a truck title (again - betcha I need a notarized signature for this one), and pick up a stock order, see some grandkids.

My propagation project: Lotus. Still plugging away at it. High temp of 70 today, but we have another 2 months of warm weather, which is good because to overwinter they have to grow a lot of roots....

newer pics later, the bunch in the green litter box are overflowing to the ground. Miracle Gro is the secret it seems

We woke up to 69 and our high was 79. Unbelievable wonderful weather but we are going back up beginning of next week. I haven't planted any seeds yet because garden worker flaked on me.

The dogs and I took two long walks today because the weather was so cool. Vern's son came over to pick up the groceries I got him at Trader Jo's.

We so desperately need rain but it skipped us and went your way.

Lotus project is looking good Gypsi.
Visited a long time gardening friend today who is dying from liver and pancreatic cancer. He wants me to take a lot of his special plants including some really healthy waterlilies . His wife isnt into gardening and it is going to be really sad to see his florific yard perish. I have a hard time removing anything as long as he is still with us.

At least thy will be where they are loved and well taken care of.

Thanks Sharon.
Harvested the bigger melon today. It weighed 17.4 pounds.