columbine propogation-cuttings

Just wondered how many have had luck with cuttings? Do you take side shoots for your cuttings? There is a plant I want to duplicate...Im afraid the seed may not come true to the original plant. Any ideas?
Kelly

Root cuttings seems to be the plants preferred method, you can divide or take Irishman's cuttings but the plant can wilt quite badly after.

Hey Baa...been quite a while since Ive talked to you. What is an Irishman's cutting? I've never heard of that. Thanks for your help.

It's a very simple way of taking a basal cutting without disturbing the rootstock too much as one would with a division or basal cutting, they work best on shrubby/woody plants but you can just get away with it with quite a few others if you're gentle.

Here's the Garden Terms explanation, http://davesgarden.com/terms/go/2072.html I suspect I will now have some pressure to make the i in Irishman's a capital so I'll get onto that straight away ;)

Baa....I will certainly give it a try. Sounds good. I hope this heat won't effect the cutting. The plant has stopped blooming now. There are seeds pods all over it. I want it to multiply. If it doesn't come true to the mother plant...the cutting should be a life saver! Thanks so much. I will try and let you know how it comes out. I will wait for the weather to cool in a couple of days. Right now it is 96-97 degrees here. HOT.
Kelly

Irishman's cuttings are best done in spring with the new growth as the cutting won't have time to replenish the food stores before dormancy, I'm sorry I should have mentioned that before :). Root cuttings can be done when the plant is completely dormant.

I'd love to know how you get on and what you think of the methods if you give them a go. We've had a week of around 90F and humid here although yesterday we had torrential rain, flooding and tornados (nothing like the US scale of course but still damaging), if only it would take away most of the snails with it!

Try reading up on them here, Baa.

Ugh...Slugs! & Snails too
http://www.ghorganics.com/page13.html

Slug Trap Methods
http://www.ghorganics.com/page13.html#Slug%20Trap%20Methods

I'm going to give this a try:

Cabbage Trap: Cook cabbage leaves until soft, drizzle some butter or lard over them. Place them in slug prone areas. Within several hours the leaves will be swarming with slugs. Collect and destroy.
&
Dog Food: Using dry dog food draws slugs like flies. Simply take dry dog food and put enough water on it to make it slightly soft. Place it in piles in slug infested areas. Check later in the evening and dispose of bait and slugs however you want.

I'm putting in them in dugouts, to level the slits to the ground; in some empty sour cream containers. Cutting narrow slits near the tops and sinking them down to the ground level so they get in but can't get out.

A work in progress.

~* Robin☺

Thanks NatureWalker. Slug Barriers are effective but tend to sink quite quickly in clay soil but there were some interesting trap methods I might try, the dog food one will just mean the dog will dine outside though LOL.

There's a slug bait on the market containing ferrous phosphate from Growing Success that we're giving a try right now, we've found several dead snails this morning!