Let's Plan a "TO-DO" Calendar!

For anyone who wants to root cuttings of some of their easier-to-root conifers, take cuttings of Thuja and Chamaecyparis cultivars during the last week of the year (I usually do this on the 31st of December).

I used to take these cuttings during the last week of February or first part of March, but since I started taking these cuttings during the last week of the year I have a much higher percentage that root.
Mike

Mike, would you do deciduous shrubs at that time also, or just connifers? Legit

Mike that's GOOD addition to the list! Do you have a link to any websites that have more infomation how to take the cuttings?

~julie~

Legit,
Most deciduous plants will probably root better if you take summer cuttings rather than dormant cuttings. I took dormant cuttings of my Dawn Redwood (a deciduous conifer) last winter and only one cutting rooted out of about a dozen - which isn't very good. When I take cuttings of the Dawn Redwood during the summer I get at least 90% to root. I have taken cuttings of many deciduous shrubs during the summer will fairly good results.

Julie,
I'll see if I have any propagation sites saved in my favorites.

Here is a brief summary of how I take and start dormant conifer cuttings. I grow plants under fluorescent lights, so that is where I start my cuttings, too. Without fluorescent lights, success will be somewhat limited.

Take cuttings 3" to 6" long (depending on the cultivar), from the shaded side of the plant, if possible, using a sharp by-pass pruners. Cuttings taken from the shaded (North) side of the plant root better for some reason and anvil pruners just crush the stem, which doesn't really help the rooting of these plants.

I use a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perilite and I find that this mixture gives me the best results. I use plastic 9 oz Solo® low ball cups as my containers. I like the Solo® cups because they are clear and I can see when the cuttings have produced roots, without disturbing the cuttings.

Remove any foliage from the bottom 1 ½" or 2" of the stem and dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting hormone. Tap off any excess hormone and then poke a hole in the medium with a pencil or other tool and stick the cutting in the hole. Firm the medium around the cutting and repeat with the other cuttings. I put several cuttings per cup You don't want to push the cutting into the medium because that will just scrape the rooting hormone off of the cutting so it won't be there to help the plant to produce roots. After several cuttings have been put into the cup (approx. 6) I water the medium and then, holding the cuttings in place, tip the cup on its side to let any excess water run out of the cup.

I put a small amount of water into the bottom of an appropriately sized ziploc bag and then put the cuttings and cup in the bag. I blow some air into the bag to inflate the bag and to provide some CO2 to the cuttings. Don't put any drainage holes in the bottom of the cup since the cup will be standing in a small amount of water, in the bottom of the bag. This extra water helps keep the humidity up inside the bag and keeps the rooting medium in the cup from drying out too fast. Condensation will form on the inside of the bag and if there is no extra water in the bottom of the bag, all of that moisture will come from the medium in the cup. Even with the extra water in the bag, you will still need to monitor the moisture content of the rooting medium in the cup.

I place a label with the name of the plant and the date the cuttings were taken, in the cup, and then put the bag and cuttings under the fluorescent lights so the top of the bag/cuttings is 2" to 4" from the fluorescent tubes. I have the lights on a timer and the lights are on for approx. 12 hours a day. If you are trying to root cuttings in your windows, the time required to produce roots will be greatly increased due to the short days of winter. Under lights, it takes 8 to 12 weeks to produce roots.

After I see that the cuttings have rooted I open the bag slightly to allow fresh air into the bag and to harden the cuttings off and get them used to the lower humidity conditions outside of the ziploc bag. I sometimes hold the cuttings in the bag until I can put them outside, due to space limitations in the house. Or I might set up extra lights for the extra pots of cuttings that have been transplanted. Once the bag has been opened, carefully monitor the moisture content of the rooting medium so the cuttings don't dry out and die (this has happened to me and I lost many cuttings due to the "Sahara" arriving).

Be sure to take many more cuttings than you think you will need. Not all of the cuttings will root, so if you want to produce 12 plants I would take at least 18 or 24 cuttings, just to be on the safe side. If you have really good luck, you will just have more plants, which isn't bad at all. (:o)

I hope this helps.

Good luck,
Mike
(edited to add the remaining details)


This message was edited Dec 25, 2005 8:50 AM

Mike,

Gosh, such wonderful info,,,,Thanks so much for sharing it.

Kelly

Yes, thank you! I was just getting ready to take my passiflora cuttings out of the water I had them in, and put them in rooting powder, then in soil. These tips were VERY timely, especially the making the hole first. I used the other end of my wooden spoon. Perfect! :-)

Mike, which month of the year would you do your deciduous cuttings for our calendar, or is it different with different varieties? Legit

Super directions, Mike! I think I'll try a couple this year myself.

Legit...you questions about when they should be taken was my next question after reading Mike's post.

This calendar is going to be one of my favorite features on DG! Thanks for suggesting it!

~julie~

I don't know how useful this could be for us but I thought the drop down monthly menu of to-do ideas was pretty neat.
It is a link for the Toronto Botanical Garden, which I am a member of.
http://www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca.ws1.korax.net/horticulture.htm#pr10

erynne...that drop-down menu is terrific! It lists a lot of things I never would have thought to add to our To-Do list. Specifically in January, it mentioned checking the stored tubers of Cannas, dahlias, etc...and THAT is something I desperately need to be reminded of.

Thanks for that link!

~julie~

Great site! Thanks for sharing.

Jody

Thanks Julie and Jody. I'm so glad that the list is helpful to you! I kinda ran into it by accident today and immediately thought of our to-do list. I know they mention the zone 5-6 thing but alot of the info is rather generic and could apply to lower zones for sure.

It even mentioned somewhere on that site not to over clean your yard in autumn because bees over-winter in leaf litter. Apparently there was a marked decrease in bees this year. How sad for the little pollinators huh? Thank gosh that I'm a little lazy right now because there's ample leaf litter in my yard,lol.

Erynne

erynne...I went back and printed off each month's list, which is nice to have. My problem with "printing things" is that I tend to lose them in the 'piles' of stuff I *tend* to collect. LOL So having our list here on the forum is one WONDERFUL idea! (Thanks again, Legit!)

~julie~

Erynne,

Great link, thanks for posting it.

Kelly

Great stuff erynne, I think I'll be borrowing alot of their ideas!! Legit

Legit,

Coming along nicely

Kelly

Thank you for all your work, Legit, and everyone's input. Thanks to you guys I'm currently organizing my seeds. Are we including vegetable gardening at all? Just curious...

Legit...the To-Do list is looking GREAT!

(You can delete all the "Edited on" notes in the posts as you go along. The system will put in another one when you send the updated post after editing. Otherwise, we'll have a foot-long series of "Edited" messages.)

I really had to LOL @ your comment about not trading seeds too close to Christmas. :-D You mean because you'll have to clear the table off before mealtime, right? LOL

THANKS for doing this for us...I already know it's going to come in handy for me.
~julie~

Hey, guys, thanks, I know I have some catching up to do again, but I'm babysitting most of this weekend, and with a 2 yr old, not much puter time for me! Thanks, Julie, I guess I didn't think that far!!!

Yes, and it's helped me already, I actually have all my seeds organized, ALREADY, and usually I have to hide them for Christmas!! Legit

Over the winter I work on my indoor gardening area.

I have a cat free room in the basement where my tender tropicals and my other cat-tasty plants live. This year I am adding two two-tube four foot fluorescent lights to the space to improve growing conditions.

I also repot my house plants in February, before the real spring growth kicks in, and I fertilize in March when the days have really lengthened.

I like to get outside ASAP. Around here, the ground usually unfreezes in March. At that time I go out and clean up the yard. I remove leaves and litter from around my foundation, and then I begin planning new plantings. I also cut back the end of season heads on the fountain and zebra grass.

I do a spring inspection of my tools, and check out my lawn mower. If it needs a tune-up, I get it in now before the spring rush.

I do my first weed and feed of the lawn in April, and then I like to dig new beds if I didn't dig them in the fall before the ground froze. I turn any existing beds, and work in any augmentation I might have missed the previous fall. Depending on the warmth of the month, from early to mid April I remove mulch from my tender perennials. I usually mow the first time in April.

In May I like to rush the growing season a bit (average date of last frost here is May 17th, my dad's birthday.) I start planting perennials, and I usually get annuals in a week or so before my dad's birthday. I'll also plant my musa sikkimensis back outside in its bed.

If I want any veggies I'll get them in now.

June is the month where I weed, feed, weed, feed, weed, feed, and weed. I'll trim my lilacs and my forsithia after they have bloomed.

In July I water, feed, water, feed, water, feed, and water some more.

August is a repeat of July.

In September the garden has started to look a bit long in the tooth. The past several years haven't seen a killing frost for us until mid October, so the things that don't look too bad I leave in place, the things that are just spent I either trim back, or remove (annuals.)

At the end of September I stop watering my little trachycarpus fortuneii, to put it in drought mode for overwintering. I'll also prune my crabapple trees (removing growth that may have gone awry over the summer. This is probably a no-no, but they never seem to suffer a spring deficit of blossoms see attached picture.)

In October, I like to dig new beds. I'll mix in leaves, mulched paper, etc. and let it all just sit and ferment over the winter. I'll plant bulbs and trim non-flowering trees. I'll trim my roses, and dig the remaining annuals. I'll work peat moss or manure into any of the empty beds that need it, and I'll dig and prepare my musa sikkimensis for storage a few days before the first killing frost. When the first killing frost turns my musa basjoo to mush I behead it, treat the stump with a copper-based fungicide, and mulch the roots with leaves, bark mulch, etc. about a foot deep. I sit a wire tomato cage around my trachy. After I have done my last mowing, I'll do a fall weed and feed of my lawn in late October.

In November or December I wrap the wire cage around my trachy with a frost proof cloth, and I take the cloth off when the temperature rises above thirty two degrees Fahrenheit, which is 60 to 70% of the days during winter.

Note, these are plans, they're not necessarily what really happens as life moves along. :)

joe,

Thanks for all those great ideas.

Everyone else,,,Thanks to you too.

Kelly

See!! If I hadn't perused the December to-do list I would have forgot about my hedge hog statue and my birdbath!

Thank You Legit; you just saved me from having possibly winter-cracked garden ornaments!

Phew !!!

Ohhhhh, I Still have to get those in,,,decided I don't want them to get ruined,,,no matter how much I like to look at them in the winter.

Kelly

Thanks you guys, but I'm sadly behind on my duties of List Maker here, I promise to get caught up !!! Legit

Legit,
Don't worry about it,,,you have enough going on with Christmas coming,,,,wait til things settle down.

Kelly

:-O
THE FROG!!! (Uh Oh!)

~julie~

Hi all,
I finished the details for rooting cuttings.

Legit,
It varies, depending on variety of plant, as to when you would take deciduous cuttings. Some plants root better with soft-wood cuttings, some better with semi-hardwood and others, with hardwood cuttings.

If you are really interested in propagation, check Amazon.com for the book: "The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture" by Michael A. Dirr and Charles W. Heuser Jr. The ISBN # for the book is: 0-942375-00-9. This book runs about 35.00 and is worth every penny. This book explains the best time to take cuttings for approx. 1100 plants as well as any special requirements for starting the seed of these same plants. If you put the ISBN # into the search function of Amazon.com (with the dashes) you will find several used copies of this book available.

Happy Holidays, everyone!
Mike

this is a good idea. yeah, like i need another list............LOL.

seriously, this should be of especial help to us newbies-to-cold-weather-gardening. since i really learned my gardening in northern california, i still tend to think like that, even after 6 years here. *sigh*

here's one for ya--

tonight i reminded my neighbor betty that we need to decide a date and time and run up the fliers for our annual 'garden party' in january--to sign up/allocate plots for the community garden come spring. this is really an excuse to meet any new neighbors and spend a whole evening eating desserts and obssessing about garden stuff. we all bring seeds, catalogs, our new and weird ideas....it's fun.

i plan to bring handouts and lots of books on composting--am hoping to get them educated and converted this year. i'm getting tired doing all the compost work out there......

plus i have my own gardens to think about....need more ferns from upcreek moved to the pondbank...any advice about how early i'll be able to start that?

also--what about shifting some wild rhodies? when can i do that here?

going outside now with a flashlight and my tall snowboots to think about future placements.... LOLOLOLOL.

Just discovered this....

http://www.midwestliving.com/gardencalendar

For March, it says:

Hi,
I have dormate grass and bulbs. Anyone want to talk? Growing tips? Trading? General gardening interests? I would love to hear from you! Rachel

Rachel - pop into our Chat - http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/574503/

Again - welcome to DG!

In April, weather permitting is when I cut my Clematis pruning group 3 back and also my Hydrangea (and the roses).

Are you guys going to add things like best time to fertilize lawn or weed and feed? How about sowing grass seed?

Is this a dead thread? or can we add something to it.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/614774/
Hoping a big crowd can make it that day!
Bernie

Are we still doing the "TO-DO" Calendar?

Good question jasmerr. Is there?

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/checklist/PIC_A.html
The Chicago Botanic Garden has a Gardening Checklist by Month. Maybe we can take theirs and tweak it?

Hi, everyone.

I dmailed Legit and offered to help with updating the "To-Do" thread. She had Terry unlock the thread; now everyone can post there. If we do it that way, it will no longer be in month order. I would like to keep it in month order, and am willing to update the thread. What do you all want to do?

Jody

Hi Jody,

Is Legit o.k.? Hopefully she's not sick. My vote is to keep it in month order.

Kelly

She didn't say.

I really don't think I would use it much unless it is in month order. It would really be hard to find things in 'free-form' order.

Jody