The misting bench...

...is formally up and running. Today I struck a dozen Jasminum nitidum, a dozen Abelia mosanensis, and half dozen Jasminum polyanthum. More this weekend, with pics.

SB

Will be waiting to see your pics

Charlie

So SB, how often does the misting system go on? Do you run it at night as well? I am going to try an experiment with and without the misting system to see which roots faster. I will have my misting system going in July starting pansy seeds and I can put some cuttings in there as well. I wonder if misting systems would work better on hard wood cuttings than just watering in the am's? Let me know how fast the jasmine roots-are you using woody stem cuttings for the nitidum? I was just going to try the green tips-as thats all that I have now, but the plant files say seed or woody stem.

Hey, TL, up early again!

For the nitidum, I'm using semihardwood...green but stiff. I've got some woody pieces I can try, if that doesn't work...should have read PlantFiles first...oh well. I used powder Thursday, but today I may make up a mix of 1000ppm IBA and see which roots quicker.

My controller right now is set for 8 sec every 16 min, but today it will be warmer, and I'll bump to 10 sec every 10-16 min. In summer, 10-15 sec every 6-8 min. It has a photocell so the controller "learns" dawn and dusk, then you can set it to come on or off in relation to dawn or dusk. I turn it off 2 hours before dusk so the foliage doesn't stay wet all night.

look at that new growth-doesn't seem to be bothered so far. Yes I am getting up early these days-when I start to send flowers out, it is so busy that I start waking up early-like wide awake at 3 am! It takes awhile to break that cycle-its not busy anymore and here I am still waking up that early. I crash sometimes around 10-11 am, and I am so tired at 9-trying to stay up so I sleep later but I have no will power! I will start waking up later soon ( I hope lol) Just joined the European Palm Society-was over at a friends house and he suggested it-he has some Trachys over 12' high! His Sabal palmettos were huge-the trunks were massive-the caliper was about 2' in diameter-I haven't seen a palm that big since I lived in Hawaii...it was exciting!! The spread of the crown was over 15'. Sorry, not sure if you are into palms, but its what I am thinking about right now. Just ordered a book-"Growing Tropicals" will let you know if it is helpful.

I cheated, that's a pic from last year. ;-)

Palms... I was looking earlier at palms, thinking that I needed to learn more. Date palms would be cool, but they're too big. There is a dwarf date palm, have you ever seen one? Are they edible? Are date palms too spiny and sharp for a small GH? (I'll take any palm suggestions you might have!)

lol you sure did cheat-are those even the jasmine??? And thats certainly not coco fibre!!
The dwarf date palm-Phoenix roebellini is my of my favorites-it is so graceful and stays small (max height 6-7' ?) so you always see the full effect of the "palm look". It does well outside in full sun in the summer ( would look great by the pool) and the thorns are not a big issue. I keep my inside the house by the french doors where it gets full sun in the winter. They are also fairly cheap ( i picked one up at HD 3 wks ago -3 trunks-which is cool because they grow away from each other and look like they are swaying in the breeze-it was $ 20 and the plant was about 24-30" high.) There are no thorns at the end of the leaf which is what might be hitting the greenhouse wall.
What is this fascination with tropicals that provide food??? Lol figures you are looking at the phoenix palms!!! I have had dates off of a dactylifera (the date palm) and they did not taste good- i buy them in the store-they taste great!!
Look at the prichardias-I love that palm. Ligualas also. You should never have asked me about palms lol its my favorite plant-without question.
There are tons that will grow slowly in a small grhouse and not be a problem. Figure out if you like the look of the pinnate or palmate leaf better and that might narrow down your choices-also really cold sensitive palms need warmth in the winter to keep growing-if you turn down the heat it might make a difference. Most palms grow well in subtropical climates ( like Hawaii) although the coconut needs warmer temps to grow commercially-Hawaii is too cold for them on that scale of growth output. Caryota sp. are very cool looking and easy to grow-C. mitis is a clumping palm and easy.

Misting controller

J nitidum, a couple of hydrangeas, Salix purpurea, Purple Hypericum, Physocarpus.

J polyanthum, Leptodermis, Lespedeza 'Gibraltar', a couple of different Viburnums, Lemon guava, Strawberry guava, Abelia mosanensis. A good start, I think. Hopefully I'll get to more perennials tomorrow.

Today I potted up and started moving out of the mist: Salix purpurea, Abelia mosanensis, Viburnum 'Pink Dawn,' Lespedeza 'Gibraltar,' Leptodermis oblonga, Jasmine polyanthum, H. macrophylla 'Variegata,' and Hypericum 'Albany Purple.'

FWIW, May cuttings of lespedeza root far better than July cuttings. The guava succumbed, but I've got a dozen new shoots so I'll try again with higher IBA concentration and fungicide.

Anybody else propagating in the greenhouse right now?

SB

Hey SB, starting cuttings is on my list to do this week. I should have done it yesterday when we gpt 8" of rain, but I slept all day! Something about rain continously pounding on skylights just puts me to bed. I got up a few times to check some of the tropicals that we had spent all day the day beforeplanting that were in a sea of water, but not much I could do. They seem fine today-except I don;t know where all the fert I topdressed is! It's not near the plants lol. Hadn't mulched yet.
How did the J.nitidum root? I am going to do cuttings of all that I bought. Are you thinking that it will be too hot in July? I was thinking about waiting until then and putting them in a grhouse that I will have a dble shade cloth on with the misting system going. I may do them now and also in mid July. Hope you had a good vacation

Seems like I'm always propagating something in the greenhouse, but I don't have a misting system like you do. I have misters, but no controller. I plan to put up a new greenhouse this summer, and it will probably have more permanent installations, eventually.
Taking a look I see I have edible figs, passifloras, ginkgo, citrus, rose of sharon, purple smoke tree, silver lace vine, cane begonia, fuschias, variegated monsteras, serrated arborcolas, and contorted ficus cuttings on the shelves. The ginkgo, silver lace vine, and passifloras don't seem to be taking, half of the ROS seem to have died, and everything else looks good so far.

Then there's the seedlings...

Oh, and the quail. :)

tropicalaria-how did you take the cuttings for the mostera? I have a giant one that is attacking the paint on my walls ( the roots-aerial) and I need to do something about it. Do you do the tips-if so, how many inches long, and just a few nodes in the soil?

Hi TL,

I don't have any rooting of the J. nitidum yet, but I do have some callus...they are all alive and I struck another batch of them today. The J. polyanthum roots much more quickly...2/3 of them are rooted and potted up already.

My comment about July cuttings was specifically for the Lespedeza. I tried June/July cuttings of Gibraltar last year and they didn't do so hot...maybe 25% success. 100% rooting of May cuttings, though.

Nice vacation, thanks. SB

Tropicalaria, that's a nice collection.

I've had limited success with Smoke bushes, any hints?

Here's a recent thread on propagating monstera cuttings that seems to cover your questions. I agree with Brian on most everything:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/606090/

If anything, non-variegates would be even easier.

[Edited for clarity]

This message was edited Jun 15, 2006 8:24 PM

I've had more success with seeds for smoke trees/bushes than cuttings. The cuttings are an experiment to see what works best--still too early to call. My last set of hardwood cuttings failed to root. Purple seeds seem to come pretty true to the parent, though.

[Edited for spelling]

This message was edited Jun 15, 2006 8:16 PM

Good thread, thanks Tropicalaria-

heres my monstera, think its big enough to get a cutting from? lol Seriously though-would you cut off most of the leaves and take -how far down the stem would you cut?

sb-what are callus?

Callus is undifferentiated tissue that forms over the wound on the end of the cutting. You sometimes see it before you see the roots. SB

lol I should have gone to bed earlier last night! I was thinking that you said that you were going to stick another batch of...callus. I got it now. Yes, then you will have roots soon, but didn't you start those over a month ago? I would have thought they would have rooted sooner. That is one of the planats that I am going to root, so interested in what you have to say about it.

J nitidum starting to root. Today struck Dappled Willow, Fothergilla, Sedum, a couple of Viburnum nudum varieties, Viburnum trilobum, Diervilla lonicera, Costus woodsonii, Variegated hydrangea, Physocarpus, Tree tomato, a variegated dogwood, Euphoria, Actinidia kolomikta, J. poyanthum, maybe some others, can't remember. Didn't find an callus plants out in the landscape, tho. ;-)

lol... are you making fun of me???? My mind sees the call.. part of the word and automatically goes to callas. I have way too many plant names in my head lately from doing these tropical gardens. Just finished one section of the yard this am-heres a sneak preview-aside from all the lantana and sun coleus that I stuck in there to fill it out, the vast majority of the plants (98%) will stay there over the winter and should come back next spring.

heres whats to the left of the above picture

Very nice, TL! This is your new 7b tropical landscape! Bananas and Cannas and such... what is the variegated plant that looks like a banana in the back?

heres all the way to the right

I just planted all these this past week, so I am hoping it all fills out this summer

You have been very busy! Nice landscape, gonna be beautiful when it fills in.

Hey SB, not sure what you mean-is it a gr/yellow varigation? Which picture?

I hope so. There are two other sections that I have done that I have not posted yet. It did turn out to be a bigger job than I was thinking abaout doing at first

In the back of the first pic, just to the right of the large palm...it looks like a banana variegated white/pink...maybe a canna

its a rojo red banana-the only not cold hardy banana out there. There are, I think, about 9-10 types of bananas that are cold hardy to this zone out there, and in front of one of the sections is a cold hardy oleander! Hardy Justicia, and some other cool stuff that I didn't realize were hardy. All the alocasias/colocasia in there are hardy too.

TigerLily, beautiful work on the tropicals-- please send more pics as it grows.

Stressbaby, do I dare ask how much I have to save to invest in a mist controller?

Thanks,
Deb

I checked the Hummert website. They have a single channel (one zone) controller for $202. They don't make my 2 zone controller anymore. They have 6 zone controllers and all the saddles, nozzles and stuff as well. It makes propagation much easier! SB

Here is the second bunch. (This is kind of a test, since I haven't been able to upload pics for 2-3 weeks!)