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| Taking cuttings |
February is a good month for taking cuttings and propagating your own plants. Why? Because by late summer the soft new spring growth has hardened and the cutting is less likely to lose moisture from leaves. Semi-succulent plants like geraniums (Pelargoniums) or impatiens are easiest for beginners, but many common shrubs such as abelia, buxus, lavenders,camellias, azaleas, fuchsias and hebe's have a relatively high success rate. Keeping the cut pieces alive while they develop their own new roots is the trick. Professional nursery people do this by growing cuttings in glasshouses on heated beds where they’re regularly misted, but there are techniques that help a home gardener to achieve success. Try the following:
Take cuttings early in the morning, while cool, choose tip pieces that are about 100- 150 mm long then drop into a bucket with enough water for cuttings to stand up in, cuttings can remain there for a couple of days if you are short of time. Work in the shade. Fill a deepish container with river sand or crusher dust and water well and allow to drain. Trim the base of the cuttings below a leaf node (which is where the leaf is, or has been, attached to the stem). Remove bottom leaves, leaving a few at the top. Large leaves can be cut in half (with scissors or sharp secateurs) to further reduce water loss. Dip the base of the cuttings into hormone Gel or powder. Use a pencil to poke holes in the top of the mix a 150 mm pot can hold about six cuttings. Insert the bottom of each cutting into a hole and gently move the mix back to hold it in place. When the pot is full of cuttings, water carefully and place the pot in a lightly shaded spot, no plastic cover is required at this time of the year but check regularly to make sure the mix stays moist. After a couple of months, gently move the stems to feel if they’re firm. This will mean roots have started. When roots are established the rooted cuttings can be moved into individual pots filled with potting mix and fed with a gentle liquid fertiliser, raise pot from cold ground over winter then plant into larger pots or into the garden in spring.
Take cuttings early in the morning, while cool, choose tip pieces that are about 100- 150 mm long then drop into a bucket with enough water for cuttings to stand up in, cuttings can remain there for a couple of days if you are short of time. Work in the shade. Fill a deepish container with river sand or crusher dust and water well and allow to drain. Trim the base of the cuttings below a leaf node (which is where the leaf is, or has been, attached to the stem). Remove bottom leaves, leaving a few at the top. Large leaves can be cut in half (with scissors or sharp secateurs) to further reduce water loss. Dip the base of the cuttings into hormone Gel or powder. Use a pencil to poke holes in the top of the mix a 150 mm pot can hold about six cuttings. Insert the bottom of each cutting into a hole and gently move the mix back to hold it in place. When the pot is full of cuttings, water carefully and place the pot in a lightly shaded spot, no plastic cover is required at this time of the year but check regularly to make sure the mix stays moist. After a couple of months, gently move the stems to feel if they’re firm. This will mean roots have started. When roots are established the rooted cuttings can be moved into individual pots filled with potting mix and fed with a gentle liquid fertiliser, raise pot from cold ground over winter then plant into larger pots or into the garden in spring.
Seed collecting is full on now with so many seed pods ripening , I am filling many small paper bags with sweet peas, cosmos, lavatera, delphiniums, nasturtiums to name a few.
Monarch Butterflies During bright sunny days Monarchs butterflies are prolific egg layers on swan plants then producing an abundance of caterpillars to strip these plants very quickly. If you know your swan plants will not sustain the amount of caterpillars all eggs laid will produce it is best to squash the eggs. If your swan plants containing caterpillars are in pots they could be kept in a light area indoors to keep butterflies from them. Swan plants do not make hard wood so are not frost hardy in very cold areas however there are some mature swan plants trees around North Otago. I can get young plants through winter by covering them with a double layer of frost cloth.
Lawns are showing heat stress now, keeping lawn mower blades higher will help with shading roots and moisture retention.
Fruit: Feed citrus trees with citrus food and spray any scale you notice with winter oil. If your lemon bush has become crowded remove a few branches to let light and bees in.
Vegetables:
Keep sowing veg seeds like carrot, beetroot, parsnip, spring onion, and lettuce because there is plenty of growing time left for seeds to germinate and grow. Seedlings being planted now will need bird protection while small.
Cheers, Linda
Keep sowing veg seeds like carrot, beetroot, parsnip, spring onion, and lettuce because there is plenty of growing time left for seeds to germinate and grow. Seedlings being planted now will need bird protection while small.
Cheers, Linda
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| Monarch butterfly laying eggs on swan plants. |
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