Sage and Forsythia Cuttings. 3.23.22

I saw a page on the internet that showed starting sage plants, in water, from cuttings.  So I took some sage cuttings.  Also I took another batch of forsythia cuttings to start in water too, like I did last year.  

Cuttings -

I cleaned up the bottom stem portions of the sage cuttings.  Then they all went into jars of water in an East facing window.

They say that it's best to start cuttings in potting soil and use rooting hormone.   These are what gardeners of the previous generations referred to as "slips".  Not everything can be started that way, but some can.    That is part of grandparent and great grandparent and further back garden lore.  Last year when I started forsythias, the water method actually worked better, with more success, faster, bigger plants, and less trouble, compared to using seed starting medium.  If it doesn't work, well, the cost was free and it wasn't that much effort.

Starting Rosemary From Cuttings. 3.21.22

 A few weeks ago, I collected some rosemary sprigs and made them into cuttings.  I scored the lower couple of inches of stem, dipped into dip-and-gro, and packaged in moist seed starting medium.  I tied the bags so there was a tie around the mis point of the stem, with the tops still in open end of bag.

The past few days, I noticed roots.

I took them out of the bag.  Four cuttings had grown roots.  Four did not survive.

So I potted the four good ones in some of that new potting mix.  It's sort of a leap of faith but there isn't another choice right now.

I cut the top inch, so they will branch out.  I hope in a few weeks, these will establish well enough to move outside.   These will either be extras in the herb border, or replace any non-survivors among those I transplanted and cleaned up.

Rosemary has an amazing scent.  According to wikipedia, rosemary leaves are 0.05% to 0.5% camphor, and essential oil from rosemary is 10% to 20% camphor.  The other essential oils include "rosmarinic acid, camphor, caffeic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, carnosic acid, and carnosol."  Whatever those are.  Deer don't seem to touch it.

 

Test of Potting Soil / Up-Potting Some Carnations. 3.21.22

Here are the little pepper plants that I up-potted into that Miracle-Gro branded potting soil about two weeks ago. They haven't grown at all and are starting to die off. This never happened to me before this round of starting plants. I used new, unused container and had sterilized my tools, so I feel certain the issue is the potting soil. Disappointing, after caring for these plants from planting seeds until now.

I bought a different brand, labeled "organic", via Amazon. Kind of pricy but I am not ready to go to the stores quite yet. As a test, I up-potted the next six-pack of carnations into some of the new potting mix. Since the past bunch of carnations all died within one or two weeks after up-potting into the MG mix, that seems like a good test for this one. I'm using fresh, never before used containers this time and everything else hase been cleaned and sterilized. Seedlings on the same rack but not up-potted are growing fine. I hope they take off and grow in their new medium and don't just sit there and gradually die.

What I noticed about the MG potting soul was that it has a LOT of fairly sizable chunks of fibrous plant material, like chopped straw or shredded tree chips. Maybe that contains fusarium or verticellium or other pathological fungus. Under the guise of "compost", there could be yard waste or other compost like is made locally at the recycling center, or animal manures. All of that could contain plant disease or herbicide residues. There is no transparency so we really don't know. I'm not trying to dis the MG products. I've used their products manyntimes before and likely will again. But if the replanted carnations grow, then the only think I have left is that the MG potting mix was really bad somehow. The new "Organic" mix also contains similar fibrous stuff. It must be a trend.

Statice Status. Seedlings. 3.21.22

 Statice seedlings are growing their first sets of true leaves.  So far, so good.

Depending on how fast the seedlings grow, I might skip the up-potting stage and plant them directly outside in May.  Also, I might put half in the deer park and half in the new big planter box.   Then I can test for deer resistance and have some on reserve if Bambi takes to eating Statice salad LOL.

Transplanting Itoh Peonies and Camassia Clumps. 3.20.22

It may not be the best timing, but it's what I have. These needed either moving, or just forget about them. This Itoh peony is about three years old. Huge root mass now. I tried not to break many roots, but a few did break. I cut them so the cut would be smooth.

I gave these a bit of granular organic vegetable fertilizer when I replanted them. 

The camassias looked like this one. In a few, I accidentally shoveled through a bulb or two.

After planting, the peony looks like this.

My helper helped a lot.