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Plant
Propagation
Read
full article from
Home
and Garden Television
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Material
Required |
Methods of
Planting |
Cutting
Procedures |
Planting
Procedure |
- good sterile potting
mix (clean soil)
- plastic bags to use
as humidity tents
- a mister
- sharp sterilized
pruners or a knife
- rooting hormone
to speed up the rooting process
- sterilized container to prevent
disease from harming the plant
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- sowing plants from
seed
- digging and dividing them
- cuttings from small
pieces of leaves, stems, or roots
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- take a cutting and place it in a glass of water
- do
not allow cuttings to remain
in water too long as it restricts the
availability of oxygen to the snipped ends
- inspect cut ends to
see if roots have formed
- once the cutting begins to form new
roots transfer it to a
container filled with potting soil
- plant it directly in the
garden after a week or two
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- to
ensure success, disinfect planting container with a solution of 1 part bleach mixed
with
9 parts water
- put sterile potting
mix (clean soil) into container and moisten it with a mister
- after a few weeks the germinating spores appear as a mossy
growth
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|
If you still have problems
propagating some of your plants, check out the procedures for handling
Softwood and Hardwood Cuttings.
Read full article from
Home and Garden Television |
Type
of Cuttings and
Planting Procedure |
Softwood
Cuttings
|
Hardwood
Cuttings |
| Note |
Always try to take
your cuttings early in the morning. |
| Where to Cut |
Look
out for stems with succulent new growth. |
Use a sharp knife or
pruners and select stems that are still green and flexible. |
| Length
to Cut |
Roughly six inches
long |
- 3- to 4-inch
pieces
- make
sure each stem has at least two nodes, or growing points and cut just
below a node because that is where new roots will form.
|
| What
to Remove |
Strip the
leaves from the lower half of each stem. |
Remove any lateral or side branches
from each stem and any flowers or buds, but leave the thorns. Strip
the lower leaves from each cutting, leaving only the top leaves to continue
photosynthesis, to encourage root formation. |
| Note: |
Do not
let the cuttings dry out. If you
do not intend to plant them right away, reduce
the rate of water loss by putting
them in a plastic bag with a moist paper towel. |
| To
Cultivate |
- place the cut end in
rooting hormone and shake off the excess
- gently but firmly place the lower third of the cutting
into the potting mix
|
-
dip the cutting into rooting
hormone
-
insert each cutting up to half its length into a container filled with
potting soil.
|
|
- water the plant well
and
potting mix with a
mister
- place
it in a warm location that is shaded to reduce
water loss
- if leaves looked
dried out, raise the
humidity around them by covering the cuttings with a plastic bag or reduce
light levels by placing them in a shadier place.
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| When to
Replant |
- within 2 to 4 weeks, the cuttings
should be well-rooted and ready to replant into a pot.
|
-
within
8 weeks the cuttings will
take root and begin to develop new leaves
|
| Replanting
Procedure |
- Check that cuttings
have taken roots before replanting them in a pot or in your garden.
- Water plants as needed to keep the potting mix
moist
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Propagating Ferns
Ferns do not flower but
reproduce sexually from spores
in extremely sterile conditions. Article "Growing ferns from
spores" from Australian National Botanic Gardens website tells how |
|
Material
Required |
Methods of
Collection |
Planting
Procedures
|
To
Replant
|
- mature frond with spores (bunches
of dark brown, pimplelike clusters of spore-bearing sacks) on the underside of the
leaves
- two pieces of paper for collecting spores
- paperweight
- sterilized containers with plastic or glass
covers
- germination mixture of 1 part of finely chopped tree fern fibre
or perlite to 2
parts of peat moss or sphagnum moss
- boiling water to sterilise the germination mixture
to kills the spores of fungi and other plants that may germinate and crowd out the developing fern
- coarser textured potting mix for
replanting, such as, sharp river sand and gravel-sized charcoal pieces
|
- cut
the frond at its base and place
it spore-side down on a sheet of white paper
- cover
it with another sheet of paper, and place a paperweight on top
- after two days, remove paperweight to
look out for black, brown or yellow 'powder' which is a mixture of spores and fragments of the spore cases
on paper
|
- fill
the sterilized container with germination mixture
- pour boiling water over germination mixture
and keep covered till spores are ready to be sowed
- sprinkled spores sparsely on germination mixture
- cover containers with plastic or glass (allowing some airspace) until the fronds
appear
- spores will take from 2 to 6 weeks to
germinate to form a mossy growth
- fertilisation occurs when adult fern begins to
develop
- developing ferns should not be exposed to direct
light
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- transplant
the ferns into another sterile box containing a coarser textured
potting mix
with relatively high levels of organic
matter
- occasionally
use distilled or boiled water to mist germination mixture
-
transplant
ferns to the garden once they are two inches tall
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To read full articles on Propagating Ferns
click on following links:
|
Australian National Botanic Gardens
Home and Garden Television
Propagating
Ferns from Spores (with pictures) |
