Plant Propagation - Day 3: 21 Days of Garden Fatigue

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NOTE: THIS IS A REPRINT OF AN ARTICLE ON MY PREVIOUS BLOG AS I REBUILD THIS INFO HERE.

Plant Propagation and Seedlings

If you're a keen gardener one of the greatest parts of our hobby is propagating plants and raising seedlings. It's the most self-gratifying test to see whether you've been successful, or alas - a failure! But don't take it personally, every gardener has failed in tying to succeed. It's part of life I guess.

While trying to succeed is the aim it is worth understanding the signs of healthy propagated material and seedlings. Read on for tips...

Moisture - extreme levels of moisture or dryness will affect your success with raising seeds or propagating plants. If it's too moist bacteria's and fungi are more readily attracted and encouraged to thrive. If this is the case, remove the covering and/or place them in a sunny sheltered spot and change the watering routine. If it's too dry, your young stock will struggle to feed and become malnourished. To rectify this, increase your watering routine and find possible reasons why your planting medium is drying out. Possibilities; too much sun, inferior medium or just not enough water.
Wilt - this usually occurs when your cutting has too much leaf material present. Try trimming your specimens down to only a few leaves at the top. I was also shown a great tip by a gardener friend to cut the tips of each leaf before propagation. The reason - you could then readily see what was new growth.
Strike Rate - we would all like 100% of our cuttings and seedlings to be successful but usually this is severly idealistic. It's good to journal your attempts and gauge what works and what doesn't. As you continue propagating and raising seeds you should find your success rate improving. If it's not, try to ascertain possible causes for failure and isolate them.

Posted by Stuart on January 4, 2006 5:56 AM | Permalink | Check to Subscribe to this Comment:

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