TIPS

Propagation Tips from Julie

"As we are heading into cooler weather, many of us are thinking about propagating some of our plants, especially the cold sensitive ones like pentas and porterweed.  We would love to hear any tips you have for seed collecting, seed starting, or starting cuttings.  We will share these in future club newsletters.

If you have extra plants in the spring, the Fred Funk butterfly garden would love to have them!  They will be used in the garden or for our club plant raffles."

Propagation Tip

Here is an easy way to propagate multi-stemmed plants, such as mimosa, frog fruit or water hyssop.

I keep a “mother plant” in a pot.  When the plant becomes pot bound, do the following;

·       Remove the plant from the pot

·       Using an old bread knife, I slice through the root ball and divide the plant into halves or quarters. 

·       I repot each section in a new pot.  I keep one pot as the new mother plant, and the other plants are available for plant raffles, etc.

If a plant becomes pot bound before you are ready to plant it, do the following;

·       Remove the plant from the pot

·       Slice off the bottom quarter or third of the roots

·       Add fresh potting soil to the bottom of the pot

·       Repot the plant and water.  This should give you more time to plant without having to move to a bigger pot.