Download Propagating Natives With No Greenhouse

Propagating Natives
With No Greenhouse
Wildflowers interest people because:
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They offer a rainbow of
They appear from nowhere
They live in harsh locales
While abundant most are
They are found such great
They are seldom cultivated
They lived here first
COLOR&BEAUTY
MIRACULOUSLY
CAREFREE
NAMELESS
VARIETY
WILDNESS
ANTIQUITY
5 W’s & the H - CreelWay
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Why learn native plant propagation? 8 REASONS
Who can become a skilled propagator? YOU
Where can you propagate? YOUR YARD
When can you propagate? ANY TIME
What do you need? A FEW TOOL/SUPPLIES
How can you learn propagation? JUST TRY IT
Nature is my Garden
Why learn native plant propagation?
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PRESERVE & SHARE LOCAL NATIVE PLANTS
RESTORE LOST NATIVES TO YARDS/SITES
PRESERVE & SHARE SUPERIOR FORMS
INCREASE NATIVE PLANT APPRECIATION
MAKE UNAVAILABLE PLANTS AVAILABLE
DISCOVER NATIVE LANDSCAPING
PREVENT INTRODUCTION OF EXOTICS
PROPAGATE & GROW “DIFFICULT” SPECIES
IT’S FUN, CHALLENGING, REWARDING
A Natural Treasure
Silky Camellia - Stewartia malacodendron
WHO can be a native plant propagator?
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Anyone interested, like the folks here
People of all ages, including yall
Folks with minimal space
Individuals with limited resources
Someone lacking a green thumb
One who had propagation failure
A person who has no greenhouse
If I can,
YOU can
DOMEPOT PRINCIPLES
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All outdoors, no greenhouse needed
Limit sun exposure by 64 percent+
Use clear dome to capture humidity
Convert container for faster drainage using a 3/4
– inch holesaw drill bit.
• Mix media to maintain fast drainage
• Use NO rooting hormones, fertilizer, etc.
• Water once weekly, if no rain
Dome Pot “Tecknology”
Hold-down wire
& awl hole
Hanging basket rescued from trash
becomes a “High-Rise Holey Pot with a
long life to grow cuttings and seedlings
Vent Cap ON holds moisture in, Cap
OFF lets cuttings transition to dry air
Humidity-capturing dome made from
gallon Deer Park Spring water bottle
Water Entry zone – 1/2 inch minimum
clearance, but wider is better
Media level just above upper drain row.
PERCH LOCATION
Drip pan removed, 3/4 inch holes drilled
into bottom, 1-2 staggered rows added
CreelWay Propagation Primer
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Get Ready – shade area, tools, materials
Get Set – pots, domes, media, fresh plants
Go – plant pots, water, put in shade/sun
Follow-up – weekly water, visual checks
Vent DomePots – once cuttings rooted
Repot – seedlings & well-rooted cuttings
Plant – site selection, establishment, in
places plants will do the best
GET READY TO PROPAGATE
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Shade & Sun Areas – Select & prepare
Tools & Materials – Get what’s needed
Pots - Recycle, check economy stores
Domes – Look for bottles, Keep caps
Media – Check local stores
Plant material sources – Your garden or
woods, friends, power right of way behind
your home, etc., Always seek permission
Shade & Sun Areas
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Use a 64-75 percent shade cloth, 3 sides
Unvented domepots need 64-75% shade
Vented domepots need partial shade
Don’t rely on Nature for full shade
Sun shift may overheat perimeter pots
Grow out seeds & cuttings in sun, part sun
Cutting and seed pots need a “perch”
A deck overhang will work for shade
Creating Reliable Shade
Tools & Materials You Will Need
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Large trowel & mini-shovel to mix media
Small utility knife, scissors to cut domes
Corded electric drill, 3/4-inch holesaw bits
Small pruning shears, wire cutting pliers
Large, shallow pot for mixing media
Awl on pocketknife for hold-down wires
Tin Snips for cutting hardware cloth
Wire cutters to trim hold-downs to length
A few tools you’ll need
Holey Pots – most Created, few bought
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Few pots are ready to use, most need drilling
Aquatic plant mesh pots ARE holey enough
Thick-wall molded pots drill best
Drilling is easiest on a warm day
Repair cracks with clear fiber duct tape
Enlarge existing drain holes to 3/4-inch
Add 1-2 rows of drains not above 2” high
Old hanging baskets are the best conversion,
since they are never recycled, just discarded
Holey Pots Illustrated
Creating Humidity Domes
• “Prospect” for clear plastic bottles, containers,
particularly in recycling and dollar stores
• Avoid plastics that degrade outdoors, such as
milk bottles and blue tinted spring water bottles.
• Start hole with utility knife, finish with scissors
• Keep a bottle’s cap to use for vent plug
• Vented domes in part shade can root cuttings
• Hawaiian Punch, Geyser Springs, & Deer Park
gallon bottles make excellent domes
• Convert containers to domes by drilling a 7/8inch vent hole in the new top, old bottom, and
using a rubber chair foot as the vent plug
Domes with Imagination
Media selection & mixing
• Find local materials that drain well and test them
• Always pre-test media & pot for fast drainage
• I use: 5 - 6 parts pine bark mini-nuggets, 1 to 2 parts
pine bark soil conditioner & 1 part Fafard 3, Baacto Pro
or an equivalent mix containing no fertilizer
• Mix with large trowel or mini-shovel to prevent
separation fine and coarse particles
• Never work with soggy media
• Media should not exceed 3 inches deep
• Media (not dry) must drain in one eye blink
• Never add sand, even coarse washed sand
Media Mixing & Components
Cutting Considerations
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Make cuttings in cool of day, early or late
Firm green cuttings of herbs in summer
WOODY cuttings of woody plants anytime
Summer & Fall woody stems, mature leaves
Winter & early Spring stems, dormant
Spring & early Summer, remove soft green
Store at 39F in inflated bag, NOT wet
Scarify lower stem, cut leaves in half
Remove bloom buds & stem end buds
Cuttings are cool customers
Using a DomePot
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Check media drainage in a test pot first!!!
Make ID label, attach to domepot
Add 2 to 3 inches of media to holey pot
Seat dome on media, check watering margin
Add wire hold-down, threading awl holes
Move dome to one side, add humus fines
Stick trimmed cuttings into media, Water
Attach dome with wire hold-down
Let pot sit/drain before moving it to shade bed
Don’t jostle or bump pot, compacting media
Pre-Assembling a DomePot
• Drill new drain holes in pot or hanging basket,
unless using a mesh pot
• Select a dome 1 inch+ smaller in diameter than
pot opening to create water entry zone
• Make 2 awl holes in pot rim for holddown wire
• Cut holddown wire to secure dome to pot
• Add 2-3 inches of media to pot, seat dome
• Loop hold-down wire around dome neck
• Snug dome against media using hold-down
• Check water entry zone along pot rim, 1 inch+
Seed Pots thrive outdoors
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Give priority to seed growing pure species
Seasonal change helps seeds to germinate
Constant fast container drainage essential
Varmint caps needed to protect seedlings
Perch pots to help drainage, stop E-worms
Use “holey pots” but taller with head space
Keep media level low to prevent saturation
Use same type media as with cuttings
Sprinkle local native humus onto media
Repot cuttings to tall pot with varmint cap
Seed Pot Potpourri
DomePots in Shade
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Water weekly 15-30 minutes, if no rain
Check twice weekly for heavy saturated pots
Look for and try to rescue pots in peril
Pop-Up sprinklers on stands are ideal
Observe cuttings through the clear dome
Look for new shoots, maturing leaves
Rooting in 2 warm months to a year
Remove vent cap, not dome, to harden rooted
cuttings, 4-6 weeks in shade
• Keep domeless pots in partial shade a while
Irrigation and Observation
Recordkeeping is Valuable
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Label or double label propagation pots
Find durable, long lasting material
Never use vinyl miniblinds for labels, they fade
Keep a notebook of plants, activities
Keep emails noting plant sources and dates
Photograph new propagation pots & labels
Avoid sun glare & flash shooting labels
Keep photos in date-named folders & subfolders
Nothing beats a graphite pencil for durability
My best labels are from offset printing plates
Labels Should Follow Plants
After Care of Rooted Cuttings
•Moving well rooted cuttings to a more spacious pot
or to a well-prepared earth bed increases survival
• Repot in a holey pot using shallow Creelway media
•Use a tall pot with Varmint Cap to protect plants
•Duplicate ID tags from original cutting pot
•Plants along the pot’s perimeter grow best
•Water repotted cuttings once weekly 15-30 minutes
•Water cuttings in earth bed every 3 days if no rain
Views of Cutting Repotting
Translucent Pot worked very well
A paintable plastic flower pot from a craft store became a great propagation device after
drill modification. The bar code tag read Duraco Products, Inc., Streamwood, Il 60107,
32832821157, FDMBNOCO. I bought 2, and have been unable to find others.
DON’T DO THESE THINGS
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Add sand to any media mix used in a pot
Use miniblinds as identification tags
Add fertilizer to cutting or seed pots
Use media more 3 inches deep
Forget to use a Varmint Cap where needed
Plant in already saturated media
Fail to pretest media/pot drainage
Expose domepots to excessive sun
Use translucent milk bottles for domes
Remove dome from freshly rooted cuttings
DomePot Propagation Fails WHEN
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Media too deep in pot, causing saturation
Pot water entry margin too narrow
Media too wet due to too few or small drain holes
Media dries out, under watering, over draining
Cuttings too juvenile, soft wilting growth
Cuttings stored too wet in refrigerator
Earthworms make media denser
Squirrel, birds, other animals disturb pots
Cuttings dry out before use, improperly stored
Sun overheats cuttings in dome
Two pots failed – too wet & too dry
Media was too deep
became saturated,
Larger bottom drain
holes need drilling.
Colander pots should
work, but plastic
seems not durable.
Pot dried
out, media
too shallow
Long fiber
sphagnum
moss media
Success In Rooting – drainage the key
My Native Plant Discoveries
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Rhododendron eastmanii May White Azalea
Wisteria macrostachya “Clara Mack” white
Rhus coppalinaX “Creel’s Quintet” five leaflets
Clethra tomentosa “Creel’s Calico” 1st variegated
Stokesia laevis “Mary Gregory” only yellow
Hypericum densiflorum “Creel's Gold Star” by Dodds
Rhododendron atlanticum “Cottingham” – split-petal
Rhododendron calendulaceum “Walhalla Gold”
Rhododendron periclymenoides “Flat Creek Fuchsia”
Stokesia laevis – “Bachman Sisters” Pink- testing
Domebox Rules
• Measure/Draw a line at 3-inch level on side for media
• Drill 3/4-inch drain holes in bottom and a side row
• Water media internally at set-up & as needed when
humidity collecting under lid begins to clear
• Use a clear storage box with clear sealing lid
• A 50-quart Rubbermaid Clear Impression box works
• Two inches of media seems enough, Perch box on bricks
• Stick cuttings in rows with labels stuck into media
• Sprinkle native humus on media before cuttings
• With box closed, water area once weekly 30 minutes
• Protect with shade cloth, Add varmint cap with lid off
DomeBox Details
Domeboxes seem
to work well for
cuttings or seeds,
holding warmth
in winter for even
tender plants.
Seedling
Azaleas
ABOVE
DomeBed Breaks New Ground
• Two X3 DomeBeds planted December 2006 & March 2007
• Humidity domes made from 66 & 58 gallon clear boxes
• Two 1.5-inch vent holes were plugged with rubber chair feet
• Ground bed tilled mixing soil & local rotted pine humus
• Initial shade partial - a strip of medium density shade cloth, later
upgraded to full shade cloth coverage on all four sides
• After set-up watering, boxes were watered once weekly from
outside with moisture migrating to boxes’ center
• Late spring sun overheated domes, temp above 85 F by midday,
• Drought pulled water from domes, vent holes used to water
• DomeBed worked well through winter but needed rethinking
• Significant plant survival, but Domebeds are being upgraded
DomeBed Renewal Plan
For a successful DomeBox plant in late fall not directly in soil but
into Creelway media held captive in a lined bed 1-2 feet larger than
box to concentrate moisture and separate media from wicking of
woods soil. Shade with supported 64-70 percent cloth.
Cuttings in original DomeBed were Chapman's Rhododendron, banana shrub,
Camellias, variegated Gardenias & Rhododendron hybrid Whitestone
Propagating Both Native Stewartias
• Stewartia malacodendron & ovata, known as Silky
Camellia & Mountain Camellia
• Woody stems at bloom time with mature leaves
• Remove soft leaves, new growth, end buds
• Trim leaves in half, spring, summer, fall
• Leafless dormant stems winter, early spring
• Sprinkle local humus from Camellias on media,
• Use a large pot and 1 gallon dome for leaf expansion
• Fast drainage, shallow media CRITICAL
• Try square mesh pots used in garden ponds
• Repot cuttings to holey pots, shallow media, perch
Stewartia malacodendron & ovata
Propagating Choice Dogwoods
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Stems with mature leaves summer & fall
Leafless dormant stems winter, early spring
Woody stems with green firm, Y-shaped
Trim leaves in half angled, remove any damaged
Remove bloom buds, end buds, soft growth
Fast drainage, shallow media CRITICAL
Sprinkle dogwood humus onto media
Use THE standard CreelWay media mix
Select choice forms for berry color, fragrance,
leaf shape, flowers, habit, vigor
A Few Choice Dogwoods
Dogwood’s true
flowers are Yellow.
Bracts are white
Magnolia macrophylla, by seed for now
Propagation Ethics & Etiquette
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Obtain plant materials legally, ethically
Do not hoard information or plants, SHARE
Share successes with friends, nurseries
Restore Nature to your home landscape
Teach others what you have learned
When something fails, find out why
Do not steal credit that is due to others
Do not carry a plant unshared to your grave
THE END – Time for Questions
Your BEGINNING as a propagator
END OF PRESENTATION
• A PLACEHOLDER SLIDE
Rhododendron eastmanii - May White
Clara Mack Kentucky Wisteria
Creel’s Quintet Smooth Sumac
Creel’s Calico Sweet Pepperbush
Mary Gregory Stokes aster
Cottingham Coast Azalea
Creel's GoldStar St. John’s Wort
Walhalla Gold Mountain Flame Azalea
Flat Creek Fuchsia Pinxterflower Azalea
Bachman Sisters Pink Stokesia
Color & Beauty
Appear Miraculously
Live Carefree
Nameless Abundance
Such Great Variety
Uncultivated Wildness
Antiquity
U2 Domepot “classified”
• One gallon ribbed plastic bottle is cut into two sections
• Drain holes made in bottom with holesaw or utility knife
• One-inch vertical slits cut in corners of top section and
midway each side, allow bottle sections to be rejoined
• Lower 3-inch section holds rooting media and cuttings
• Upper section fits over lower, serving as a humidity dome.
• Watered only once "inside" when cuttings are stuck, then
weekly "outside" in a shade bed with fellow domepots.
• Water drains and enters through holes in bottom "pot"
• Bottom filled with fast-draining media, dusted with humus.
cuttings. are stuck, media watered, top attached
• U2 Domepot put in controlled shade until cuttings root
U2 Domepot Photos