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“Growing Plants from Seeds and Cuttings”
Notes of talk by David Marshall given to Halton MGs on April 3rd 2013 - submitted by David Oldacre
Topics covered
1:
Growing Medium
Don’t use garden soil. David recommended that we use Grow-mix for a potting soil which contains a mixture of
sphagnum peat moss, perlite and compost
2:
Lighting considerations
Lights should be placed about 5” to 6”above the plants, and rather than use the long conventional fluorescent
bulbs, use a combination of three or four compact fluorescent light bulbs such as those which are now being used in
house lighting to replace the old incandescent lights. David demonstrated a couple of lighting systems which he
uses with his planters. For seedlings to germinate and to grow properly, the planter lighting systems needs to
should be on for 14 hours per day.
3:
Building a home made planter
David demonstrated the building of a planter with strips of Styrofoam sheets about 9” by 30” and some plastic
shelving posts which can be purchased at any major hardware store like Home Hardware, Rona, etc. This would be
big enough to hold up to four seeding trays using, and all you need to assemble this would be nails which could be
pushed in by hand, in which the lighting system could be nestled in on the top of the planter, and the trays slid in
underneath. It certainly did not take long to assemble, although the one which David assembled was fairly rigid, it
might need a few things to ensure it stayed that way!
4:
Seeding and transplanting considerations
David demonstrated an easy way of transplanting Zinnias using soil placed in a half toilet roll. The beauty of this is
that the seedling, once it is big enough, can be transplanted straight into the garden bed simply by placing the
whole thing in the ground which eliminates transplanting shock.
5:
Types of cutting
The simplest type of cutting is the basal cutting – although there are others in common use such as layering.
Basal cuttings should be from new growth and be at least 3” in length and then should be placed in the ground so
that half of it is below and half is above the soil level. As long as the cuttings are well watered, they will develop
roots very quickly. Cuttings should include at least one node with the leaves of the lower node removed. A node
is important because it is where the plant’s stem cells are most common
6:
Rooting hormones
There are three levels of rooting hormone:
Rooting Hormone #1 0.1% for softwood cuttings
Rooting Hormone #2 0.4% for semi-hardwood cuttings
Rooting Hormone #3 0.8% for hardwood cuttings
but in actual fact you can save money by buying only one type of rooting hormone because they are in fact exactly
the same in composition. So both the 0.4% and 0.8% types can be diluted to produce a lower percentage.
In addition to this, you can produce rooting hormone using mashed up some pussy willow branches, since pussy
willow has a rooting hormone in its sap. However, this should really only be used for watering rather than for
rooting.
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7:
7:
Basal cutting techniques
a)
Softwood cuttings
Use cuttings of the tips of spring growth for of shrubs and other perennials. Softwood cutting have to be
kept moist, but not too moist – and one good way of achieving this is by regular misting
b)
Semi hardwood cuttings
Use a number 2 hormone for rooting of Semi hardwood cuttings
c)
Hardwood cuttings
This should be prepared in the fall after the leaves have fallen.
The cuttings should be about 12” in length, and planted in the soil with the top half of the cutting above the
soil level. Rooting Hormone #3 should be used and it is probably best to put them in planters for placing in
the house basement or garage over the winter until they are ready to be moved outside in the next Spring
Question about Lavender cuttings
David said that there was only a very narrow window for using lavender cuttings, and this should be done using
cuttings from non-flowering stalks and immediately after flowering.