It’s a tribute to romance and gardening! Unbeknownst to each other, my daughter and her boyfriend arrived for their Valentine’s Day date last week with gifts of orchid plants for each other. She called me for advice about purchasing a ‘grocery store’ orchid for him and I assured her that the moth orchid, Phalaenopsis, would be a wise choice. I love technology! One quick snapshot taken from her phone and I was able to see the characteristic rounded petals of moth orchid and its upright, roughly triangular flower shape. Fat leaves covered the top of the pot and 5 stems had buds, 2 fully in bloom. She wanted to repot it into a larger, nicer container, but I persuaded her to use it as a cache pot and wait until after the flowers take a break to repot. Both of them purchased healthy, full pots and soon enough they’ll need dividing, too.

Making divisions is one of several ways to propagate orchids and it is usually better done in spring than at other times of the year. Like many perennial garden plants, each orchid division must have at least one shoot and some roots as well as backbulbs if they exist. Those are the pseudobulbs that remain after a previous flower display has been cleaned up. Keep reading this blog for information about propagating with backbulbs. Gently slip the orchid to be divided out of its pot onto a bench or tray. If it is difficult to get the rootball out of its pot, break the pot rather than wrench the roots. Shake off any loose soil and inspect the plant for obvious places to make divisions that will yield strong shoots and plenty of roots for each one. It’s best to get a strong mess of roots, at least one new shoot and 2-3 backbulbs in each division.  Use a sharp, single-bladed knife to slice straight through the crown tissue and roots in one motion.

Like people, plants respond well to a little pressure and moderate amounts of stress can actually be quite motivating. Your quest is to minimize that stress and manage its effects for good results, from the way you choose and separate new divisions to how you treat the new plants as they root and begin to grow. Once the cuts are made, rinse the roots in plain water and soak the divisions for 15 minutes in Hormex Liquid Concentrate (2 T per gallon of water). Pot them up in a classic, bark-rich orchid mix and water weekly with a solution of Hormex (1 tsp. per gallon of water) at least until new growth begins.

The timid among us may find the act of cutting a beloved plant painful; trust me, it’s worth it. The stress of separation can produce stronger shoots and more flowers than the orchid plant left to grow for years in the same pot. Most will reward your efforts with flowers next season. If only the stresses of life were so predictably rewarding!

If you seek a way to propagate orchids that delivers a big investment on time, or want a more affordable way to acquire some varieties, use backbulbs. These are the stems with swollen bases left after flowering or that form without ever initiating bloom. Both root well and can be removed when the mother plant is repotted or divided. Roots are the first order of business in propagating backbulbs and Hormex Liquid Concentrate provides 2 growth hormones and vitamin B-1 to encourage rooting. Dip the base of an orchid backbulb into the concentrate for 5 minutes before planting it in orchid mix, or a combination of mix and finely ground bark. Water weekly for 6 weeks with a solution of HLC mixed 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. At that point, tug gently on the backbulb. If it resists your touch, rooting has begun. Continue using a Hormex solution monthly to insure good root development. It can take up to 4 years to bloom a backbulb but those who do say it’s well worth the time to expand their collections.

Orchids can also be propagated from keiki and aerial cuttings; I’ll blog about these fascinating plant parts and how to propagate them next week.

Nellie Neal is a passionate propagator and owner of GardenMama, Inc. She advocates for gardening 24/7 at her website, www.gardenmama.com. Ask questions and comment about this blog on the Contact Us page of www.hormex.com.

I embark on this blog with some reservations, as any commentary about roses can draw be risky for the writer. It is true that everyone who grows roses, professionally or as a hobby, has valuable tips to share and even when some diverge from mine, the exchange is nice. Sadly, it is also true that pieces like this one draw the ire of other rosarians, strident and armed with caustic criticism. That’s not nice.

Perhaps to prove that my skin has grown thick as a turtle shell, here’s what I know about rooting roses from prunings. Everybody wants to do it. The very sight of all that viable plant material lying on the ground is just sad, and it doesn’t compost that well, either. Not every gardening zone follows this practice in February as we do in the Southeast, but it works at whatever point in the year you are pruning roses. It helps if they are primarily leafless, but even in areas where roses bloom all year, there comes a time when the wood has hardened off a bit and roots readily. The same conditions are often found where cold winters mean fall pruning and wrapped roses. In all cases, the wood is semi-hard and will not easily bend in half nor snap in two.

From the pile of rose trimmings, sort stems to find the greenest wood that is about as big around as a pencil. Usually this is near the tip of the stem, but not always, such as if the tip has been damaged by cold weather or is especially green. I have reduced my rose collection considerably and some of them climbers not ready for pruning until later in the year. Still, it’s a full day’s chore that I relish for its accomplishment but also for its rooting material. Some of the cut stems are perfect, strong and resilient all the way to their tips, but I take many cuttings several inches behind the tip where the wood is stronger. Pencil-thick or slightly less, six inches long and cut above one node and below another. Cut the upper end straight across and cut the lower end on a slant to expose more stem and so you don’t stick them upside down. If leaves are present, remove them from the lower half of the cutting, dip it in Hormex, and stick it into damp media. Oh, and don’t forget to label the cuttings with name and date.

Not everyone roots roses the same way, but when you see good results, it’s wise to pay attention. Veteran rose grower Johnny Broussard, my neighbor, roots cuttings taken from winter prunings to keep his collection of 2 dozen or so varieties going and to share. He says, “I root at least 5 cuttings from each bush, and end up saving one and giving the rest away. I take long cuttings – 6 inches – and try to take them from the center of the rose.” this practice insures plenty of sunlight and good air circulation reaches the rose. He explains that he sticks the rose stem 4 inches into the soil and leaves only 2 inches above the soil level to provide plenty of places for roots to initiate. “I stick three cuttings into an 8” pot full of good potting soil, water the pots once and leave them outside for a year,” Broussard says, “Just water when the pot feels light, nothing else is needed.” He does soak the rose cuttings in a solution of ‘willow water’ for 24 hours before potting them up. “I put short pieces of pencil-size black willow stems in warm water overnight, then use the water to soak the rose cuttings,” he says. In 20+ years of growing rosebushes, Broussard says he has used Hormex rooting hormone powder when he didn’t have access to willow trees and it works fine. He just likes the ‘old ways’ like willow water, long known as a rooting stimulator.

I don’t use individual pots unless I’m rooting for the Farmer’s Market or for folks planting community rose gardens. Instead, I root rose cuttings in flats filled with 1 part potting mix combined with 1 part fine ground bark or sharp sand. I also make a container planting mix for other purposes and sometimes use that. The goal is a soil that drains well but does not dry out too rapidly, either. I put the flat under a plastic cloche to increase humidity around the cuttings and keep it under a plant light indoors or in my sunny unheated greenhouse. Whenever possible, I use a heating mat under the rose flat because I have found that it speeds rooting by several weeks. I use Hormex rooting hormone powder #1 as recommended or #3 if the winter has been cold and the wood is particularly hard. In this relatively warm winter, that won’t be an issue.

Nellie Neal is a passionate propagator and owner of GardenMama, Inc. She advocates for gardening 24/7 at her website, www.gardenmama.com. Ask questions and comment about this blog on the Contact Us page of www.hormex.com.

Every gardener and grower will tell you that propagation is all about increasing the percentage of attempts that actually produce viable plants. The odds in your favor increase with the use of bottom heat and bottom watering, and here’s why.

Some plants do not respond well to overhead watering, such as roses and African violets. Their leaves are vulnerable to fungus diseases that need water to get going and without it, fewer disease problems arise. We’ve all heard that watering roses and lawn grass before dark works to prevent those fungus diseases, too. Given that rain does fall at night, it is wise not to compound that problem. The same goes for cuttings and seedlings, but another factor comes into play for them. They are small, easily disturbed, and also may be slowed by the introduction of cold water to the environment. I run tap water into a container and let it sit until it is no longer chilly, and then fill the flat or saucer underneath cuttings. No cold shock, no wet leaves or toppled stems, and better rooting percentages.

The need for bottom heat in the form of a heating mat made for use in propagation setups can be even more important for rooting and seeding. The reason we set up a rooting chamber of any sort is to create conditions where the cutting will develop roots before it rots or dries out. A warm soil provided by the heating mat keeps the process going and speeds rooting as well. Your modest investment in a heating mat will pay for itself many times over, but not everyone agrees. One of my own gurus insists that bottom heat rarely makes the difference for most plants, and if needed, it is readily available in most homes. Yes, it’s true that the top of old-fashioned refrigerators and water heaters can be warm enough, but new, energy-efficient models don’t leak heat like the old ones. Maybe he’s better than I, but my success rate with bottom heat is far superior to other efforts. Get a mat – you’ll be glad.

I do not want first time propagators to be daunted by the elements needed to set up a rooting chamber. As I wrote about in last week’s blog, it can be quite simple. Truth is, sometimes you don’t need much of a setup at all. Rooting figs and other woody plants often happens because we prune the plants and cannot resist trying to start another one. My grandmother had a reputation for being able to grow broomsticks and proved it. I played in the yard while she cut back the French hydrangeas on a warm day in February. Her way of doing it was, like most things, pretty original. To keep the bushes under the windows, she cut back some of the stems fairly hard each year, while on the others, she just trimmed the tips. As she went down the hedge, she discarded the tips but rooted the long, woody stems. Almost absentmindedly, she trimmed each one to a foot long and stuck it into the soil next to its parent. The result was always plenty of flowers and thick, leafy stems. She dug up a few as gifts once they took root, but most grew right there and kept the planting full and fresh for 30 years that I know of. Since then, I’ve rooted figs, grapes, and even crepe myrtles using this method with stems about as big around as a pencil and some larger than that. But I add one important step that increases my success rate considerably. I put a little Hormex rooting hormone powder into an envelope and carry it with me when I prune. I dip each new cutting into Hormex, and recommend that you do, too.

Nellie Neal is a passionate propagator and owner of GardenMama, Inc. She advocates for gardening 24/7 at her website, www.gardenmama.com. Ask questions and comment about this blog on the Contact Us page of www.hormex.com.

While this title may make some chuckle with thoughts of cloning journalists, the word ‘media’ in this case simply refers to more than one kind of material, or medium. The term ‘medium’ is used when no actual soil is present in the material used to root or grow plants. Now I’ll confess that I do root woody plants like fig and hydrangea by simply sticking them into the ground next to the parent tree or shrub, but that’s a blog for another day.

Just as some plants root best from snipped tips while others resist all but a root cutting, some plants are faster to root in one medium than another. In addition, the kinds of roots that emerge from different media can vary and ultimately affect plant growth. Each medium has its advantages and I’ve used them all with decent success. Here’s my experience with some of them, and I’ll blog about more options next week. Perlite is dusty stuff, but quite efficient for rooting plants that are sensitive to rot such as poinsettia. It is fractured volcanic glass that has fractures that create a very particular shape that resembles lots of tiny spheres fused together in circular patterns. It is porous and dries out well, which allows good air circulation in the root zone and forms thick, white roots. To avoid inhaling perlite dust, wear a mask when you scoop or pour it out, and then water perlite lightly as soon as you get it out of the bag. Use it in small, new plastic pots or cells or wash previously used containers, rinse well and rinse again with a 1:10 solution of bleach and water. Stick the cuttings and water in with a liquid Hormex solution. Keep the pots damp but not wet while using perlite to root cuttings. Sand, but not just any sand, works well for rooting lots of plants. However, much like water, sand produces mostly adventitious roots that may be thin and rather fragile. The best sand for rooting plants, and for general use in the garden, is known as sharp sand. It is contrasted from round river sand by its irregular shape. Round particles clump together and stay very wet while sharp sand’s pointy edges separate so water and roots can get through. Sometimes sharp sand is labeled as such, but more often you’ll find it in masonry sand or play sand made for children’s sandboxes. I use sand for rooting canes of dieffenbachia and ti plant, along with green plants like the indestructible coleus that primarily form adventitious roots, anyway.

Ground, aged bark can be used as a rooting medium alone or in combination with with perlite and/or sand.  When roots form in pure bark, they can be thick and stubby which is sometimes desirable but not always. Bark is porous and allows faster drying out of the root zone, helpful for rooting many woody plants. If cuttings fall over because bark is too porous, mix it half and half with sand or perlite, or use all three in equal portions. Water pots or flats of bark and bark mixes before sticking cuttings and keep them moist. If drying out seems to occur too often, use a plastic cloche to increase humidity around the containers.

Sphagnum moss is long-fibered and not solid at all. It is the go-to medium for creating air layers. Too often overlooked, air layering can rescue a corn plant that has leaves only at the top of a tall caned stem. I like to use air layering on woody plants and fruit trees that have stems between ¼ and 2/3 inch in diameter. I did not know that sphagnum moss is a wise choice for rooting terrestrial orchids until I attended an Orchid Society meeting years ago. Since then I’ve adapted the member’s method to start many new orchids from stems and broken joints. It could not be simpler: wet the moss and squeeze it out so it is damp but not dripping and fill a plastic pot with it without tamping it down. Make a fresh cut on the orchid stem, dip it into fresh Hormex, and slip it into the sphagnum. Water lightly and consistently and look for new roots in a month.

Nellie Neal advocates for gardening 24/7 at her website, www.gardenmama.com. Send comments on this blog to mama@gardenmama.com.

Rooting plants to propagate them is a good example of the old adage that says there is more than one way to skin a cat. Like many such sayings, it creates an ugly image like the vision of a cradle falling when the bough breaks, yet has merit for its sentiment. There are numerous plant parts that will root, depending on the species, and some seem to root from anywhere to make your task easier. Let’s start at the top, with tip cuttings. The newest growth on a plant resides at the end its branches and stems. This is where the action is for many rooting efforts, since the tip is a hive of active growth.

While it is possible to root some stems by taking a literal tip cutting with barely any stem attached, cuttings made a few inches behind the tip usually root better. (In this case, ‘better’ means faster, in higher percentages, and with stronger roots.) For example, many shrubs will root from summer (aka semi hard) wood cuttings that are 4-6 inches long. That size enables you to strip the leaves off of the lower half to bury the stem deeply and still keep some leaves on top so the essential process of photosynthesis can continue. When you make the cutting further behind the tip and do not include it, you make a stem cutting. This part of the plant will root because stems have structures called nodes. Some plants, like trailing philodendron, drop roots easily when they come in contact with soil or bark, allowing them to climb. Others must be coaxed. To locate the nodes, look for markings along the stem, often found where leaves are attached. That growth is your clue that a viable node exists and may root. When cut into sections with at least one node present, stems can be laid down in the rooting media or stood up in it, depending on how supple they are. Perhaps the most common examples of commonly-taken stem cuttings besides the aforementioned vines are plants with canes such as bamboos, dumb canes (Dieffenbachia), and some begonias. Their leaves will wilt quickly so stem cuttings are not so successful. To root, canes need only one node, usually marked by a circle on the stem, and an inch or so of stem on either side. That means one naked cane can produce multiple plants, as I am hoping will happen for the sad Ti plant I am trying to save.

Root cuttings are more trouble to take than a simple tip snip, but are a tried-and-true way to propagate many woody plants. Spireas and other thin-stemmed shrubs can be difficult to root from skinny stem or tip cuttings. Instead, dig under the soil and take root cuttings about as big around as your index finger and 3-4 inches long. Thanks to the natural ability of plant cells to differentiate and become any necessary plant part, the root can grow roots and then sprout stems, leaves, and flowers. This quality also explains how tissue culture propagation works, but that is a topic for another day.

Less common but equally effective when appropriate are leaf cuttings. You’ll see this plant part used when no stem exists, such as you find in Gesneriads including African violet and gloxinia. In these cases, one stem with a leaf attached can produce a dozen tiny plants when the stem is plunged into the rooting media up to the leaf. They emerge at the growing point where stem and leaf connect. If no stem is available, an entire leaf can be scored with a sharp blade, laid on the rooting media, and misted to maintain moisture levels until plants sprout from the cut surfaces. To cut is to wound, and the natural tendency of a wounded organism is to do what is necessary to survive. When propagation occurs, it is because of the plant’s innate response to the wound even if we would like to think the plant wills itself to create future generations to sustain the environment. If that were so, propagation outcomes would be predictable but they are not. Depending on what kind of cutting you make, a liquid or powder Hormex product can be your best ally in the process. Choose the appropriate formulation of powdered Hormex for woody plant cuttings taken from tips and stems, and use liquid Hormex for beds of root cuttings and canes laid sideways in a flat or pot. Green plant cuttings of any sort can be dipped in powder or soaked in liquid Hormex or watered with it.

To summarize the dilemma of what kind of cutting to take, remember this: if the tip wilts, try the stem. To paraphrase another of those old saws, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again – but take cuttings from a different plant part. Be persistent and know that patience is truly a hard-won but valuable virtue, especially in plant propagation.

Nellie Neal is a passionate propagator and owner of GardenMama, Inc. She advocates for gardening 24/7 at her website, www.gardenmama.com. Ask questions and comment about this blog on the Contact Us page of www.hormex.com.

Welcome to A Passionate Propagator’s Blog!

This blog brings together the 50+ years of Hormex experience and a garden writer who never met a plant she didn’t want to propagate. Our goal is to provide useful information about reproducing a variety of plant materials in a way that engages your attention. I am the aforementioned woman who has grown up propagating plants for fun and, occasionally, profit. My name is Nellie Neal and I advocate for gardening 24/7 at my website, www.gardenmama.com. Hormex is, of course, the leader in rooting powders and liquids used by both professional and backyard growers everywhere. They are this blog’s inspiration and patron; I am its writer/photographer. New blogs will post weekly at www.Hormex.com, you will find propagating tips at my website, and I am available to field questions on the subject at either site. For too long, the subject of propagation has been a well-kept secret among gardeners, considered arcane or difficult or just nerdy to do. I am here to declare that in 2012 we propagators will come out and play in public, let people know how much pure joy there is in producing plants, and learn more together about our shared passion. So, let’s begin with my story.

On a road trips with my great aunt and uncle, I shared the backseat of a big Buick with whatever wouldn’t fit in the trunk on our way home. Azaleas from the growers around Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile, AL, were a particular favorite but she also favored roses and other shrubs grown at Roark’s Nursery west of Monroe, Louisiana. It was on a Sunday jaunt there that I finally bugged her enough to get a red wax begonia of my very own. A small pot, with leaves that almost covered it and flowers as red as the lipstick I hoped one day to wear. I put it on a sunny windowsill, watered it, and it grew. Neither the begonia nor I knew of the horticultural perils involved, thankfully, and we lived in close proximity for months. One day I returned from school to find mayhem, my begonia turned upside down on the floor with its tallest stem, shattered, 4 feet away and mangled. Our cat, usually as light-footed as Fred Astaire, missed the leap from my bed to his customary perch on the sill and toppled my beloved begonia as he scrambled to recover his dignity. I was shattered, too, and took what was left to my mother in trepidation. Would she be angry about the mess, and what of my plant?

She looked over her reading glasses at me and the disaster in my hands, put down the papers she was grading and smiled. With two well-placed thumbs, her perfect manicure repotted the begonia. I was used to that, as she could do anything, but then the magic happened. She snipped off the end of the broken stem and its bruised flower, added water to a coffee cup, and put in the broken stem, now a finely prepared cutting. Her instructions were simple, “Leave it on the windowsill with the other one, and close your door when you go to school so George can’t knock it over again.” I did, and in two weeks, little white roots shot out of the stem into the water! One favorite plant had become two, and I was forever hooked on plant propagation. So, if it is so simple, why don’t we stick every plant into a cup of water to root it? The answer is twofold. Many green plants will root in water as will a few woody ones, such as canes of angel trumpet clipped before frost and curly willow branches left in a vase. However, most woody plants cannot survive pure water for long, succulents and cacti will rot, and plants like poinsettia that exude latex will foul the water on their way out. In addition, the roots created in water are often adventitious, which means thin and rather fragile. They develop with no resistance and can be unprepared for the rigors of life in garden soil. That is why it is usually a good idea to pot up cuttings rooted in water for at least a few weeks in container growing mix before transplanting into garden beds. Think of it as a transition time, like moving tender plants indoors a few weeks before you plan to turn on the heating system to reduce leaf drop. By rooting in other media such as sand, vermiculite, or a host of prepared mixes, and by using the appropriate Hormex product to encourage the process, the plants you root will be sturdier by far.

Comments? Questions?

Write to GardenMama Nellie Neal: mama@gardenmama.com.