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Thursday, April 19, 2007
Free Plants from Cuttings
The Frugal Gardener has some great tips. This one I'll expand upon after the quote: "...Learn to grow plants from cuttings. There are a variety of ways to prepare cuttings depending on the plant so a little study is necessary. Timing is also of great importance to the success of getting the plant cutting to generate on its own. That being said, it's not difficult to accomplish once you know the correct procedure for your type of plant. Spending some time to study the best way to go about using cuttings from the plants you want will help ensure that you have a beautifully full garden. ..." Tomatoes: Cuttings from Determinate varieties don't seem to work, indeterminates (ones that just keep growing and producing) are the best.Potatoes:"...If we employ slightly more sophisticated methods, we can take cuttings from a Russet Burbank potato plant such as the upper portion of the stems, treat the stems with rooting powder and plant the stems in soil. The plant will grow and produce Russet Burbank potatoes. ..." from phytocultures.com
Marjoram "... Marjoram cannot tolerate subfreezing temperatures, so it usually is grown as an annual, but it can be carried over because it is one of the easiest herbs to propagate from stem cuttings (described below), and it grows beautifully indoors in winter near a sunny, south-facing window.
In the garden, marjoram never grows more than 15 inches tall, and the soft stems tend to sprawl as they mature, so this herb makes a good edging plant. You can start with seed sown indoors in late winter, but germination usually is only about 50 percent, and early growth is very slow; a faster option is to buy new plants in spring. ..." Link to Mother Sweet Potato "... Just before frost, take cuttings of sweet potato vines and put them in water. When roots appear, transplant them into 6-inch pots and grow them in a south-facing window. By early spring, they will have developed into vines that also can be cut and rooted, allowing you to increase the number of starts for setting out in late spring. ..."Link