A good gardening tip is that you can make more plants from your existing house and garden plants. This will cut out the expense of buying new house and garden plants. Look around for healthy plants to take the stem cuttings from to plant in a peat moss mixture using rooting hormone. This is what is called the mother plant. Make sure the mother plant has enough stems so the cutting will not kill the mother plant.

If you start your house and garden plants from stem cuttings instead of seeds it will take half the time to root. There a just a few things you will need : a mother plant, a flat for potting with a peat moss mixture, a sharp knife or razor blade, rooting hormone, containers for holding water and rooting hormone, alcohol, pencil or a stick, and a plastic bag.

Common sense tells you that you should take a stem cutting from the plant’s thickest green non flowering stems. The spot where the leaf attaches to the stem, known as the node, are the best place for you to take the stem cutting. The plants growth rooting hormones are concentrated there. Choose green, non-woody stems for taking the stem cuttings from the mother plant. Newer growth is easier to root than woody stems.

Cut with a sterilized instrument, either a very sharp knife or a razor blade, just below the node and then make another slanted cut about two or three inches further up the plant. This should provide you a stem cutting about three inches in length with two or three nodes. Trim off the side shoots and remove most of the leaves leaving a few since the stem cutting will need the leaves to provide food. Any large leaves must be removed as their wilting stresses the stem cutting and will definitely slow down the rooting process.

With your sterilized instrument make a clean cut in the bottom node. The roots will be formed from the sliced node.

Fill a clean plant pot or container with a peat moss potting mix to hold your stem cuttings for rooting. By using a peat moss potting mix you are giving the plant an atmosphere where the cutting will stay moist, not wet and sloppy.

You can make your own peat moss mixture; here are a couple of recipes:

½ sand and ½ peat moss or

½ perlite and ½ peat moss or

½ sand and ½ vermiculite or

½ perlite and ½ vermiculite or

Equal parts sand, perlite, vermiculite or peat moss instead of vermiculite.

Start by dipping the bottom inch of the stem cutting into the water and then the rooting hormone. This will help to speed up the creation of roots. The rooting hormone stimulates the stem cutting to send out new roots from the node. You will need to dip the cutting into the water and then into the rooting hormone. Tap off the excess as to not jeopardize your success with this stem cutting. If, after you have finished with your stem cuttings you have some of the rooting hormone left, throw it away. Once a stem cutting has touched it the rooting hormone becomes activated.

Moisten the peat moss potting mixture and poke holes in it to accommodate your plants. By making holes in the peat moss rooting medium with the pencil or the stick it will ensure that the rooting hormone remains on the cutting, not on the potting mixture surface. This will improve chances of rooting the stem cuttings and creating new house or garden plants. After you have successfully placed the stem cutting in the medium, gently press the potting mixture around it. You should plant your cuttings about 4-5 inches apart to allow for air circulation and room to root.

Place the container into a plastic bag and put it in a warm spot in the house. The reason for the bag is to keep the stem cuttings in high humidity and to hold in heat. You are creating a mini Greenhouse that takes up very little space. Don’t seal the bag as you need to allow for air circulation. Only after you see new growth should the cuttings be placed in a sunny area. Keep checking you stem cuttings. If the bag shows condensation you are likely giving it too much moisture. Take off the bag and let it dry out a little.

The way to test for new root growth is to gently pull on the plant after a few weeks. If there is resistance the plants are ready to be transferred into individual pots. Now you will have a new plant that you have cultivated from the mother plant.

Now use all these gardening tips and grow some new plants using stem cuttings.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at http://www.GardeningHerb.com http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com and http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com

Thanks To : BabyForMom.com

Price : $10.65

Product Description

With few exceptions-such as corn and pumpkins-everything edible that’s grown in a traditional garden can be raised in a container. And with only one exception-watering-container gardening is a whole lot easier. Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer, seeds and propagation, THE BOUNTIFUL CONTAINER is an extraordinarily complete, plant-by-plant guide.

Written by two seasoned container gardeners and writers, THE BOUNTIFUL CONTAINER covers Vegetables-not just tomatoes (17 varieties) and peppers (19 varieties), butharicots verts, fava beans, Thumbelina carrots, Chioggia beets, and sugarsnap peas. Herbs, from basil to thyme, and including bay leaves, fennel, and saffron crocus. Edible Flowers, such as begonias, calendula, pansies, violets, and roses. And perhaps most surprising, Fruits, including apples, peaches, Meyer lemons, blueberries, currants, and figs-yes, even in the colder parts of the country. (Another benefit of container gardening: You can bring the less hardy perennials in over the winter.) There are theme gardens (an Italian cook’s garden, a Four Seasons garden), lists of sources, and dozens of sidebars on everything from how to be a human honeybee to seeds that are All America Selections.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-10-22
Item received on time and in condition as described. Would do business with this seller again!

Review date : 2008-09-22
For an apartment-dweller this is an inspiring and helpful book on how to keep your hands in the dirt and eat your own home-grown veggies!!! LOVE it!

Review date : 2008-08-23
Unfortunately, although I read very good reviews on this book, it is not what I expected and doesn’t cover many vegetables in great detail. Most of what I’m growing in containers is not covered in this book, which is what I was hoping for. Probably my fault, I should have researched more before buying.

Review date : 2008-07-09
I checked this out from my library expecting just to glance at a few topics, but I ended up reading every word! In fact, I only returned it to the library because it had a hold on it- so I decided to buy it This is a great book- very thorough and as a beginning gardener it made me feel very encouraged to try anything I wanted. I am so glad I bought this! Oh, and no problems with shipping, it came right on time.

Review date : 2008-06-26
This is like an encyclopedia for new gardeners like me.
It gives advice for every veggie and flower and helps
with ideas for combining plants so you get a good-sized
harvest.
 

Price : $10.65

Product Description

With few exceptions-such as corn and pumpkins-everything edible that’s grown in a traditional garden can be raised in a container. And with only one exception-watering-container gardening is a whole lot easier. Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer, seeds and propagation, THE BOUNTIFUL CONTAINER is an extraordinarily complete, plant-by-plant guide.

Written by two seasoned container gardeners and writers, THE BOUNTIFUL CONTAINER covers Vegetables-not just tomatoes (17 varieties) and peppers (19 varieties), butharicots verts, fava beans, Thumbelina carrots, Chioggia beets, and sugarsnap peas. Herbs, from basil to thyme, and including bay leaves, fennel, and saffron crocus. Edible Flowers, such as begonias, calendula, pansies, violets, and roses. And perhaps most surprising, Fruits, including apples, peaches, Meyer lemons, blueberries, currants, and figs-yes, even in the colder parts of the country. (Another benefit of container gardening: You can bring the less hardy perennials in over the winter.) There are theme gardens (an Italian cook’s garden, a Four Seasons garden), lists of sources, and dozens of sidebars on everything from how to be a human honeybee to seeds that are All America Selections.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-10-22
Item received on time and in condition as described. Would do business with this seller again!

Review date : 2008-09-22
For an apartment-dweller this is an inspiring and helpful book on how to keep your hands in the dirt and eat your own home-grown veggies!!! LOVE it!

Review date : 2008-08-23
Unfortunately, although I read very good reviews on this book, it is not what I expected and doesn’t cover many vegetables in great detail. Most of what I’m growing in containers is not covered in this book, which is what I was hoping for. Probably my fault, I should have researched more before buying.

Review date : 2008-07-09
I checked this out from my library expecting just to glance at a few topics, but I ended up reading every word! In fact, I only returned it to the library because it had a hold on it- so I decided to buy it This is a great book- very thorough and as a beginning gardener it made me feel very encouraged to try anything I wanted. I am so glad I bought this! Oh, and no problems with shipping, it came right on time.

Review date : 2008-06-26
This is like an encyclopedia for new gardeners like me.
It gives advice for every veggie and flower and helps
with ideas for combining plants so you get a good-sized
harvest.