Re: Jim's new picture links

Vermiculite tends to compact in time. After a year or so, it will have settled about 50 percent. At that time, I use a hand cultivator and rake it up pretty good, then simply add more new vermiculite [a top dressing, if you will].

The third year, I get rid of it and start over. By then it has packed down to the point where it likely would inhibit--rather than promote--root development. Because cuttings rotate through the boxes, some taking longer than others to root, the schedule for refreshing the boxes tends to slip somewhat.

I dump the spent vermiculite in my potting mix bin [my potting mix bin is a 30-gallon pot on house plant castors that I store under the potting bench. When I need to pot something elsewhere, I just roll the potting mix to the site. Much easier than lugging all the stuff around.]

Given time, I think vermiculite will set up like concrete, so you've got to change it. I've tried mixing perlite with it, but the results didn't impress me very much. The second nursery I worked in used perlite exclusively as a rooting medium under mist. there's a lot to be said for that, but it was in a greenhouse. In my case, however, when I tried it in the lath house, the wind blew the perlite into Lee county before anything rooted.

On Monday, July 12, 2004, at 08:38 PM, Kitty wrote:

thanks. BTW, your propagation beds filled with vermiculite - how often do
you change the medium, or do you just keep using the same for each new set
of cuttings?

Kitty

----- Original Message -----
From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 6:57 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Jim's new picture links


I didn't answer your question very well. Sorry, Kitty. With begonias,
parts of leaves work very well.
Just make sure you've got a main leaf rib buried.

On Monday, July 12, 2004, at 10:22 AM, Kitty wrote:

The begonia is wonderful, and interesting how you root things. Appears
you do not do it individually potted? How deep is that bed?
Jim is a wiz at propagation and since he can do it year round, it makes
sense to have an installed propagation bed. Here I have to do
temporary,
makeshift things, so containerized propagation makes more sense.
Nice pics, Jim. I've been meaning to prop some begonia leaf cuttings,
but I
was going to do it with parts of leaves. How were yours done?

Kitty

----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna" <justme@prairieinet.net>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 11:03 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Jim's new picture links


For your viewing pleasures, Island Jim has sent over three of his new
plants pictures. You can find them here:

http://simplymyworld.com/jimphotos.htm

They are the first three entries on the page, also dated 7-11-04.

Love the variegated taro... looks like a keeper, too bad not hardy
here.

The begonia is wonderful, and interesting how you root things. Appears
you do not do it individually potted? How deep is that bed?

Is that ginger variegated on the leaf tips? Suppose that's not hardy
here either:(

Donna

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4
Zone 10a
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]

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Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4
Zone 10a
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]

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