BYC gardening thread!!

[chickadoodles]

Chickadoodles great trees. The white tree it can be Japanese lilac. They smell divine. And its just the time when they bloom.

Wow thank you. I think I might try to root a few pieces and plant them in my orchard. Wow it smells great!

 

[dan26552]

So I was looking at my peanut rows (For the hundredth time this week) And guess what? They're up! Nearly all that I planted are up

And they're at least 3 years old

 

[MeatTheFlockers]

Frugal tip . I bought a 4 pack of tomatoes . Cut the tops off above a leaf . Potted the cuttings . They will wilt . Keep in the shade and warm . Within a week they will perk up . Meaning the cuttings have rooted . They will catch up with the originals . You loose a few days but they grow fast .I potted the originals into solo cups also . In a couple of weeks I will plant them in the garden .

I assume the new growth from the original plants comes in the form of suckers or new shoots at the soil level? Why not just root suckers? Suckers are new growth tips/stems anyway and it wont affect the original plant, no delay either. Suckers can also be rooted in plain water and then hardened off and planted that way. Topping the plant that small seems counter productive and totally unecessary to me. Peppers on the other hand respond quite well to being topped young. Forces more lateral branching as opposed to vertical growth and makes for a bushier, fuller pepper plant.

 

[jerryse]

I assume the new growth from the original plants comes in the form of suckers or new shoots at the soil level? Why not just root suckers? Suckers are new growth tips/stems anyway and it wont affect the original plant, no delay either. Suckers can also be rooted in plain water and then hardened off and planted that way. Topping the plant that small seems counter productive and totally unnecessary to me. Peppers on the other hand respond quite well to being topped young. Forces more lateral branching as opposed to vertical growth and makes for a bushier, fuller pepper plant.

New growth comes from the leaf node . I use suckers later for a late crop . At this point there are no suckers . This is just a cost saving for my few early plants . I also start seeds but never early enough for plants this size at this time . Just sharing what I do . Unnecessary ? Sure I could just buy 8 .

 

[MeatTheFlockers]

New growth comes from the leaf node . I use suckers later for a late crop . At this point there are no suckers . This is just a cost saving for my few early plants . I also start seeds but never early enough for plants this size at this time . Just sharing what I do . Unnecessary ? Sure I could just buy 8 .

New growth from a leaf node is a sucker no? I always thought topping like that caused lateral branching which isn't the same as new growth. Within 1-2 weeks any indeterminate should have sizable suckers that could be rooted. At least in my experience. What's the recovery time for the original plant? Since you are completely chopping the plant you eliminated all growth, having to wait for new growth anyway right? Basically having to wait for both the plant and the cutting to restablish themselves. I totally get what you are trying to do, and by no means saying it's wrong, so I apologize if it came off that way. Just trying to make sense of your process. If you planted the original as is, and then rooted the first suckers isn't that the same end result?

 

[lazy gardener]

It would depend entirely on the growing season, and the availability of plant material at the desired time. Here, in the north, it would never work to wait long enough for a tomato plant in the ground to sucker to provide new plant material. By the time they get that big, the season is well under the way, and we often have a struggle to get tomatoes to ripen before first frost if we don't have access to a green house/cold frame. However, if not growing your own seedlings, and plants are available at the nurseries early in the season, this approach would be great. Because the plant already had good size, it would out pace seedlings. Tomato cuttings readily root, so the tops would take off and do well. The remaining rooted stem would do best if there were a few leaf nodes to send out new top growth. However, I wonder if this would work as well for determinates as it will for indeterminates.

 

[MeatTheFlockers]

It would depend entirely on the growing season, and the availability of plant material at the desired time.  Here, in the north, it would never work to wait long enough for a tomato plant in the ground to sucker to provide new plant material.  By the time they get that big, the season is well under the way, and we often have a struggle to get tomatoes to ripen before first frost if we don't have access to a green house/cold frame.  However, if not growing your own seedlings, and plants are available at the nurseries early in the season, this approach would be great.  Because the plant already had good size, it would out pace seedlings.  Tomato cuttings readily root, so the tops would take off and do well.  The remaining rooted stem would do best if there were a few leaf nodes to send out new top growth.    However, I wonder if this would work as well for determinates as it will for indeterminates.

With that technique you essentially negate any size to your original plant. All you have is a developed root system. It now will either send new shoots from the root system or new growth will show in the "crotch" where a leaf branch\node meets the stem, i.e. suckers. Any advantage in time would be slight if at all in my opinion, either way you are having to wait for your cutting or sucker to recover and establish roots. That's the point I'm trying to make. Small suckers typically respond better to being cut and rooted as well in my opinion. I grow single and two stem plants and am constantly pruning suckers all year long. I've also seen it done where you put a tube or collar of sorts on a well developed sucker say over 12 inches, fasten to said sucker, fill with dirt, and let it root while still attached to the mother plant. You then cut branch and remove said collar and plant your newly established plant. I frequently get flower buds and have even had fruit set on plants that still reside in solo cups if my plant out is delayed. Same with nursery plants. Those have potential to be first fruits, the chopping technique I assume negates that. Just another reason I would plant as is and just wait for suckers. Jerryse obviously has success with his technique, and thats great. However I dont think thats a typical approach.

 

[dan26552]

Planted out my squash.
Mostly summer and zucchini but theres 4 spaghetti squash.

 

[dan26552]

Here's a volunteer squash, I'm not 100% sure what it is but I do know that it's either a butternut or a spaghetti though I'm leaning more towards spaghetti because I don't think the pigs had butternut in that area, though either one is fine by me.

 

[chickadoodles]

Planted out my squash.
Mostly summer and zucchini but theres 4 spaghetti squash.

Nice! I love squash.

Here's a volunteer squash, I'm not 100% sure what it is but I do know that it's either a butternut or a spaghetti though I'm leaning more towards spaghetti because I don't think the pigs had butternut in that area, though either one is fine by me.

talk about recycled!