I decided that this dreary, grey, snowy day would be good to make cuttings of my enormous ficus benjamina that lives in the greenhouse. Making cuttings is an inexpensive project for Horticulture Therapy. The activity is good to show persons how to propogate... how with effort and patience, other plants will grow. The ficus has been living in the greenhouse at least 5 years now. This is a picture from a two years ago and the trunk and the branches have almost doubled. I spray it with horticulture oil to keep the scale off the leaves and stems. Its' trunk probably would say that it is between 10 and 15 years old. Presently, I push the tree under the dripping roof in the greenhouse for all the natural water it can handle. It has rewarded me with lots of new growth and more height and teeny weeny green balls (figlets??? LOL).
So, I took out the hedge clippers this morning and filled a large plastic bag with cuttings. As you can see from the picture below, we cut off small branches off of the large branch. Although they are large cuttings, I am going to try this activity. When I made very small cuttings, the vetera
ns got bored way too quickly because they could not see progress.Here you can see the cutting. We even used rooting hormone...
What is a 'rooting hormone"? Hi btw . . . just stopped through and read your interesting post on Horticulture and learned some things but have that question . . .
ReplyDeletesharing the light,
Erica Hidvegi
Rooting Hormone is a substance that one applies to the ends of the cutting to stimulate root growth. Some cuttings easily grow roots, ie pothos, ivy, and wandering jew. however, the pithier plants need an extra oopmf. you can buy it commercially in a garden shop. thanks for making a comment!!
ReplyDeleteAre there specific rules about cuttings? I always wonder about that.
ReplyDeletei suppose there are rules... some plants are patented. you are not supposed to make cutting off of them for commercial purposes. i only make cuttings off of stuff that is mine and that is not known to be patented... for example, i buy annual plugs (really baby plants) and they are patented varieties. i have to pay royalties to the grower! it would be a no-no to make cutting off of them...
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