I'm A Cheapskate: Propagation - Easy Ways to Double Your Plants for Free!

Fall is the time to take cutting for many shrubs - and its easy to do. You can propagate hydrangeas for example, for free (not patented varieties!) instead of paying $25 for a two year old plant! If you have neighbors with nice gardens, ask if they will share some cuttings with you - gardeners love to share and its a great way to start a conversation with your neighbors. Much of my plants have come from divisions and cuttings from my wonderful neighbors and from fellow Master Gardeners.

Nov 7 Master Gardener recert class has a session on propagation as its a question we are getting more and more as money continues to be tight for most of us... but you can get a jump start with the info below!


*********


Prior Planning Yields Results- Growing Shrubs from Cuttings
By Don Janssen, UNL Extension Educator

You like your new home, but the landscaping is a little sparse. So is your landscaping budget. But a friend has offered you starts of several shrubs. This is great, but you have a few questions, which boil down to what, when and how do you start new shrubs from cuttings?

The first step is to select healthy, vigorously growing plants as the sources of your cuttings. Then, in the fall, after the leaves drop, select one-year-old stems, which are usually lighter colored and smaller in diameter than older stems.

Use a sharp knife to cut stems 1 to 2 feet long. Cut the stems into sections 6 to 8 inches long, discarding the top couple of inches. Make sure each section has several leaf buds, or nodes, and make cuts 2 inch above or below a node.

Stems have a definite up and down orientation and they won’t root and grow if you plant them upside-down. So establish some sort of system for keeping them sorted out -- cut the bottom of each piece straight across and the top at a slant, or place them upright in a tin can or figure out some other way to make it easy to tell which end should be up.

Dipping the bottom end of each cutting in rooting hormone will increase the chances of success.

Store the dormant cuttings over the winter in bundles bound with rubber bands or string in a box filled with slightly moist sand, sawdust or vermiculite. If you took cuttings from several kinds of shrubs, label each bundle. Store the box in a cold but not freezing area, such as a garage, unheated attic or root cellar. An alternative is to store them in plastic bags with the sand, sawdust or vermiculite mix and place them in a refrigerator.

In the spring, retrieve the cuttings before the leaves on growing shrubs begin to open, dip the bottom end of each cutting in rooting hormone and plant them in a protected area of the garden. Dig a trench about as deep as the cuttings are long, place a couple of inches of coarse sand in the bottom, and stand the cuttings up in the sand about 6 inches apart. Fill in the trench with a mixture of soil and compost, sand or perlite so that only the top bud of each cutting is visible. Firm the mixture around the cuttings and water well.

Water as needed to keep this nursery area moist but not soggy, and shade cuttings with cloth or a piece of lattice supported by stakes until they are growing well. When plants develop leaves and start to grow larger, begin feeding them monthly during the growing season with a complete soluble fertilizer.

By the next spring, they should be ready to be moved to their permanent spots in the landscape.

Source: November 2009 Edition of the Acreage & Small Farm Insights Newsletter from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL) Extension Acreage team, a monthly electronic newsletter providing new and established acreage owners with timely information. Visit the Acreage & Small Farm web site at http://acreage.unl.edu

How to Plant Trees Correctly - Simple Tips for Success

Fall is an excellent time to plant trees, but don't throw away your investment by failing to plant it correctly. Follow these simple tips for the highest chances of success. Be sure to watch landscaping contractors too - I've had landscapers plant large trees with the root ball still burlapped - at the time I didnt know any better and they told me it would biodegrade - but the tree roots grow around inside the ball in the meantime and ended up strangling itself - I just had to pull up an entire hedge of bay laurels that had been planted this way and were dying. What a waste!

********
8. Techniques for Successful Tree Planting
By Don Janssen, UNL Extension Educator

Healthy trees contribute to the beauty and the value of your home landscape. Select and maintain trees with these tips.

Select hardy species with typically few problems with insects or diseases, and plant them in a site that meets their requirements for drainage, soil pH, sunlight, moisture, etc. Avoid problem-prone trees -- those with serious insect and disease problems and weak wood or branching patterns that make them susceptible to storm damage. Hardiness refers to a tree’s ability to survive a normal winter in your area. Marginally hardy plants might live through a series of mild winters or survive in a sheltered area, but they are unlikely to perform as well as plants native to our region. Make sure the planting site gives the tree room to reach its mature size.

Plant properly. Dig a large planting hole and place the tree at the same level it was growing at in the nursery. Be sure to remove all non-biodegradable materials from the trunk or root ball before planting, and redirect or remove any roots growing around the root ball -- they may eventually girdle and kill the plant. Water to settle soil around the roots -- hard tamping can compact the soil and damage the roots.

Water newly planted trees during dry weather for the first growing season or two after planting. Limited root systems make them more vulnerable to drought, and drought stress can, in turn, make them more susceptible to insect attack and other problems.

Stake and guy wire newly planted trees as needed to prevent wind damage and promote quick establishment of a sturdy, supportive root system.

Protect landscape plants from damage by lawn mowers, string trimmers and other landscape equipment, as well as herbicides and other lawn and garden chemicals. Mulching around landscape ornamentals keeps the lawnmower at a safe distance. It also helps conserve soil moisture and reduce the frequency of watering during dry weather. Keep herbicides out of the root zone of landscape trees as much as possible. If you must use them, apply them in the fall when woody plants are growing less vigorously and so are less likely to take up and suffer damage from such chemicals.

Avoid using deicing salt around landscape plants. Place sensitive plants away from roadways where airborne salt spray or salt in the root zone can injure them, and avoid piling salt-laden snow or ice near plants.

Remove broken, dead or diseased branches promptly and properly. Leave no stubs or ragged bark that could give insects or diseases a place to get established.

Fertilize established plants every year to keep them growing vigorously, and water even long-established trees in extended dry periods.

Avoid changes in the growing site that may damage roots or alter drainage. Protect trees from injury to bark or roots during construction.
_________________________________________________________





Source: November 2009 Edition of the Acreage & Small Farm Insights Newsletter from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL) Extension Acreage team, a monthly electronic newsletter providing new and established acreage owners with timely information. Visit the Acreage & Small Farm web site at http://acreage.unl.edu

How To Keep Your Chickens Laying Over Winter

This info was invaluable to me when my chickens stopped laying last fall and I couldnt figure out why. As soon as I got a light into their coop, eggs, reappeared within a week! This year I moved to a bigger coop - part of a 30x20 barn and have not got electricity installed yet so sure enough the eggs have stopped again! I have been looking for a solar panel powered light but have not been able to find one - any ideas?

********
6. How to Keep Your Hens Laying Through the Winter
By Sheila Scheideler, UNL Extension Poultry Specialist

Do you want to keep your hens in egg production through the winter months?? Then you have to trick them into thinking they still have long days and short nights rather than the reverse.

The laying hen's reproductive tract works off something we call a “photoperiod” or more simply said the ability of the hen to react to a light stimulation. That is why wild birds nest and lay eggs in the spring during increasing daylight. In order for a hen that is already laying eggs to keep laying eggs during a naturally decreasing day length, we must provide an artificial stimulation of increased day length to trick her into thinking it is still summer and spring.

Poultry need a minimum day length of 14 hours light in order to continue regular ovulation and egg production activity. Our day lengths in Nebraska typically become less than 14 hours by mid-September. So often we see our laying hens backing off their rate of egg production as we go through the fall months and approach winter.

The simple solution to this problem is to contain your hens in a coop after dusk and offer artificial lighting up to approximately 10:00 pm each evening. The artificial light provided does not have to be intense, a small wattage lamp should be adequate if you can see well enough to do chores.

The light needs to come on at dusk. If the hens are exposed to more than one hour of dark, they think it is really night-time and will not think they need to produce an egg for the next day. So through most of the fall and winter, if the sun is up by 8:00 AM and your birds are exposed to adequate natural day length, adding artificial light to 10:00 pm each day will give your hens a 14 hour photoperiod. That should be enough light stimulation to keep their reproductive activities going.

The hens are also going to need some protection from the cold and adequate food intake to keep laying eggs through the winter months. If the hen has to use all of her food sources to keep warm, she’ll not be inclined to spend valuable calories on egg production. So if your hens are free range and out in the cold, be sure to increase their feeding rate to provide energy for both body heat production and egg production.

Source: November 2009 Edition of the Acreage & Small Farm Insights Newsletter from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL) Extension Acreage team, a monthly electronic newsletter providing new and established acreage owners with timely information. Visit the Acreage & Small Farm web site at http://acreage.unl.edu