How To Create New House and Garden Plants By Using Stem Cuttings And Rooting Hormone
A good gardening tip is that you can make more plants from your existing home and garden plants. This will cut out the expense of buying new home 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 mom plant. Make sure the mom plant has enough stems so the slicing will not kill the mom plant.
If you begin your home 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 mom 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 slicing from the plant’s thickest green non flowering stems. The spot where the leaf attaches to the stem, known as the node, are the ideal place for you to take the stem cutting. The plants growth rooting hormones are concentrated there. Select green, non-woody stems for taking the stem cuttings from the mom 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 wage you a stem slicing 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 slicing will need the leaves to wage food. Any massive leaves must be removed as their wilting stresses the stem slicing 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 region where the slicing 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 slicing into the water and then the rooting hormone. This will help to speed up the creation of roots. The rooting hormone stimulates the stem slicing to send out new roots from the node. You will need to dip the slicing 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 completed with your stem cuttings you have some of the rooting hormone left, throw it away. Once a stem slicing 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 home or garden plants. After you have successfully place the stem slicing in the medium, gently press the potting mixture around it. You should plant your cuttings about 4-5 inches apart to grant for air circulation and room to root.
Place the container into a plastic bag and place 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 tiny space. Don’t seal the bag as you need to grant for air circulation. Only after you see new growth should the cuttings be place 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 mom 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 might 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.
About the Author
Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This grants 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.CruiseTravelDirectory.com, http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com, and http://www.GardeningHerb.com
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