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LallyLuckFarm

@ LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org

Posts

161
Comments

1006
Joined

3 yr. ago

Small scale permaculture nursery in Maine, education enthusiast, and usually verbose.

Moderating

Nature and Gardening beehaw.org

6d ago

Help diagnose this vine?
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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 6d ago
Yes, I definitely think it's worth saving each section (I have a problem, and the problem is not enough plants). Those couple of shorter sections should be just fine for the few days it will take for them to begin rooting.
As for blue and purple together: I don't recommend removing the topmost leaf or bud (also called an apical bud) because they help to regulate the growth hormones of the plant and will have a stronger growth response than leaves or buds further down. Cutting a leaf as pictured below will preserve that hormone regulator but give the plant less to maintain while new roots are forming.

7d ago

Give 'em the BEANS

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 7d ago

Props to her, and also to you for proper attribution
Thank you for relaying that information
I dunno, not plant them? But that would've been way less cool

7d ago

The spots you picked to cut look good! I'd cut to favor blue, and let go of purple in favor of orange but great job. You can keep blue and purple on the same stem together, but if that pair look sad after a few days I'd recommend cutting across the leaves to remove 40-50% of each leaf. Doing that reduces the amount of water lost to respiration and the amount of leaf to maintain on reduced roots.

The ones you've rooted already look great. Another 2-3 days in water and they would be at a point where I would feel confident transferring them to potting soil. Keep in mind that those roots are delicate, so take care when you're firming them into the pot.

Water changes every 2-3 days is a good practice, more often if you notice any cloudiness in the water. The cuttings will release a little bit of rooting hormone into the water as they grow, spurring on the others, but not usually enough to change the appearance of the water.

7d ago

Give 'em the BEANS

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 7d ago

Beans, yo! You get +5 cool points for growing landrace plants, and another 5 for mob sowing in a pot!

1w ago

Help diagnose this vine?

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 1w ago

Oh. Oh. That's just not enough roots for that much stem. Let's not be pessimistic though, because you have a lot of material to work with! It will take a few more days, but that's okay too.First, I'm going to give you a picture of what I consider a good start for a rooted division, so you know the kind of look you're aiming for at first.

You're going to want to make a few additional cuts to the stem, and a handful of leaves. The little brown nubs are root nodes - they are important, and you want at least two on every section you're about to make. Think of the sections of stem as energy reserves, and do your best to make them long enough to stick out of the jar. It's time to make more plants!

Get a sharp, sterile pair of garden shears. Starting from the rooted bit you have, find the first decent looking leaf. Cut the main stem right above where the leaf connects to it. Don't damage the part where the leaf connects to the stem, because that's where the rest of your new plant will come from at first. Now go further up the stem until you find another mostly green leaf, and cut just above that one too. Go up the stem til you get to the last good leaf. If you want more cuttings than that, select the best from what's left. Remember about stem length.

Now remove every leaf that isn't your topmost/ best of each cutting. Place all your new cuttings into the water jar and let them rest. You'll start seeing some roots start to form after a few days, but if you pull your original rooted section when you see the others that's what you'll be looking for on the ones that stayed in your jar.

There are some succulent-specific substrate mixes you can find at garden stores, or you can see if your locally owned greenhouse will let you fill a bin with some of their high porosity substrate for a few bucks. Either would be good to mix with the bag you already invested in in order to balance out the moisture when you plant all your cuttings. If you don't actually want that many, this is a good time of year (assuming you're in the northern hemisphere) to donate the ones you don't want to a plant sale for a good cause; libraries, food charities, land trusts, and your master gardener volunteer chapters are some of the kinds of orgs you could consider.

1w ago

Help diagnose this vine?

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 1w ago

Do you have an idea of how much root mass there is? Too few roots and too much plant can lead to very harsh transplant shock, and the plant will abandon leaves and stem to rebalance itself. Best practice is to remove top growth when dividing to prevent the plant from going through enough shock to kill it (I run a small plant nursery and do lots of divisions).

I'd recommend removing it from the pot and substrate to place in water for a day or two - leave it somewhere without direct sunlight to help promote root growth over shoot growth. This will also give you an opportunity to gauge how much root mass there is compared to the rest of the plant. If they seem about even, don't worry about cutting the stem back. If there's more shoot than root, cut the stem back just above one of the leaf nodes.

Not to go overboard (too late?) but "moisture control" can apply to potting mixes that are high porosity (fast draining, low moisture holding) or those that have chemical wetting agents that hold water long after you've last applied any. If the moisture control stuff you got is from miracle gro I'd recommend taking some aside, placing it in a pot, and testing how long a given amount of water keeps it wet while you're rehabilitating your plant. This will give you better information to set your watering routine once your plant is happier. If it holds too much water you can increase the porosity and draining potential by mixing in some all purpose sand (not playground sand, it's too fine)

3w ago

Human urine made into fertiliser to help grow new forest

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 3w ago

I don't advocate use of urine for folks on persistent medications and the like, but otherwise the guidelines I use are pretty basic:

Direct use is fine for plants not being used for consumption, or for trees and shrubs where the food portion is off the ground and away from splash back. If they're where others can see you it might be better to use a container to be more discreet.

Anything else will get a helping of the homemade compost with homemade charcoal that's been used to sequester the nutrients (also homemade).

Iirc many of the contaminants will be salts which will get flushed with irrigation or precipitation, but folks can also just dilute urea with water 10:1 or more to reduce the likelihood of salt buildup in the soil

4w ago

My houseplants have small dead bugs around them, what are these? 🌿🐜

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 4w ago

@finitebanjo@feddit.online

Could be fungus gnats though our occasionals seem smaller than what's photographed.

What's worked for us for long term control of soil born pests is a combination of bottom watering and a layer of coarse sand for mulch for our indoor plants. Playground sand is too fine and can prevent proper gas exchange in the substrate but builder's sand works well. It's probably less expensive to call a landscape supply place near you and fill a bucket than to buy it in a box store unless you have enough indoor plants to use 50lbs/22.7kg. We use a large clay tray pot for the bottom watering and then everybody goes back to their own tray after a drink.

Fungus gnats in particular lay in wet soil, and not very deep. A few mm of sand keeps them from finding any hospitable place to lay their eggs. The bottom watering helps prevent any disturbance of the sand mulch which might reveal wet soil.

1mo ago

grow native plants

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 1mo ago

Sure do. Got about a thousand seedlings in the grow closet waiting for slightly higher outside temps

1mo ago

Overgrown trees

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 1mo ago

Best to ID the vines first. I use inaturalist for quick suggestions of what a plant might be if I don't recognize it, then compare close up pictures to what I'm seeing. This will let you know if you need any ppe for the task and can inform what you need to do afterwards to keep them from covering the tree again.

To your question - yes, cut the vines at their base. Some vines secure themselves very tightly to the tree, others have a looser hold. If these vines are wound very tightly to the tree it would be worth cutting them, then letting the upper growth die back before pulling it from the tree. Doing it this way can prevent damage to the bark and cambium of the trees you're freeing.

2mo ago

Time to get growing!

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 2mo ago

I totally didn't convert part of our home into a permanent place to overwinter trees and other plants

This is completely reasonable to do. It's maybe another week or so until every window in the place has a folding table covered in plants as well.

Don't forget to adopt another plant you don't have space for every time you leave home...

I'm already required to take either the dog or the toddler with me when I go anywhere, just so I can only bring home half as much. It's only a matter of time til I have to bring them both

2mo ago

Time to get growing!

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 2mo ago

Love it! And not just because I have a closet and a room full of starts and young trees while there's still 2+ feet of snow everywhere.

2mo ago

Gardening season reminder: look for local seed libraries!

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 2mo ago

Beat me to it! I just had a meeting this morning with our library director about who's going to be helping with our annual seed swap and seed library refresh (happening this Saturday and I'm stoked)

2mo ago

How to prune my bamboo?

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 2mo ago

Don't be afraid to get in there with some snips and open up some breathing room for the new shoots. Bending a few older shoots to get to the crowded sections won't really do too much to hurt the plants while they're dormant. There's a reason so much information about bamboo is how to get rid of it - it's very good at surviving. To add to that, if your plant is dormant for the winter, then almost all of the plants' energy is in their roots until the signals are there to push new growth.

Speaking of roots - winter is a good time to check your plants for any signs of being rootbound in their pots. If you can, try to shimmy the whole root ball out and see how much unoccupied soil is still in there. If it's roots all the way down, you can safely remove about a quarter of the root mass before replanting them (it's totally fine to sift out the roots you've removed and reuse the soil). Doing this will keep them from strangling themselves, which can happen to any plant left in pots for too long (it can happen other ways too, but that's not really useful here). Use a sharp knife or shovel - no use damaging more than you intend to - and disinfect your tool of choice in between plants with alcohol or bleach to prevent transferring any disease that might not be observable. That goes for what you use to cut the growth above the soil line, too.

2mo ago

Conservation’s prejudice: Ecology is pervaded by a nativist dogma against invasive species that distorts the science and undermines wildness

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LallyLuckFarm @beehaw.org 2mo ago

"Invasive species" is a technical ecology term used to describe plants and animals that face no predation in a given environment and have a negative effect on the other species native to that environment. Like many other scientific terms, it was misused by people without the technical understanding.

The crux of your argument is species drift compared to forced mass introduction, but there's a huge difference between them. It's similar to the difference in outcomes that can occur when somebody surfaces after deep diving. Go slow enough, and the systems have an opportunity to acclimate to the changes and respond. Go quickly enough, and things break and start impacting systems around them in a cascade. That's the thing that gets missed every time I see this sentiment.