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Ours are kept a bag, in a dark cabinet in an air conditioned room. They are at least three years old, and show no signs of degradation.

@@malcolmmanners1342 Thank you!

Usually the last half of February.

@@malcolmmanners1342 Thank you!!!!

They have become naturalized in our area. Once they find a mealybug infestation, they seem to clean it up in a few days.

I'm sorry I don't know peony viruses. But different plant viruses may be transmitted very differently -- by insects, or mites, or even by rough handling. So I don't know.

Glad you're getting success. If you have a good notch above the scion to prevent flow of materials (auxin) from above, in the rootstock, the scion should sprout out about the same time as the top of the rootstock.

@@malcolmmanners1342 the brown hairy bud of the scion keeps swelling and peeling off easily. Its the second time today. What do you think might be going on with the graft

@@Raisen6331 It sounds like it may be starting to grow.

Thanks! Hope you have great success.

Thanks!

Thanks for the comment. I don't know that it's worth of a video, but I started making soap in January, 2015. I had had a friend for many years who told me she made soap. As I traveled, whenever I would see hand-made soap for sale, I'd often buy a bar and give it to her as a souvenir. (I now realize that giving soap to a soap maker is a bit strange...). I have a background in chemistry and botany, so the science of it also interested me. Then I started teaching a course called Plants and Society. In that class, we discuss how various crops and plant products have affected human civilization. I started looking for things we could do in the lab that would broaden students' awareness of how much of our daily lives involves plant products. It occurred to me that soap was such a product -- everyone uses it, but few ever wonder where it comes from or how it's made. I started making it by myself, and for a while, thought it may be too dangerous to have a class of college students do as a lab project. But over the years, we have figured out ways to make it sufficiently safe (I pre-mix the lye solution, make sure we have full personal protection equipment, etc.), and so now, for several years, it is a regular and popular part of that class. While I do often use tallow or lard in soaps I make personally, for that class, we always do everything plant-based. Students research each oil, the crop it comes from, where it is grown, if there are human rights or other sociological issues involved in its production, etc. I'm also the faculty advisor for one of our fraternities, and it has become a fund-raising project of theirs to make soap and sell it. I always oversee those soap-making parties.

@@malcolmmanners1342 Thank you for the detailed response, it definitely explains why you make these videos. It sounds like you've found a wonderful medium to explore human culture and history, while also allowing students to broaden their understanding and knowledge of the products they interact with on a daily basis. I look forward to more videos!

I suppose either could be the problem. I think the biggest challenge is speed -- from the time you cut the scion until it is enclosed under the stock bark should be just a few seconds at most. Otherwise the wounded surface can start to dry out and several layers of cells can die. Then the scion and stock can't heal together.

They were excellent! My friend did not take them all, so we've been using them in our college greenhouse for several months. They clean well and a bar lasts a very long time.

email me malcolmmanners@me.com

My condolences about your loss of your mom. There is a good chance the tree was a seedling, if only 2 inches tall, so there is also a good chance the stump will sprout out on its own. It may send up several shoots, and if you want a single-trunk tree eventually, you should break off all but the strongest, straightest, most vertical new shoot. I would not expect you to be successful grafting part of the top back onto the base, unless you did so within a very short time after the break occurred, and assuming you are an experienced grafter. Best wishes! I hope the base regrows.

Hi Nicole. Thanks. I do sometimes use a stick blender, but I've had several encounters with tiny bubbles in the soap or soap that thickened too fast, so I do tend to use a wire whisk recently. That gives me more time to get the batter just right, and is less likely to incorporate air. Of course many other people use stick blenders with great success, so the problem may be mine!

I suppose that might help, but even then, evaporation from the surface will give some cooling. And while I've not tried it, I have to wonder if that bit of extra stress might end up killing too many of the plants; they are already severely stressed in the process.

Thanks Jovan. We stratify our seeds in a home-type refrigerator for 3 months, then plant in 2x2x6 inch plastic pots (see my video on rooting rose cuttings -- those are the pots). After they've grown several inches high, we transfer them to the larger pots. They are grown in a warm greenhouse and fertilized regularly. You don't say where you are, but I wonder if you may be growing them under cooler conditions? That would slow them down. Also, are you growing M. grandiflora, or one of the more cold-hardy deciduous types? I wonder if we may get more growth out of grandiflora, in a year? Malcolm

@@malcolmmanners1342 Thank you very much for detailed answer. I'm in Serbia, in Europe. Our climate is zone 7a. We have very hot and long summers and used to have cold winters, but now they are getting milder... I have few magnolia grandiflora trees, they grow here just fine, and flower whole summer. But never could make them grow more than 8 inches high in their first year. I stratify just like you, I just planted them, few days ago in a heated greenhouse, cause they started to produce root. Usually i plant them in round 5inch pot,4inch deep, thays about a 1/4 of a gallon ij volume. Guess thats my mistake, will try your way, i hope it will be better.

My first thought would be to ask if it can be propped and staked back up, without a heavy pruning? If not, it should be ok to prune it once you're getting cool weather. I presume you're pretty far south, since you had a Norfolk pine?

@@malcolmmanners1342 Thank you. We are in Venice Florida. I pruned it back and did my best to stake it up. It produces the most gorgeous roses! I wouldn’t want to lose it. 😬

Sounds like you did the right things. I use sodium lactate (1 tsp per lb of oils). After about 24 hours, I put it in the freezer for an hour or two. Then I set it on the side, and break the seal all around by pressing on the side spines (see 12:19 and after). Best wishes with future batches!

Thanks.

That sounds interesting. I hope it works well for you.

Thanks Chris. I do have a template, but seldom use it, since I don't make soap that often anymore -- it ends up being less hassle to use the creases, if I'm just making one batch. But I certainly see the advantage, if you're making multiple batches.

@@malcolmmanners1342 Yeah, I haven't made soap since before Christmas, I've got it coming out my ears...hehehe I do enjoy the beautiful soap you make though. I'm a hot process girl. I took to experimenting with sour dough lately, a girls gotta have her bread...hehehe BTW... You know me also as, Ephesians 6:12...

Thanks Barbara. Yes that would give thicker stripes. But my "complaint" was not really about stripe thickness; rather, that the stripes' edges are not sharply defined.

Thanks Chris.

Yes, I always allow at least 4 weeks for a cold-process soap. I have no specific reason for that other than apparent tradition, and I've assumed there was good reason behind it.

It’s to allow time for evaporation of water making a harder, longer lasting bar. Ppl paying 8$ a bar don’t want it to disintegrate after a couple showers The jury is out on supposed “crystal “ formation during curing. But I know from experience a 4 month cured bar of soap has more lather than a 4 week cure 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'd recommend the bottle method. Cut the bottom off of a 2-liter Coke bottle. Pot up your cuttings in damp potting soil, and then push the bottle down into the soil to make a mini greenhouse. Give them bright light, but not mid-day sun, when the bottle could get too hot inside. This method works pretty well. Alternatively, you could use a large (2 gallon) zip-loc bag. Or just about any other clear cover that will keep the humidity in.

@@malcolmmanners1342 I have seen the bottle technique but I did not think of it for these cuttings. Thank you very much and I appreciate your fast reply. You have now given me many idea's!