These did root well and will be read for sale next spring. Generally we have to grow a plant for 18 months. If you don’t sell them all they will keep growing and you may be able to raise the price.
Thanks for watching! Yes all deciduous. We have great success using the clear totes and highly recommend a similar set up for softwood and hardwood Azalea cuttings.
Nice video. I am familiar with this method of home propagation. Living in Southern Virginia, it is possible to do this method without covering the totes because it is so humid. My challenge is finding plants that are not patented! for propagation. I will look more carefully in the box stores this fall. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Hi thanks! Yes, you could leave the cuttings uncovered especially if you are in a very humid climate. You would then want to put drainage holes in the bottom of your pans. You could then just use inexpensive dish washing pans. We don’t do that as we don’t have a misting system and it’s just too dry. Mice get in too and nibble at the cuttings. The covered totes have been really reliable for us. It’s great that propagators keep coming up with new varieties of plants. The patent issue is a problem but the propagators are due their royalty. Some plants however are only trademarked. In that case you can’t use their trademarked name but you can propagate and sell these plants. Just do not use the trademarked name. We see this a lot with the arborvitaes, it’s an Emerald Green Arborvitae and a grower throws a trademarked name on them. Just don’t use their trademarked name and you are OK. Happy growing 🌲🌲🌲
Good question and we need to do a video about all this. Yes, a patented plant will often list the patent on the tag. But not always you may have to Google to find if the plant is really patented. What is tricky is some plant names are trademarked. A made up example, a New Jersey Arborvitae. This is just a Green Giant Arborvitae with a marketing name added. You can propagate these but not use the trademarked name.
Great video! Took several cuttings from my Formosa red and most didn't make it. Is the peat moss/perlite mix one of the best potting mixes for azaleas? Very familiar with peat moss and perlite.
Yes, We find the peat and perlite mix is really good at draining but stays moist. About 2/3 perlite and 1/3 peat is great. Azaleas have such super fine roots mediums like sand seem too heavy. Whereas sand is great for plants with more rugged roots like arborvitae. We are experimenting with the air holes in the sides of the clear plastic totes. So far so good. No noticeable green growing on the top of the soil. We are giving them a quick, weekly spray of water. These cuttings taken just a few weeks ago are already rooting. We will leave them to mature a little and then pot them up. We will shot a quick video. Thanks 🌲🌲🌲
After you have all the cuttings in a pot, do you keep them inside under a grow light? How much water do they need? Keep them moist or? How much should they grow before planting outside? Thanks.
Hi and thanks for the question. We keep the cuttings in the totes and they stay outside. No grow light needed. Check the tote monthly to make sure everything is staying moist. Add a little water as needed. We pot these up once well rooted. Some new growth may also occur and is a good sign that it is time pot them up. We slowly reduce humidity in the totes before we pot them up. Just open the lid by 25%, then 50% for a week or 2. Then pot them up and give them a little mist 1-2 a day. Keep the small plants in a shady area or a shade house. Thanks, Larry 🌲🌲🌲
Yes, thank you. We tried that and it work really well. Also have gotten better at slowly drilling them. Appreciate the tip as we have several to do and the soldering iron is the way to go. Thanks for watching 🌲🌲🌲
Yes, good questions. So, no holes in the bottom so you can hold good moisture but of course be careful not to over water. The perlite and peat mixture hold moisture well, so just check once every couple of weeks. It’s late July so these should be fairly well rooted by early Sept to even late September. Then we will pot them up and put in a safe location until spring. A shade house could work or a low tunnel type covering. Or you can leave them in the totes all winter. They will just go dormant until Spring. 🌲🌲🌲
I have found that with azaleas, the roots are so fine and get inner twined when I propagate them close together like that which causes them to have much transition and shock when I pop them up. Have you had any experience like that?
Yes, the roots are very fine and fragile. When we pop them out it’s good to use something like a spoon and grab a ball of the roots and the soil. Just leave the soil intact. Have not lost many in the process of potting them up but they are pretty fragile. A good tip is to pot them up in a similar mix of mostly perlite and peat moss. Well drained but light material so the roots can really grow out. It’s a bit of trial and error. Good luck 🌲🌲🌲
@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thank you for the reply! I might try this method to do some cuttings of things I have around the yard (various panicle hydrangeas, azaleas, rhododendrons etc.) and then just leave them in a clear bin outside and see if any survive the winter since I don't have any tunnel or greenhouse structures.
You should do fine leaving them in the totes over the winter. We take a lot of hardwood cuttings in the fall and winter and just leave them for the spring. Many root and do fine sitting in the tubs until we can get them planted. Nice thing about hardwood cuttings is you end up with a decent size plant if they root. The Rhododendron are the toughest and really the only plant we have trouble propagating. Recommend following @mikekincaid as he is an expert with Rhododendrons. Trying some using some of his methods come this August.
Hi James, thanks for your comment. We did a video on making soil mixes and covered CoCo Coir. We also did a considerable amount of research on CoCo Coir. A lot of misinformation floating around the web. We can’t cover it all here but it’s well worth researching. We continue to use Canadian Sphagnum Peat as it is a growing, self regenerating plant material that is very responsibly and sustainably produced. That may be different in places like Europe but in Canada the peat replenishes itself far faster than it is being used. The Coconut Choir works well but has issues. One is it is shipped across the world and requires a lot of fuel to transport. It’s a waste product which is great but the transportation costs and environmental impact are high. Peat is grown much closer. The Coir is fine for a lower volume application. Would be difficult and very expensive to use in a larger nursery. That said we use locally produced humus as of 45% of our main potting mix. Another 45% is ground hardwood bark that is also produced locally. Thank you! Larry
Thanks for watching! Maybe too much for some but we like to make sure we cover anything anyone would need to know. 13 1/2 minutes isn’t a big investment to learn to propagate possibly thousands of plants.
I’d love to see some of these now! Just over a year later… what size pots are they in now? are they old enough to sell yet? 😊
These did root well and will be read for sale next spring. Generally we have to grow a plant for 18 months. If you don’t sell them all they will keep growing and you may be able to raise the price.
Thanks so much! It is hard to find videos about azalea propagation. Most helpful and lots of great info. These are deciduous azalea?
Thanks for watching! Yes all deciduous. We have great success using the clear totes and highly recommend a similar set up for softwood and hardwood Azalea cuttings.
More,more,please more
Thank you, yes more coming for sure 🌲🌲🌲
Nice video. I am familiar with this method of home propagation. Living in Southern Virginia, it is possible to do this method without covering the totes because it is so humid. My challenge is finding plants that are not patented! for propagation. I will look more carefully in the box stores this fall. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Hi thanks! Yes, you could leave the cuttings uncovered especially if you are in a very humid climate. You would then want to put drainage holes in the bottom of your pans. You could then just use inexpensive dish washing pans.
We don’t do that as we don’t have a misting system and it’s just too dry. Mice get in too and nibble at the cuttings. The covered totes have been really reliable for us.
It’s great that propagators keep coming up with new varieties of plants. The patent issue is a problem but the propagators are due their royalty. Some plants however are only trademarked. In that case you can’t use their trademarked name but you can propagate and sell these plants. Just do not use the trademarked name. We see this a lot with the arborvitaes, it’s an Emerald Green Arborvitae and a grower throws a trademarked name on them. Just don’t use their trademarked name and you are OK.
Happy growing 🌲🌲🌲
@@Growing-Our-Retirement if plants have tags, would it always have a patent number if it’s patented?
Good question and we need to do a video about all this. Yes, a patented plant will often list the patent on the tag. But not always you may have to Google to find if the plant is really patented.
What is tricky is some plant names are trademarked. A made up example, a New Jersey Arborvitae. This is just a Green Giant Arborvitae with a marketing name added. You can propagate these but not use the trademarked name.
Thank you.
You're welcome, thanks for stopping by 🌲🌲🌲
Great video! Took several cuttings from my Formosa red and most didn't make it. Is the peat moss/perlite mix one of the best potting mixes for azaleas? Very familiar with peat moss and perlite.
Yes, We find the peat and perlite mix is really good at draining but stays moist. About 2/3 perlite and 1/3 peat is great. Azaleas have such super fine roots mediums like sand seem too heavy. Whereas sand is great for plants with more rugged roots like arborvitae.
We are experimenting with the air holes in the sides of the clear plastic totes. So far so good. No noticeable green growing on the top of the soil. We are giving them a quick, weekly spray of water.
These cuttings taken just a few weeks ago are already rooting. We will leave them to mature a little and then pot them up. We will shot a quick video. Thanks 🌲🌲🌲
After you have all the cuttings in a pot, do you keep them inside under a grow light? How much water do they need? Keep them moist or? How much should they grow before planting outside? Thanks.
Hi and thanks for the question. We keep the cuttings in the totes and they stay outside. No grow light needed. Check the tote monthly to make sure everything is staying moist. Add a little water as needed.
We pot these up once well rooted. Some new growth may also occur and is a good sign that it is time pot them up.
We slowly reduce humidity in the totes before we pot them up. Just open the lid by 25%, then 50% for a week or 2. Then pot them up and give them a little mist 1-2 a day. Keep the small plants in a shady area or a shade house.
Thanks, Larry 🌲🌲🌲
To make holes use a soldering tool
Yes, thank you. We tried that and it work really well. Also have gotten better at slowly drilling them. Appreciate the tip as we have several to do and the soldering iron is the way to go. Thanks for watching 🌲🌲🌲
So, no holes in the bottom of the bins for drainage? What do you do with this bin going into the winter?
Yes, good questions. So, no holes in the bottom so you can hold good moisture but of course be careful not to over water. The perlite and peat mixture hold moisture well, so just check once every couple of weeks.
It’s late July so these should be fairly well rooted by early Sept to even late September. Then we will pot them up and put in a safe location until spring. A shade house could work or a low tunnel type covering. Or you can leave them in the totes all winter. They will just go dormant until Spring. 🌲🌲🌲
I have found that with azaleas, the roots are so fine and get inner twined when I propagate them close together like that which causes them to have much transition and shock when I pop them up. Have you had any experience like that?
Yes, the roots are very fine and fragile. When we pop them out it’s good to use something like a spoon and grab a ball of the roots and the soil. Just leave the soil intact. Have not lost many in the process of potting them up but they are pretty fragile.
A good tip is to pot them up in a similar mix of mostly perlite and peat moss. Well drained but light material so the roots can really grow out.
It’s a bit of trial and error. Good luck 🌲🌲🌲
@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thank you for the reply! I might try this method to do some cuttings of things I have around the yard (various panicle hydrangeas, azaleas, rhododendrons etc.) and then just leave them in a clear bin outside and see if any survive the winter since I don't have any tunnel or greenhouse structures.
You should do fine leaving them in the totes over the winter. We take a lot of hardwood cuttings in the fall and winter and just leave them for the spring. Many root and do fine sitting in the tubs until we can get them planted. Nice thing about hardwood cuttings is you end up with a decent size plant if they root.
The Rhododendron are the toughest and really the only plant we have trouble propagating. Recommend following @mikekincaid as he is an expert with Rhododendrons. Trying some using some of his methods come this August.
Peat is endangered use coir !
Hi James, thanks for your comment. We did a video on making soil mixes and covered CoCo Coir. We also did a considerable amount of research on CoCo Coir. A lot of misinformation floating around the web. We can’t cover it all here but it’s well worth researching.
We continue to use Canadian Sphagnum Peat as it is a growing, self regenerating plant material that is very responsibly and sustainably produced. That may be different in places like Europe but in Canada the peat replenishes itself far faster than it is being used.
The Coconut Choir works well but has issues. One is it is shipped across the world and requires a lot of fuel to transport. It’s a waste product which is great but the transportation costs and environmental impact are high. Peat is grown much closer.
The Coir is fine for a lower volume application. Would be difficult and very expensive to use in a larger nursery. That said we use locally produced humus as of 45% of our main potting mix. Another 45% is ground hardwood bark that is also produced locally.
Thank you! Larry
Too long winded dealing with irrelevant info. Please ... just show us how to take cuttings,
Thanks for watching! Maybe too much for some but we like to make sure we cover anything anyone would need to know. 13 1/2 minutes isn’t a big investment to learn to propagate possibly thousands of plants.
@@Growing-Our-Retirement 6 minutes would have been ample leaving 6 minutes to learn something else. That's what I would call a sensible investment.
Thanks again, we will try and speed it up a bit. Thank you for watching!
@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thank you. I took 9 cuttings yesterday as shown by you. Fingers crossed.
Wish you well!