The multiplication of plants, known as propagation, is an entertaining and rewarding part of gardening. Many people are familiar with growing and multiplying plants using seeds. This method is useful but can be time consuming and, depending on the plant, difficult.
Luckily, many plants can be reproduced from a cutting, a process known as asexual reproduction. With a cutting, you are certain to reproduce the plant exactly, whereas sexual reproduction is a roll of the genetic dice.
If you have never propagated from cuttings before, I recommend starting with succulents. Succulent cuttings need little encouragement to root and regrow. I have often found a broken piece of a succulent that has fallen into some hidden place, grown roots and re-established itself. But like their parent plants, they are sensitive to over-watering and fungal infections. There are, however, things you can do to minimize complications and help your cuttings grow.
First choose a place to make your cut. If the plant is leafy, choose a spot with only one or two leaves above the incision site. These leaves will feed the plant through photosynthesis, but will also release water vapor. When necessary, remove excess leaves from the cutting.
If you are propagating something other than a succulent, look for new growth. This part of the plant is more adaptable than an older or woody area and will root more easily. You may need to wait for another season, when the plant begins fresh growth. Convincing a woody cutting to root can take weeks or even months.
Use a sharp, sterile knife to make the cut. A dull blade can damage cells at the site, causing rot. An unclean knife can introduce fungi and bacteria and transmit diseases.
When propagating succulents, set the cutting aside for a day or more to let the wound callous. This will prevent any moisture, fungus or bacteria present from entering the cutting. If your incision site is narrow, consider making your cut at a sharp angle. This produces a larger wound, but also creates a larger root-growing area.
Prepare a small pot with well-drained soil. Some people prefer to use perlite, vermiculite or a mix of the two. I have the best luck with cactus soil mixed with a little extra perlite. This provides a stable and well-draining environment for the cuttings. Be gentle when placing your cuttings. Pressing them roughly into the medium will damage the wound site and invite the entry of unwelcome microscopic visitors.
You may wonder how this little snippet is supposed to grow. The answer is: plant hormones. Each plant leaf releases a specific hormone that flows downward, instructing the plant to grow new roots. In turn, each root sends a different hormone upward, demanding new leaves. When you take a cutting, you upset this balance. Hormones from the roots are literally cut off, leaving only those coming from the remaining leaves. It is this imbalance that causes cuttings to sprout roots.
You can increase this imbalance, and your chance of success, with rooting hormone. Available at nurseries and garden stores, rooting hormones are synthetic versions of those found within the plant. If you purchase powdered rooting hormone, dip the wound site in it before placing the cutting in the growing medium. If you purchase a liquid type, dilute it as directed and pour it into the growing medium after you have placed the cutting. I use the liquid form and add a little every time I water my cuttings.
Now comes the time for patience. Minimal watering and bright, indirect sun will be all your cutting needs to do its work. Resist the urge to check for roots. When roots first grow, they are only one cell thick and very fragile. You will not be able to see them, and fussing with your cuttings will break them.
Watch your new plants for signs of over- or under-watering and infection. If you suspect a fungal infection, reduce watering and spray the cutting with Neem oil. Rooting time varies, but I usually check mine after about two weeks. Using a thin tool, I push aside some of the growing medium and look for roots.
In the end, cuttings are like children. All you can do is give them the tools to succeed and hope for the best. If you are lucky you will soon have some beautiful new additions to your garden.
Do you want to become a UC Master Gardener of Napa County volunteer?
To obtain an application you must attend an information meeting. For meeting dates, location and times, or to learn more about the program and volunteer commitment, visit the UC Master Gardener of Napa County website.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Somehow we missed this in July. We posted the article on our Facebook page. Have you visited AND LIKED us at UC Master Gardeners of Napa Valley? Please do!
We missed posting this to our blog. Penny Pawl, our extraordinary butterfly caretaker, explains how planting fennel led to so much else in her garden! You will notice a change in the font size partway through the article. The original does not have this change. I have tried to change it on this page, and have resized the original twice, to no avail. It posts those paragraphs in enormous font size. Think that's why it was skipped--because I couldn't fix the font.
Fennel is a Mediterranean plant that has been introduced to the United States. Over many years, it has naturalized in our area. Recently I saw an anise swallowtail butterfly visiting my fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) so I went out and looked for eggs and babies. The babies look like bird droppings as they are black with a white strip through their middle. In this search and subsequent ones, I discovered many small bugs living in the fine leaves of the fennel.
I originally planted this fennel to attract butterflies. The anise swallowtail is a beautiful yellow and black butterfly that especially likes the nectar of lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus). A few years ago, I was raising four anise swallowtail larvae and suddenly all but one died. I continued to watch the survivor until, one day, a small larva hatched out of his side. Then the caterpillar died.
I decided to observe what the larva turned into when it hatched. It was a small parasitic fly, and it had laid the egg before I had collected the caterpillars.
Butterflies of all species have a rough time laying eggs and raising them to full-size adults. That's why I take the time every summer to raise as many larvae as I can in my house. As soon as they pupate, or hatch, I let them pump up their wings and leave.
As I worked my way around the fennel, I found two tiny black-and-white spiders. Each one had created a web, and as soon as the spider caught an insect, the insect was carefully wrapped in the web and stored for the future. Both of these guys stayed close to their catch to guard it. They left only to gather more insects.
The one bug that puzzled me was an almost-yellow stink bug. Although I am always watching bugs, this one was completely new to me. over several days, I observed him. He moved to my milkweed plants, which concerned me, so I captured him in a jar.
I was finally able to identify the bug as a redshouldered stink bug (Thyanta pallidovirens). It is considered a good bug compared to many stink bugs and the invasive brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys). Most stink bugs feed on and damages plants while the redshouldered stink bug eats other insects. All stink bugs have a straw-like mouth, the brown marmorated stink bug and plant feeding stink bugs carries theirs down their stomach and the redshouldered stink bug has his pointed forward. I did observe him sucking on a dead bug but a live insects would be his preference.
As my fennel is finally preparing to bloom there are many small flies and wasps visiting the buds. The swallowtail caterpillars are growing. In fact one has already left the pupa and is hopefully laying more eggs.
To raise the caterpillars in the house, I collect the eggs or very small caterpillars and put the them into small containers. When the eggs hatch the caterpillars are about 1/8 inch long. I add more fennel daily and clean ou their droppings. After shedding and eating their skin four times, they change from black and white to green with yellow and black markings. By this time they have tripled their size. (This size increase is common to all butterflies in the swallowtail family.) This amazing growth rate is the reason they shed their skin. After turning color, they eat without stopping. I have to transfer them to a larger container and I feed and clean their droppings twice a day. All they leave is fennel stems stubs.
Before the form a pupa, they go on a walk around the container. Once they settle down, it is a few hours before the skin covering opens for the last time revealing a pupa. This will be their home for weeks or even months. Most will spend the winter or "overwinter" in the pupa and emerge in the following spring to begin the process over again.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
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Not all stink bugs are bad and few do crop damage, but the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) has been found in Napa, and this one is a different story.
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) was accidentally imported to the United States in the late 1990s. Since then it has hitchhiked and spread across the country, leaving a wake of vegetal destruction.
Unlike most stink bugs, BMSB has proven to be a devastating pest to agriculture crops, with research reporting that many backyard gardeners in the Mid-Atlantic states lost all their susceptible crops.
“All their susceptible crops” packs quite a wallop. The list of over 160 known hosts includes peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, soybeans, tomatoes, corn, apples, pears, legumes, grapes, pecans, cucumbers, pole and bush beans, peppers, raspberries.… you see the problem. As distressing and long as the list is, expect new crops to be added as stink bugs discover their taste for them.
The BMSB does damage by sucking moisture from fruits, vegetables, trees and shrubs. It does not like leafy greens, root crops, onions or grasses, but otherwise, it likes what we like. These gadabouts can take one nip out of each fruit they pass. Unfortunately, just a little damage makes most fruits or vegetables unmarketable or inedible.
BMSB nymphs and adults pierce fruits and vegetables with sucking stylets, causing fruit to appear sunken, misshapen or discolored. The broken skin increases susceptibility to secondary pathogens. And attacks at the early fruiting stage can cause plants to abort their crop altogether.
Local problems can become regional problems quickly if these stink bugs are not controlled when found. MSB multiply quickly and can fly up to 70 miles a day.
Adults measure about ⅝-inch long. They are marbled brown and distinguished from other stink bugs by tiny yet distinct differences, such as white stripes on their antennae. A stink bug in your garden, a neighborhood child and a magnifying glass could become a teachable moment this summer and fall. If you find a bug you think may be a BMSB, put it in a jar and bring it down to the Agricultural Extension office at 1710 Soscol Avenue in Napa.
All stink bugs are fast and can see you coming. They go through five different stages of development, and knowing how they look at each one can help you find and destroy them.
After sheltering through the winter, adult stink bugs mate and lay barrel-shaped eggs in clusters in the spring. These are reasonably easy to see if you are looking. Detecting and destroying eggs and small nymphs at this stage is probably the easiest and most effective control. Wipe or spray eggs off.
Helping you at this stage are predators you might consider pests, such as earwigs. They eat stink bug eggs and help break down other components of your soil, too. Other natural predators of BMSB eggs include Asian lady beetles, pirate bugs, jumping spiders and spined soldier bugs. At the nymph stage, assassin bugs, praying mantis and lacewings join in. The “Stop BMSB” website is a terrific resource that shows all stages of the pest's development, what damage on different crops looks like and everything else you need to know about BMSB.
Fall is when you are most likely to see stink bugs congregating on outside walls, coming out of cracks around windows or doors or emerging from loose bark on trees. If you see them on structures, check University of California's Integrated Pest Management Pest Notes (http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74169.html0 for information on how to control them.
Properties near woodlands are often susceptible since BMSB naturally disperse from forests and wildlands. The bugs are often attracted to lights. If they congregate on your porch, move the light or set a trap to catch and destroy.
To trap stink bugs, fill a dish tub or bucket with water and detergent. Place it in a dark place or room and shine a flashlight into it. Bugs will be attracted to the water, and you can pour them out in the morning.
Some insecticides effectively kill BMSBs, but unfortunately, they kill the beneficial bugs in your garden, too. For that reason, the University of California recommends managing them other ways.
Hand-picking them is effective, if you can catch them. But then you need to squash them. Ew.
Probably the best way to deal with stink bugs is to avoid being attractive to them in the first place. Eliminate places for them to overwinter on your grounds, clean summer beds, pick up debris and cut back weedy corners and overgrown shrubs.
Do you want to become a UC Master Gardener of Napa County volunteer?
To obtain an application you must attend an information meetings. For dates, location and times, or to learn more about the program and volunteer commitment, see the U.C. Master Gardener of Napa County website.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U.C.Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Mama Monarch arrived on June 28. She spent a full week laying eggs on my milkweed. As I watched her, she told me to move aside as she had 400 eggs to go.
Monarch moms lay 500 to 600 eggs a week and then they die. Their lifespan is short, about six weeks. As she laid the eggs, I collected as many as I could.
Monarchs are one of the few invertebrates to migrate each winter. Most invertebrate creatures go into a pupa or cocoon stage and emerge in the spring to start their cycle of life again. In winter, Monarchs are in a phase known as diapause. During this stage of their lives, they live mainly on their fat deposits. They do not mate.
So where do they go in winter? The Eastern population return from Canada and fly to Michoacan, Mexico, overwintering in the high mountains. The Western population return from Canada and fly to the Bay Area and as far south as Baja California.
From tagging, we know that some Western Monarchs do fly over the mountains and join the Easterns. These are the wrong-way Monarchs. They are all the same species.
The eggs I collected have hatched and are in jars munching away on milkweed leaves. They have eaten their own shells and, I fear, some other shells also. They keep shedding their skins and growing larger.
Many do not make it through this stage. They may be eaten by their siblings or not able to shed their skins properly. In the wild, only a tiny percentage reach adulthood. With hand rearing, the results are better. The milkweed that Monarchs eat makes them taste bad to birds, but that does not deter spiders, wasps and lizards.
Last February I joined a tour group visiting Mexico City and then going to view the Monarchs in their wintering area. I was the only non-Texan in the group. We spent a few enjoyable days in Mexico City, then took a small bus to the area in Michoacan where the butterflies spend the winter. All the wildflowers were in bloom.
We stayed at a former hacienda which had been turned into a beautiful hotel. The next morning we started up the mountain and visited the headquarters. There we changed to small horses and a guide led us further up the mountain.
Water was flowing down the mountain as we went up, and the trail was full of mud and water. We reached a high plateau and then begin to see the Monarchs. They were feeding on the wildflowers in the forest. Butterflies were in the air all around us, and the weight of them was pulling tree branches down. Whole trunks of trees were covered with them, their bodies close together to keep warm.
They had started to breed again, and dead and dying males were on the ground. Only the females make the long journey across Mexico and up into Texas, where they lay their first eggs. They stay in the mountains until mid-March, then start their long journey. We were told that they move daily in those forests from site to site. I think they must be following the native flowers.
It is an inspiring sight to see all the golden bodies floating in the sun. I don't know how scientists could count the number overwintering as there are millions. Many locals came up the mountain and World Wildlife Fund had a representative there. The trail up and down the mountain is not for the faint of heart as it is steep and muddy both ways.
This Monarch migration is one of the most amazing migrations in the natural world. If you want to help Monarchs survive, then plant flowers that bloom for months and grow milkweed to help them on their journey.
Do you want to become a UC Master Gardener of Napa County volunteer?
To obtain an application you must attend an information meetings. For meeting dates, location and times or to learn more about the program and volunteer commitment, visit the UC Master Gardener of Napa County website.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Many of us think of August as a time to harvest tomatoes. I'd like to suggest that August and September are also the ideal planting time for fall, winter and spring crops.
In our mild-weather valley we can plant cool-weather vegetables as late as October. How lucky are we to be able to harvest fresh vegetables from our garden almost year round? Put in a few ‘Bibb' or ‘Butterhead' lettuce seeds now and 45 days later you will have plants that can make salads all winter long if you harvest a few outer leaves at a time.
Cool-weather vegetable gardens require much less attention than summer gardens. Because our rainy season coincides with our mild winters, soil dries out slowly. Often very little watering needs to be done.
Moist soil buffers the impact of any frost because the soil doesn't get as cold as the air. Although most vegetables will not survive prolonged severe cold, cool-season crops will survive a few days of 25ºF lows and some will even survive down to 15ºF. The University of California keeps historical frost records that suggest that Napa has only a 10 percent chance of frost at the beginning of November. But the likelihood of frost rises to 50 percent in early December. You have plenty of time to plant now and have thriving plants before winter cold sets in.
Be aware that some cold-weather crops won't grow much during the winter. Root crops such as carrots, beets, radishes and parsnips will hold at maturity in the garden until you are ready to eat them. It's almost like having an extra refrigerator. Kale, cabbage and broccoli will grow slowly but do need to have a good start before the cold sets in.
When choosing cole family crop varieties (kale, broccoli, cabbage), note if they are labeled “early” or “short season.” These varieties are less hardy than those labeled as good for overwintering. Early-harvest varieties were bred for areas with winters too severe for vegetables to survive. They need to reach maturity quickly. Hardiness has likely been bred out of those plants.
Besides being able to harvest over a longer time, you will find another advantage to planting overwintering varieties of carrots, beets, spinach and kale. When these vegetables are exposed to frost, they undergo a process sometimes called cold-sweetening. The plant stores glucose and fructose to guard against frost damage. Sugar dissolved in a plant cell makes it less susceptible to freezing in the same way that salting roads reduces ice. So a little frost often makes these crops taste sweeter.
Many gardeners prefer to plant seeds for these crops directly in the ground. However, if you start seeds inside, you can pop the seedlings into ground that you are now using for a warm-weather crop, allowing you to make optimal use of valuable garden space. Local nurseries and garden centers will also have seedlings available.
Don't forget to give your soil some extra TLC. Because you are utilizing the soil year-round, remember to dig in fertilizer and organic matter more than just once a year. Twice would be good.
When deciding where to plant cool-weather vegetables, don't overlook areas of your garden that are too shady in warm weather. The sun traverses a different path in the sky in summer and winter. So new planting areas may be available. Keep in mind that salad greens and leafy vegetables require only four hours of full sun every day.
I plan to add an extra warm glow to my holiday meals by harvesting and serving vegetables from my own garden. Now that you know how easy it is, maybe you will join me.
Do you want to become a UC Master Gardener of Napa County volunteer?
To obtain an application you must attend one of the information meetings. For meeting dates, location and times or to learn more about the program and volunteer commitment see our website.
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. U. C. Master Gardeners of Napa County ( http://ucanr.edu/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.