The choko or chayote (Sechium edule) is a vigorous, herbaceous perennial vine from the Cucurbitaceae (gourd or cucumber) family, that is native to Central America, but is now cultivated in many parts of the world. Choko fruit are light green in colour and are variable in shape and size, resembling a mango-shaped or pear-shaped squashContinue reading “How to Grow a Choko Vine from a Fruit”
Category Archives: Plant Propagation
Can Aspirin Be Used for Rooting Plant Cuttings?
There’s a gardening myth that Aspirin tablets can be used to stimulate rooting in plant cuttings, but is it true? There’s a saying that “a little science is a dangerous thing“, and as we’ll see when we dissect this myth, it’s based on some partial facts mixed with lots of misunderstanding. In this article, we’llContinue reading “Can Aspirin Be Used for Rooting Plant Cuttings?”
Can Citrus Trees be Grown from Seed?
Citruses are flowering trees and shrubs from the rue (Rutaceae) family and are native to subtropical and tropical regions of South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and northeastern Australia. Plants in the genus Citrus provide a wide assortment of fruit types, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, lime, grapefruit, pummelo, kumquats, andContinue reading “Can Citrus Trees be Grown from Seed?”
How To Save Tomato Seeds For Planting Next Year
Tomatoes can be grown quite easily from seed, and you can use seeds collected from tomatoes you’ve grown yourself, or from ones you’ve purchase from the greengrocer! There are a few tricks to saving tomato seeds, as they are wet seeded crops, which have seeds embedded in the damp flesh of fruits. When tomato seedsContinue reading “How To Save Tomato Seeds For Planting Next Year”
Product Review – Seahawk Clone Station 24 Aeroponic Cloner
Plant propagation is the process of producing more plants from a single plant, is a very popular practice amongst many gardeners. Many plants self-propagate by seed, and some through runners or clumping, but there are also artificial propagation methods such as growing from cuttings, where a tip section of a branch is taken, prepared inContinue reading “Product Review – Seahawk Clone Station 24 Aeroponic Cloner”
Can You Grow Nasturtiums from Cuttings?
Can nasturtiums be grown from cuttings? Nasturtiums are usually grown from seeds but can also be propagated from cuttings during the warm growing seasons, the best period being spring or late summer when weather is milder. How to make a nasturtium cutting: Cut a piece around 10cm (4”) long, making the cut below a leaf.Continue reading “Can You Grow Nasturtiums from Cuttings?”
Seed Saving – How Long Can You Keep Seeds?
The practice of saving seeds is as old as agriculture itself, and dates back to over 10,000 years ago. Early human civilizations harvested seeds and selectively bred crop plants to create domesticated varieties which displayed specific desirable traits. Saving seeds has many benefits in the present day too, it’s a very cost effective way toContinue reading “Seed Saving – How Long Can You Keep Seeds?”
Can You Grow Grapes From Seed? Garden Mythbusting!
Plant propagation is the practice of creating new plants from old using a variety of techniques such as seed sowing, grafting, taking cuttings, division, marcotting, ground layering, and even tissue cell culture. Some gardeners may wonder why there’s such a wide range of propagating techniques. There are reasons, there are always reasons… True to SeedContinue reading “Can You Grow Grapes From Seed? Garden Mythbusting!”
Layering Overgrown Tomato Plants
Indeterminate (vining) tomatoes are very vigorous growers, and if they’re neglected they can easily become overgrown, with multiple tangled branches sprawling across the ground. If this happens to your tomato plants, all is not lost. In fact, you can take advantage of the situation to make the plants even more productive, and tidy them upContinue reading “Layering Overgrown Tomato Plants”
Rooting Edible Plant Cuttings in Water
Plants which can take can root in water can be propagated very easily from cuttings. All you need to do is leave the cuttings sitting in a glass or a jar of water in a location with indirect light. Pictured above are cherry tomato cuttings left in a bucket of water for a week, showingContinue reading “Rooting Edible Plant Cuttings in Water”
Propagating Plants from Hardwood Cuttings
One of the easiest propagation techniques is propagating using hardwood cuttings. Since these cuttings don’t have leaves, there isn’t the initial requirement to provide a high humidity environment to stop the cuttings drying out before they root. Softwood vs. Hardwood Cuttings At this point you may be wondering what the difference is between taking hardwoodContinue reading “Propagating Plants from Hardwood Cuttings”
Home Made Plant Rooting Hormone – Willow Water
Willows are fast growing, deciduous trees that are mainly found in the Northern Hemisphere, in cold arctic and north temperate zones, in regions with moist soils. The Weeping Willow appears to be a native of extra-tropical Asia, from Japan and China to Armenia and the banks of the Euphrates, and of Egypt and North Africa.Continue reading “Home Made Plant Rooting Hormone – Willow Water”
Propagating Plants from Softwood Cuttings
One thing a growing garden needs is plants, and lots of them! To buy enough plants to fill a regular backyard garden can be quite an expensive affair… But, thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way, since nature provides for us freely and abundantly, and when we work with nature, it becomes quite effortless,Continue reading “Propagating Plants from Softwood Cuttings”
Starting Annual Vegetable Seedlings Indoors
In a cold climate, such as in Melbourne, Australia, the summer is never quite long enough to grow all your summer annuals vegetables, such as tomatoes, chillies, capsicums and so on. The best way to get a long productive season is to start the seedlings early indoors, so they can be planted out in theContinue reading “Starting Annual Vegetable Seedlings Indoors”
How to Graft Eggplant onto Devil Plant
A veriety of “Devil Plant” , giant devil fig Solanum chrysotrichum for grafting eggplant Would you like to grow an eggplant tree, yes you heard right, a tree, that can produce dozens of eggplants, and not die down in winter? Well, you can if you graft eggplants (or tomatoes) onto a perennial Devil Plant rootstock.Continue reading “How to Graft Eggplant onto Devil Plant”