March 6, 2008 at 9:15 am (gardening, propagation)
Tags: coir, coleus, greenhouse, howto, perlite, propagation, quicroot
I have been taking cuttings from coleus several times and Here in this HOWTO I am going to explain how easy this process is and how to multiply the coleus plant you have in following steps with pictures. I hope you enjoy.
Requisite:
- Coleus stem tip cuttings [ Approx 4 inches in length]
- Potting mix.
- Root promoting hormone. [IBA]
- Containers
- Polythene bags
- A razor blade
Step 1: Collect coleus cuttings.
The first step is to go around the garden and find out what plants you want to take cuttings from. Those plants must be healthy and disease free. Once you have spotted a plant, then using a razor blade take the cuttings from the stem tip such that the cuttings are approx 4 inches long. If you have many varieties of coleus then you will end up with something like the pictures below.
Once you cut the stems, put them in a glass of water like above till they are inserted into the propagation medium. This helps them to remain fresh and they wont droop.
Step 2: Prepare the cuttings.
For all the cuttings you have taken, make sure that you remove the leaves that arise from the bottom most node( Place where the leaf is attached to the stem). Once you have removed all the leaves on the last node, make a cut just a centimetre below the node. If you do it just right, you will have your cuttings look like this.
Step 3: Prepare the medium
The best medium I have found to give good results is a mixture of Coir dust, Sand, perlite in equal proportions. Any other well drained medium should also be fine. Ensure that the medium is free from any fungal infection. Make the medium moist but not so soggy wet. Let the medium drain.
Step 4: Stick’em in.
Now, take cutting by cuttings, and dip them in the rooting hormone ( this speeds up rooting a little bit). I have a solution called “Quicroot”. Any other standard rooting solution should be fine as well. Using your dibber, make a hole in the medim so that the bottom most node of the cutting is totally inside and its deep enough to not let the stem cutting fall off. Stick the stem cutting in to that hole and gently press the surrounding medium.
Step 5: Make a mini greenhouse
Once the cuttings are inserted into the medium, prepare a mini green house to keep the cuttings fresh and to not lose moisture. I took a window planter and kept all my cuttings inside that and covered the whole thing with a polythene bag. The end result was something like this. If you have a green house or a propagating chamber thats cool too.
Tada! and you wait for 2-3 weeks. The end result is colony of coleus plants for your viewing pleasure.
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January 7, 2008 at 7:57 am (medium, perlite)
Tags: coir, compost, medium, perlite, soilless, vermiculite
I am slowly adding new plants to my small container garden . This time around instead going the old way I wanted to try out some new ways of doing things. Hence I decided to say bye bye to garden soil and went for Soilless medium instead.
Unlike foreign countries, getting a commercial potting mix here is not an easy task and so i decided to make my own potting mix.
The raw materials I use for my potting mix are given below.
1. Coco Coir
Coco Coir is the dust that binds the coconut fibre and is also called coco pith. This was once a waste product but now is exported to many countries. I was able to find a company that exports this as Discs. I ordered some 10 discs from them. Its a compressed disc and on soaking in water becomes loose and fluffy. This increases Water retention and aeration. This is used as an alternative to depleting Peat moss.
2 . Vermiculite:
This is another miracle substance that improves the water holding capacity of the soil and is responsible for storing nutrients and releasing them slowly to the plants. Vermiculite is manufactured by heating a mineral very similar to mica to a very high temperature and it pops up into flakes like corn, resulting in a golden flaky substance. Vermiculite has to be handled gently in order to not compress those flakes.
Finding this in Bangalore, India was very difficult and all you get when you ask for this in a garden shop/nursery is a cold stare. But after a week of searching I found a company in panruti, Tamilnadu, who were kind enough to give me a free sample of 5Kg.
3. Perlite:
Perlite is another light weight substance, made by heating a volcanic glass to a high temperature which pops up to a porous substance that is very good in aeration and improves drainage. This makes an excellent medium to grow plants. Getting this in bangalore, india was very very very difficult and I almost gave up searching for it until there was one shop who was selling it for Rs 60 a Kg. Couple of Kgs was ok for my needs.
To the above three substances, I add well composted manure and some vermi compost.
I have been able start seeds well with this mixture.However, a mixture of the above three doesn’t have really any nutrients in them since coir, vermiculite and perlite all of them are inert. The nutrients supply is mainly from the compost. So a regular feeding of nutrients is necessary to get the plants growing.
more later.
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