Well it just can't be! I was over to Little Tree Nursery for a visit and to have a look at their selection of plants. They do a great job with prairie apple varieties on Ottawa 3 dwarfing rootstock but I have not succumbed to getting any yet. Maybe this year. But while there we talked about propagating Edible Blue Honeysuckle and I thought I should come home and try some now as it is the best time. (I have done some before) So I looked on Google to see if I could find a recipe for organic rooting hormone - mostly since they often have ingredients from around the home. The simplest one is to make a juice from soaked willow pieces about an inch long in a quart jar having strained out the pieces after 24 hours. But the new one I found was to boil 2 cups of water and add 2 tablespoon of honey, cool it down and store in an airtight container. It lasts about 2 weeks.So I made it up and this evening set a number of cuttings as a trial.The plants I am trying are the EBH, Chokecherry, and Apricot. The tray is one I built from a hint on Mike McGroarty's web sight somewhere. He does have some good ideas. Or a lot of.........................
Anyway I dipped everything except one row of honeysuckle in the honey solution and watered everything in. Time will tell!
2 comments:
I hope it goes well! The honey is interesting! I am making a tub for rooting things today. I have a long list of things I want to root, EBH included.
This thing just does not seem to work for me. The molds and fungus seem to grow quickly and then the cuttings do not last. The tray I set in the cool of the garage and by a east facing window seems to be doing the best. I put some sour cherries in a hanging basket pot and put a piece of glass over it in the same place so we will see if they survive. Most propagators use bottom heat but you need a very controlled misting overhead and some air movement to keep the cuttings from molding or wilting. I was never good at this as I just don't usually want more of the same!
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