Namaqualand Flower Report

Although softwood cuttings are usually taken in spring, while the plant is putting on new growth that is soft and green, material can also be taken from tender perennials in late summer. These cuttings are then over wintered as rooted cuttings as an insurance against winter losses. Choose healthy, non flowering shoots that are typical of the plant and cut off material just above a leaf joint using sharp knife or pair of scatters. Collect the cuttings early in the day while they are turgid, firm, not wilted and keep in a plastic bag to prevent them wilting.

Prepare the cuttings by trimming the stem just below a lead joint to make a cutting one to three inches long depending on the type of growth that the plant produces. Remove the lowest pair of leaves and the growing tip from longer cuttings and insert them around the edge of a pot filled with moist, fresh cuttings compost soil mix. The success rate for some types of plant can be increased by using a rooting hormone. Some types of rooting hormone also contain fungicide, which may be worth buying if the plant you are propagating is particularly vulnerable to disease.

It is important that the softwood cuttings are not allowed to wilt, so either place them in a covered propagator or cover the pot with a clear plastic bag held off the cuttings by short canes and secured by a rubber band. Place in a well lit spot shaded from direct sunlight. Puncture the bag or ventilate the propagator when the cuttings start to root. Pot up into containers when they have sufficient roots. There is really nothing to surpass the delicate paper tissue flowers of the opium poppy, which are followed by a large, grey green seed heads.

It is fairly easy to collect the seeds for propagation and grow them up, ready to plant outside in the spring. Pelargoniums such as the little gem propagate well from softwood cuttings. A cutting taken in spring will be sufficiently mature to flower by the summer. Take cuttings from non flowering shoots. A good guide to length is to cut the shoot off just above the third joint below the growing tip. Here a softwood cutting is taken from a pelargonium. Remove the lowest pair of leaves with a small sharp knife. Trim straight across the base of each cutting, just below the lowest leaf joint. You can dip the ends in a rooting hormone, but the cuttings usually root quite readily without.

For more detailed information on try visiting a popular website that offers Health and Fitness related tips, advice and resources.