When I get into something, I tend to get obsessive about it. I read a lot of books and websites to learn as much as I can on something I want to do. Since starting my herb garden, I've read countless websites and borrowed a bunch of books from the library to learn more. I've never really did any successful gardening before. The strawberry plant I got a few years ago died in a few weeks when birds ate all the strawberries and it didn't survive in the summer.
Now, I learned some new techniques and I think learning to propagate (breed/spread) plants is a great way to expand what you have from one plants to several to have more success.
But the thing that I discovered that really helps is putting a cover on young plants. It's not a new idea, but I didn't really see any websites suggesting this. I got this idea more when I visited a greenhouse and saw how healthy the plants were. I thought I could simulate it on a small scale by putting covers in my plants.
The cover traps moisture and keeps the cuttings moist so they don't go limp and dry out. Since the cuttings don't have roots yet, there's no way for water to get through the stem and leaves. Covering it keeps the moisture in and drying out the leaves. The cover also sort of levels out the temperature. It won't keep it warm at night, but it does act like a mini greenhouse were heat is kept longer during the night instead of making the cuttings cold and dry.
I kept the cover until the roots grow and so far, I have kept the plastic cover on even after the roots come out and removing it from time to time to acclimatize the cuttings slowly. I use some barbecue sticks to hold the plastic in place so it doesn't collapse to the plants. However, the heat and moisture tends to make mold grow on the sticks so I have throw them out. I need to find something else, like a plastic stick to use as a frame.
I did the same thing with the seeds I'm trying to grow by putting a cover on them.
Compared to the other seeds I tried to grow on an open pot (they never grew). The ones in the seed tray with cover sprouted.
As you can see here, I just used any clear plastic cups I had to use as a cover for the pots. It's nice to use a clear plastic cup because it allows sunlight to come in. Here are some mint cuttings I have in a pot.
These mints have rooted so I can remove the cups if I wanted to, but I do put it back from time to time to keep bugs away.
Mint is supposed to grow like a weed so I hope these grows strong and gets bigger. I've cut some of the damaged leaves or any leaves I see that has discoloration to avoid any disease.
Some of the cuttings I placed in soil had the stem turn black. If that happens, throw it out since it means it got fungus and is of no use. Healthy cuttings have bright green stems. like the ones above. They will also stand upright.
Pests and bugs
One of the things you have to look out for is bugs. Due to the extra moisture from the pots because I covered them. I noticed the pots started attracting some bugs. Mainly, millipedes, centipedes and woodlouse. They like damp warm places. Whenever I move the pots, a couple of them are hiding underneath the pots in the middle of it.
I decided to keep the underside dry by putting the pots in a higher place so there's ventilation. I haven't found a cheap plant stand I can use so I just used the extra pots and pot trays I have to keep them above ground. It has kept the bugs away, at least for now.
New Cuttings
I put in some new cuttings, these are Chocolate Mint (on the right corner and left corner), Purple Basil and Thai Basil (middle and lower left corner) I got from my take out from Pho Hoa.
One of the things I did differently was I dipped the cuttings in a rooting hormone to hopefully make them root faster.
I don't know if this will actually make it root faster, but I'm just hoping they root stronger.
I checked the cuttings today and the Purple Basil's leaves pretty much disintegrated and started falling off so I threw it away. Maybe it was too crowded. The Thai Basil in the middle, I cut off some of the leaves where there were spots. Maybe I should have used a bigger seed tray so I can give them some space. Oh well, Next time I'll just plant seeds in these trays and plant the cuttings in the bigger seed tray I have.
That's it for now, I'll post more updates as things progresses.
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