Hey Jamie,
I totally agree with you on that one but you know what they say about common sense.
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It aint that common
hahah
Yeah I find it hard to imagine that anything could survive happily in sphag moss for a whole year, especially a juni. You know what they are like with wet feet.
Thanks for the articles Archie.
I had read that first one before but I gather I was only interested in the human health concerns with Spag when I read it. It is very interesting stuff.
I gather the wetness is not an issue otherwise it would have issues curing root rot. In a curative sense vigorous rootgrowth (at the expense of top-growth) sounds much better than a dead tree that has no top-growth.
If this is all true then the reduced top growth would be a disadvantage in many instances of normal technique but just as in a curative sense I can think of a few other instances where this could be very useful.
As always it is a matter of whether we decide to look at the glass half full or half empty. Thats why sense is never common!
I would be very interested to understand how it encourages root growth at the expense of shoot growth. This is a specific auxin indicator to me. Although taking a wild guess I wonder if Spag moss is anything like the willow that produces a high amount of auxin for regenerating parts that break off ?
It's too bad your in such a hurry cause the stories I could tell you, Bushels and baskets of stories, hole crates full of stories. But if you can spare a moment I will tell you one story.
It really is all very interesting, I guess if the right brothers decided not to try anything new we would all still be walking, driving and sailing everywhere. It must work and probably someone with a higher degree of scientific nouse would know better than I.
Jan wrote:I use a bed of prue spagnum to strike cuttings, the latest a better than 6 inch wide Kurrajong that is shooting well for me. Below that bed of spagnum (usually about 1 inch thick) I use a mix of 50%spagnum/50% seed raising mix for the new roots to grow on into. Most things seem to love it, recently Ginkos, berberis, roses, elms, Kurrrajongs and eucs.
All I can tell you is that in my dry (low humidity) climate a generous percentage of spagnum works well for me. I have not tried planting in 100%, I only use it for that first inch or so when establishing new roots.
You can strike Eucalyptus from cuttings? This is an amazing feat! They are extremely difficult to root from cuttings. Can you please describe the process in full on another thread? WOW!
Joel wrote:You can strike Eucalyptus from cuttings?
Don't get too excited Joel, the cuttings of Euc. Meliodora that I struck still had a section of Lig. tuber; it was just that the existing roots were way too thick and long so I cut them, and the inverse taper at the base of the tuber, off and treated them just like any other cutting that I strike using a spagnum bed and spag rich soil mix. It seems to be working so far - they have a rash of shoots with up to 5 leaves on the shoots. I thought that was the way everyone does it. The cutting that surprised me is the 6 inch thick Kurrajong; it has shot but it is still early days yet - I'll get excited when they've survived a complete season.
