Planning 2017: Plant Propagation

I have been experimenting with plant propagation for the last two growing seasons.  I would like to be able to propagate the plants I will need to establish all everything around the farm.  I hope that I might get enough extra plants to start a small nursery service.  This summer the plan is to take a big leap forward in making new plants.

I have a small propagation rig.  It is setup using an intermittent mist system.  I have a controller that allows me to mist the plants for a few seconds every ten minutes during the day.  This propagation bed is perfect for the wood plants that I would start from cuttings.  I will put a link to the propagation timer at the end of the post.

Aronia berry and mulberry plants will be some of the top things I will be putting in the bed this year.  The mulberries are super easy to propagate and the aronia are supposed to be as well.  I highly recommend the book  American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation.  It is an amazing source of knowledge and will give you instructions to propagation nearly every plant under the sun.

Last spring I planted 10 rootstocks each of pear and apple.  I attempted a few bud grafts off the apple tree we lost in a windstorm.  This spring we will see if those grafts took.  I would really like to increase my nursery of rootstock this year.  It will be nice to be able to propagate any trees we get on the farm the preform well in our environment.  It is also a much cheaper way to get a large orchard going and sustaining.

There are few plants that I don’t currently have on the farm that I would love to get established so I can propagate them.  Hardy kiwi, blueberry, raspberry, rosa rugosa, goji berry, and cranberry to name a few.  I feel that it is important to put plants in landscaping that give a return back the owner.  If you can put a plant in like Aronia, that will give you great flowers in the spring and lovely foliage in the fall and an edible yield, isn’t that better than a plant that just gives you something to look at?

This is the last post in the series that will cover things that I know I will be doing this next year.  The next posts will covering the things I have been dreaming about.  Things that would be new and exciting.  I can hardly wait.