Jay Colli

Phil Stevens wrote:I'd put it back into a pot with fresh soil, maybe cut off the obviously dead stuff first. There is probably still living tissue in the crown, so replant it at a depth that allows sunlight to reach what's left of the trunk. The light will help to stimulate latent buds and if all goes well you'll see green before long.

Thanks Phil, I did just give the trunk a little scratch and it’s green underneath, so maybe this plant is going to surprise me. It managed to survive a Canadian winter without much protection, so I guess it’s a survivor!

Hey All,

Recently pulled what I thought was a dead fig tree out of a pot and discovered fresh white roots below the surface. How do I propagate these? Simply cut a section of of root ball off and pot it? I can’t seem to find anything online for this method of propagation - thanks!

Is that an Erma 22 I spy out of its holster?

The Canadian national plumbing code is available online for free to download: https://nrc.canada.ca/en/certifications-evaluations-standards/codes-canada/codes-canada-publications/national-plumbing-code-canada-2015

It can be done but I've never heard of any long-lasting success stories.

No room for a pear tree to grow independently of the crab?

Hey Janet,

Potatoes also like acidic soil if you want to have an annual crop. IIRC their preferred range is 5 - 6.5 or thereabouts.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Squash naturally grow in clumps.

They are very susceptible to root damage transplant shock while transplanting, so the less you fuss with them the better.

The traditional way to grow squash in this area was 5 to 10 seeds direct seeded in a clump.

For these reasons, I highly recommend planting them as a clump, and not separating them.

Thanks Joseph! I'll try that out in a couple of weeks once the risk of frost has passed.

Just this year I tried re-potting a watermelon seedling deeper into the soil (as you would with a tomato) and it didn't seem to bother it - is this something you've experimented with?

Hi all,

Can winter squash (Buttercup) be planted in small groups as shown below? My transplants are in 3.5" peat pots, three seedlings to a pot, and I'm not sure if they should be planted and then thinned down to one once established or left as a group?

Would greatly appreciate any advice!

Bryant RedHawk wrote:If you had a heated green house and grew indiscriminate varieties, they would be perennial growers.

Love the idea of rooting cuttings too.
Good post Jay

Redhawk

Thanks Redhawk,

I'd love to have a heated greenhouse one day but for now I can be content with over-wintering and propagating a few varieties in the window. Indeterminate Tomatoes seem to be ideal for this as they'll grow well enough to survive even in an east-facing window at 45*N, trellis easily on a single piece of string and can even produce some fruit throughout the winter.

I have the original "mother" plant working on a few short trusses of tomatoes at the moment and 9 rooted cuttings all being pretty harshly pruned on a regular basis to keep them small (and ugly...) until May when they can go out into the greenhouse. I have noticed that the cuttings, if allowed to grow, are very quick to put out flowers. I could see myself collecting the first pint of SunGolds within 2-3 weeks of setting the plants out in the greenhouse.

Amanda Launchbury-Rainey wrote:I found this very interesting. When you cut the plant into 4-6 pieces do you have to include a node somewhere or just a length of stem. Could you post a pic of you doing that or even make a video for amateurs like me?

Hi Amanda,

Cuttings will root anywhere along the stem so it isn't necessary to have a node below the waterline when rooting but you'll need to leave at least 1 node above ground after pruning with a little sucker (~1.5cms) already formed. I found that the smaller the sucker, the slower the cutting would take to recovered after pruning, which in my situation means that I aim for small suckers so I can delay the vigorous growth as long as possible.

I be taking more cutting soon and I'll try to take more pictures to better document how I take the cuttings.