Jack Oostenbrink

To speed up the process of chitting, I have been placing them in my worm bin.  The conditions in there are so favourable that the potatoes are fully chitted with sprouts and roots in about a week.  Not only, that but the worm activity and castings around those developing new roots is a great way to introduce microrhiza and fungi which will benefit the plant through out its life.  

I started the The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism by Matthew Wood.  Its a beautiful combination of modern day and historical anecdotes that reference the healing power of herbs .  What really jumped out for me is the fact that pharmaceuticals have only really been around for the last century (if that) and there is an entire repository of traditional medicine that barely gets acknowledged by modern medicine.  The book delves into different plants and how to use them medicinally, and being an avid gardener that has worked with these plants (or against them as so called weeds) it is immensely entertaining.  

Jack Oostenbrink wrote:BUT there were a tremendous number of worms, MASSES of worms.  So what kind of worms were these?  They were red and earthworm-sized (not nightcrawlers).  Are these one of the two desirable kinds?  Or were these the kind that everyone seems to advise not using?

It just seems to me that if they crawled out of the ground and into the compost, they would be perfect for what I want them for.

Any thoughts?  Ideas?


When we started our worm bins we cut squashes and watermellons in half and laid them face down on the ground in our garden.  We waited a few weeks until they started to get mushy and they were full of worms with which we started our worm bins.  What could be better then local worms that are already part of your yards ecosystem and set up for success within your climate.    

Sorry, I tried to quote the original starting thread, but being new to this I think I messed up.

BUT there were a tremendous number of worms, MASSES of worms.  So what kind of worms were these?  They were red and earthworm-sized (not nightcrawlers).  Are these one of the two desirable kinds?  Or were these the kind that everyone seems to advise not using?

It just seems to me that if they crawled out of the ground and into the compost, they would be perfect for what I want them for.

Any thoughts?  Ideas?


When we started our worm bins we cut squashes and watermellons in half and laid them face down on the ground in our garden.  We waited a few weeks until they started to get mushy and they were full of worms with which we started our worm bins.  What could be better then local worms that are already part of your yards ecosystem and set up for success within your climate.    

I can't answer to all of those, but the commercial root growth hormone (auxin) is more prevalent in willow then in most other plants.  I wonder if the honey and aloe gel are added to an ingredient list to act as binders to ensure that the hormone mix actually clings to the cutting to get higher rooting.  
I make a rooting hormone solution by macerating the plant tips of willow in a blender with water, and I get great rooting on broadleaf shrubs.   I can see aloe gel or honey added to the solution would do a better job of holding more of the solution to the bottom of the cutting.  

I like to use bamboo for a screen or privacy wall because it doesn’t need the same pruning and maintenance that thuja or leylands would require. But if you are looking to create a fortress, I am not sure bamboo is your best option. It tends to create a loose and more informal screen.
Pyracantha is a great privacy hedge though it looks best with yearly pruning. It can be sculpted easily and if you are trying to impress from the road side it should do that. Dark evergreen foliage with yearly clipping will give you the impressive fortress look you are after. Plus it grows quickly and feeds birds.
If bamboo is still floating in your mind, Fargesia rufa is a good clumping bamboo that should work well and grows to about 4 meters

I rooted them in a glass of water in my kitchen at the end of winter. Started with 4” branches and intended to keep them fresh in water. Rooted in a few weeks.

It is a burr knot... usually happens on the root stock.  Those are little rootlets that would root if there were some soil to root into.  Does not harm the tree as far as I know.