Preparing for CRFG's Scion Wood Exchange on Feb 6th!

Scion Wood Preparation

Select straight wood from last year’s growth and cut as near to our scion wood exchange date as possible.

Wood should be ¼” – 3/8” diameter (pencil size) and contain several buds.

Cut to lengths that fit easily into a Ziploc-type bag.  Cut with a slanting cut on the top (distal) end and flat cut on the end that would have been nearest the trunk (medial).

Bundle by variety in a moist paper towel(s) and place in a Ziploc-type bag,  leaving a slight opening in the Ziploc bag for the wood to breathe. Put only one variety in each bag. Make sure that the towel(s) stay damp as long as the wood is stored.

Label the outside of the bag with fruit type and variety, as well as any additional information you feel is pertinent (i.e. minimum chilling hours; needs pollinator; vigor; area where successfully grown, etc). It’s nice to add your name so that those collecting your wood know where the wood came from and can ask you questions about the parent tree.

Keep the scion wood bag in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator until the morning of the exchange.  Be careful not to let the scion wood freeze!

At the exchange, please wait to make your selections until directed by the Chair.

Please limit your selections to two of any variety, until everyone has had an opportunity to collect wood.  Then feel free to go back. Please do not collect wood you do not plan to use.

What to do with your collected scion wood after the scion exchange:

If you don’t plan to graft as soon as you get home, remember to add moist paper to the bag and refrigerate until you have the time to graft. Do not freeze! Be careful with the label. An all too frequent mistake is to put the label in the bag with the wood. Then, when you add moist paper, the label becomes unreadable. To avoid bringing disease into your garden, immerse your chosen scion wood cuttings in a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water for 10 seconds.

From the California Rare Fruit Growers, Margaret Frane

The Date of Our Field Trip Has Been CHANGED!

I just received an email from the California Rare Fruit Growers, West LA Chapter, that they have switched their meeting from the planned day of February 13th to February 6th.  Evidently a long standing chapter member died and his memorial was scheduled on the 13th as well so they switched their date to accommodate so many of their members. 

Therefore you will get the workshop on grafting before we actually cover it in class.  I will attempt to come up with a strategy that will mitigate any learning difficulties that arise from this awkward scheduling.

We are going to CRFG on Feb 6 at 10 AM; not on Feb. 13th which will leave everyone with more time to get ready for Valentines Day!  

I have heard said that life is what happens when you are making other plans. 

david

FYI: Soil Mixes for Class Use

A delivery of  three cubic yards of compost at The Learning Garden is cause for celebration because we use it in all our garden beds as well as in our general use potting mix.  It must be screened by a fairly fine screen for the regular potting mix; an even finer screen is essential if one wishes to use compost for sowing seeds.

Basic Mix with Compost

2 parts Sifted Compost
2-4 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss
2 parts Perlite
3 parts sand
(Note: compost provides some basic nutrients for plants and should enable a few weeks growth without additional fertizlation.)

Cutting Potting Mix 1:1

1 part peat

1 part sharp sand

Seed Starting Mix 1:1

4 parts peat
4 parts vermiculite

david

Common Problems with Seedlings

Healthy seedlings growing along nicely - no problems with these! 

Damping-off – overwatering and too little air circulation – once plants have been hit by damping-off, they are toast. Avoid it by: good air circulation, don’t overwater, don’t overcrowd your seedlings. Some folks use sprays of chamomile or nettle tea on seedlings as a preventative measure

Discolored roots - often an excess of fertilizer or waterlogging (usually has a bad odor)

Failure to spout – other than being an indication that you have a bad karmic debt to erase, the following might well be wrong: temperature too high or too low, soil that was allowed to dry out, planted too deep, top watering that washed away the seeds, old or poorly stored seeds, insufficient contact between soil and the seeds, toxic soil, damping-off, lack of light for those that need light 

Leaf curl - leaves curling under is probably over-fertilization

Leaf discoloration – usually indicate nutrient deficiencies

      Pale – if they are getting enough light, nitrogen deficiency

      Reddish purple undersides – lack of phosphorous – if (somehow) the soil is too acidic, that can  interfere with the plant’s ability to uptake phosphorous

      Bronzed or brown leaf edges – lack of potassium or overwatered

Leggy plants – these are long weak stems – longer than normal internodes indicate one or more of the following: insufficient light excessively high temperatures, plant crowding

Mold – poor drainage, insufficient soil aeration possibly over-fertilizer and/or lack of air circulation

Skimpy root growth – poor drainage, low fertility of the soil, excess fertilizer, temperature too low or insufficient air space in the soil mixture

Yellowing of lower (older) leaves – also over-feeding – although might also indicate magnesium deficiency (but very unlikely if you are using a commercial potting soil)

 david 

Some Notes on Sexual and Asexual Propagation

Asexual propagation involves the use of seeds. You may use hybrid seed or open-pollinated seeds, once that variety has been in production for over 50 years, they are called heirloom seeds.

To sow seeds you will need a potting mix, a container and a watering device. Oh, and light.

Asexual propagation is any other way you can get ‘baby’ plants. Under this broad generalization, we include;

dividing bulbs

cuttings

air layering

division

To do these things, you need a spade (with a sharp edge), some knives, pruners, potting mix, a watering device, and, preferably some kind of root stimulant.

BY DIVISION

First Aid kit is on top of the refrigerator!

TOOLS: File, sharp spade or shovel

Pruners

Knife

Pruning saw

Organic fungicide = sulfur

Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes and Tubers we have in the Garden you may work with include:

Iris all members of this family

Watsonia

Daffodils & freesia (later in the season – they are actively growing now)

Saffron crocus

Bamboo – several species

Most herbaceous perennials are easy to propagate by some form of division. Some common ones we can try in the Garden include:

Artichokes

Rhubarb

All chrysanthemums (including Shasta Daisy)

Cacti and succulents

The olive tree and western sycamore trees have sucker growth that might be propagated.

You may divide almost any plant in the Garden AFTER CHECKING WITH ME. If you divide the artichoke, rhubarb or any of the succulents, I want to be with you.

Pests and Diseases

Fungi

including Dampening off

Fungus gnats

david

Definitions and Terminology for Propagation

Buds on a named-variety of Ceanothus - all Ceanothus hybrids are propagated by cuttings; the hybrid can't be maintained any other way because the crosses aren't stable.

Apical dominance Apical dominance is phenomenon where the tip of the main trunk or branch bears the dominant meristem. The tip is apical meristem. This allows the convenience of the tip to grow fast and avoid being shadowed by branches. If the dominant meristem is removed, one of the nodes left on the branch or trunk will assume dominance, usually the topmost bud/node. 

Apical meristem The growing tip composed of completely undifferentiated meristematic tissue, these are the buds (nodes) and growing tips of roots in plants.

Asexual reproduction (also known as vegetative reproduction) Any reproduction in plants that does not involve meiosis or fertilization; there is only one parent contributing genetic material to the resulting offspring – they are, in effect, “cloned.”

Bud See node.

Callus The mass of parenchyma cells that develops from and around wounded plant tissues in order to diminish evaporation from the wound and initiate healing. In grafting it occurs at the junction of a graft union, arriving from living cells of both scion and stock. The production and interlocking of these parenchyma (or callus) cells constitute one of the important steps in the healing process of a successful graft.

Cambium A thin meristematic tissue of the plant located between the bark and the wood. Its cells are are capable of dividing and forming new cells. For a successful graft union, it is essential that the cambium of the scion be placed in close contact with the cambium of the stock.

Clone A population of genetically identical cells or individuals. Such a population is obtained by mitotic division or by asexual reproduction.

Distal The distal end of either the root or the shoot is that furthest from the stem-root junction of the plant and nearest to the tip of the shoot or root. Alt. proximal. See polarity.

Dormant/dormancy (buds) A bud which have stopped its development for a period due to unfavorable environmental conditions (e.g. a dry or cold season). A dormant bud will sprout as a response to improved growth conditions or a “biological clock” e.g. longer days.

Grafting The connection of two pieces of living plant tissue in such a manner that they will unite and subsequently grow and develop as one plant.

Grafting wax Substance applied on the graft union in order to minimize desiccation and exclude water access.

Graft union The site of the grafted plant where the scion and the root stock are united.

Hedging Trimming trees and keeping them low in order to overcome or bypass the poor rooting and often poor form of cuttings from old trees. Cuttings from hedged plants tend to maintain their young physiological age.

Hormone A substance that has a marked effect on a specific plant part and produces this effect when present in very low concentrations, e.g. promotion of root, shoot or flower development. Hormones are produced within the plant but artificial synthesized plant hormones applied to the plant part have the same effect.

Incompatibility (graft incompatibility) Inability of the stock and the scion to form or maintain a union that will result in the desired plant growth.

Meristem (meristematic tissue) This is tissue in all plants consisting of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) and found in zones of the plant where growth can take place. Grafting and cuttings rely on this phenomenon of plant physiology to achieve results.

Node The horticultural term for a point of the stem from which one or more leaves arise or can arise. In the mature stem the nodes are usually well separated by internodes which elongate during growth. Apical meristem is the botanical term. Nodes may be dormant and only visible as a slight swelling along a stem.

Scion An aerial plant part, often a branchlet, that is grafted onto the root bearing part (stock/root-stock) of another plant.

Sexual reproduction  Plants reproduce sexually in a number of ways, but for the purpose of this course where we are dealing with primarily higher (flowering) plants, sexual reproduction takes place through pollen from a male flower being transferred to the female flower and the resulting fertilization resulting in the growth of seeds with the following generation having genetic traits of both parents.

Strike Slang for a cutting that has rooted. Occasionally used as a verb for the act of making a cutting.

Stock/root stock The lower portion of the graft, which develops into the root system of the grafted plant. It may be a seedling, a rooted cutting or a layered plant.

Take A slang term for the phenomenon of the successful union of stock and scion and growth of the grafted plant.

david

Lecture Notes on Seed Starting

I.  Roll

II.  Soil mixing station; potting bench; where to find six-packs

III.  Seed morphology basics

      A. An embryonic plant enclosed in a hard coat

      B. Evolution of higher plants (the flowering plants/Angiosperms) – previous 'improvements' in evolution were the mosses and ferns and liverworts which do not have seeds but propagate by other means
     C. Parts of a seed

1. Outer covering – seed coat – may be so hard to require manipulation to allow seed to grow seed coat helps protect the embryo from mechanical injury and from drying out.
2. Source of nutrients for the new plant – may be stored in the first leaves or may be stored around the plant in an endosperm – cotyledons of peas and beans are swollen because they are the storage of nutrients for the new plant
3. Embryo – composed of the Hypocotyl, Radicle and cotyledons – the little plant

500. Dormancy – caused by many different factors, not usually a factor in most popular seeds because they have adapted to human sowing – wildflowers and CA natives are not adapted to human sowing and dormancy is the leading cause of madness among seed sowing.
     
     
     1. Not all seed germinates at the same time to insure survival of the species
     2. Delayed germination insures passage of seasons for seed to germinate at the most auspicious time
     3. Event – such as fire – may help species out-compete other plant species
     4. Steps to work around will be covered in later lecture
     
     
     
     
     
VI.  Seed starting – indoors, outdoors, A. Indoors – more control over seed environment B. Outdoors – essential for root crops and allows for a lack of a transplant setback     1.  Soil choices Constituents of potting soil – peat, vermiculite, perlite, forest fines (compost), sand     2.  Pot choices - paper, clay, plastic, found pots      3.  Seed choices – catalogs, specialty houses, collected,     4.  notes on wild collecting seed (1.)  Always get permission from the landowner before collecting seed. (2.)  Check laws and regulations before you collect seeds from city, state or national parks. (3.)  Properly identify the species (This is usually easiest to do when the plant is in bloom), and store it's seed separately from other seeds. Include notes on the growing conditions where you harvested the seeds. (4.)  Never collect more than a small percentage of the seed from a wild population (Once established, you will be able to get additional seeds from your own plants). If there are only a few plants of a particular species in an area, locate a commercial source of the desired plant. (5.)  Wildflowers may be very obvious while in bloom, but often by the time the seeds are mature, the plant will seem to disappear into the landscape. Never harvest seeds until they have ripened on the plant (after seed heads begin to brown but before seeds drop out). This usually takes at least a month. Do a little advance scouting and mark the location of desirable plants, so you can find them again at harvest time. (6.)  Do your homework, so you will know any special requirements for the seeds, such as chilling or extended dormancy. It would be pointless and wasteful to plant seeds which were unable to grow. D.  Seed sizes      Very tiny – lavender, poppy, alysum      Tiny – carrot/lettuce/Cruciferae      Medium – sweet pea, cotton      Large – fava bean on up to avocado

E. Tools to use in sowing seeds -
          tweezers           widget           Swiss Army Knife           spoons           packet

F. Stratification types
          hot water           fire           cold           alternating temperatures           filing           treated with acid

F. Upsizing plants
          pricking out           potting on           setting out into the ground

G. Sowing in the ground – carrots, radishes
H. Setting plants out – lettuce

V.  Practice

david