You may be wondering how to stay productive with your growies during the heat of summer. UofF IFAS recommends to do no planting or transplanting during the month of July, likely due to the high temperatures and extremely intermittent rainfall. In August, it would be acceptable to plant some seeds indoors for later transplanting outside, if you are into that sort of thing. Me, I would rather reproduce the growies that are successful asexually indoors during July, particularly growies like this delicious basil that I started from seed earlier this year.
This is a picture of the basil cuttings in my clone bucket, a miniature aeroponic system that bathes the stems in a constant mist. I had previously modified the sprayer head to produce finer misting particles, and once it was loaded with water and a pinch of rooting hormone it was ready to go. Also, the plants won't need light, so the clone bucket is tucked into my fairly dark kitchen where I can keep an eye on it.
Have you ever started cuttings in water, using this method or any other method?
The third week of the clone bucket, the week of promised clone finishing, had finally arrived. I opened up the bucket to hopefully find masses of white roots... only to find this...
Need I say, I was a little bit disappointed.
I hadn't followed the directions. The operator is supposed to use rooting hormones in the water. Then it is recommended to use hydroponic nutrient solution for feeding the plants while they are rooting.
And what is this? It can only be described as a bacterial slime mold.
So, I have planted out the remaining living cuttings, one of which has three or four tiny roots on it, the rest have no visible roots but are not dead or sliming. If these 5 live, then that ratio of 5:8 survival rating is not too bad, considering there is nothing but water in the system.
For the second week of the clone bucket project, I was delighted to find that only one of the cuttings had seemed to fail, by turning brown at the bottom and getting a little bit slimy. I removed it from the others and tossed it into the compost pile. Then rinsed out the bucket with water, added fresh water,and started the pump again. Although there is not much visible difference in the leaves of the cuttings, I did notice the green hibiscus (turk's cap) had grown a little bit. None of the cuttings have visible roots at this point.
I was so excited with the gift Santa brought for me, an "aeroponic" cloning bucket. I promise only to use my new-found cloning powers for evil. Or good? For its trial run, I have two different kinds of hibiscus cuttings (Hibiscus acetosella and Malvaviscus penduliflorus) for a total of 8 cuttings. The bucket is on the windowsill of my kitchen, a very shady spot but good for keeping an eye on things. The directions recommend opening the bucket every week and cleaning out the water, which I have to admit was feeling a bit...slimy. It lacked odor.
It's hard to say what's going on with these cuttings. They are not black and dead, nor are they water soaked and swollen. The leaves on the green hibiscus are larger than they were, a good sign. The purple hibiscus shows no change. Overall, I approve.
I may have mentioned my aspirations to be a mad hibiscus maven, someone who is willing to share freely information, preferably about something unusual, like hibiscus. They are members of the mallow/rose family, and make for a tasty addition to both human and rabbit palates.Other than the Chinese hibiscus, many members of the family grow very well here in west Florida, including one of my favorites, the Turk's Cap hibiscus.
So I have asked Santa this year for a cloning bucket similar to this one from Garden Pool. I love their design, but after researching their plans, I discovered it would be cheaper to buy one prefabricated. Maybe it's because of where I live, my access to the supplies. Santa got exactly what I wanted, and it's a lot more compact than I thought it was going to be, perfect for my already overstuffed galley-style laboratory. It even fits on a windowsill.
For the first test run, I have filtered water and no hormones/chemicals added, and have made no modifications to the cloning bucket. If this all works as advertised, I may actually acquire some rooting hormones and a finer misting nozzle from the aforementioned big box stores.
While I was setting up the bucket, I happily noticed the plastic bucket itself was made in the US. Didn't expect that. Hooray for plant technology probably pioneered by pot. The system includes a pump, a riser, a spigot, the black bucket, the black lid with holes, the foam plant holders, and a bunch of sample chemicals I plan on tossing.
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