Building a Small Farm | Propagating for FREE Plants
When it comes to plants, I'm always pretty amazed by propagation, especially taking cuttings. Essentially, you're cutting a plant in half but BOTH parts grow. To put that into context with animals, it's like a lizard not only regrowing its tail, but the severed tail REGROWING the body! I mean, WOW!
As part of my farming plans, I'm currently doing a lot of landscaping, maintenance and forward planning (as mentioned in my Building a Small Farm - Thinking of Nut Trees) post. And I need A LOT of plants because not only do I love growing vegetables, but I also love flowers! So it's important to me to have both a productive and beautiful site.
And that's where plant propagation comes in....
Plants for Free
Homesteading and farming may be a fantastic way of life, but it sure ain't going to make you rich. Not at the start, anyway. Yes, okay, after a few years you might have a prize winning bull you sell for thousands, but when you're beginning, cash will probably be tight and things will break - constantly. Combined with the steep learning curve and not knowing all the tricks of the trade that'll probably lead to a few surprise costs, most probably you'll be (and I fully expect to be) broke.
Anything FREE, therefore, is essential!
So I'm starting now with a few plants, both for landscaping the farm but also selling for additional income.
The first plants I'm amassing are buddleias as I want to create two 'groves'; the first at the entrance to the wildflower meadow will be white buddleia plants that you can walk amongst to get the fragrance and watch the butterflies. The second will be a mauve variety I'm using as a hedge either side of my living willow dome that will act as the entrance to the nuttery.
I didn't have much luck last year, but this year they've ALL taken.
Whilst the pelargoniums are yet to show roots, they do look like they've taken just by the lack of dead, crispy looking mature. Meanwhile, most of the rosemary has taken too. You can see on the image below that the one on the right is healthy and has produced roots; note the fresh looking green foliage and growing tip in the centre. The one of the left, however, is yellowing, brittle and has no growing tip; no roots here!
So, all in all, I'm really glad with how the cuttings have taken this year. They're too vulnerable to sit outside all winter so they'll be potted up and kept in a cold frame or greenhouse. It allows them to stop growth due to the ambient temperature, but not to get frosted or snowed on! And then, next year, I can start to think about actually getting some plant landscaping done at the farm. Exciting!
Isn't plant propagation the absolute best! I'm a blueberry farmer (if I had to give myself a title) and have about 1200 plants growing in the fields. Not only do I make my money by harvesting and selling the berries but I found an additional income by selling plant clones. Essentially, they are free to make, just some time and effort. I recycle all my pots. My only expense is purchased peat moss for the planting media.
Lately, I've been doing some research on grafting. It seems so strange and difficult but the more I learn, the more comfortable I am becoming with it. I recently bought this book, The Grafter's Handbook, 6th Edition
by: Garner, R.J. and have been devouring it. It's a great book. I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I've never attempted grafting - as you say, it's seems a strange and difficult area - but I would like to try it one day.
And 'Hi, I'm a blueberry farmer' is quite the opener! Love it. :D
I should use that line more often. Maybe I'll get a date out of it, haha.
give a liquid organic fertilizer made from rice water and goat urine for your plant food. you can see how to make it on our blog. Good luck. thank you
It really is not that difficult. It is very important to have a sharp knife with a thin blade. We have been using utility knives with good success. I highly recommend that you first practice on some branches you prune off. It really is a matter of practice.
We use paraffin tape to wrap the scion. I wrap it before I fit it to the rootstock. Less wiggling on the connection. One year, I ordered 50 rootstock - they were $1.30 each or something like that. Then I grafted them all. In the beginning, it took a long time for each. By the end, I got pretty fast. I sold some, planted some and gave many away. I sold enough to cover my cost.
Every year, before I start grafting a practice on a stick for a few times to get comfortable with the cuts again. Hope you try it - you'll have fun!
I keep trying to get fruit tree cuttings to root, I guess I should really be grafting them to rootstock! It does seem intimidating but maybe I'll work up the nerve soon...
Figs, pomegranates, goji berries, and grapes are easy to grow from cuttings and will do okay. But stonefruit and apples are not really such a good idea. Usually, the resulting tree is much weaker.
Rootstocks are bred to be disease resistant and such and you can choose one which does well in your particular climate and soil.
Of course, if you have a plum tree for example, it will shoot up suckers and they are from the root stock . Cut those with some root on it and you have your own.
also, you can grow from seed. But it will take 8-10 years before you get fruit and 80 % is not going to be that great. If you have a lot of land, that is a good way to go. You might develop the next sought-after variety :)
Wow. Thanks for the info! I'm definitely going to add this to me to-do's list! :D
Welcome :)
thanks so much for this info!
you are welcome
Free plants are so amazing and propagating is a worthwhile skill for every gardener. Practicing all sorts of propagation right now myself!
What you got going?!
Excellent post!! Growing your own food is also a great way of creating currency. Thanks for the tips. Keep On Steemin On!!
Thanks. :) Growing food is most definitely up there with money saving!
Nice post. I am going to be using a similar strategy at our Homestead of propagating as many of our plants as possible to save money and maybe even sell some.
I just finished doing this to my herbs as well, and brought them all inside for the winter, all in new pots, clipped from my garden. I have rosemary, thyme, lavender, chamomille, basil, and few others.
I love how easy herbs are to propagate and because they really need pruning to keep them under control, there's always an abundance of potential new plant clippings! :D
I love starting cuttings! And the analogy of the lizard is a good one. I left my home for a year and just about all my indoor plants died (thank you tenants). So now I'm going around to friends and starting everything new from cuttings from ivy to trumpet vines to rosemary and a fig tree ( : I've got some neighbors tagged for cuttings of my favorite plants that they have come spring! We'll be doing trades ( :
That's a great way to restock!! And there's something nice about taking a cutting too as it has a story, a place it came from etc.
And I adore anything with a good story ( :
I love that you are propagating so much! It is a lot of fun!
It really is....when it works! ;)
Propagating plants is not something I have entered into fully yet. I am eager to learn and this post has really helped me decide to take the plunge.
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @brimwoodfarm to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
To enter this post into the daily RESTEEM contest, upvote this comment! The user with the most upvotes on their @OriginalWorks comment will win!
For more information, Click Here!
Special thanks to @reggaemuffin for being a supporter! Vote him as a witness to help make Steemit a better place!
Oh, do! It's really great fun. Not everything takes so it's best to take way more cuttings that you actually need, but when those little plants take and start producing roots, it's SO satisfying. :D
Great post. I hope to have the time to start propagating my own plants. 🐓🐓
Thanks for the ideal publish! @brimwoodfarm
Thanks for your comment :D