Propagation
I am grow lupins from ejaculate this yr , and they are doing very nicely as seedlings . If I can keep the biff and snails off I gestate they ’ll be mythologic . excuse to me then why I bought two good size lupine plant on Sunday at RHS Wisley ? Anyhow , bought them I did , and very square search plant they are too .
Because I understandably do n’t have enough lupins , my first idea was “ how can I make more of these ? ” . I find this is often ( always ) the case now . Ca n’t aid myself .
For lupins , the resolution is usually seeds , very careful division or basal cutting . I ’m doing the first already , I do n’t have matured plants to divide , carefully or not , so basal cuttings it is . The reward of cuttings ( or sectionalisation ) over semen is that the resulting plants will be genetically superposable . March or April is a good time for it , the plant is throwing out nice new growing desirable for this method .
Unlike a stem newspaper clipping , as the name evoke , for a basal cutting you want to go in at the home of the plant where the stem foregather the crown .
A sporting , sharp knife is indispensable outfit . I am using a scalpel way wiliness tongue but an ordinary garden tongue works just as well so long as it is nice and sharp . And clean .
I have attempt to abridge the base as close to the crown as possible .
I just get two stems from each plant , I do n’t need to bare the originals .
There is too much flora fabric on each stem , it needs trimming back . Using the scalpel I cautiously trimmed aside the surfeit . In some slip the base of the fixings appear racy enough to try them as cuttings in their own right . Nothing adventure ! My aim was to exit a single foliage or leaf mathematical group at the top of the cuttings .
I am using a gritty compost mix , roughly 2 part sieved multipurpose , 1 part precipitous sand , 1 part moxie . I jell the newspaper clipping up around the edges of the grass , using a bamboo cane to poke a suitable sized pickle then firming in gently around the slip .
I have watered them and put them in the heated bench , somewhere warm and humid is respectable or they will quickly wilt . I ’ll give them a spray with water every now and again to be sure they do n’t dry out . If I can find one of a suitable size I may pop a polythene bag over them to keep the humidness levels up .
I was left with some spare piece , the side stems . I decide to put these in the hydropod to see what happens .
That ’s it . This same process works with delphinium and campanula , amongst others . Give it a try !
I ’ll be back in a while with an update , hopefully require roots .
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