Next year's plants.


In any sort of business venture one has to look to the future and gardening is no exception. So it is time to make a start on producing some of next years plants. As a matter of fact I have already made a start a few weeks ago.

Dionysias that are difficult plants at the best at the best of times are liable to succumb in the first two weeks in August, with a combination of high temperatures and humidity. So a few cuttings must be rooted each year to provide continuity of supply.

With this in mind I inserted ten cuttings of each variety from my collection five weeks ago and it was now time to check the results. What a surprise I got to discover that there was a 90% take from my efforts. The cuttings were inserted in pure silver sand in a plastic container something akin to a butter box with a hinged lid. The lid was not closed however but was left open 45ยบ and the box placed in a north facing cold frame. The box was put into a container with a two-inch depth of water until the top of the sand was wet and then allowed drain before the cuttings were inserted.

The potting up is the tricky part of this operation, for if the tiny thread like roots are damaged the little plant will die. So one must exercise great care when handling such fragile plants.

The method I use is very simple. The cuttings are carefully prised from the sand making sure the roots are not damaged. The pots have been previously filled to ensure that the plants are out in the air for as short a time as possible. I make a little hole with my finger in the compost and gently place the plant into the depression at the same time carefully trickling dry silver sand round the roots. This has the advantage of not shocking the little plant very much as it is going into the same substrate it was in before. In a few days the little roots will search out the new compost and should grow away very happily. Out of a total of fifty rooted cuttings I only lost one, and if my memory serves me correctly it was not very well rooted in the first place.

The copyright of the article Next year's plants. in Gardening in Ireland is owned by Michael Campbell. Permission to republish Next year's plants. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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