I have had very little. I have tried to propagate Bluecrop and Northland by using softwood cuttings but have not had great success. Here is what I did:

Just as the tips of the plants were turning a bit rigid, I took my cuttings. These cuttings I then stripped off all but the top 2 or 4 leaves and if the leaves were large, I cut them in half to reduce the leaves surface area. I dipped the stem in rooting hormone then placed them in a peat/perlite mix under my misting system.

Over the course of the summer I checked them for roots. I was a bit surprised to find that they did not form roots as readily as other softwood cuttings I do. In fact, they did not seem to be doing anything. They retained their leaves but refused to form roots, even after being under the mist for months.

At the end of the summer I again took a look to see if roots were forming. 2 out of the 15 cuttings I stuck had a single root about 1/2 inch long. Not very good rooting percentage when I am used to 90% rooting success with my other softwood cuttings.

So what went wrong?

Well, I am not sure but because it was the first year rooting softwood cuttings after I had a water softener installed, I am assuming that had a big impact. It definitely had an impact on my other cuttings. I do not have access to a Ph meter so I do not know what the Ph of my water is now.

The spring and summer were extremely wet which may have reduced the temperatures around the cuttings too much as well as reduce the amount of available sunshine.

I may have also took the cuttings a bit early.

My propagation references recommend early to mid summer and I may have jumped the gun a little. I live very near the top of a large hill in a very hilly area of southern Maine and although just 6 miles away spring may have arrived, I will usually still have a minimum of 2 more weeks before my plants even think spring is here. So hilly, I can see Mt. Washington on a clear day!

Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants states the cuttings should be collected in June and treated with 1000 ppm of IBA, then placed in a peat/perlite mix, but his Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation says May cuttings with decreased success in late summer. It also says to use 8000 ppm IBA-talc + thiram or 4000 ppm naphthaleneacetamide and place the cuttings in peat/perlite under mist. Hmmm, a little confusing.

A third book I use on propagation states that hardwood cuttings are the best means of propagation, but this particular book was written well before intermittent mist was discovered. It says to place cuttings taken from one year old shoots during late winter or early spring and plant them in a box frame. Attention to water and shade as well as humidity is needed, but the cuttings should root in 6-8 weeks.

What am I going to do?

• Bypass the water softener to start so my cuttings use un-softened water
• Pay closer attention to the time of year the softwood cuttings are taken and be sure to not take them too early
• Try a few hardwood cuttings in a nearing frame as my older book suggests

How do you propagate your blueberries?

For more information on blueberry propagation:

Propagation of the high-bush blueberry by softwood cuttings (Bulletin / Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station)
Propagation studies with the southern blueberry (Bulletin / Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station)
The propagation of highbush blueberries by softwood cuttings (IVT mededeling)
Propagating blueberries from hardwood cuttings (Circular / New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station)

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There are many ways of structuring your garden. One way that is gaining popularity is raised beds.

A raised bed garden consists of erecting beds of soil on top of the ground. Like any gardening style, there are advantages and disadvantages of raised bed gardening. There are also a few options to consider when creating your raised bed.

The advantages of having raised beds are as follows:

Having raised beds allows you to blend your soil so that’s it is more tailored to growing plants with specific needs. With raised bed you will have less chance of soil erosion, pesky critters, leaf litter and other organic debris affecting your plants. Raised beds are ideal for long rooted plants due to the several inches of soil under them. In addition, raised beds will decrease the fatigue of your knees and back.

Unfortunately all of those advantages come with a price:

Constructing a raised bed garden can be costly and very time consuming. When getting your parts, remember that lumber treated with creosote should not be used. The creosote will seep into your beds and kill your plants. The edges of your beds must be constructed properly and reinforced to prevent the sides of the bed from deteriorating over time. Raised beds tend to dry out faster than regular tilled beds and will required a more vigorous watering routine.

Options for raised beds:

Raised beds can be edged with lumber as stated above or the edges can be left unfinished. Obviously the finished edged beds will require more work, time and money to construct. I usually construct raised beds with the unfinished edges. Leaving the edges unfinished makes the bed look more natural. One word of caution with an unfinished edged raised bed; be sure to properly edge the bed before actually making it, and keep the sod cut back so the grass does not start to grow into your raised bed.

Remember raised beds are a big investment. Start building your raised grow beds, and you could see better plants in no time and your back and knees will hurt less too.

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I like to believe I do.

When a customer emails or calls I immediately go into problem solving mode. I put myself in my customers shoes and listen to what they are trying to explain to me. I imagine that their problem is my problem and what I would do to fix it. Having an analytical mind and knowing the products I sell, helps me to imagine the problem and find the solution without actually having to put my hands on it. As I am doing this I am also figuring out how to explain the solution in such a way that they will be able to understand. Of course, people are different, and some you can just tell them what needs to be done and they do it, others may not be mechanically inclined and need more basic step by step directions. Then we have some that need even more attention than that…

The customers problem:

I had one customer call and explain that she tried to make a change to the programming on her misting timer, made a mistake, and needed help. I get these calls all the time and figured I could get her up and running within 5 minutes. She had a Spanish accent that I had a tough time with, and walking her through the programming may take a bit longer because of it, but no problem right?

When my customers call me to help with re-programming their misting timers after they have made changes, I have found that it is best to just start from scratch. Not knowing exactly which buttons have been pushed makes it extremely difficult for me to determine how to fix the problem. By starting over, I can get the customer running within minutes.

Before I start walking the customer through the programming I ask a few questions: how many zones, does each zone have the same settings, etc. After getting this info, we begin.

The first thing I have them do is unplug the timer and remove the battery to erase the current program. Just unplugging the timer will not shut the timer off, the battery backup is designed to retain the program in the event of a power failure. I had the woman unplug the timer and remove the battery. After the required 30 second wait, I had the woman replace the battery and started to walk her through the programming. We immediately hit a snag when she told me that the programming was not erased. Not a big deal, we probably did not wait a full 30 seconds after the battery was removed and the program was not erased. I had her remove the battery again and engaged her in small talk for a complete minute before having her replace the battery.

She immediately told me that the program had not been erased. What the heck? A full minute with no power and the program is still not erased? I asked her to confirm that the timer was indeed unplugged and the battery was removed, she did. Weird…

Now I am a bit confused at this point. I have programmed literally hundreds if not thousands of these timers and have never run into this particular problem. In fact, the DIG misting controllers are almost faultless. What was going on with this one? I had her remove the battery once again and we waited a full two minutes before I told her to re-install the battery. Again, the programming had not been erased!

At this point I was stumped. She needed to get this misting controller fixed so she could get her cuttings misted. They had already been out of the mist much too long. I walked her through bypassing her misting solenoid so her cuttings could get some moisture while I racked my brains trying to figure out why the programming was not being erased. There was no good explanation; when all the power is removed, the timer cannot possibly retain the programming!

I had her remove the battery for a full five minutes this time with the same results; the program just would not be erased. I told her that I thought her timer was possessed and that it may be worth a lot of money if it could run without electricity. I told her to remove the battery once again and call me in 1/2 hour.

After hanging up I immediately grabbed the same timer off my shelf, installed a battery and programmed it according to what she needed. I then removed the battery for 30 seconds and replaced it. The programming was erased as I knew it would be. What the heck was up with her timer?

She called back in a 1/2 hour and I told her to place the battery back into the timer. She did, and I asked if the program was gone. She said no! A full 1/2 hour without power and this thing still had retained the program? No way!

I was about ready to give up and overnight a new misting timer to her when I decided to try one more time. I asked her to remove the battery and she did. We waited 30 seconds and I asked if the digital display was blank, an indication that the program was erased. NO. I told her to be sure the battery was not touching the battery connector in the timer. The timer takes a 9 volt battery and I wanted to be sure it was fully disconnected. “Disconnected?” she asked, “you told me to remove it from the timer. That is what I have been doing, opening the cover that holds it in place and letting it fall out, but I never disconnected it.”

We both laughed and I had her disconnect the battery, wait 30 seconds and re-connect it. A miracle! The program was erased! I quickly walked her through the programming and she had her timer running within minutes.

Moral of the story:

Although I asked her to remove the battery, I did not tell her to disconnect it. Most folks would assume that when you are asked to remove a battery, it means disconnect it. I should have been clearer and told her specifically to disconnect it, but didn’t. This small communication breakdown caused us to waste about an hour and a half’s worth of time. Time that her cuttings needed to be misted, time that I could have better spent on other things.

Be sure when you are communicating with someone that you don’t assume the other person knows exactly what you are saying. Assume they don’t and go from there, it may save you a ton of time and in this case, a bit of embarrassment on both sides.

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Can you use softened water to root cuttings?

Of course you can use water that has passed through a water softener to mist your cuttings with. It will provide the exact same amount of moisture that non-softened water will. However, that is pretty much all the benefit it will provide.

What is softened water?

Softened water is water that has gone through a process to remove calcium and magnesium. Water that has high levels of calcium and magnesium is called “hard” water. This hard water can cause scale and cause soap to not lather as well as it should. To remove the calcium and magnesium ions from the water, it must first pass over a bed of small plastic beads. These beads have a negative charge that holds positive sodium ions and as the water passes over them, the sodium ions swap places with the calcium and magnesium ions which have a stronger positive charge. Now that the calcium and magnesium ions have been removed, the water is then considered softened.

Once all the sodium ions have been replaced with calcium and magnesium ions, the systems needs to be regenerated. The regeneration process involves soaking the plastic beads in sodium. Sodium is salt. Yes, pretty much the same salt we eat and melt ice with in the winter. This salt is drawn into the chamber that holds the beads as a strong brine solution. This brine replaces the calcium and magnesium ions on the beads with sodium ions because of the sheer number of sodium ions. The brine, calcium, and magnesium is then flushed out of the chamber, the beads get rinsed with fresh water, and the entire process repeats itself over and over.

So have you figured out why you shouldn’t use softened water to mist your cuttings?

Even though the beads get flushed with water to remove the brine solution, there is still sodium present. As the water flows through the softener, the sodium ions are released into it. This salt can be lethal to your cuttings.
A small amount of sodium, as well as the calcium and magnesium that has been removed, is required for any plant to grow. Too much sodium, as well as the removal of the calcium and magnesium will have detrimental effects on the cuttings and may stunt their growth or kill them altogether.

I have personally witnessed the effects of softened water on rooted cuttings. During the softwood rooting season of 2008, I used water that was not softened and had tremendous results. Very high rooting rates were observed with nearly all species being rooted. During the winter of 2008, I had trouble with my hot water heater which led to a water test. This test revealed very large amounts of iron and manganese in my well water. As well as these high amounts, the water was extremely hard, this would explain why my water pipes had clogged up to the point of almost being completely closed. The solution for all these problems was a whole house filter and water softener. Of course, I never gave much of a thought to the cuttings I would be rooting the following summer!

Summer of 2009 rolls around to see me making thousands of cuttings and rooting them under my misting system. Almost at once I noticed the plants not responding well. Because of the extremely wet summer, I thought the cuttings may have been getting too wet. I made adjustments and forged on. Fast forward to late summer: the rooting percentage of that years cuttings as well as the general look and health was abysmal. Many had not developed nearly enough of a root system to survive. Many looked stunted and sickly. Some even had the edges on all their leaves brown and dead. Doing a bit of research, I discovered why; salt, and possibly nutrient deficiency due to the nutrients being removed from the water during the softening process. Yeah, yeah, I should have caught it earlier, but life sometimes just goes much too fast and I lost track of time and before I knew it, the summer was over!

So here is what I am going to do:

Come spring, I am going to add a valve just before my water softener. This valve will have a hose spigot attached so I can supply one of my misting systems with water that has not gone through the water softener. I will have one misting bed supplied with softened water and one supplied with water that has not been softened. During the course of the summer, I will pay close attention to the differences in the two misting beds. I am sure I will quickly see that the cuttings that are being misted with the un-softened water will be far healthier. when that is confirmed, I will then simply supply both beds with the un-softened water and note how  cuttings that were affected by the sodium turn out. Of course, things such as pH can also affect the cuttings, but because I don’t own a pH meter, I will not be testing that at this time.

Do you have any experience rooting cuttings with water that has gone through the water softening process?

What were your results?

For a great explanation on the effects of sodium on plants, visit salinitymanagement.org.

For info on plant propagation:

American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques

The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation: From Seed to Tissue Culture, Second Edition

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses

Hartmann and Kester’s Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices (7th Edition)

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Misting nozzles come in all shapes and sizes, delivering small droplets to large and everything in between. Choosing the best droplet size for your specific application is sometimes a trial and error process. Getting the spacing correct between them can be done with some simple math.

To calculate the spacing of your misting nozzles, you must first determine how large an area they cover. One factor that greatly affects the coverage is the height of the nozzles above your cuttings. Misting nozzles are designed to be used at specific heights for adequate coverage. Dramm’s Pin Perfect nozzles are best if used between 3 and 5 feet, while Dramm’s JetRain™ nozzles with the red pin should be between 4 and 8 feet. Before beginning your nozzle spacing calculations, you must first find out the optimal height of your nozzles and be sure your nozzle height falls between them.

Before we begin, remember, to get good, uniform coverage from your nozzles they should have a little bit of overlap. Also, once the nozzle is permanently installed in your piping, it is extremely difficult to correct any problems like over or under watering if the spacing is wrong.

I will first use the Dramm Pin Perfect misting nozzles as an example.

The Pin Perfect misting nozzle is designed to cover a 10 foot diameter when 5 feet above the cuttings. The easiest way to determine the spacing for these nozzles is to take the coverage, 10 feet, and divide it in half. So for these Pin Perfect nozzles that are at the recommended height of 5 feet above the cuttings, the distance between the nozzles should be 5 feet.

That was easy wasn’t it? How about if you want to use the nozzles lower than the recommended height? This is just as easy, for a 7 foot diameter spray, the nozzles need to lowered to 3 feet above the cuttings (figures are right from the nozzle manufacturer). Simply divide the coverage in half to get 3 1/2. the nozzles will need to be spaced 3 1/2 feet apart to get the proper coverage.

The nozzle manufacturer will be able to tell you the heights and spacing of your misting nozzles .

Now that you have the basic understanding of how to calculate the distance between permanent misting nozzles, how do you figure the spacing between something like Dramm Mist Stix?

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You are welcome to use the free gardening article listed below on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint them as, including the contact information at the end. You must include an active link back to http://www.freeplants.com

Small town, big town, it doesn’t matter, if you have a small area in your backyard that you can use for planting, then you can make money growing small plants at home. Actually you can make pretty good money on 1/40 of one acre. That’s an area about 30 feet by 40 feet.

You will be amazed at how many plants you can fit in an area that small, and at how much money you can make. Even apartment dwellers can do this! If you live in an apartment, just to get a feel for how fun and rewarding a tiny nursery can be, find somebody with a little piece of ground that they will either let you use, let you rent it, or do a joint venture with you.

Is there really a market for small plants? The market is huge, something like 4 billion dollars last year alone, and the demand is tremendous. As a small grower, you have a tremendous advantage over the larger nurseries, their overhead is very high. As a backyard grower yours will be almost nothing.

You might be asking; “I live in a small town in a rural area, how many plants can I really sell?”

Tens of thousands if you want to. Most people don’t realize it, but large wholesale growers are the largest buyers of small plants in the country. They sell so many plants that they just can not produce them fast enough themselves, so they buy them from where ever they can find them. Just pack them up in a cardboard box and ship them anywhere you want.

I routinely buy large quantities of small plants and have them shipped thousands of miles to my house. Why do I buy plants if I know how to grow them myself? There are a lot of reasons, but one is because I am impatient and don’t like to grow Japanese Maples from seed. I can buy Japanese Maple seedlings for as little as 75¢ and all I have to do is pot them up and watch them grow.

I also buy large quantities of flowering shrubs that I would like to start propagating myself. I buy them for 50¢, pot them up, and often sell them the next year for $4.97. But in the mean time I take cuttings from them to propagate for next year’s crop. Then I never have to buy that variety again. Those are the same reasons that many wholesale nurseries are always looking for great deals on small plants. When they find someone like you, growing in their backyard they are delighted, because they know they can buy what they need for less money from a small backyard grower than they can if they buy from a large nursery.

It only stands to reason, your overhead is almost nothing, you don’t have to raise the price of your plants to pay for buildings, hundreds of acres of land, trucks, tractors, and dozens of employees.

How much money do you need to get started?

Almost none. All you have to do is root some cuttings, and you’re on your way! There are dozens of easy plant propagation techniques that are so easy to learn that young children can do them, and with great success I might add. This propagation information is available to you free of charge at www.freeplants.com

The size of the area you need to get started is really up to you, but an area about the size of a picnic table is a start. I’m serious. I root my cuttings in flats that are about 12” by 15”, and can get between 100 and 150 cuttings per flat. In an area about the size of a picnic table you should be able to root several thousand cuttings at a time.

And guess what?

As soon as they are well rooted, they have a value and can be sold immediately! Isn’t that cool?

Typically a rooted cutting is worth about 50¢. Let’s see now, 1500 cuttings at 50¢ each, that’s $750.!!! Wow!!! The wheels should be turning now.

But you don’t have to sell 50¢ plants, you can grow them until they’re bigger and get more money for them.  That’s what I do, I pot them up in small pots and they sell like crazy right from my driveway at $4.97 each.  This spring we sold over $25,000. worth of $4.97 plants right from our driveway.  One the people that bought my Backyard Nursery E-book held a sale this spring and sold $2,800. worth of plants her first weekend.  She was ecstatic!

Of course we also sold plants for much more than that.  I used to grow Japanese Red Maples and we sold those for $45. each,  and they sold like hot cakes!

This is one of the most fun and rewarding home businesses you could ever get involved in. My kids have learned work ethics, the value of a dollar, and skills that will last them a lifetime.  Anytime they needed a little extra money all they had to do was step out the back door and earn the money they need.

It costs very little to get started, and the rewards can be quite high. It’s certainly not a get rich quick plan (because there is no such thing!), but plenty of people have done very well in the nursery business.  All it takes is determination and hard work. You can learn it as you go along. It’s much easier than you think.

You can see photos of my backyard nursery on this page:  http://www.freeplants.com/backyard.htm

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most
interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his
excellent gardening newsletter, and grab a FREE copy of his
E-book, “Easy Plant Propagation”

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I recently wrote an article for another website that explains why you should not use water that has gone through a water softener to mist or irrigate your plants. The article ended with a brief explanation that a benefit of bypassing the water softener to water the cuttings and plants is that the softener will not have to work as hard and as often. Think about it: ALL the water that passes through the softener gets treated. If this water is being used for misting or irrigation, this is a huge waste of energy, salt to regenerate the beads in the softener, and the large amount of water used during the regeneration process.

So by simply adding a spigot before the water softener, you accomplish the following:

• Reduce the stress on the cuttings because of sodium toxicity
• Reduce the amount of sodium that ultimately ends up in the rooting media, affecting every batch of cuttings that I stick in it
• Reduce the stunting of the cuttings because they can use their energy in growing and not overcoming stress, as well as future batches of cuttings that will use the same media
• Reduce the amount of electricity used treating the water that will be used for misting and irrigation
• Reduce the wear and tear on the water softener itself because it will operate less frequently
• Reduce the amount of salt purchased for the water softener
• Reduce the frequency that the chamber that holds the salt will have to be filled
• Reduce the amount of salt that is being flushed into the environment during the regeneration process because the softener will be regenerating less often
• Reduce the frequency that the whole house filter needs to be changed because the spigot will be installed before it
• Reduce the cost of purchasing the filters for the whole house filter
• Reduce the wear and tear on the filter system because of less frequent changes

I am sure there are more, so be sure to let me know by leaving a comment.

Stay tuned, I will be rewriting my previous article and posting it here for you to learn why you should not use water that has gone through a water softener to mist or irrigate your plants.

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How to provide shade for your misting bed

Once your misting or propagation beds are made you may decide you want a way to provide shade for your cuttings while they are being rooted. An easy way to do this is by using pipe clips and a few lengths of electrical plastic conduit. This is the grey PVC pipe that electricians use when running electrical wires outside or underground. It is much more flexible than the white PVC pipe that is used for plumbing and will hold up much longer when exposed to the sun’s UV rays.

List of materials (quantities not given. please read on to determine the quantity you will need)

• 1″ galvanized pipe clips
• 3/4″ grey electrical conduit (PVC)
• 1 1/2″ galvanized screws
• large binder clips

This method uses the half-round galvanized pipe clamps that can be found in the electrical section of a building supply store. You will want to purchase 1’ clamps. To figure out how many clamps to purchase, simply take the number of PVC pipes you will need and double it. If you will have 5 lengths of pipe, you will need  10 clips. Read on to figure how many lengths of electrical conduit you will need:

Next, you need to figure how many ¾” grey electrical conduit pipes to purchase. You will be using 10’ long pieces, so I is advise purchasing them this way to eliminate cutting the pipes to length. You will be making a hoop every 2’, so to figure how many lengths of pipe you will need, simply take the length of your bed in feet and divide it in half, then add 1. An 8 foot long bed will need 5 lengths of pipe (8/2=4+1=5), and a 10’ long bed will require 6 (10/2=5+1=6).

The first thing you need to do is remove the larger “bell” end from the PVC pipe. Use a hand saw to cut just the bell off. Next, on the inside of the misting bed, screw a pipe clip in each corner. Remember, you will be attaching the clips on the inside of the LONG sides. Attach them about 1” below the top of the board and with the opening facing up. You will be sliding the PVC pipe down into them, so be sure they are facing the right direction.

Make a mark every 2’ on the side of your bed and attach the remaining clips 1″ below the top edge. See picture:

Measure 3” from each end of the PVC pipe and mark a line around the pipe. Now make another line at 2”. Be sure to do both ends of the pipe. Drill a 1/8” hole on the 2” mark on one end of the pipe. Do not drill the other end yet. Slide the end of the pipe with the drilled hole down into the clip and line up your 3” mark with the top of the clip. Now drive a screw through the 1/8” hole and into the side of the bed. Repeat this for the remaining pipes. See picture for layout of the pipe:

Now that you have a bunch of PVC pipes sticking up in the air, it is now time to bend them over and place them into the remaining clips. Start on one end and bend the pipe over, insert it into the clip, and line up the 3″ mark with the top of the clip. Drill the 1/8 hole through the pipe to be able to hold it with a screw. Once the hole is drilled, be sure the 3″ mark is lined up with the top of the clip and screw the pipe to the side of the bed. Repeat with the remaining pieces of pipe.

At this point you should now have something that resembles a small hoop house. The hoops will be a bit wobbly at this point and if you desire, you can drill more holes and add more screws or add bracing in a few locations to help make them more rigid, but it really is not necessary because the shade cloth is very light. Lay the cloth over the hoops and align it so it will provide the maximum amount of shade at the hottest part of the day. Take the large binder clips and fasten the cloth to the hoops.

Easy huh?

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Yes, you read that right. It is done quite frequently in Florida citrus groves when the temperatures occasionally fall below freezing. Spraying the plants with water actually protects them during the freeze. Check out this short video to learn why. It was shot right here in Maine on a very cold day to protect the pepper plants.

This tells me that our intermittent misting systems can actually be use to protect crops during cold weather. I don’t suggest using the system consistently during cold weather, but if you plan ahead and have the system ready to set up and take down at a moments notice, you can use the system to protect your plants in an emergency.

Have you done this with your misting system?

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Types of plant propagation structures

To propagate plants you will need propagation beds. Propagation beds are nothing more than a bed of sand or other rooting media that is used specifically to propagate plants. These structures can be loosely broken down into a few categories:

• Greenhouses
• Misting Beds
• Cold Frames
• Hotbeds

Misting beds, coldframes and hotbeds  are what most individuals will start off with when propagating plants. Some will have the pleasure of owning a greenhouse, but this article will not address greenhouse propagation.

For greenhouse growing I recommend the following:
How to Build Your Own Greenhouse
Greenhouse Gardener’s Companion, Revised: Growing Food & Flowers in Your Greenhouse or Sunspace
Greenhouse Gardening: Step by Step to Growing Success (Crowood Gardening Guides)

What is a misting bed?

A misting bed is a bed that has a misting system installed to keep the cuttings moist and cool.

What is a coldframe?

A cold frame is basically a box that holds your rooting media and has no means of producing or retaining heat to aid the rooting of the cuttings. Moisture is added to the soil and the cover of the frame keeps the moisture from evaporating too quickly.

What is a hotbed?

A hot bed is nothing more than a coldframe with bottom heat. The bottom heat aids in the cuttings ability to form roots. Moisture is added to the soil and the cover of the frame keeps the moisture from evaporating too quickly.

How are these propagation beds made?

There are many ways to build your propagation beds, too many to actually cover. However, I will give you a basic layout that you can use or adapt for your particular application. These beds should be made from good sturdy lumber to ensure years of service.

Misting bed

Here is a diagram of a simple propagation bed that uses mist to keep the cuttings cool and moist. The sides should be 6 to 8 inches high. The bed can be any length you choose, but a 4 foot width has been found to be the most manageable.

Coldframe

If creating a coldframe, simply make the sides taper and make a cover of glass or plexiglass to help keep moisture and heat in. The height in the back should be between 20 and 24 inches high, and the front between 10 and 12 inches high. Most coldframes are square, and a good size is 6 feet by 6 feet. To help save money and keep the cover from being to heavy, it can be cut into two pieces.

Hotbed

If creating the hotbed, build it just like the coldframe, but you must place heating cables below the propagating media to warm the soil to help the roots to form quicker. It is advisable to have a 2 inch layer of vermiculite below the soil warming cables to help radiate the heat upwards and insulate the propagation media from the soil underneath. You must add 1 inch of rooting medium above the cables and place a piece of wire mesh on top of the medium to ensure you do not cut into the soil warming cables while digging out your plants. As stated above, to help save money and keep the cover from being to heavy, it can be cut into two pieces.

Regardless of which type of bed you construct, each bed is filled with the rooting media to a depth between 4 to 6 inches. This can be sand or a mixture of peat/perlite.

For more information on building propagation beds, try:
Gardening Indoors and Under Glass (Large Print Edition): A Practical Guide to the Planting, Care and Propagation of House Plants, and to the Construction … of Hotbed, Coldframe and Small Greenhouse
or
Hartmann and Kester’s Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices (7th Edition)

Coldframe and hotbed information can also be found in the members area. Become a member today, it’s free!

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