Gathering cuttings to place under your misting system can be quite a chore. But it really doesn’t need to be.

Misting systems are great for rooting cuttings. They make quick work out of the process of the cutting forming roots to become a real plant. I use a few methods to root cuttings but my misting system is by far my favorite. Of course, you need cutting to place under the mist, and that is where the work begins.

Gathering cuttings can be a tedious job, you take a pair of pruners, select a branch or shoot, cut it just above a leaf or pair of leaves, trim the cutting just below a leaf node, dip the stem in rooting hormone, then place the cutting in rooting media and under the misting system. Each step takes time so how can you save some time? Easy, during the gathering of the cuttings.

As the photo below shows, my Pink Weigela has a ton of new growth and looks a bit disheveled. This new growth is what needs to be cut and rooted but I really don’t have the time (or patience) to clip each shoot individually, so I grab my trusty hedge shears and go to town!

This next picture shows the shrub trimmed to a more pleasing shape. During the pruning I clipped of a ton of new growth, growth that will be used as cutting material.

How much rooted cutting material? Well take a look at the pile of cuttings I got from just one shrub. All I need to do is clean them up and prepare them to be stuck.

So don’t be afraid of pruning your shrubs with hedge clippers. Just think of all the cuttings you will end up with.

Oh, as an added bonus, your shrubs will look much better too.

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

Have you ever tried to select parts for a misting system to root cuttings? It can be quite daunting unless you know exactly what you need can’t it?

Timers for a misting system

For instance, selecting a misting timer like the mechanical (Intermatic) ones commonly used is a basic mistake people make. Why is choosing Intermatic timers a mistake? Simple, a misting system that uses mechanical timers such as the Intermatic are immediately locked into using one setting for every cutting being rooted.  Regardless of the moisture requirements of the particular softwood cuttings, every cutting receives the same duration and frequency of mist because the timer can control only one misting solenoid at a time. Some cuttings can handle a fair amount of moisture, but softwood cuttings such as Barberry and others require much less and will usually rot and die when given too much.

Also, when and if (take it from me, it is ALWAYS when) you want to increase the size of your misting beds, you either have to use the existing Intermatic timers to supply the same amount of mist or buy new timers and solenoids to create a new zone which can then be programmed to supply a different amount of mist. Even so, every cutting within that zone gets exactly the same amount of mist.

The cost of the mechanical timers is quite high, making expansion a costly endeavor. The 24 hour timer is usually quite reasonable, but the interval timer that controls the duration of the mist typically costs well over $100 each! I wouldn’t want to buy too many of those.

See, choosing the correct parts for a misting system can be quite a feat and I just briefly mentioned the timers needed for the misting system. I didn’t even begin to talk about misting nozzles. That can be another confusing area when building a misting system.

So what is the answer when needing parts for building a misting system?

Buy one that is already built! MIST Misting System carries a few different types of systems, two with electric timers and two with battery timers. The systems have been sold throughout the US and Canada and have proven to be extremely reliable and easy to use.

Visit MIST Misting System today and stop worrying about choosing the correct parts for your misting system.

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

No, well it doesn’t really take much to be prepared in the event that a piece of your misting system decides to stop working. Of course, this is more likely to happen at the worst possible time, like when you have a ton of cuttings under mist and it is during the hottest time of the summer.

Here are a few items you should always have on hand in case something goes wrong:

• misting solenoid
• wire connectors
• length of wire
• filter cartridge
• plumbing fittings
• batteries
• hose washers

Having these items on hand is cheap insurance if you need them in a hurry. Always remember to replace them if you need to “borrow” a piece for another project. You haven’t saved any time if the part you need is being used somewhere else.

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

I recently wrote an E-book on the effects salt has on ornamental plants and groundcovers. It explains how soil becomes saline (salty), the effects salt has on plants, as well as how to reduce the salinity of your soil.

Download it by using this link: Salt injury to ornamental shrubs and groundcovers

For more info on plants and plant propagation, I suggest:

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses
Hartmann and Kester’s Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices (7th Edition)
American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

I recently mentioned writing an article on exactly how spraying water on your tender plants during a frost or freeze protects them. Well, I am feeling a bit lazy and decided to give you a few links instead to articles that have already been written. Along with the articles is a link to a video that explains it quite well. Enjoy.

How to Protect Plants from Cold Weather, Frosts: Ways to Keep a …

This method is often utilized by farmers, who can protect fruits and vegetables by covering them with a layer of ice! Covering Plants During a Freeze, Mini-Greenhouses and Cold Frames. For small or young plants, gardeners can … If a plant must be kept indoors for an extended period of time, bitter apple spray can be applied to the leaves to prevent pets from eating the leaves. To learn more about what plants are toxic for dogs and cats, read Toxic Plants and Pets. …

Living Our Dream: Freezing in Florida

The landscape nurseries, like the one in the photo below, also spray plants with water during a freeze. This photo was taken a little later in the morning after things began to thaw, but ice still clings to the fence and grass in the foreground. … We have friends from up north stopping by in a few days, so we’ll probably schedule some sightseeing with them. Plus, we have another motor home improvement project in the works, so keep looking for our posts. …

Spraying water on your plants to protect them during cold snaps

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. …

Lawn & Landscape Magazine : News Tips on protecting plants from …

Active plants with adequate moisture content can better resist freeze damage. Plants can also be gently sprayed with mists of water to create an ice blanket, which helps insulate and protect the plant. Applying water just prior to freezing … During a freeze, if the ground is frozen, water may be unavailable to the plants. Plants continue to transpire (lose water from their leaves) and dry out during the day. Watering the soil to thaw the ground can make the water …

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

For those of you that are not aware that you can customize the news you receive from Google News, I have a great tip for you. First, you must have a Google account to be able to use this feature. It’s free and takes just a few minutes to complete.

First, log in to your Google account and go to Google News. While on the Google News homepage, look near the top of the page on the right side. Do you see where it says add a section? Go ahead and click that link. You will be brought to a page where you can choose different topics to display on your Google News page. Go ahead and take a look at the different topics you can choose from. Adding a section is a simple click of a button. To take advantage of this feature, you must be logged in to your Google account, so if you add a section and it does not display when you revisit Google news, check to be sure you are logged in.

I recently added a section to Google News called plant propagation that will display news articles on subjects like plant propagation, misting and misting systems, master gardeners, asexual propagation, softwood cuttings, you get the idea. I added the section to my Google News homepage and every time I visit the page I have a section where articles about plant propagation are displayed. Neat huh?

Here is the list of keywords that Google searches for so they can display relevant news stories:

plant propagation, intermittent misting system, plant misting system, plant mist system, rooting cuttings, rooted cuttings, asexual propagation, free plants, hydrangea, garden, master gardener, horticulture, compost, landscape, japanese maple, coldframe, hoophouse, misting timer, misting controller, misting nozzles, rooting hormones, softwood cuttings, hardwood cuttings, plant diseases, planting trees, planting shrubs, grafting, invasive insect, ornamental grass, misting system

Do you have any suggestion for more keywords I should add?

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

I recently heard from Lee Bridges, a customer who lives in Florida. I have been working with him for a while as he has been assembling a very extensive misting and watering system for his nursery. He wanted to order more misting nozzles and while I was processing his order, we engaged in small talk. He couldn’t thank me enough for the system I have helped him design, and  told me that during the recent freezing spells in Florida he used his misting system to keep his plants from freezing. Yes, you read that right, he used his misting system to keep his plants from freezing.

He told me that he was a bit worried about the predictions for freezing weather. He has hundreds of plants in pots and in grow beds and because he lives in zone 9/10, the plants are not suitable for freezing weather. He told me that he wondered if he could turn the misting system on and let the water spray on his plants to keep them from getting killed, similar to what the citrus growers near him do to protect their crops. He figured he had nothing to lose and turned on the system to let the fine spray cover his plants.

As the night wore on, his plants began to form a coat of ice on them. The coat of ice got fairly thick according to Lee. He still figured that he had nothing to lose, so he continued to spray water on the plants. As the sun came up, the misting system turned off and the ice began to melt off of the plants. Lee didn’t know if his experiment had worked or not at this point, but the plants still looked good.

At the time of Lee’s call  to me, the freezing weather had been a few weeks earlier and Lee proudly stated that his plants were doing great and many had flowers! His experiment to save his plants had worked.

Stay tuned for an article that will help explain how spraying your plants with water and freezing them solid actually helps them during a freeze. Of coarse, this only works in those climates that rarely have freezes, like Florida, so don’t attempt to use this process in North Dakota or anywhere else there is an extended hard freeze..

I love to hear these stories about how a misting system helped my customers!  Have you used your misting system for an unconventional use? Has your misting system changed your life? If so, I would love to hear about it.

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

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)

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.

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.

Have you discovered the members area yet? Visit THIS LINK to learn why you should.