Propagating Houseplants by Leaf Cuttings

photo credit: Nadia308

As might be expected, most plants suited to this method of propagation have comparatively soft and fleshy leaves. There are two types of leaf cuttings : those that make use of leaf and stem and those requiring the leaf alone. An example of the first is the dainty African violet and of the second, the gorgeous Begonia Rex.

Merely knock the plant from its pot, tease away some of the soil from the roots and with a sharp knife cut away the new shoots together with the roots closest to them. Pot these up in fresh soil. Well grown Saint Paulias or African Violets after a time grow to a stage where they should be divided if they are to continue growing and blooming. In this case again knock the plant from its pot and gently ease away much of the soil, damaging the roots as little as possible. It will be seen that instead of a single plant there are in fact a considerable number and many of these can be gently separated from the mass and potted up individually.

A considerably more artificial derivation of the layering process is known as air layering. It is particularly useful for the following reason. Many plants such as the rubber plant gradually lose their lower leaves so we are left with a long, naked stem with a tuft of foliage at the top. This is both hideous and a demonstration of our inability to grow the plant properly. If we can take the tuft at the top and make a new plant from it, then we can begin again.

Actually it is possible merely to cut off the green and growing tuft at the top of the plant and to strike this as a cutting, but high soil temperatures and humidity are required, so we can use instead the following simpler method.

The begonia leaf can be cut into several sections and so long as each cut has been made to sever one of the prominent veins, roots will grow from this part. The spear like Sanscvieria can be cut into two inch sections. Each of the sections, from begonia or sansevieria, should be planted with the end originally nearest the stem or base into the soil.

The new plant (for that is what it is) can then be cut away from the naked stem below and potted up in the usual manner.

Technorati Tags: Begonia, Biology, gardening, Gardens, Houseplant, Humidity, Leaf, Plant, Saintpaulia

Some Gardening Tips for Indoor Gardeners

All plants grown under conditions such as these should have their pots plunged inside a larger and waterproof pot with the space between the two packed with some moisture retentive material such as peat.

photo credit: Rachel Zack

If this material is kept constantly moist, but not soaking wet, this moisture will be absorbed by the plant pot as it is required. This moist material will also give off a surprising amount of humidity, normally wafting it upwards through the leaves of the plant above.

So in the garden room or home extension we shall be wise not to dot our plants about the place as we do in the home proper, but to group them in concentrated colonies for the good of their health.

Normally in most commercial greenhouses plants are grown on benches or shelving which is covered with a layer of shingle, sand, peat or ashes. This is kept moist and the plants benefit. It is possible to obtain simple automatic trickle irrigation equipment, similar to that used in so many commercial greenhouses, which will take care of plants in this fashion when they must be left for long periods, even the entire day.

There are many ways in which this can be achieved, depending mainly on the personal tastes of the person concerned. On the small scale it is possible to make little indoor gardens of half a dozen or so small plants all planted or plunged together in a large container such as an antique bowl or wash basin.

On the large scale it is possible to devote the major part of a single wall to a stepped display of plants. If a stepped rack is constructed it can hold whole banks of flowers and at the same time provide an excellent hiding place for the necessary bucket, watering can, fertilizer bottle or pack, even the dust-pan and brush.

Technorati Tags: Anthurium, backyard garden, Fertilizer, Garden, gardening, Greenhouse, Houseplant, Humidity, Plant

Some Free Tips on Indoor Plants Decorating

On table top or window sill the greatest virtues and advantages of this plant would be vastly reduced in value.

photo credit: Ted Percival

Let trailers hang by placing them on a pedestal, shelf, for they look better, more natural this way and give greatest value. Use sprawlers to cover the bare soil area of surrounding pots or to writhe uninhibited across a mantelpiece. Judicious pinching out of misplaced or too strong shoots will keep a bush looking like a bush and encourage a spear-like plant to remain looking this way.

Vivid colours, yellow, orange, white and brilliant red are advancing. They come out to meet you and so tend to make a room appear to be shorter if placed at the far end. And conversely, dark colors, mainly greens of course, are receding and tend to look farther away than they really are, thus lengthening a short room. A tall rubber plant or fatshedera will make a room look higher, for the eye tends to follow the growth upwards, while a high ceiling can appear to be lower if horizontal growing plants catch the eye.

An impression of warmth is given if a wall is covered with the trained tendrils and shoots of a growing plant or if warm colors are used. And as might be expected, a hot summer day can be cooled indoors by the decorative use of cool greens, purples and dark colors in general.

Regard, for example, the cissus, rhoicissus, ivy, several philodendrons and the dramatic monstera, to say nothing of the huge and rampant tetrastigma. All of these can be trained to cover a wall, to climb to the ceiling and follow the wall around the room. One tetrastigma in our possession once grew near the front door, climbed to the ceiling, was led along to the stairway, climbed up the stair well and was stopped just before it invaded one of the bedrooms. One ten year old cissus still grows happily in a Victorian washbowl without drainage holes. It frames an arch between kitchen and dining-room and shows no signs of its hardships suffered when building operations dictated its removal and storage, twisted and tangled like a cat-teased ball of knitting wool, for several months before being unravelled and trained once again along its almost invisible supports of cotton.

A great chlorophytum stands six feet high in the bowl of an old oil-lamp standard, its elegant green and white striped grass like leaves arching into the air and its long stems bearing the little white flowers and the young plants at their ends swooping outwards to hang in graceful clusters.

Technorati Tags: Biology, Flower, Garden, gardening, Home, Houseplant, Oil lamp, Plant, Plantae

How To Grow Bonsai in The Most Popular Styles

Simply put, the miniaturized versions of bigger trees are what we call Bonsai trees. They’re alive and they’re not plastics that look similar to each other. There are indeed different bonsai styles like the bigger trees. In fact, their shapes and forms are what please the bonsai tree holders. These styles are formal upright, informal upright, cascade, semi cascade, slant and windswept. These are the different types of bonsai trees available for shaping, training or forming. Knowing the styles enable the bonsai lovers to choose specific pots for the specific style the bonsai tree is trained to be and decide which caring tips they need to grow the trees beautifully.

Upright styles: Formal and Informal

Formal upright style is the style where the trunk of the tree is straight upwards and the first lower branches are far wider than the rest. The preceding branches will then proceed to shape an overall triangular look for the tree. This is a great shape for beginners to practice with. Trees that are suitable for these types of bonsai trees style are Pine, Larch, Juniper and Spruce. The informal upright style is similar to the formal upright except that the top branch needs to be extended forward instead of upwards. This lends the tree an impression of motion.

Slant types of bonsai trees

If the Informal upright types of bonsai trees style are suitable for Beech, Japanese maple and Trident Maple trees, this slant style can be chosen for almost all bonsai trees. This is the style wherein the trunk extends to one direction while the lowest branch extends to the other direction. This style is quite common and very easy to shape and train.

Cascade style Bonsai

If they do not like the simple styles of upright and slant, then they can choose among the cascade and semi cascade styles. These styles have a sloping effect plus the trunk is vertical and turned to one direction. Aside from that, the branches are trained to slope or cascade lower than the surface of the pot. Sometimes, some people do not want the trunks turned into one direction so they choose the semi-cascade style, which is the same as the cascade style except the trunk gradually slopes.

Windswept style Bonsai

The windswept style looks like the bonsai tree has been beset by strong winds. It looks a bit unruly and beautifully unkempt. These are most of the common styles that bonsai plants are usually trained to be.

Prune to produce different styles of Tree

Getting the style of bonsai tree you want is easy. All you have to do is prune and trim. These styles have been practiced for centuries as an art form. This is one of the most important maintenance issues of this particular plant. Aside from shaping the bonsai into the desired form, pruning and trimming could maintain balance of the bonsai tree as you reduce growth taking place above the ground.

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Gardening And The Environment

photo credit: tomsaint11

People generally don’t realise that gardening has an effect on the environment. What I mean by that is carbon dioxide is released through tilling the soil, so there is a small effect on global warming. The soil contains good types of fungi and when you cultivate the soil and compact it, it destroys these fungi. Also fertilisers like nitrogen and manure may leach out of the soil and enter the water table.

In untilled soil, there are beneficial fungi known as the vesicular-arbuscular-mycorrhizae or VAM for short. VAM actually forms a symbiotic relationship with plants. Their filaments increase root hairs and provide nutrients to the plant. They give out zinc, copper, potassium and phosphorus. Plants provide carbohydrates for the fungi in return. It is possible to have a garden without tilling the soil at all just by mulching heavily until the soil is soft and easily crumbled.

Many gardeners through ignorance waste manures and nitrogen by using too much. Always follow the instructions on the packaging because not only is this a waste of money, but it means extra nitrogen may leach into the water table.

The best gardening advice that can be given to those concerned is to do all things with moderation. Keep in mind that too little and too much of something does not usually give the best results. This is probably one of the key secrets to successful gardening.

It’s a little known fact that soil on the Earth’s surface gives out carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at approximately 10 times that of all human activity creates. The carbon dioxide comes from living organisms in the soil, microbes, fungi, worms, and bugs when they breathe; digest food, and when they die. Of course we all know about photosynthesis and how a plant cleans the air, but as we cut trees and extend arable land around the world over, all this ability is diminished.

This can be minimised by mulching or sheet composting where possible.

Technorati Tags: Arable land, Carbon dioxide, Earth, Gardens, Global warming, Manure, Plant, Soil