Canna South Pacific Scarlet

CANNA SOUTH PACIFIC SCARLET

I briefly mentioned this plant several posts back when my new seeds arrived.  South Pacific Scarlet is a type of Canna that can be grown from seed instead of from an underground stem called a rhizome.  This is really exciting for a small greenhouse business like mine because instead of purchasing the bare root stock from another grower, I can less expensively grow them on my own from scratch.  Of course there is risk involved because I have never attempted to grow these and you never know what could go wrong.  Such is life.

Here is the seed packet from +Harris Seeds and as usual there are good instructions on how one goes about getting started with these Canna seeds.  These seeds have a very hard shell, and it is recommended that the seeds be soaked 10-14 hours before sowing to soften the shell.  That's good information to know.  I usually don't soak my seeds but I have read that it can be beneficial to give seeds a head start.  

 

Here are the seeds after I opened the packet.  Yes, these seeds are quite large and they appear to have a very hard shell.  I ordered 2 packets of 50 seeds each.  Time to start soaking so I can sow these seeds tomorrow.

 

I steal a bowl from the kitchen and fill it with about 2 or 3 inches of warm water.  Then I just pour the seeds into the water and let them soak overnight.  Good night Canna seeds, see you tomorrow!

Okay I'm ready to go the next day.  I'm going to use 50 cell trays because the seeds are way too big for the little 406 cell plug trays I typically utilize for seeding.  There is even a warning on the packet advising to sow the seeds at least as deep as 1 1/2 times their diameter to prevent the seed from pushing out of the soil when it germinates.  Wow!  I never heard of that but it's really interesting.  Must be some powerful germinating abilities.

I decide to use a dibble to make the semi-deep holes for the Canna seeds.  A dibble is basically a plastic tool with a point on one end that serves the purpose of making holes for plants.  We use them mostly when we are transplanting from plug trays into retail 6-packs.  They'll start to get a lot of use within a couple months.

Just to show you my dibbling skills here is one of the 50 cell trays with all of the holes dibbled.  It's ready to receive Canna seeds.

These are what the seeds look like after they have been soaking overnight.  The shell doesn't appear or feel any softer to me but I'm sure it is.  So each one of these seeds goes into one hole.  I fill all 100 holes I have made in 2 trays but I still have 14 seeds left.  Wow, bonus!!  Extra seeds and quite a few actually.  I don't usually count them but a few extra seeds is no surprise but 14 is a lot.  Instead of filling another 50 cell tray with soil for 14 seeds, I remember from a few weeks back the Coreopsis seeds I sowed.  I only used 30 of those cells so I easily have room to sow my remaining Canna seeds in that tray.  Problem solved.

 

The packet instructed me to cover the Canna seeds lightly with fine vermiculite.  That's easily accomplished and then I place them on the heat table.  I water them with the sprinkling can and now I wait for them to germinate.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how they grow and how the finished product looks.

Sowing Seeds using a Speedy Seeder - Part 2

SOWING SEEDS USING A SPEEDY SEEDER - Part 2

My last blog post was getting a little on the long side so here is part 2.  In part 1 we discussed the Speedy Seeder machine and now we're going to talk about how we actually sow the seeds.

First I need to get out the germinating mix.  This is super fine soil used for seed starting.  It is porous with good drainage.  I go through about 5 or 6 bags of this mix per season.

Then I get out my 406 cell plug trays.  I use about 2 1/2 cases of these per season.  The germinating mix is rather expensive, so to not waste any I put an old empty bag under my tray to catch any overflow soil.

There is the 406 plug tray filled with germinating mix.  I pack it just a bit with my hands and then smooth it out.  The overflow of germinating mix is on the old bag and I can just pick it up, pour it back into the bag, and use it next time.

Moisten the soil and we're just about ready to go.

The 406 tray on the left has been filled with cement.  My father made this many years ago in order to push down the germinating mix in our plug trays.  So on all of the trays I just filled I'll place the cement tray on top and press it down to make indentations in each cell.  This is necessary so when the seeds go in their cells they have a "hole" to go in.

This is essentially the setup I use all season long for sowing seeds.  I staple my plant tags to the plug tray so I know which seeds are growing where.  The plug tray is placed immediately behind the Speedy Seeder.

Okay we're finally ready to get down to business!  There are 100 Primula seeds in that little bag.  No I didn't count them.  I'll take their word for it.

After turning on the Speedy Seeder, I pour the whole bag out onto the seeding tray, making sure to keep the seeds on the left 1/3 of the tray.  I do this because I'll be sowing 3 different varieties of seed in one plug tray and I don't want them all mixed together.  That would be a nightmare!  I'd have Primula growing in the same cells as Aquilegia.  Not good.

 

There we are.  Each of the 100 Primula seeds is stuck in it's own pinhole.  This doesn't just happen automatically.  I have to pick up the Speedy Seeder and tilt it left and right to get the seeds in their place.  Depending on the type of seed it can be fairly easy or really a pain in the butt.  Then you get double or triple seeds in one hole and you have to use your finger or a pin needle to correct it.  These Primula seeds weren't too bad.  Just wait until we get to Marigolds or Zinnia seeds.

Now this is the magic part!  I flip the Speedy Seeder right over so it is above the 406 cell plug tray.  The fan is still running so the seeds are still stuck in their pinhole even though the machine is upside down.  I adjust the plug tray all the way to the right until it hits the leg of the Speedy Seeder.  Now I turn the vacuum off. 

The vacuum is now off so the seeds should have all dropped into their own cells.  If there are any seeds that are defying gravity (they got stuck in their pinhole) I can use the mechanism on the left that will rattle the seed tray and hopefully drop any remaining seeds. 

Do you see the seeds in there?  Probably not but trust me they are there.  Time to move on to the Aquilegia seeds.

That's Aquilegia Winky mix stuck in their pinholes.  Looks neat and clean just the way I like it.  I've been accused of being too much of a perfectionist when it comes to sowing seeds and I can't say I disagree.  It has to look neat!

Let's fast forward.  I think you get the idea about how the Speedy Seeder works.  Like I said in part 1, once these particular seeds germinate they need to be cared for in a specific way in order for them to bloom in time for retail.  The label above is from the Primula Danova Grower's Select Mix.  First it tells me that I should cover these seeds very lightly with fine vermiculite.  +Harris Seeds is very good about giving growers the information they need to successfully grow their plants.  After these Primula germinate, I need to cool down the temperature pretty dramatically for a 3 week period, then reduce the temperature even further down to 45 degrees!  I assume this will emulate their growing conditions in nature.  How I'm going to do this with only one greenhouse open right now I'm not really sure.  I'll figure it out when I get there!  But after they bud, I can again raise the temperature two weeks before I want them to bloom.  Which will hopefully be in time for Easter which falls on April 20 this year.

The Aquilegia seeds are a bit more straightforward.  Again they should be covered very lightly with fine vermiculite for moisture control.  The germination temperature should be 50 degrees for 2 weeks, then 72 degrees for 3 weeks.  My greenhouse thermostat is set at 62 degrees, so maybe this isn't as straightforward as I had thought.  Unfortunately I can't turn down my thermostat because I have other plants and seedlings growing now.  I'll just have to see how it goes.  Then finally they need 12 weeks of vernalization (prolonged exposure to winter temperatures) in order to bloom.  So that's a total of 17 weeks to get them to bloom.  Do I have enough time?  I'll be lucky to have them bloom by mid-May. 

Well let's finish this up.  If you're still reading thank you.  Here's the fine vermiculite that I'll pour very lightly over the plug tray.

That's it we're done for today.  Sorry for being so long winded!

Just one more thing to show you.  Above are the Corepsis seedlings that I sowed a few posts back.  They have a pair of leaves poking out of the soil.  Pretty soon I'll take them off the heat table and let them grow on their own.

 

Sowing Seeds using a Speedy Seeder - Part 1

SOWING SEEDS USING A SPEEDY SEEDER - Part 1

We had a snowy morning here in Upstate NY yesterday.  It wasn't too much snow that I would have to plow but just enough to make the roads slick and give the ground a covering of snow.

So what to do on a snowy day like this?  Well I have a greenhouse and a heat table at my disposal, plus I just received some new perennial seeds!  Let's take a look.

These are the 3 new seed packets that came in from +Harris Seeds.  I ordered these seeds after I placed my original order.  I just felt like I had cut back too much on perennials and wanted to sow more.  Plus I already had plant tags for these varieties from a previous season when I attempted to overwinter them (and failed due to mice making a home in one of the other greenhouses).

So what do we have here?  I took the photo above last spring.  It is from Aquilegia Origami Mix seeds and one of the few that survived my overwintering experiment.  Next is Aquilegia Winky Mix.  Aquilegia is the scientific name for Columbine.  They are perennials in Zones 3 thru 9 and will grow 1 to 4 feet tall.  They have beautiful, delicate looking flowers that come in almost every color.  I ordered 100 seeds of each variety and at this point I'm planning on retailing them in our small 3.5" perennial pot.   I also ordered 100 seeds of Primula Danova Growers Select Mix.  A Primula is basically a primrose.  Once these seeds germinate they require specific growing conditions depending on when I want to retail them.  More on that later.

So now it's time to dust off my vacuum seeder machine.  This was a hand-me-down from my father.  I'm pretty sure it's called a Speedy Seeder and it helps me to quickly and fairly easily sow up to 406 seeds at a time which is great.  Let's take a closer look.

 

The blue tray above is where I will pour my seeds.  The photo does no justice but there are actually 406 tiny pinholes in the tray.  There are 14 holes length wise by 29 holes wide.  When I turn the Speedy Seeder on, the fan inside will suck air through each hole, creating a vacuum that will hold the seeds in place (and other debris that can be annoying).

There are 3 different blue seed trays that you have the option of using.  Each one has different size pinholes, depending on the size of the seeds you want to sow.  I almost always use the one with the smallest pinholes but occasionally I'll switch to the next size up.  This is what it looks like when you remove the seeding tray.

 

This is a closeup of the fan that is under the seed tray.  I'm thinking that in the near future I might want to take this apart and clean it out.  The Speedy Seeder has been noisier than usual so far this winter.  But let's sow some seeds first.

This is getting a little long so I think I should divide this post in 2 parts.  To be continued...

Propagating Lamium by Stem Cuttings

PROPAGATING LAMIUM BY STEM CUTTINGS

Lamium maculata or Spotted Dead Nettle, is fast growing ground cover for moist, shady areas.  I find its foliage to be quite striking.  We retail them in 5" containers at the same price point as a Vinca vine.  They are treated as an annual plant in Zone 5 unless you bring them in during the winter.  This is my stock plant that I'll be using to take stem cuttings.  This was originally my father's plant and I'm not exactly sure where he got it from but I take several series of cuttings from it for each Spring season.  Today I hope to make 50 new plants that should be ready for retail by April.

 

I start by filling my 50 cell tray with our standard potting mix.  Then I get the soil fairly moist in preparation for the cuttings.  I usually don't poke holes in the soil but it certainly wouldn't hurt.  This particular Lamium plant has many long, trailing stems, so I trim about 3 to 4 inches off the end of one of them.  Then, from the same stem, I trim another 3 to 4 inches

I now have 2 pieces of Lamium stem in my fingers.  These 2 stems will be planted side by side in one of the cells, deep enough so that the leaf branches are just about touching the soil.  I do this because where the branch meets the stem is where the cutting will begin to make roots!

After taking 100 stem cuttings, I have now completely filled my 50 cell tray (remember 2 cuttings per cell).  Unlike the succulents I recently propagated, these will need to be placed on the heat table alongside my seedlings in order to help jump-start their root formation process.  Also, unlike succulents, which store water in their leaves and stems, Lamium does not have that advantage.  It's very important to not let the Lamium dry out by keeping the foliage wet.  I'll water these with a sprinkling can several times per day.

This is it!  The Lamium have been watered and they're on the heat table right next to the seedlings.  The Coreopsis is beginning to germinate but I'm still waiting to see some Penstemon pop out of the soil.  Perhaps by my next post.

Cleaning Up Savvy Succulents

CLEANING UP SAVVY SUCCULENTS

Not all of the succulents we planted last season sold so we have some holdovers here in the greenhouse.  Some of them are rather lanky and too top heavy, causing the container to fall over.  Essentially they are overgrown and need to be cut down to size.  

The Pig's Ear succulent above is so heavy that the container won't stand up.  Who's going to purchase a plant like this?  I'm pretty sure nobody.  You know from my previous posts about Jade and Aloe plants that it is relatively easy to take a large parent plant and make many offspring.  However I have never propagated other succulents so some research was in order.  It turns out that it's just as easy to work with these other succulents.

First I fill 15 3.5" pots with our standard potting mix.  I also moisten the soil before I begin so it is easier to stick the cuttings in each pot.

I cut one of the ends of a branch off of a Pig's Ear plant in very much the same way I would trim a Jade plant.  In researching these plants I learned that Pig's Ear is native to South Africa and that the fleshy part of the leaf can be applied to warts and corns as a medicine.  Eating the leaves can also help you if you have parasitic worms.  Who would have known?  But don't give it to your dog because it contains a chemical that could be toxic.  Wow. 

 Next up was the Campfire Crassula variety.  This has Crassula right in the name so you know right off the bat it's a type of Jade plant.  This particular one has leaves that turn reddish, hence the Campfire part of the name.  In doing my research I learned that sometimes you can harvest seeds off the flowers that these plants produce.  So I took one of the flowers and shook it into the palm of my hand.

 I'm not sure if any of the debris in my hand are seeds but there was one thing I saw that made me stop what I was doing and head to my pesticide cabinet.  There was a thrips in the palm of my hand.  A thrips is a tiny insect that feeds on plants by puncturing them and sucking out all of the good stuff from their cells.  It's pretty common to find them in a greenhouse environment but if they get out of control you can have some serious problems on your hands. They can cause scars on leaves and damage flowers.

After being in this line of work for a while I know just the insecticide to get the job done.   Tristar's active ingredient is Acetemiprid which targets the nervous system of insects and causes paralysis.  Controlling thrips can be a challenge because of their different life cycles but I have found that Tristar does a very respectable job of controlling the population.

Looking back in my pesticide log I see that I should use 1 teaspoon of Tristar concentrate for 1 gallon of water in the sprayer.  After mixing that up I pour a tiny "glug" of Capsil which is a product that will help my insecticide solution to be sprayed more evenly on the leaves.  Since I made a gallon of mix I decide to spray everything in the greenhouse just to be safe.  And I still have a lot of left.  I'm sure I'll be using it again in the near future.

Back to my cleaning up of the succulents.  Where was I?  Oh yes, Campfire Crassula.  I decide to cut off the new growth that is coming from the base of the plant and leave alone the long lanky stems that are causing the plant to fall over.  I've decided that to make my life easier the parent plants are going to end up the trash and I'll just grow all new young ones.

Here is a cutting I took from the Campfire Crassula.  I'm taking so many cuttings that I had to fill another 15 pots with soil.  It's more than I had anticipated but I'm having fun.

Now this is an interesting one.  This is the only Firesticks I have left over but something needs to be done with it because again, it's growing all lopsided and I don't think it has much value to a customer looking for a nice houseplant.  It turns out that I can propagate Firesticks by taking cuttings just like any succulent, however I need to be aware of the milky sap in the stems because it can cause burns!  Imagine that.  The Aloe Plant helps to heal burns but this other succulent with the scientific name Euphorbia tirucalli causes burns.  I was warned especially to not get the sap in my eyes.

This is what it looks like after cutting off a branch.  You can see the milky sap at the end which my fingers are definitely avoiding.  I insert a few stems like this into several pots and I'm just about done with this little clean up project.

Now that looks much neater than the mess of succulents I started with.  I've ended up with 45 new plants!  Since I've never tried to propagate these varieties before I'm going to assume I just leave them alone and let them do their own thing.  I'll probably water them once a week or as needed and let them form roots.  Hopefully they will be ready for sale in a short time.
 

And finally this is my basket of overgrown plants that I decided to trash.  Sorry guys but it's time for the next generation to step in.

Until next time...