Category Archives: Questions

Other applications of rooting hormone?

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I asked these question on a propagation forum but wanted see if anyone here had additional information.

I’ve dipped cuttings in rooting hormone then placed it in soil to root. I was wondering if you can use rooting hormone in other ways:

1. Will rooting hormone added to water accelerate rooting of cuttings? (assuming the plant roots in water, i.e. coleus)

2. Can you sprinkle rooting hormone on a crawling plant’s stem that is in contact with soil to accelerate it’s rooting? (assuming the plant roots when in contact with soil, i.e. mint, creeping jenny, some succulents)?

3. Are these applications not a good idea or bad for the cuttings?

Thanks in advance for your help.

( Also posted in Gardening )

Live Christmas Tree for My New House…

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Just a thought… When I get my own house, I want to get a live Christmas Tree to plant in a large container. I’ll keep it in the back and take to the front of the house and decorated with lights at Christmas time. I’ll so some research and see what trees don’t grow too big or can be controlled with pruning.

Does anyone do this?

Latin Names and Nomenclature Questions…

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I posted the following in the Gardening community ( link )

Hello Fellow Plant-lovers… I’ve just began to get interested in the Latin names of my various plants and have a few questions about nomenclature. Please forgive me/correct me if I’m using the incorrect terms.

I’m using these 6 examples for the questions below:
a. Kalanchoe tomentosa
b. Crassula perfoliata ‘Falcata’
c. Crassula perfoliata var. falcata
d. Crassula perfoliata falcata ‘Morgans Beauty’
e. Crassula perfoliata ssp. falcata
f. Crassula lycopodioides f. variegata

I generally have seen the Latin names as [Genus species] as in (a). I’ve also seen [Genus species ‘Something’] as in (b).

1. Is the ‘Something’ between the single quotes called a “cultivar”?

Today as I was surfing Google, I ran into a couple of unfamiliar nomenclatures (c-f)

2. Is (c) equivalent to (b)?… and what does “var.” mean?
3. In (d) they have 4 terms. Is this a correct usage?
4. In (e) and (f), what does “ssp.” and “f.” mean.

Sorry, if I sound so elementary. I’ve generally been using the common names of my plants, but recently discovered I have a couple of plants that have the same common name, like “Jade Plant”.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Also, if any one of you is good at identifying plant names, I have a photo set on flickr.com with plants I can’t identify. You can check it out here. ( link )

Help: Need Advice on a Broken Jade Plant…

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When I went to the garden today, I noticed that my mom’s Jade Plant (Crassula argentea) was laying on the ground. At first I thought my mom pulled it out, but after inspecting it, it looks like the plant broke from its weight. I was wondering why my mom would pull a plant that we’ve had for over 18 years. It has grown over 5 feet tall (64 inches); the trunk measured about 5 inch in diameter and about 16 inch around.

Help!… I’m not sure what to do. Will this plant root if I dig a hole and place the broken trunk in it? Will it root if I place the trunk in a bucket of water? Is there a way to save or revive the whole plant?

My Mom’s broken Jade Plant

Broken Jade Plant

3 more photos of the break, stump and trunk

Is this a moss or fungi?

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I bought a strawberry plant and it had this moss or fungi looking thing growing with it.

moss or fungi looking thing

Does anyone know what this is?

Also posted on gardening, entry: 697480