Propagation without adequate propagation infrastructure can be disappointing. It might alternatively be a bit too rewarding. I prefer to propagate excessively, to compensate for expected losses. Consequently, I generate surplus much more often than I encounter any disappointment. One of the disappointments this week is actually the result of a surplus that occurred too late within the growing season of that particular species. I managed to find three other disappointments for half of these Six, but they are relatively minor, and should eventually be resolved prior to autumn. Even then, because these three particular species are vulnerable to chill while young, I intend to shelter them through winter. The surplus can eventually be shared with neighbors. It all works out.

1. Passiflora racemosa, red passion flower vine pruning debris was processed into a flat of thirty-six cuttings. I suspected that only a few would survive, but I was wrong. Oh my!

2. Citrus paradisi ‘Marsh’ grapefruit cuttings were initially about as numerous, but very few survived. They defoliated, and are still vulnerably dinky. They are ungrafted anyway.

3. Mentha spicata, mint is still going. There was already too much months ago, but I still plug its trimmings as cuttings. I should stop now. I should have stopped before I started.

4. Vanilla planifolia, vanilla is still doing nothing. Only this one of five cuttings survives. Its single exposed bud has been inactive for months. Perhaps a lower bud is doing more.

5. Borago officinalis, borage grew unexpectedly from expired seed that got tossed. These thirty-six, which are now in a filled flat, are too many at the end of their growing season.

6. Musa acuminata ‘Popo’Ulu’ banana is the eighteenth of twenty cultivars here, but this is its first new leaf since its arrival. It must grow more prior to autumn to survive winter.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

10 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: Too Much or Not Enough”

    1. It is an ungrafted cutting of ‘Marsh’ grapefruit. It was my favorite of the forty cultivars of citrus (trees) that I grew in the early 1990s, but we discontinued it because it was so unpopular. Without dwarfing understock, and even without invigorating (standard) understock, it can grow quite large, and can eventually get as big as a shade tree. If it does, the volume of fruit can be a problem! It is for my own garden, so I do not care. I also grew my ‘Eureka’ lemons from ungrafted cuttings. ‘Meyer’ lemon does not need to be grafted,although other growers do so. I do not know why other growers graft it, but we did not. It was our most popular cultivar, but was one of only two cultivars that was not grafted. ‘Seville’ sour orange was the other ungrafted cultivars, and was actually less popular than ‘Marsh’ grapefruit.

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      1. I have ‘Meyer’ and ‘Eureka’ here as well as ‘4 seasons’ lemons. I also have a grapefruit paradisi and I don’t know the variety precisely. I have 2 or 3 fruits each year. (In pots of course here)

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      2. ‘4 Seasons’ looks odd. I had to look up a picture because I have no experience with it. ‘Eureka’ lemon is merely a sport of ‘Lisbon’ lemon that blooms and fruits randomly throughout the year, with most of its fruit in season. Although it is not as productive as ‘Lisbon’ lemon in season, it collectively produces about as much. The name ‘4 Season’ implies that it always has some quantity of fruit on it.

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      4. I like how they look climbing tree trunks in tropical climates. English Ivy, although a weed, does so much more effectively. If I ever get an atrium, I would try to grow the vanilla orchid in it just to see what it does.

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