Propagation, Culture, And Winter Care
Best time to propagate
Propagation by Runner
Propagating the Tropicals
Viviparous reproduction
>Chain Propagation From Tubers
Wintering the Tropicals
With so many viviparous plantlets, you will hardly have need of a system of chain production of plants. But there is one, and you might like to try it out of curiosity.
Plant a healthy tropical tuber deeply in a 3- or 4-inch pot of the conventional soil-and-fertilizer mixture. Place it in the pool with the rim of the pot 2 inches below the surface of the water. The tuber will send up a shoot, and the shoot will quickly become a small, floating plant. At the point where it rises from the soil in the pot, a spreading root system will have begun to develop.
To obtain your plant, push your fingers into the soil below the root system and pinch in two the shoot which still connects tuber and new plant. The separated plant can then be potted. In due time the pinched-off shoot will develop a new plant, and it can be pinched off, too, as soon as it becomes big enough to pot.
Chain Propagation from a Tuber.
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With this treatment, an active tuber can produce three, four, or even more plants in the early part of a summer. Al1 of these plants will grow true to type.
Winter Care
Storing the roots of hardies and tropicals in winter is a simple and uncomplicated business, but some precaution is necessary. Find a place for them in a storeroom or cellar corner that is cool and dry. Remember that rats and mice love the roots, so either keep your premises free of the pests or store the roots in metal containers. If you store them dry, remember to perforate the containers to allow some air circulation.
There are several ways of carrying hardies through the winter.
Most gardeners simply remove whatever stones and bricks they have placed underneath the planting receptacles so as to let the boxes rest on the pool floor. Here they will be well below the frost line in most parts of the country and will safely survive the winter. Roots of the hardies are not harmed unless actually frozen solidly in ice.
If the frost line goes dangerously low in your part of the country, play safe by covering the pool with boards. Then cover the boards with leaves, evergreen boughs, straw, or any other convenient insulation.
You can also winter the roots of hardies inside. Take them out of the planting boxes, wash them, trim off excess root and stems, and store in clean sand, kept damp. I know gardeners who store hardy tubers in all these ways, and each thinks his way is best.
Winter Care
Storing the roots of hardies and tropicals in winter is a simple and uncomplicated business, but some precaution is necessary. Find a place for them in a storeroom or cellar corner that is cool and dry. Remember that rats and mice love the roots, so either keep your premises free of the pests or store the roots in metal containers. If you store them dry, remember to perforate the containers to allow some air circulation.
There are several ways of carrying hardies through the winter.
Most gardeners simply remove whatever stones and bricks they have placed underneath the planting receptacles so as to let the boxes rest on the pool floor. Here they will be well below the frost line in most parts of the country and will safely survive the winter. Roots of the hardies are not harmed unless actually frozen solidly in ice.
If the frost line goes dangerously low in your part of the country, play safe by covering the pool with boards. Then cover the boards with leaves, evergreen boughs, straw, or any other convenient insulation.
You can also winter the roots of hardies inside. Take them out of the planting boxes, wash them, trim off excess root and stems, and store in clean sand, kept damp. I know gardeners who store hardy tubers in all these ways, and each thinks his way is best.