Layering chilean hazelnut (gevuina avellana). I already did this successfully last year. This method works very well and i think that one can multiply and grow almost any plant on its own roots this way. Young gevuina avellana tree. To begin i choose a low growing side branch on my plant and trim away the leaves in the middle. A small side branch growing close to the ground like this is ideal. I cut off the leaves in the mid section. Using a sharp knife i carefully open the stem with a long cut. I try not to cut further up than half of the thickness of the stem. Apply rooting hormone to the wound (it probably works without hormone too, but i like to use it). It's very important to wedge one or two small bits of matchstick into the cut to force the wound to stay open. I cut a plastic pot leaving two holes at the correct height to accommodate the branch passing through. Put the pot in place, taking care that the cut is roughly in the middle and that the bits of matchstick stay in pl...
Mauka. Mirabilis expansa. I managed to grow two mauka varieties. Mauka blanca and mauka roja. I gave leaves to a friend of mine to try and eat them as spinach. He said they were moderately good and knowing him, if he says that, it means they are rather bad. I am trying to grow them through winter. The idea is to protect them from the frost so they might flower in january/february in order to get seeds. Mauka blanca Mauka roja.
Malus sieversii. This is my little three coloured malus sieversii apple when it was young. Now i am trying to multiply it by approach grafting. The ornamental value of this tree is off the charts. Incredible leaf colours. This was at the end of last year. Now i am approach grafting it onto another apple rootstock. I did the grafting on the 6th of march and plan to cut them off on the 6th of june. In spring the leaves are green with a little red on the edges but each year they then display spectacular colours. The problem is the plant is not very vigourous and we don't know what the fruit will be like. Here you can see that the rootstock makes larger leaves than the three coloured apple. I found this individual in 428 seed-grown malus sieversii. Malus sieversii is incredibly diverse genetically as you can see in the next picture. These are malus sieversii seedlings displaying huge diversity.
Cool. Very, very, very cool.
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