Plant Rescue 102A - Malabar Spinach Update

Malabar Spinach,  3/12/2012

      Early in January, I posted a blog about some malabar spinach cuttings:

http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/01/plant-rescue-102-malabar-spinach.html

Two out of three of the plants from the compost pile rescue rotted at the roots.  Before those plants were completely dead, I had taken cuttings to try to save at least some malabar for planting this year.  Here is a shot of the one lone survivor from the compost pile:

Malabar spinach,  3/12/2012

      This plant never dropped the little flowers it had from last fall, instead they developed into these little seed clumps.  I should pick off these clumps and dry them.  Maybe I have viable seed in addition to the actual vine!

The cuttings shown in the first picture have been growing in this little plastic container.  It works great inverted, as the bottom lets in much more light than the top.  I should wean the cuttings away from such high humidity, as they have obviously rooted.  Here are some other cuttings from 12/6/11 that I have not even potted up yet. So barring some disaster with these young plants, I will have malabar spinach thriving in those hot, humid yucky days of the middle summer.  Who knows, I may even trim up the plant with berries to make some more root cuttings.  At least I would not have to baby them over the winter.

Cuttings still to pot,  3/12/2012

Cloning Update

      I discovered a couple of things this morning.  One, the reason that my close up pictures are blurred is not because of the flash, but because there is a setting on the little camera to take pictures of a subject that is closer than 28 inches.  Duh.  Unfortunately the next two shots were taken before that momentous discovery.

Savoy cabbage, 12/4/11

Savoy cabbage, 12/7/11

      Look how that little guy has grown!  That poor abused plant is going to be a survivor.  Luckily I had planted the stalk in a plastic container, and upon close inspection, I could see leaves against the container below the soil level.  So I dug up the stalk to replant it more vertically.  And discovered six more little cabbages starting to grow!

Savoy cabbage, 12/7/11

      All the little leaves on the bottom half of the picture were under the dirt.  Now they will have a chance at some light.  When they get a little bit bigger, I will cut them off the stalk to try to root them individually.
      I have found very little information about rooting radish parts on the web.

Radish to prep, 12/6/11

Radish cut for rooting, 12/6/11

      What I did find says that the portion on the left will not reroot and grow a new radish.  I am planting some of those pieces anyway, as those pieces look like prime candidates to me.  The piece on the right with the root is supposed to regrow!  Funny,as that is the piece I would have thrown away.  The piece in the middle I washed and ate.  Yum.

Bring on the Clones

      Most of us vegetable gardeners either start our plants from seed, or buy plant starts were were started from seed in a nursery.  Unlike most of the higher animal species that are difficult to grow starting from cloned material, many plants are quite easy to start using material from the "mother" plant.  This poor Savoy cabbage plant was ravaged by voles, both chopping off the head, and girdling the stem.

Oh, and they ate most of the roots too.  So I gave it up for dead and added the poor thing to the top of the compost pile, where I found it three weeks later trying to put out a little tuft of greenery.  And you can see several other little growth nodes too.  As a former biology major, I am always yearning to experiment, so I couldn't stop myself from pulling this battered and abused plant from the compost heap.  I potted it up with straight compost, and intend to try to separate cuttings if they grow.  I believe they will.

Savoy Cabbage stump, 12/4/11

      Remember I promised to quit talking about the Chinese Cabbage?  The beauty carved for Thanksgiving?  Sorry.  But since I didn't dig up the root system, the plant figured it would try again.  So, it is back.

Chinese Cabbage stump, with leaflets, 12/4/11

  
   This time I dug it up and to it home to perform surgery.  It had sprouted six little plantlets that I cut away with a little bit of the stem included. 

Chinese Cabbage plantlets, 12/4/11

Planted in straight compost, 12/4/11

      And now I am going to pot the stump and put it on the porch for the winter to see if it puts out any more little babies.  Maybe the saga will continue.  A further part to the experiment was to take the leaf stems in the above pictures, and cut them into one to two inch pieces.

Chinese Cabbage stem pieces, 12/4/11

      These were planted in straight compost, some laying on top of the compost, some covered by compost, and some standing up in the compost.  All are in covered containers to maintain high humidity.  I expect, or at least hope, that many of the pieces will develop little plants attached.  Which I can then pot out for early additions to the cold frames.
      I found this article to be helpful: 

http://www.ideamarketers.com/?Cloning_vegetable_varieties&articleid=1456412

and this one too:
                     http://www.ehow.com/how_7842272_clone-vegetable-plants.html

      I would love to hear about any vegetables that you may have started as clones or cuttings.