gardening question

[jade]

Does anyone know how to plant podocarpus from cuttings. I have some cuttings to plant. I dont know do you plant them in dirt all the way down? Do you leave leaves on top or trim all the way to wood. I know podocarpus is a semi hard wood. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Mahalo,

Jade

[mella l]

Welcome to Jade of the 3 posts! A fellow gardener who is really doing it while I sit here and dream about it. Glenn P was one of our previous garden nuts and there are others here as well. So ask away!

I love the podocarpus, have seen beautiful hedges of it and hope to have some one day myself. Let us know how it goes with your cuttings Jade and good luck. Aloha, Mella

mella l

[mella l]

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/higard/

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/fb/

Jade here are a couple of other gardening sites you might find informative.

mella l

[Les C]

According to the series of books, "Permacopia" by D. Hunter Beyer and Dr. Franklin Martin, podocarpus species is considered a weed in Hawaii. Their definition of weed is a plant that is out of place or unwanted, is highly competitive and crowds out its more valued neighbors, and is not easy to control. Further defined as ranging from being nearly innocuous to highly invasive.

Just something to think about when selecting plants for the insular habitat in which we live.

Les

[David M]

Interesting comments Les,

Kinda makes me wonder about folks up our way as podocarpus is one of the main choices for planting a wind break. I've already planted 107 (lost 4) and have another 100 in pots awaiting transplanting. Some I want to intersperse with the eucalyptus that are already growing on our boundry.

David

Ninole Resident

[jade]

Mahalo for the tips. I read the websites you suggested. If podocarpus is a weed it is the prettiest weed I've everseen. I should be able to manage not to kill it then. I got some rootone dipped it in there and planted them about two inches in some supersoil. I read that you should use sand but I didn't have any on hand and didn't want to drive into town just for that. I will let you know in a few weeks if it worked.

Jade

[Les C]

My point of view comes from considering what makes Hawaii Hawaii. In this special island biogeography, there are lots of very unique plant, animal and insect life. Many of these have long since disappeared for various reasons. As we continue to move in and establish ourselves, it seems that it would be nice to preserve that which made this such a nice place to be.

If we just accept the fact that so much of the native rainforest has been scraped away and something from somewhere else planted in their place is the way that it should be, then that unique Hawaii will no longer exist.

But we can also try to replace that which evolved here and grew on our lots before they were scraped clean or before the invasive, introduced species dominated. In many areas, you don't have to plant anything, there is a seed bank in the soils waiting to repopulate with native plants. If you did a bit of study or took a native plant workshop, you'd see that there is a wealth of really interesting endemic and native plants that evolved here. There are many native plants with very thrilling facets to keep us all enthralled.

Yes, I'm fully aware of the argument that says that everything, plants, insects, animals (including humans), travel about and establish in new places. And that this is natural. That's fine on a large continent, there's much more leeway for this kind of introduction. But in an insular habitat, that means that many of the native species go extinct. I, for one, am very saddened by that consequence.

Buzz, yep, the Permacopia considers all podocarpus species weeds. There is an argument for growing non-natives as bonsai because these plants are confined and usually don't spread. You asked if I thought it would make a difference to plant native species and refrain from planting invasives: it could if people at least considered it, but so few do. And native plants provide lots of greenery. Think about it, they evolved here and have "learned" how to grow here. They provide needed resources for the native animals and insects, many of which are not provided by the introduced species.

Anyway, I'm not trying to force anyone to do what I think makes sense. I see that the situation is similar to why tobacco companies can market cigarettes to adults, because adults can make their own decisions about what's good for them. Most of the people who move here are adults, they can come to their own conclusions.

Les

Edited by - Les C on 08/19/2006 07:16:58

[jade]

Aloha Les,
I agree I would like to plant indigenous plants but lack of knowledge,price, and availability is a problem. Podocarpus are very popular in our neighborhood. So I thought that they were native until I read your response. What grow naturally in our area is Albezia trees. Which I know are not native. We have kept the ohia trees and need more privacy screening from our neighbors. Maybe you could suggest what grows simular to podocarpus that is native and where I can get them.

Mahalo,

Jade

[Les C]

Sorry, I don't know podocarpus very well, and actually didn't know the name of this tree/shrub until your post. It's surprising to know but Home Depot has a bunch of native Hawaiian plants in their nursery dept. They even occasionally have the endangered lobelias (I should know which ones, but...). They carry the endangered species by special arrangement with appropriate gov't agencies. But you should be cautious with any plants purchased in areas that have Coqui frogs, as the area by the Hilo HD has, if your area doesn't have them. I think you can "quarantine" your plants by keeping them netted for a little over a week (hatching time for the frogs) to see if any emerge before planting them.

There are a few books on planting/propogating native Hawaiian plants by the following authors, Kerin E. Lilleeng-Rosenberger (Growing Hawai'i's Native Plants) and Heidi Leianuenue Bornhorst (Growing Native Hawaiian Plants). The former is a large volume, 400+ pages, the latter is 78 pages. If you're more of an horticulturist, the larger volume may be best.

As for classes, I just took one at the Volcano Art Center, Know Your Native Hawaiian Plants. I don't know if the East Hawaii Cultural Center or Malama O Puna has them, too. URLs:
http://www.ehcc.org/
http://www.malamaopuna.org/

Oh, the Volcano Art Center will have a class on propagating native plants on Oct. 7th
http://tinyurl.com/qr39z

(I got rid of the ridiculously long URL... sorry)

Les

Edited by - Les C on 08/19/2006 22:25:22

[Hotzcatz]

Aloha Jade,

If you get plants at Home Depot, then you can treat them with lime (if the species doesn't mind a sweet soil) or the caffiene as soon as you get them home. Or keep a quart of the stuff mixed up in the trunk of your car with a plastic bag or two just for buying plants with. Get the plant, soak it with the caffiene or hydrated lime and then bag it for the ride home. I'd leave the bag on for a week to hold the moisture and contain any frogs or slugs or other nasty bugs. Probably water again to dilute the lime/ caffiene after letting it set for a couple hours. It should kill the frogs in minutes, but a bit of extra time should hurt. If you live somewhere without coqui frogs, then buying the plant and leaving all the dirt behind (bare root) would probably be the safest way to import plants from one side of the island to the other.

Garden Exchange has some nice small packages of caffiene available. I think it is labelled "Coqui Quiet" or "Coqui Dust" or something along that line.

Usually, when planting cuttings, trimming off all but the top two or three leaves is best. Plants are usually balanced between branches/leaves and roots so if it has no roots, it can't support that many leaves. So if I was planting cuttings, I'd take off all but the top two or three leaves and then plant the lower third to lower half of the cutting into dirt and keep it moist but well drained and in a semi-protected spot for a month or so until it had rooted and started new leaves. That works for many hard woody plants. If it doesn't work - for things like Ohia - then you may have to air layer to get a cutting to plant.

A hui hou,
Cathy