Tend nursery plants - wk 15

This morning as part of our tending nursery plants and propagation units we are divided into two groups. First up for our group is some propagation of Asplenium Ferns. The lovely Megan takes us out to the shade house where we start collecting bulbils which are basically small little ferns attached to the branches of the main plant. We want to select the biggest ones to get a head start on growth of course and the biggest ones are definitely on the bottom lower branches of the fern. Megan points out we would usually only select material for propagation from the top of the plant as a usual practice, due to the fact the most soil contamination is on the lower branches.

Asplenium bulbils soaking in a bleach solution.

Once the bulbils are collected we must soak them in a bleach solution. One minute for healthy material or 3 minutes for material with any pests present. Jarrod finds a crawly or two on our bulbils so we make it 3 minutes just to be sure.

After this it's a good rinse off under cold running water.

Our group at the propagation table, ready to start.

We fill our punnets with a mix of pearlite, river sand & coir. This is a perfect cutting mix. The pearlite is very porous and holds water and nutrients for the plants to feed on as well as having a rough surface that the roots can easily attach to. Donning gloves, as hygiene is most important with propagation, we make small holes with a thin dibber and twist the bulbils into a point and insert them deep enough to anchor in to the mix.

Here's some bulbils with healthy new roots
that were propagated about 12 weeks ago.

Once finished we label, water in and put the punnets in the humidity room at the end of the glasshouse. Next we rotate up to the Orchid shade house to do some Cymbidium divisions. The orchids have prolific roots systems unlike anything I have seen before and you have to cut the old pot off as there is no prising these out at all!

Using a pruning saw to divide the clump.

Once out of the pot we use a sharp pruning saw to pick a half way point that will cause the least damage to the bulbs in the middle. Again hygiene is most important and every tool and secateurs must be sprayed with a metho solution before each cut and gloves worn.

Margot demonstrating a good division.

The pruning saw makes light work of dividing the clump in half. Then we tease out the roots as much as possible to give them a good start in the new mix. Orchid mix is very coarse with lots of big chunks of woody fibrous material. Our group makes good progress dividing and re-potting a plant each. Any back bulbs - the ones that have stopped producing flower spikes can be cut off at this point and potted up again. Once they are not competing with the larger newer bulbs they will come into flower again. Although Margot tells us it may take 6 yrs from back bulb to flower spike.

Some rescued back bulbs given a second chance at life!

A little bo peep around the orchid section reveals some large seed pods that Margot is very excited about. She will collect and attempt to propagate these as soon as they are ready. And that's it for today. It's been a fun nursery propagation day all up with lots learnt and stored in the memory banks (hopefully!)

The large orchid seed pod.