TRIMMINGS & CUTTINGS

 

Coleus cuttings

Hibiscus cuttings

First hibiscus flower bloom

TRIMMINGS & CUTTINGS 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

04/IX/2021

 

Trimming of plants is an essential process for its wellbeing. Most of us avoid doing it at the right time. The main hurdle is the emerging buds and flowering. We generally tend to avoid or delay doing so if we see buds. Over a period of time one has realised that every plant has a season to flower and a season to be trimmed, depending on the place one stays and weather conditions. Once delayed, then it is more difficult for the plant to return to shape.

 

Another big advantage of trimming is that one can make use of the trims and propagate the plant further. A clone of a plant can be created if we use them for cuttings. Instead of one flowering plant soon we could have more. The biggest advantage we get is to spread happiness by giving them to plant lovers.

 

The inner satisfaction one gets to see that six inch sticks catch roots and shoot out a leaf cannot be explained. Only plant lovers can understand it. The wait is long and many times it is a disappointment that one gets. Cuttings planted too early are bound to perish. If it is too wet, rot may start. Kept in too much sun then chances of drying increase. Too much shade then fungal infections may develop.

 

Unless one is a professional, or has practiced this skill, chances are way below fifty percent. The tender care which is required to be given to this new set of plants yet to emerge needs attention and time. Unlike in nurseries where the environment is fully under control. There they have manpower to look after cuttings in bulk.

 

The biggest joy comes when one sees a bud on this new plant and imagine the happiness when the bud opens out into a flower. Happiness doubles when your main bush and the cutting is flowering together. Imagine the happiness of the mother plant which you trimmed and made a cutting of, to see its baby which is its replica.

 

This was a Eureka moment for me today. Both the mother plant and the baby plant flowered together. Both of them are as shy as shy could be. They just do not look up or sideways but droop down, looking at the floor as if blushing away. How hard you try to lift it up like you do to a shy child’s chin, back again it goes looking downwards.

 

There is a problem too. Say you plant five cuttings each of say about five bushes which makes twenty-five of them. Unless one places an identification mark to distinguish what colour of flower is there one tends to get mixed up. For us, it was one out of five which survived. Once you remove the dried out trims all the hibiscus cuttings look identical. A lesson learnt for the future.

 

Unlike the croton cuttings where its identity is its leaf. In hibiscus most of the leaves are similar looking, even their shades of green are the same. The size of the cuttings is generally the same making it more difficult to differentiate. Even if one has one colour in a different pot then to know which has the pink and which has the red is not possible, till it flowers and that needs time and patience.

 

Sometimes it happens that a new 'sprig' shoots out. If one is not careful and tries to transplant it without checking the development of roots, it could be disastrous. A little patience and wait would ensure that one has a healthy cutting ready to be transplanted. More often than not premature plants like premature babies perish which is heart-breaking.

 

New sprouts are most vulnerable to diseases. Humans have vaccinations but plants have to be physically cared for. Mealy bugs and aphids love the tender shoots and have to be got rid of. Such attacks have to be kept at bay.

 

Too early or too late in trimming and planting a cutting or transplanting the fresh plant will give an unhealthy plant which may perish in due course. Too much water or too less sun also spells disaster.

 

For us it was the process of learning, learning from our failures and trying again to do a better job without repeating the mistakes of the previous time. One must also remember that nature is unpredictable. One template cannot be applied to every plant. Each of them have a different temperament. Their character and nature differs. They have to be treated and nurtured accordingly.

 

After the success of this try, one is confident to now take on grafting. This too would be an experiment on Hibiscus so that from one plant we could get different coloured flowers. Will we be successful? I wonder!!!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS