grow your own

Hope I am not the only one that likes to grow things from scratch. Just wondered if anyone on the forum knows anything about growing things ie roses from a stem. I had found a beautiful rose and once the flower had died I cut the stem down and 2 little rose shrubs have started to grow. They have been in water for 3 weeks now. I was told to put them in soil but when I do they immediately droop and look dead but, when put back in water they perk up. What do I do next? I am also growing onions, tomatoes, Chillies and a few other legal herbs which are doing well.:grin:

I'm certainly no expert on roses but I could offer some general advice from my experience with other plants. I'm guessing from the fact that they droop in soil but not water that they don't have any roots yet. You can buy plant hormones, called auxins (although I'm afraid I don't know what the brand names are), which promote growth. I've seen them before in powder form but they might also be available in solution or something you put in water. If you dip the bottom of the stem in the auxins before planting them, this should encourage them to grow roots to suck up water from the soil.

If this doesn't work and no one else has other advice I can ask my grandad, who worked as a gardener and cultivated many roses in his time.

Good luck with the crops. I live in a flat with no garden, but fortunately I have nice big windows so I can grow stuff inside. I have an avocado tree that's nearly 2m tall in a tiny 8" pot - it's my pride and joy :waycool:. I plant a few things in the boyfriend's garden but it's not very sunny, so not great for growing food...

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Originally Posted by meghann

I'm certainly no expert on roses but I could offer some general advice from my experience with other plants. I'm guessing from the fact that they droop in soil but not water that they don't have any roots yet. You can buy plant hormones, called auxins (although I'm afraid I don't know what the brand names are), which promote growth. I've seen them before in powder form but they might also be available in solution or something you put in water. If you dip the bottom of the stem in the auxins before planting them, this should encourage them to grow roots to suck up water from the soil.

If this doesn't work and no one else has other advice I can ask my grandad, who worked as a gardener and cultivated many roses in his time.

Good luck with the crops. I live in a flat with no garden, but fortunately I have nice big windows so I can grow stuff inside. I have an avocado tree that's nearly 2m tall in a tiny 8" pot - it's my pride and joy :waycool:. I plant a few things in the boyfriend's garden but it's not very sunny, so not great for growing food...

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Thank you so much!:flower: you are right they have no roots - will go and buy some this afternoon.
Have you grown any fruit on your tree yet? I want to grow more things too.

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Originally Posted by meghann

I'm certainly no expert on roses but I could offer some general advice from my experience with other plants. I'm guessing from the fact that they droop in soil but not water that they don't have any roots yet. You can buy plant hormones, called auxins (although I'm afraid I don't know what the brand names are), which promote growth. I've seen them before in powder form but they might also be available in solution or something you put in water. If you dip the bottom of the stem in the auxins before planting them, this should encourage them to grow roots to suck up water from the soil.

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:yeah:

The stuff you need is called hormone rooting powder (sometimes it comes in liquid form) and is sold by all major gardening suppliers. It contains hormones to encourage a stem to form roots (though many plants will root without it). It also contains fungicide to prevent the stem from rotting before it can form roots.

You dip the stem into the powder, then plant it in compost - for best results, containing sand, vermiculite or perlite. Then you need to keep the plant in a fairly warm and humid place and hope it roots. Don't let it have any sun as you don't want water to be drawn out of the leaves until it has got roots to replace the water with.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Missy D

Thank you so much!:flower: you are right they have no roots - will go and buy some this afternoon.
Have you grown any fruit on your tree yet? I want to grow more things too.

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No - apparently avocados take 5-6 years to fruit, and this one's only two or three and has yet to flower. They can self-pollinate, though, so if it ever does flower I might be able to get it to set fruit...but I doubt it will, due to the fact that it's meant to be growing outside in the tropics :grin:

I also have a baby avocado that sprouted less than 6 weeks ago and is already a foot tall. I find it very cute :awe:

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Originally Posted by jivecat

The stuff you need is called hormone rooting powder (sometimes it comes in liquid form) and is sold by all major gardening suppliers.

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Thank you. My experience of cultivation is mostly with geraniums, which are only too happy to grow - hence I've never bought any rooting powder. You can just break off part of the stem and put it in water, and 90% of the time it'll grow substantial roots within a week or two.

I have a slight obsession with geraniums and tend to fill all the available space with them... :grin:

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Originally Posted by meghann

I have a slight obsession with geraniums and tend to fill all the available space with them... :grin:

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If this drought carries on soon they'll be the only things left alive. I'm getting loads this year!

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Originally Posted by jivecat

If this drought carries on soon they'll be the only things left alive. I'm getting loads this year!

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:yeah:that's my plan for this year too.

Lost my butternut squash plants the other night to the frost despite covering them with fleece. Pah. :(

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Originally Posted by HelenB

Lost my butternut squash plants the other night to the frost despite covering them with fleece. Pah. :(

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Frost? Where did you get frost from??
Mind you, I do live in the middle of a big city...

Are squashes difficult to grow?

Also - sorry to hijack the thread a bit - does anyone have any good ideas what else I can grow inside? It's fairly bright, but not direct sun as the windows are facing north-east and north-west. It gets very hot during summer and very cold during winter - a consequence of having large windows. I like things that have lots of brightly coloured flowers for as much of the time as possible. Also also trees, but unfortunately there's not room for many of them... I have a lot of windowsill space but it's fairly narrow, so small things would be good on there.

Any suggestions? :grin:

you could have a cannabis factory in your loft and go on that telly show ....HASH IN THE ATTIC

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Originally Posted by deerhunter

you could have a cannabis factory in your loft and go on that telly show ....HASH IN THE ATTIC

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:lol: Now why didn't I think of that?

About 15 years ago, my husband came home from work, with what can only be described as a 6in 'stick'. It had no roots and we didn't even know which way up the plant it :confused:

But the colleague who'd given it to him, also gave some hormone rooting powder and all we did was dip one end in the powder, stick it in the ground and water it and to our absolute amazement, it grew and grew, turning out to be a climbling rose with the most beautiful cascades of pink flowers each year :nice:

I grew tomatoes in a grow bag last year but I didn't realise and got a 'large' variety, which after a while got a bit messy looking and although produced a bumper crop, I didn't really like the taste of them that much :rolleyes: so I'm not going to bother again.

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Originally Posted by meghann

Also - sorry to hijack the thread a bit - does anyone have any good ideas what else I can grow inside? It's fairly bright, but not direct sun as the windows are facing north-east and north-west. It gets very hot during summer and very cold during winter - a consequence of having large windows. I like things that have lots of brightly coloured flowers for as much of the time as possible. Also also trees, but unfortunately there's not room for many of them... I have a lot of windowsill space but it's fairly narrow, so small things would be good on there.

Any suggestions? :grin:

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My auntie used to do very well with streptocarpus in a similar situation. Or, back to good old-fashioned pelargoniums again.

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Originally Posted by meghann

Are squashes difficult to grow?

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Not really, but they hate cold so don't plant out till early June. They will need plenty of water. Also, all varieties are late to crop and the UK doesn't really have a long enough growing season to ripen a big crop. You will still get some, though. Leave them on the plant until October to give the best chance of ripening. Everyone likes to grow butternut squash but I think other varieties, such as Mesa Queen, are more likely to be successful and taste just as good.

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Originally Posted by Lory

About 15 years ago, my husband came home from work, with what can only be described as a 6in 'stick'. It had no roots and we didn't even know which way up the plant it :confused:

But the colleague who'd given it to him, also gave some hormone rooting powder and all we did was dip one end in the powder, stick it in the ground and water it and to our absolute amazement, it grew and grew, turning out to be a climbling rose with the most beautiful cascades of pink flowers each year :nice:

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Sounds lovely

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I grew tomatoes in a grow bag last year but I didn't realise and got a 'large' variety, which after a while got a bit messy looking and although produced a bumper crop, I didn't really like the taste of them that much :rolleyes: so I'm not going to bother again.

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Try cherry tomatoes :drool: Amazingly sweet and delicious . My mum grows them, and as the greenhouse is en route to the drive, the tomatoes hardly ever make it to the car, never mind back to the house for a salad.

Cheers WT

I love growing stuff!

I'm lucky enough to have my own garden, but unfortunately our house is a new-build, built on top of rubble from the houses that used to be here. Hence the garden has about 2 inches of topsoil and just rubble and junk below that, making growing anything rather tricky!

I've not made a HUGE effort this year with growing edible stuff, but my husband built a raised veggie bed for me last year, and I also have a cheap plastic growhouse. This year I'm growing:

- Potatoes in BIG sacks my husband got free from his work - first crop already flowering, second crop well on it's way.
- Tomatoes - three varieties in pots in the grow house (including red and yellow cherry tomatoes).
- 2 courgette plants in pots - both are already flowering and have baby courgettes on them! One is in the grow house, one outdoors.
- Carrots - in deep pots. Already used the first thinnings in salads.
- Rhubarb in my raised veg bed. Also planted some rhubarb seeds, and they are doing well!
- Beetroot in the veg bed.
- Sweetcorn in the veg bed. Never tried this before, fingers crossed!!
- Strawberries in veg bed and in pots.
- Spring onions in pots.
- At least 6 or 7 types of herbs.
- Chillies in pots in the grow house
- French beans, two varieties. Some at the back of the flower border, some in pots.
- Peas at the back of the flower border.
- Gooseberries
- Redcurrants.
- Lettuce.

Er.... I think that's it? Most of it is grown from seed, and started of in seed trays on the windowsill or on a table near a south facing window.

Really wish I had a HUGE garden with lovely, rich soil. Don't think I'd be buying much fruit or veg during the summer/autumn then! But it's incredible what you can grow in pots in a very small space, like a courtyard or balcony - or even on the windowsill, so don't let lack of space in the garden stop you!

:D