- Do nothing and wait for the lights to (possibly) burn due to proximity to grow light
- Move them outside early and hope the overnight cold is not so bad as to hurt them too bad
- Prune them
Moving them outside would mean that I would very likely lose them, as it's been downright freezing overnight lately. But it is starting to warm up.
I could have done nothing and wait. Weather is starting to warm up, and in about 2-3 weeks I'm sure the overnight weather would be warm enough to move them outside. They might have been okay for 2-3 more weeks. There was also a strong chance they'd start to burn.
That left me with the last choice: I decided to severely prune them back.
Their root systems have likely developed well at this point. Pruning them back at this point would mean that I can also work on low branch development. Once I get some branching, I can then let them grow out and prune back hard. I'm still not sure if I want to grow them out with exposed roots, but luckily that part can wait.
I'm including a sample picture of a schefflera before sever pruning. Most of the other ones were much larger than this one:
Notice the leaves. They're very healthy looking with good strong, young growth. Quite a difference from what I started with! I pruned them back to the first or second node.
I cut back the excess leaves on the cuttings, leaving about 3 leaves each. In a perfect world, I would have 4 inch pots ready to accept the cuttings. I didn't have any ready and I really didn't feel like prepping pots right now. Instead, I bundled up the cuttings, six to a bundle, and put them in water. Here's a picture of one of the bundles:
Each bundle went into a small jar of water. I'll likely pot them up next weekend. I will not wait for them to develop roots. It worked for me before, so why not build on your success!
In case you're wondering what my scheffleras look like post pruning, here's a picture of them under the grow lights:
Yeah, they're pretty sad looking right now. They'll start growing nicely soon enough.
Oh! I mentioned the wrightia religiosa (water jasmine) had started to germinate, so here's a picture of one:
And for no reason, I'm including a picture of the tray. If you look closely, you might see a few seeds that have begun to germinate:
I had also mentioned the one SINGLE goumi seed that started to sprout. I potted that one up, and here's a picture of it potted up:
I realize the picture makes it look like the seedling is on it's side. It's not!
While I was out there, I decided to take a picture of the Chinese elm root cuttings, nothing exciting here, no activity:
And I also decided to include a picture of Birthday Crab Apple. I'm pretty sure its a Sargent Crab. Regardless:
Speaking of crab apples, here's a picture of the Sargent crab apple root cuttings that I took in the fall. Notice the new growth:
The second picture is blurry and you can't really tell, but there's another crab apple with some budding:
Finally, the shimpaku cuttings. While I was there, I decided to check on root progress. Turns out there's NO root so far!
Huh....
Oh well! I'll leave them to grow and check on them some time in late spring.
What else do I have going.... Japanese black pine seeds still have not been planted. Was just so friggin cold that I did not have any motivation to fart around with them right now. There's always next weekend!
There's lots of things in the garden that need my attention soon, but I only have so many minutes in the day. Kind of hard to get into it sometimes when it's so FUCKING cold. For now, time is on my side in the garden. The cold means that new growth is on ice. Except the crab apples. Funny thing is that the apple seedlings still haven't woke up. Odd.
Shrug it off and move on!
That's all I have for now.
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