The rooting of cuttings is energy-driven, and most houseplants 'peak' insofar as their energy levels are concerned in late summer, so late summer will find hobby houseplant growers realizing their highest strike %s if they follow a few simple guidelines. Oxygen is an element essential to the success of cuttings. You want LOTS of air in the medium you're using to root cuttings. Use a coarse medium that doesn't support perched water; or, if it does support perched water, be sure you use a container deep enough that the proximal end (closest to the roots) of the cutting is NEVER covered by a film of water. Think 'DAMP', not 'WET'. You'll also want to reduce the leaf surface area in most cases, eliminating some leaves or cutting them across the veins. This is to help reduce the amount of transpiration. If the plant can't keep up with the volume of water lost through foliage, the plant will SHED the foliage as a normal drought response, which is not conducive to rooting. Essentially, when you're trying to propagate cuttings, it's a race to establish a healthy hydraulic connection between roots and shoots before fungal organisms rot the plumbing. For that reason, try to steer clear of a medium that contains any form of mineral soil - garden soil, topsoil, unsterilized sand ...... Here is an effective way to keep humidity levels high & assure a high success rate: Neatly cut the top of a clear gallon jug. Stick your cuttings in a coarse, sterile medium like washed and screened perlite (in open shade). The plastic tray has holes in it so it drains after you water the cutting. After the cutting strikes, remove the screw on cap to allow more air circulation, then gradually remove the 'tent' entirely. I've probably done at least 100 cuttings to share already this summer using this or a similar set-up. Here is a Ficus microcarpa recently rooted under the milk jug for a friend. Notice the wick hanging down to drain excess (perched) water from the soil - practicing what I preach about the 'damp, not wet' thing. Let me know if you want a pic of some of the other cuttings done in such a manner; especially let me know if you have questions ..... Al

I would recommend taking the Ivy off the tree. If he waits to long, the Ivy will crawl further up the tree. What happens is the Ivy blocks the tree's ability to absorb photosynthesis through its leaves. A tree's leaf absorbs the necessary photosynthesis to convert it into energy for its own survival. Try to take as much Ivy off the tree as you can and cut the vine about 6 feet around the base. Let your neighbor that Ivy has the potential to kill a tree but it takes quite a while to do this. If you need any other questions, give drop me an email. DriskillLandscapeSolutions@gmail.com Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

Yep. It was one of my biggest gardening mistakes. The thing is, when you plant it initially it grows so slowly you actually celebrate when it starts to rip. You always PLAN to keep it contained, and when it gets to just where you want it, then it is usually too late. LOL. When it hits maturity, it goes on steroids. Plants cannot survive if they are severed from their roots, so I'd suggest taking a good sized lopper and severing the vines just above ground level on the trees you wish to eradicate it from. My husband has mowed the ivy bed from lleh in our front yard. Destroy the clippings in an appropriate manner. What you have left are very short zagillions of rooted stems and THAT is what you round-up. It usually takes several applications exactly how the label describes, before you see results. By mowing it down first, you have a lot less area to cover .. however since the herbicide is absorbed through the leaves, this is also a drawback. I faced the same situation with Japanese honeysuckle on my property before I got married. It was already there when I bought the land, but in one small spot. By the time I moved ten years later I was taking machetes to it to keep it from enveloping my orchard. It was hideous.

Hello, I live along a creek in No.Cal. that runs into the county reservoir. We are in severe drought conditions. The creek dries as soon as rain stops. I have a long narrow 4 acres that completely parallel the creek 1 side & road the other. I have huge thickets of wild blackberry & massive amts. of poison oak & stinging nettle. 10 yrs. ago I had goats; otherwise I have left it all alone so wildlife has refuse. Now medically unemployable & have become more interested in hurgenkulture. I want to cut the dead oaks, over grown 50'Xmas trees and place them along the creek bed. I will being cutting the willow trees & bringing up to dry. If I spray brush be gone numerous times, when poison oak is dried & dead I lay the logs in piles over where p.o. was, cover with dried willow sticks & other dead sticks, compost, leaves, manure, dirt a few inches of top soil; will the poison oak grow through into my hugelkultur gardens. Ultimately my goal is to plant almost 1/10 mile of creekbed with these beds. They are drought resistant gardens for as the trees stumps hold water & release it they eliminate almost all watering. I plan to plant gardens most distant from the house with blueberry, currants, gooseberry and grapes. Then potatoes, onion, garlic, melons, squash and finally nearest gardens with tomato, peas,beans, and other daily veggies. Would it be best to use product that sterilizes creek bank soil killing poison oak, nettle & blackberry first? My husband is a firefighter & on the big wildland fires has gotten systemic poison oak. I always pray he doesn't get it in his lungs. Many of the firefighters have become highly sensitized. Thank you, Moni