Creative Propagation [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONEPrelude to PropagationIt's a pretty good bet that all who pick up this book will, sooner or later, be infuriated by something they read in it; some description of a technique, or an opinion expressed, will produce a snort of derision or the conviction that the author must be an idiot. Propagation affects most of us like that. We all have our pet ways of doing things. Some of us think our methods work because of the care we are prepared to take; some of us believe we are successful because we don't go to the extremes of unnecessary expense or the time-consuming fussiness of our more punctilious friends. The mistake we all incline to make is to suppose that the difference between successfully and unsuccessfully growing seedlings, or persuading cuttings to produce roots, just depends on knowing facts. It doesn't; it depends much more on getting to know plants. It depends on knowing them well enough to recognise when they are suffering stress before the symptoms become obvious. It depends on being able, almost instinctively, to see to their needs so that they are able to do all the things they are capable of. Nobody ever yet rooted a cutting or germinated a seed; those are things that only plants can do and the propagator's job is to find the best ways of letting them get on with it.There is a temptation to regard propagation as a horticultural technique, because this approach provides a hope that success depends on acquiring technical skills, and using appropriate equipment and other resources in a carefully specified way for any particular plant. If this were so then any book on propagation would only have to set out what should be donemuch like the directions, on the outside of the pack, for assembling a fold-flat garden frame and, so long as one knew how to use a screwdriver, and carefully followed the instructions, all would be well. This approach with its rule of thumb methods can be very effective, and provides the foundation on which commercial plant production is now becoming more and more dependent. But, it brings with it the impression that propagation is something that human beings have invented, and has very little to do with the way plants grow naturally. It can suggest that it is a more or less artificial process in which the cost and sophistication of the facilities used are the most important elements. This impression is not reduced by a visit to any well-stocked garden centre. There the display will include beguiling arrays of equipment, ranging from pre-sown propagation kits, specially designed containers, artfully formulated composts, electrically heated propagators and automatic watering systemsall arranged to convey a promise of success, ensured by spending money. Unsurprisingly, many people reach the