Has anyone tried this???

[OCMG]

On a few ocassions I found some strange seedlings in my compost pile. Last year when I used some of the soil in my salad table I got so many squash plants I had a problem with my salad, but when I decided to let some grow nothing more than a glob of greens came.

This year I found more seedlings popping up, of course my curiousity got the better of me so I dug some up and brought them in the house, they appear to be beans but I am not sure.

A friend of mine got some nice butternut squash but she never moved it, it grew right there. She dug around it.

Has anyone had this and was sucessful in getting some volunteer plants from your compost pile?

If so what did you dig up?

 

[peeps7]

I don't have a compost pile but I do get wild cantoloupe and watermelon every year. They taste delicious and they just grow wild.

 

[digitS']

Wild melons! Wow!

A few times, I have allowed the Halloween pumpkin seeds to germinate and grow pumpkins. However, that was risky!!

I also grow zucchini. Pumpkins and zucchini are both Cucurbita pepo. That means they will cross-pollinate even when the plants are separated by considerable distance. (Depends on our flying pollinators. )

My neighbor allowed some squash (?) vines to grow and fruit. Since we both have the same guy on a tractor till our gardens - I got squash (?) vines all over the garden. The neighbor and I have now agreed that this experience was completely unnecessary and purposeless. The fruits were useless for human consumption.

Steve

 

[patandchickens]

I've had the same experience as steve w/ self-sown squash-or-melons-whatever in compost piles ... they grow like gangbusters but the fruit is awful. I think from cross pollination?? Compost-pile tomatoes can be really really good, though

Pat

 

[MeanQueenNadine]

I threw a huge willow branch in the pile one year, the next year I pulled it out to put through my new shredder......it had huge roots growing off it.....

 

[Cassandra]

I threw a huge willow branch in the pile one year, the next year I pulled it out to put through my new shredder......it had huge roots growing off it.....

Could I grow one this way? Anyone want to send me a willow branch?

Cassandra

 

[OCMG]

I have a Dappled willow bush, Want that?
Maybe you have some differents seeds we can swap, is that allowed in here?


Willows propagate very nicely just cut some hard wood, maybe even soft and put it in the ground or a pot.
Some people use rootone but it is not needed.

Lots of bushes can be rooted this way. I just found my Sumson Forsythia in a pot growing in a corner of my deck that I didn't think took. It is beautiful.

 

[patandchickens]

Could I grow one this way? Anyone want to send me a willow branch?

Cut a piece of willow branch this time of year (preferably just before leaves come out). Maybe as thick as your finger, but less is okay. Not too long, maybe a couple feet long for best results. Borrow the branch from your neighbor's willow, or soemthing along the road, or in the park where you walk your dog, or whatever.

Clear a plausible place to grow it -- either in 2 gal pot sunk in ground if you want it moveable to permanent spot later, or just wherever you want to permanently plant it. Best results if you clear the grass or weeds off a couple square feet. Remember that willows need a good supply of moisture, don't plant in a dry spot. Also remember the roots of decent-sized willows (anything with mature height taller than you) are REALLY INVASIVE so do not plant a willow tree within a coupla hundred feet of buried water pipes, septic system, sewer lines, or the foundation of your house (unless you are willing to bet your house foundation has no cracks and will never develop any).

Then: thunk! Stake the branch in so that about 2/3 of its length is underground. Congratulations, you have now planted a willow

Chances are real good that unless it dries out or gets run over by the lawnmower it will sprout roots and then branches, and grow where you put it. If you really care, start more than one in case they don't all make it.

Pat