Trellis Building and Propagation

One quick round trip to the present. Here's what I've been up to during May and June 2009:


Building this trellis structure for my main set of mother plants. I also received 4 new plants and had to prepare their beds and mini shade houses.


Also, this is the best time of year to start propagating next year's "crop" of kiwi plants. The picture above is a closeup through the translucent wall of an experimental humidity chamber with near sterile growing medium. The idea is to keep them from decomposing until initial rooting takes place. It's a miracle and a joy to nurture that glowing spark of life into a new individual (although genetically identical to the parent).


This is what a new plant looks like when it comes out and is ready for some real soil. Notice the leaf on top providing enough energy to feed the formation of new roots while the bud grows from the node below it. The leaf was cut in half to limit moisture loss during this delicate phase. Also the bottom is still green where the "stem cells" differentiated into root cells. Pure magic!!