The Cloner

I ordered a cloner since I didnt have the time to make one, and Im sure I could have made one for about $40, with the pump and all.  I opted to buy it since the footprint of this unit was small and that's what I need until the spring gets here and most plants move to the greenhouse.  Amazon.com is where I ordered it from, here is the link.

It was about $80, but its small and it should work fine. I am about to populate it with some cutting from my cherry and roma tomato plants, the hot peppers and some of the little pico hot peppers.  I have some family who wants some basil plants, so that, as well, will go into this.  Its only the size of a small bucket, a 5 gallon size footprint, but a little shorter.  It seems like it'll work ok, but I dont know how well the plant foam will hold the plants in - they seem like they will be a tight fit, but they shouldn't fall in.  I have a 4 slot cloner which Im finally seeing roots in on the hot pepper plants, so that's a good sign...it just took 2 weeks.  I guess I am impatient. :)

I am counting down the days until the yard is clean and I will order the greenhouse next friday and be all set.  A few tables and I need to get a 12v fan and solar setup with regulator.

Another pasttime in the spring is the bamboo transplanting.  I know how invasive bamboo is so I have been using 4-6mil thick hard plastic boundaries or just some pond liner I picked up at Fairfield garden center.  I have a few patches of bamboo which I planted in the back of the yard to allow me to have some natural boundary.  I have some on the back side where ideally a hottub will go, and that's about 6 foot long and a foot wide trench I planted them in.  My friend Maggi always has plenty of bamboo and I intend on getting some more this year for transplant.  I put them into large pots and a few of them are inside the house for the winter, livingroom, plantroom, etc, so they don't freeze.  The ones in the ground are winterized and live through the NJ winters...which is quite amazing, I think.