Once cutings are prepared and stuck in flats, the flats are placed here in our special propagation beds. The Rose of Sharon cuttings that we had made in the previous web page can be seen in the upper-left corner of this photo. They will be ready to pull in three to four weeks. As you can see I've already pulled several flats for potting. In the Right-bottom corner of this photo is Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus).
    We have installed a commercial computer-controlled irrigation system to water the cuttings on a regular interval. Here you can see one of the commercial misting nozzles that we use. I also have special equipment in my cellar to mix chemicals in minute quantities into the water that is sprayed on the propagation beds. These chemicals are used to retard fungus & diseases while promoting root growth.

Here Jacquelyn is checking for root development. These Hibiscus syriacus haven't been there long enough to have roots, so she won't find any there. She'll have to check the other flats.

Success! Here Jacquelyn holds a rooted Burning Bush cutting that she had helped make cuttings of just three weeks earlier.

Here's a close-up of that same Burning Bush cutting. Note the well developed root structure. The first time my wife saw me pulling these fully rooted cuttings from the flats she was so impressed that she couldn't say anything except ``Wow! Look at that! Wow!'' With 144 per flat, each only an inch apart, it was actually hard to pull many of them out. Several were `tied together' by so many roots that they came out in groups and had to be carefully separated!

We had bought these scrawny Burning Bush plants from a couple in Spotsylvania County in the Spring of 2001. They had purchased a whole bunch for their son, but he didn't want them. So after a few years the couple advertised them for  only $5 each, so we bought 14 of them. Granted, they are awful tall and lanky due to lack of proper pruning and the poor sandy soil they were kept in, but in time with frequent pruning and some TLC they should begin to bush out nicely.