The Carissa Macrocarpa is finally grounded

I started the air layering experiment on the Natal plum - Carissa Macrocarpa on June 2nd 2010.

Original post here Original post    and First update  here.

After one month exactly today I inspected the soil & definitely the roots have grown more and as the weather is getting hotter I decided to risk putting it into the ground now rather than waiting another 2 weeks.

Soil bag opened for inspection

   

Roots visible here the bigger ones are white in colour .

I cut the stem at a 45 deg angle just below the soil bag

The cut stem with plastic still attached. I carefully removed the wire ties & the plastic trying not to disturb the roots. Unfortunately I rushed & lost part of the roots.

The Carisa was potted here & staked for support . I removed some of the lower leaves but may need to remove more (depends on how well the new roots hold). Obviously the young plant needs to be kept in shade & protected from wind till it grows more roots. 

Hopefully it will do well & grow . I will keep you posted ofc :)

If it does well & will graft a mature fruiting stem on it.

Quick update on the Natal plum air layering experiment

I did the air layering on the Carissa Macrocarpa on 2nd Jun 2010. The soil was remoistened on 11 June.

Again I remoistened it the 19th . I examined the plant then guess what , it has actually produced some roots though funnily enough not where I did the cut but below it as it seems the soil slipped down. Oh well it seems to be ok. I will give it a couple of weeks more & then will try to transplant it.

Original post here:

http://megardenlover.blogspot.com/2010/06/air-layering-my-carissa-macrocarpa.html

Great plant classification site

Great site for scientific name classification of plants

Kingdom
    Subkingdom
        Superdivision
             Division
                 Class
                     Subclass
                          Order
                               Family
                                    Genus
                                         Species

One tip though . Please be carefull when searching by common name. Try searching for Natal plum.
You should get carissa macrocarpa . Unfortunately I got something else, so again be carefull with common names & double check the results if not sure :)



http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=display&classid=Solanaceae