short video showing the suckering habit of Sea Buckthorn.
This is my first DTube upload, so this is really just a test video.
A bit of background on the propagation method:
I let chickens scratch under the plants throughout the spring (April to early June in my region). The disturb the soil surface. You can see some exposed soil and roots in the video, that was done by the chickens. Once I move the chickens out in mid-June, I mulch over with leaves, manure, grass clippings etc (whatever I have on hand at the time, nothing special). Within a month, you'll notice suckers starting to sprout up. I leave these where they sprout until the following spring.
This video shows suckers formed last year, before I dig them up and transplant.
I typically move them to a prepared bed, spaced 6' apart. Alternating 6 females to one male. I can tell the difference between males and females at this stage because my propagation plants are kept separate. The bed shown in the video contains six plants of one variety, all female.
I'll try and follow up with videos of the other beds, and the transplant procedure. At the moment, the other beds are inaccessible due to the heavy snow melt (can't drive to them), and a very aggressive gander (who you can hear in the background) guarding his mate who is nesting in the male bed. I may have to put off transplanting males until the goslings are hatched.
In this bed, 6 female plants (second year) yielded roughly 36 suckers that are large enough to transplant. My larger plants tend to yield 20-30 each, per year.
The primary importance in successful propagation however is the soil disturbance and mulching. That makes all the difference.
