Oh wow! And congrats, that first egg is always super exciting even when you know there's more to come.
The muscovies have been great for all of those things, yes. There are several weeks each year where I've got to follow them around for an hour after letting them out just to keep them from hiding clutches from me though
Could you put the filter medium into another pot, perhaps? This is such a cool project, I wish I was more helpful to you
All is forgiven, my wife rarely gets any of our yellow raspberries for pretty much the same reason. They are too delicious
That's fantastic, great job! Growing plants from seeds you've collected yourself is one of the coolest things I know of, and it's one of the healthiest addictions around.
Yes, like this:
That's awesome to hear, and I'm very glad the raspberry has begun to reward you for it!
What kind of ducks are you raising? We raise muscovies, ourselves. Please feel welcome to share about them over in !Animals and Pets
You got it right, softwoods are the better choice for rooting with hormone, be sure to keep it misted as well. If it's got larger leaves, don't be afraid to cut them perpendicular to the main vein to reduce water loss.
Don't give up, it'll happen! I've only grown a few honeysuckle varieties but they're fairly amenable to layering, if you've got the mother plant available to work with. If there's a honeysuckle species in particular, let me know and I'll check my books for you (it's Dirr's Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation usually)
[Image description: a four panel meme of fictional character Poison Ivy dancing, science-ing, and smiling with a beaker in hand. In the middle of the image is text that reads "POV: When I successfully propagate those expensive cuttings"]
I sure did! Plants I can kinda figure out but insects are tougher to key out. Luckily iNat gives a number of options so I can go through and match what I'm noticing, which makes me feel like I'm contributing even more
Just don't compare mine to Marth's ...
[Image description: a half-inch long caterpillar takes a break and enjoys the breeze on the tip of my big toe]
It looks similar to Galgula partita, the Wedgling Moth (at least to me)
[Image description: a two panel meme. In the top panel, a person labeled "my customers" asks the question "how do I keep bugs off my plants?" In the bottom panel, a person labeled "me, a native plant nursery owner" says "that's the neat part, you don't"]
[Image description: a very fuzzy, day old yellow duckling warms up in my hand on a chilly morning.]
This little nugget decided to spend a few extra minutes in my hand after we found its mother. The temperature was hovering around 60F which is a little too chilly for a duckling this young.
[Image description: several ducklings inspect my toes for caterpillars, occasionally grabbing the toes instead]
One of them found an inchworm on my foot the other day and now whenever I stop moving they go nuts trying to find more. It's cute until one grabs a toe or the hairs and does a death shake.
[Image description: eight raspberry cuttings showing the stages of root development at their growth tips, with the leftmost cutting showing almost no root and progressing to the rightmost which shows a cluster of roots and upward growing leaves]
I'm giving a talk next month about reproducing plants asexually and am working on images for the slide deck. Figured I may as well share some of the images here too as it might help some folks who are interested in doing this. Questions and feedback are encouraged and appreciated, they'll help to make the presentation even more informative.
For the northeastern US, I'm really a fan of:
Though the above have more selection, for full disclosure: