Reproduction Of Shrubs By Root And Woody Cuttings

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The alphabet of vegetative propagation

Propagation by root cuttings

Abduction of honeysuckle honeysuckle. New shoots from the retracted stem

In the spring, at the beginning of summer, all florists and gardeners without exception and passionately dream of acquiring new species and varieties of ornamental plants. And visiting the next exhibition is not only a holiday for the soul, but also a big shock for the wallet.

It's no secret that every season the planting material becomes more and more expensive, and the assortment of plants becomes more and more diverse. Knowing the simple breeding techniques, you can get by with minimal costs for single copies of the best species and varieties, and immediately lay a school of primary breeding in your garden. For those who love planting flowers, this is a pleasant and exciting experience. It is especially important to know that at any time of the season - from early spring to late autumn - we can use the most optimal and least costly breeding methods.

Gardener's guide

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When you visit nurseries and exhibitions, first of all, try to choose high-quality planting material with well-developed roots. One container or bush with plants such as Japanese anemone, acanthus, mullein, daylily, oriental poppy, peony, lumbago (pulzatilla), forest anemone, paniculata phlox, eryngium (eringium), primrose can serve as a sufficient source for obtaining root cuttings, which these species reproduce successfully. You can also propagate spicy crops - mint, lemon balm, horseradish, katran - with numerous juicy roots.

Some alpine plant species can also be propagated by root cuttings in fine sand. These include: soddy ankhusa, toothed primrose (primula denticulata) and others with fairly thick roots. Spring, early summer is the best time to propagate thick roots. If such flowers in single copies are already growing in your garden, you can carefully dig in the bush when the ground thaws and cut the required number of cuttings.

Root cuttings and offspring of lilacs with good root lobe

With the general rules of breeding technology, there are always subtleties, knowing which we make fewer mistakes and get better results. There are some peculiarities in the reproduction of certain species. For example, it is known that Pulsatilla (lumbago) does not tolerate surgery well, but this rare plant in gardens can be propagated with minimal damage to the roots.

A flower purchased in a container is planted in a growing bed with a loose mixture of earth, sand and gravel, where the root system will develop freely and quickly. As it grows, you can dig out the roots, cut the cuttings and root them according to all the rules. Pulsatilla bush or clump growing in ordinary soil is dug up and transplanted to another place according to the plan to improve the garden design.

The remaining hole, along the edges of which the cuttings of the roots stick out, are not covered with earth, but watered and covered with glass or transparent plastic. After a while, the roots will sprout, then the shelter is removed, and later each mature young plant can be planted in a permanent place, not forgetting to add a pinch of AVA granules to the hole for long-term and good nutrition.

The thickness of the root for cuttings is desirable not less than the thickness of a pencil (in phlox and primroses, the roots are much thinner, but, fortunately, this is not an obstacle to reproduction in this way). Several long roots are separated from the mother plant, cuttings 5-10 cm long are cut from them. The thinner the root, the longer the cutting should be. In order not to confuse "top" and "bottom", traditionally make a straight cut on the upper part of the cutting and oblique - on the bottom. Cuts and possible trauma to the roots are always treated with activated carbon powder for disinfection.

To root the cut cuttings, we prepare in advance a light neutral mixture of garden soil with sand, peat, perlite. You can use clean peat, sand, perlite, but it is better to pour the substrate with earth into the lower part of the container so that the newly formed suction roots can receive sufficient nutrition. A mixture of soil with peat or sand should be filled with a long-acting complex fertilizer powder AVA at the rate of 1-3 g per 1 liter of soil mixture. Cut cuttings can be treated with root, heteroauxin to stimulate the formation of young roots (dip the lower oblique cut into powder).

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Winter grape cuttings in a balcony box on rooting

Now it remains to plant thick root cuttings vertically in pots with an upper layer of a neutral substrate, deepening the upper cut to the level of the substrate, and sprinkle it lightly with clean sand on top. You can plant several cuttings in one large pot or one at a time in small pots.

Thin cuttings (phlox and other species) are best planted in bowls horizontally every 2.5 cm and sprinkle with the same mixture 0.5–1 cm thick. Planted cuttings are watered with warm, settled water, the pots are placed in a warm, bright place: on a windowsill, in a greenhouse … It is important to maintain a uniform air temperature and provide bottom heating for the early rooting of cuttings.

At the same time, the moisture content of the substrate should also be optimal and constant: overdrying, like waterlogging, is detrimental to the cuttings. In practice, it is enough to check the condition of the substrate with your fingers every day, which should be moderately moist.

After a while, the upper buds of the cuttings will sprout, forming a young shoot. With the establishment of favorable weather, young plants are taken out into the air for hardening. It is best to do this on a cloudy day, as with seedlings of flowers and vegetables, to avoid sunburn. In sunny weather, you can put pots with plants under the crown of trees, near bushes. You can also do this: cover the arc or triangular frame, under which there are young plants, with a shading net to create an openwork shadow. 3-5 days are enough for perennial seedlings to adapt to open field conditions.

For growing, young plants are often planted in a growing bed, but it is more appropriate to plant them immediately in a permanent place in a flower garden. When planting, a pinch of AVA granules is placed in the hole to ensure adequate plant nutrition for the next two to three years. The next feeding of AVA is repeated after a specified period, introducing granules along the perimeter of the bush and deepening them 3–7 cm into the soil.

In the spring, all garden plants need nitrogen fertilization, and this should not be forgotten. Nitrogen is applied in the form of mineral or organic fertilizers: urea, ammonium nitrate, humus, compost, embedded in the soil. You can also use Kemir's fast-acting complex fertilizer, which is simply scattered over the surface of wet soil without embedding at the rate of 80–100 g per 1 m2. Kemira will nourish the plants for two weeks.

Similarly, by root cuttings, and even in open ground, you can propagate own-rooted (not grafted) shrubs and trees: varietal lilac, woodworm, actinidia, Japanese quince, barberry, white acacia, decorative species of currant, blackberry, raspberry, irgu, hazel, mulberry, pyramidal aspen, poplar (including white pyramidal), blackthorn, spirea, wild apple for rootstocks.

Propagation by lignified cuttings

Peony root stalk

When shortening the shoots of purchased shrubs (or those already growing in your garden), do not throw away their branches. It would be wise to cut woody cuttings from them about 10 cm long or with two pairs of nodes for large cuttings, making a cut under the kidney at the bottom and straight above the kidney at the top.

Cuttings are planted in 3-5 pieces in pots with an upper layer of a neutral substrate and a lower layer of a more nutritious soil mixture filled with AVA powder fraction. In this way, from the end of March to the beginning of summer, you can actually get several new beautifully flowering plants of forsythia, spirea, action, weigela, chubushnik and many other species, including hard-to-root conifers, for free.

Unpretentious species of woody lianas can be easily rooted by cuttings directly in the open field in early spring, as soon as the ground thaws and the buds have not yet woken up, and also in the fall after the leaves have fallen off. This is how you can propagate grapes of decorative species, honeysuckle, honeysuckle and others, as well as chubushniki, spirea, clematis; berries: raspberries, including remontant, gooseberries, currants, blackberries. The main thing is to squeeze well the cuttings planted in the ground somewhere near or between bushes, along the ditches, that is, in mini-areas where other plants will be cramped and dark.

Uncut lashes of grapes and honeysuckle can be laid in shallow grooves in the place of the future hedge, covering them with earth. In this case, it is not necessary to cut the lashes from the mother plants, if this is possible by the location of the mother plants. Rooting of cuttings is more productive than lignified cuttings.

Mini-greenery for rooting forsythia

Experienced gardeners have come up with a versatile tool for rooting small numbers of woody cuttings in early spring (and green any time of the season). To do this, a 1-2-liter plastic water bottle is cut into three unequal parts: the neck is in the form of a high (by the size of the cuttings) funnel, the bottom is in the form of a lid, and the middle part is in the form of a cylinder.

The neck is plugged with a piece of glass wool and placed in a jar of boiled water so that the water can be absorbed by the fiber and maintain optimal moisture for the poor rooting substrate, which is poured into the funnel.

As a substrate, they usually use different options for what is at hand: a mixture of peat and sand, rotten sawdust with sand, perlite, vermiculite; the latter components can be used without glass wool, by inserting a piece of non-woven fabric, bandage or spunbond into the neck so that the substrate does not spill out. Then several pieces of cuttings are planted in the substrate, then the middle part of the bottle is inserted into this funnel to create the volume of a micro-greenhouse, the cuttings are watered, covered with a lid - the bottom and placed in a bright warm place.

Direct rays of the sun should not be allowed - the cuttings will die from overheating, and on the south or west window behind a shade of gauze, tulle, they will successfully root in due time. Air humidity and temperature in such a micro-greenhouse will be “automatically” maintained at the required level, you just need to check the contact of the funnel neck with water in the can and add liquid as needed.

Rooted cuttings are gradually opened, accustomed to the open air, hardened on a balcony or in a garden, then planted for growing in a growing bed filled with AVA powder fraction with nitrogen for speedy growth and development (1 tsp per 1 sq. M). AVA powder will work in the soil throughout the season. Depending on the degree of development of the plants, they hibernate in the garden bed under a light cover of dry healthy leaves, which is preferable, or they are planted in a permanent place.

Using root and woody cuttings, you can easily and significantly replenish your garden collections, learn how to propagate plants and decorate your blooming garden.

Read the next part. Propagation by basal cuttings and layering →