Rooting Of Lignified Cuttings Of Fruit Or Ornamental Plants

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

There is a wonderful way of propagation of shrubs - ornamental and berry - this is a way of rooting woody cuttings. It is somewhat more difficult than rooting green cuttings, but more convenient.

Convenience lies in the fact that they can (and should) be rooted in early spring, before bud break, i.e. before the opening of the summer season, while there is still free time. You can get a stalk of the plant you want from friends and neighbors, and you don't have to buy an expensive bush.

Of course, not all plants can be propagated by lignified cuttings. In the literature there is information that black, red, white, golden currants, honeysuckle, sea buckthorn, and many grape varieties take root well from berry crops. Not all varieties take root in gooseberries. For example, the European varieties Date, English yellow, Green bottle do not take root at all. The varieties Russian, Smena, Malachite, Northern grapes, Kolobok, Eaglet, Yubileiny take root in about half of the cases, i.e. by 50%, other varieties are poorly studied.

From ornamental plants spirea, tamarix, dogwood, action, honeysuckle, viburnum, cotoneaster, many roses, forsythia, wolfberry, chubushnik, maiden grapes and others take root well.

Cuttings are taken from annual growths. The younger the bush, the easier the rooting is. It is very important to choose the right cutting length. Cuttings that are too long evaporate a lot of moisture, too short cuttings have little supply of nutrients. Such cuttings either do not take root, or die later, when the leaves open. Therefore, pieces of branches 25-35 cm long are usually harvested on cuttings, and immediately before planting, cuttings 18-20 cm long are cut from them. In red, white, golden currants, the length of the cuttings should be more - 25-30 cm. They take root worse than black currant. The best cuttings thickness is 8-12 mm.

In most plants, the part of the annual shoot, close to the base, is better rooted (forms roots). For plums, the stalk should be cut not only with the base, but even with the thickening of the lower part of the stem. Likewise, i.e. with thickening, cuttings are also cut from other difficult-to-root plants. The upper cut is made oblique over the upper kidney so that the upper part of the cut is on the same level with it. The lower cut is straight, done 15-20 cm from the top, regardless of how it will be located relative to the nearest kidney. The base of the cuttings, but not the stem itself, is treated with a powder that stimulates root formation, for example, root or heteroauxin. I cover the top cut with garden var.

Now the cuttings are conveniently planted in plastic cups. The soil can be used the same as for peppers or tomatoes. In order not to damage the bark at the cut point on the cutting, before planting, I make a vertical channel in the soil with a pencil or a tube with a diameter slightly larger than the thickness of the cutting to the planting depth, then pour a little calcined sand into it, set the cutting on it. I also fill the free space around the cutting with sand, water everything, especially sand. I cover the handle with a glass, put it in a cool place, not in the sun. The cutting depth should be such that 1-2 buds remain above the soil surface.

In the future, I make sure that the soil in the glass does not dry out, I regularly spray the cutting and air it so that mold does not form.

At the end of May, a rooted stalk, already with leaves, I accustom to the open air, then carefully so as not to damage the earthen lump, I transplant it into open ground. At first, he lives under lutrasil or under a newspaper covered with plastic wrap. I spray the plant and newspaper with water twice a day, morning and evening. Then I gradually remove the cover. By the fall, quite viable bushes of fruit or ornamental plants are formed.