Propagating Conifers By Cuttings In Winter Is Easy. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:50

Landscape designers and amateur gardeners have long and deservedly liked conifers. They look decorative, as a rule, they are drought-resistant and not demanding in care, and diseases and pests do not damage them as often as most deciduous crops. There are several ways to get a coniferous seedling. The easiest one is to buy at a garden center or nursery. But this is also the most expensive way. It is much more economical and more interesting to grow a seedling from the cutting itself. And winter is the best time for this.

Content:

• Advantages of coniferous cuttings over other methods of acquiring seedlings
• Harvesting cuttings of coniferous plants
• Preparing cuttings for planting in the ground
• Planting cuttings in a substrate
• Conditions and care for coniferous cuttings in the first months
• When to plant the resulting seedlings in a permanent place?
• Important "little things" for successful grafting of conifers

Advantages of coniferous cuttings over other methods of acquiring seedlings

When buying ready-made coniferous seedlings, we, as a rule, acquire an already viable plant - this is a definite plus of the purchase. The older it is, the more expensive - this is a minus. In addition, sometimes we can buy something completely different from what the seller declared and the quality of the seedling may not be the best.

When buying, be careful and carefully inspect the plant. The needles should be of a rich, bright color inherent in this variety. The crown should also correspond to all aesthetic parameters, not be one-sided, curved, and in the case of narrow and columnar forms, not have several tops. Yes, all these defects can be corrected with proper care and proper haircut, but it is best to avoid this even at the stage of purchase.

Buying seedlings is good, but this is not our method. We want to grow with our own hands. This can be done by collecting and sowing seeds of a coniferous plant, although many of them will require lengthy stratification.

But with this method, you are likely to lose those properties and features that were inherent in this particular variety. To make it clearer: after collecting the seeds of a blue spruce, you will receive, as a result, mainly green seedlings, and after collecting the seeds of a beautiful columnar thuja, you will get something shapeless and shaggy.

The third option remains - propagation by cuttings. It is with this method that the resulting seedling will have the entire set of characteristic features of the mother plant - both the shape and color of the needles.

Winter is a great time to start grafting conifers. Yes, and the gardener has plenty of time during this period, but this is done simply. True, this barrel of honey was not without a fly in the ointment: not all conifers reproduce by cuttings. For example, juniper and thuja are good (thuja is even very good), spruce is worse, but this method of reproduction is not suitable for pine. Therefore, before you start it, study the plant, read about the ways of its reproduction.

Harvesting cuttings of coniferous plants

Now, actually, let's get started. You need to find an interesting plant for you - a donor and tear it off from it, yes, yes, just tear off the blank for the cutting. Do not use a knife or pruner; do it by hand. Find a one or two year old growth and tear it away from the plant so that there is a piece of wood from the previous year. That is, the torn off branch should have, as they say, a "heel". It is very simple to do this with your hands - with a sharp movement the twig is “sniffed” (sorry for the not quite correct expression) from the mother plant.

A few of my observations: if you take a blank from a vertical, narrow plant, then it is better to take vertical shoots from the upper part, and if you want to root a creeping or spherical shape, then you can take a branch from any part.

Do not grind, large cuttings have a greater supply of nutrients and they have a better chance of surviving until their own roots are formed, that is, rooting (the optimal length is 8-15 cm). If you are harvesting future cuttings far from home, stock up on a polyethylene package, where you put them. At home, you can store wrapped twigs in a bag in the refrigerator or basement for a couple of days.

Preparing cuttings for planting in the ground

The next operation is to clear the lower part of the workpiece from the needles by about 2 cm, it is to this depth that the cutting will be buried in the soil substrate. To reduce the evaporation of moisture, the needles on the upper part can be cut a little, but by no means all, the cuttings need photosynthesis, maybe even more than an adult plant.

Very often, cuttings of conifers do not take root, not because they dry out, but because they are affected by diseases, the spores of which are inevitably present on them. Therefore, the next important step is to disinfect the cutting, for which it is immersed in a fungicide solution, for example, Fundazol. This is not just a short-term dipping, but immersion in the solution for several minutes so that the drug penetrates into the internal vessels of the cutting (this drug is systemic).

Then you can stimulate future root formation by keeping the cuttings for the prescribed time in any stimulant: Kornevin, Heteroauxin, honey, aloe juice, etc.

Planting cuttings in a substrate

And now the moment comes to plant the cuttings in the substrate. As a substrate, you can use something loose: sand (but be sure to pre-disinfect it, say, in the oven), peat (treated with a fungicide), perlite, vermiculite, or a mixture thereof.

Before planting the cuttings, the substrate should be moistened, but do not dilute the dirt, it should be exactly wet. Cuttings are stuck to a depth of needles removed from them (2 cm). It is important here not to stick them too densely, make a gap between them, they should not touch their needles. In places of contact with high humidity, moisture will stagnate and decay processes will begin, which is not permissible.

But how to ensure high humidity - the key to good rooting? A container with planted cuttings, whether it be a box, container or flower pot (the container must necessarily have holes for water to exit and air in to the roots) must be covered with something transparent, transparent, light-transmitting, airtight and holding moist air inside. There are many solutions. In amateur terms, these are glass jars, cut plastic bottles (colorless), polyethylene film …

Conditions and care for coniferous cuttings in the first months

That's all. Now we are waiting. You will have to wait a long time - 2, and sometimes even 3 months. All this time, we ventilate the cuttings once a day, removing the jar for half a minute, if necessary, moisten them from a spray bottle, and spray them with a fungicide when the first signs of mold or something suspicious appear.

Separately, it should be said about the temperature. According to my observations, the first time (2-3 weeks) the cuttings are better suited to cool + 16 … + 18 ° С, and then the temperature should be raised to + 22 … + 24 °.

For good rooting of cuttings of conifers, they also need light. Winter cuttings, with all its advantages (there is time and you can control the temperature), has a big drawback - without additional illumination, few cuttings or nothing at all will take root. Get at least a regular 10 watt LED lamp and place it over the cuttings.

The rooting process has begun. But do not rush to rejoice. For example, junipers for all three months can "represent life", but at the same time they have already dried up, and the needles easily crumble when touched. It happens … Apparently, one of the important factors was violated. Analyze the entire chain:

• The stalk is fresh, not overdried;
• Substrate - light, sterile, breathable;
• Normal humidity - both overdrying and overmoistening are not suitable;
• Sufficiency of air - it should flow to both the needles (ventilate) and the roots (holes);
• Light - cuttings can die from direct sunlight, and without additional illumination, they will root poorly.

When to plant the resulting seedlings in a permanent place?

This should not be done before next autumn. The roots have formed, but they are so small and vulnerable that it is better for them to create a more comfortable environment. If you rooted cuttings in a common container, then after 3-4 months very carefully plant them in separate containers with a full-fledged soil mixture for conifers - either purchased or of your own production.

Well, then it all depends on the culture, care and climate. For example, with good care, thuja will already grow well by autumn and in the southern regions it can be planted in open ground. In the case of frosty winters, if there are concerns, it is better to leave young plants in containers and place them in a bright cold room at a temperature of + 0 … + 6 degrees, or dig them into the ground directly with the containers.

Important "little things" for successful grafting of conifers

And a few more "little things" in conclusion. Do not fertilize rooting cuttings. And in general, with conifers, it is better to underfeed than overfeed. In my opinion, adding compost to the trunk circle once a year is a great solution.

When preparing cuttings for rooting (especially if there are many of them and from different plants), make labels where and from what they were torn off. Don't rely on memory. When the time comes for planting to a permanent place in the garden, the small plant does not yet show itself, whether it will be a "ball" or "candle".

It is very convenient for rooting to use modern large-sized plastic containers made of transparent plastic with a lid. And it is easy to spray the cuttings, and to ventilate, and the thermometer can be placed. It is only advisable to pour a thin layer of pebbles on the bottom, like drainage, and put containers with cuttings on it. By the way, old clay pots are very good containers as the roots breathe in them.

That, perhaps, is all the subtleties and difficulties of rooting cuttings of conifers in winter. Seemed difficult? No, in fact, everything is simple, but interesting for a gardener!

I wish you success!