Junipers, whose branches grow along the ground, are very easy to propagate by bending and pinning such a branch to the ground. Doing so better in spring or early summer. Loosen the soil in the place where you will root the juniper. Dig a small ditch and place a branch there. Pin it to the ground with wire or anything else suitable. Sprinkle soil on top. In dry summers, be sure to water both the juniper itself and the rooted branch.
It is possible to cut off such a branch and replant it in a new place only after two years. If you can't stand it and do it earlier, you may lose the plant. A signal that the roots of the industry will be the appearance of young needles at the tip, that is, growth has appeared.
If you want to root thuja, yew, Canadian spruce, cypress, it is more convenient to do this by cuttings. Best time to start rooting - April, but in the summer and even early autumn, it is quite possible.
In the first year, the cutting barely has time to grow a root system; it would be more accurate to say that it is just beginning. Therefore, the cuttings will most likely have to be buried in the garden in the fall, with insulation on top. Or place it in your home or basement in a cool, bright place. If you took a cutting in the fall, you can try to root it at home, and in the spring you will take the cutting into the garden, placing it in a cool, shady place, for example, under the crown of fruit trees.
GENERAL RULES FOR ROOTING CONFERES.
- It is better to take cuttings from young plants, then the probability of success is much higher.
- Carry out cuttings in cloudy weather or in the evening.
- Important! Take freshly harvested cuttings.
- The length of the cutting is desirable no more than 10-12 cm.
- For cuttings, young green one-year shoots with a lignified biennial part, the so-called “heel,” are selected.
- The cutting is not cut off, but is torn from the branch with a sharp movement of the hand.
- Remove the needles from the bottom of the cutting.
- Sprinkle the substrate with water; it should be moist when planting the cuttings, and then there is no need to water them.
- Powder the cutting with a root formation stimulator and bury it in the ground at an angle of 45-60* by a third of the length of the cutting. Lightly compact the soil.
- Be sure to cover the cuttings with transparent polyethylene. The air humidity in it should be high - from 90 to 100%. If the soil dries out, moisten it by spraying.
- From time to time, to prevent fungal diseases and rotting, ventilate the cuttings.
- The temperature for successful rooting is 15-18 degrees in the first month, then 18-22*C.
- If in the summer months the temperature outside is too high (more than 22-25 * C), move the cuttings to the coolest place.
In general, rooting of coniferous cuttings is never 100% guaranteed; be prepared for the fact that some of them will not take root. This depends on many reasons and is approximately 60-70%.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE SUBSTRATE FOR ROOTING.
The substrate is laid out in three layers: drainage, nutrient soil, sand or perlite.
Now about this in more detail.
- Be sure to add a 2-3 cm layer of drainage to the bottom of the cuttings. It will not allow water to stagnate, and, therefore, will prevent the appearance of mold and rotting of the cuttings.
- The next layer is nutritious soil, but it must be well-drained, water- and air-permeable.
It is very good if you take the land in a spruce or pine forest. To do this, rake a little upper layer and dig at a depth of 5-10 cm.
From ready-made mixtures you can take a universal substrate, add a little perlite to it, after washing it in a sieve to remove dust, which will only clog the soil. Sprinkle this mixture onto the drainage in a layer of 3-5 cm.
- Sprinkle washed perlite or coarse sand onto this soil mixture in a layer of 5 to 7 cm. First, spill it with boiling water or a solution of potassium permanganate.
It is into this top layer that the cutting is buried. A layer of sand or perlite dries well and the cuttings will not rot in it.
And when the roots grow, they will reach the lower layer, from which they will receive nutrition. And, since the cutting will grow for at least another six months, the nutritional value of this layer is naturally very important.
Important! If you started rooting in the spring, then do not touch the plant this year.
The appearance of growth next year will indicate that root system began to appear. But she is still very weak. Therefore, do not rush to plant the plant. You can gradually harden it by opening the greenhouse. Increase the time every day. Be careful with watering at this time. Do not allow the soil to dry out, but also do not overwater, so as not to ruin the rooted plant. Around May, you can transplant young conifers from a common container into a separate container.
Important! Be careful not to destroy the substrate around its roots. This is important at any stage of transplantation!
TRANSPLANT TO A PERMANENT PLACE.
A coniferous tree seedling is highly valued, but does not take root well. To get five mature pines, you need to plant 25 small seedlings. In such a situation, the question arises: is it possible to grow ephedra from a seed yourself?
Of course it is possible, pine propagation follows general rules, but has some peculiarities. How to germinate seeds correctly?
Pine propagation: general growth rules
The best conditions for pine growth are sandy loamy, non-acidic soil and wet air. If they are present, the trees will grow up to 40 m high, and their trunks will occupy two girths in diameter. Such “ship” trunks grow on the shores of the Baltic.
However, pines can grow in less favorable conditions: on acidic soils, with low humidity, poor nutrition. In such conditions, tree growth slows down, and the plant rarely reaches even 10 m.
The more the soil and humidity conditions are far from ideal, the more difficult it is for the seed to germinate and for the tree to reach greater heights. Therefore, the number of sprouted seeds in unfavorable conditions is noticeably less.
Pines grow - on the seashore and next to the swamp, on the plain and in the mountains (up to 2000 m). The only thing general requirement for all growing regions - light. Pine does not tolerate shading and stops developing when there is insufficient sunlight.
There are two ways to propagate a tree: seeds and cuttings. Cuttings can be grafted onto another living pole or rooted in soil. For pine trees, rooting cuttings is almost always a losing proposition. But grafting a cutting from a rare coniferous tree is easier.
From seeds
Pine propagation by seeds is the most effective method get your own seedlings. Let's start with the main thing - collecting seeds and preparing conditions for planting.
When to collect seeds for planting?
Pine seeds ripen throughout the fall and become mature in mid-winter. At this time you can collect planting material.
Autumn seeds can also be germinated, but their germination rate is much lower.
How to get seeds?
A cone that has fallen from a tree is picked up, brought home, and placed in a warm place. If you put a pine cone on a plate or in a box on heating battery, then after a few days its scales will open and the seeds will spill out to the bottom of the plate or box.
Where can I plant?
IN open ground(in spring) and in boxes (boxes, possible in winter). Planting in boxes is more controlled and gives a higher percentage of germination. In open ground, the seeds are often eaten by rodents.
Is stratification necessary?
No, stratification is not necessary for conifer seeds, but it can speed up their growth. Under natural conditions, seeds germinate after winter swelling in cold melt water and after a change in temperature - warming. Can be imitated natural conditions– place the seeds in damp sand and place them in freezer. Leave there for up to 2 months, then remove and rinse in warm water, and then put it in sand for further germination.
Soaking and stratification are necessary if you want to plant this year's seeds right away in the fall. Otherwise they may not germinate. Ripe fresh seeds are placed in water for three days, then in damp sand and in a cellar or freezer. They are kept for 1 month at +5°C, and then planted.
How to prepare the soil?
If you plan to germinate in the ground, then make a hole 30-40 cm deep, at the bottom of which drainage is made (a layer of crushed stone 20 cm thick). When germinating in boxes, be sure to make holes in their lower part for the outflow of moisture, and also lay a drainage layer. Placed on top of drainage stones soil mixture(earth, peat, sand in equal proportions). Crushed stone and holes provide drainage excess moisture and aeration of the roots of the future plant.
What is the depth of seed placement?
When planting in a box, small seeds are sown at a shallow depth - up to 1 cm. They can simply be scattered over the surface of the soil and then loosened and leveled.
Important: maintain an interval between seeds of at least 5 cm. Why? Seeds can germinate when planted tightly. But when they germinate, they lift the top layer of soil and expose fragile roots. The barely sprouted seedlings dry out.
When planting in open ground, the planting depth is also 1 cm. Make furrows 3 cm and fill them with 2 cm of sand. Stratified seeds are sown on top of the sand to the depth of the furrow. And they are covered on top with a prepared mixture of earth, sand and peat. On top - pour a small layer of peat. It prevents fungal diseases of young pine trees.
How to water?
For pine seeds to germinate, they must be moistened frequently. From sandy soil the water goes down quickly. Therefore, watering is necessary several times a day.
If plantings are done in boxes, you can make caring for germinating seeds easier: place the box in a container with water (tray) and cover it with polyethylene on top. When moisture evaporates, it will settle under the film without leaving the internal space.
When will the first shoots appear?
Pine germinates approximately a month after planting. During this entire period, it is necessary to moisten the soil and prevent it from drying out (a plastic cover also helps here).
It is important to note: when planting, make sure that the ground surface is 1.5-2 cm below the level of the box. After planting the seeds, cover the box with film. A small layer of air between the soil and polyethylene will prevent moisture from rising too high.
Propagation by cuttings
Propagation of pine by cuttings is a more labor-intensive process than propagation by seeds. Therefore, people turn to it when growing a plant from seeds does not give the desired result (when growing decorative species plants). The cuttings are not rooted, but grafted onto a rootstock tree. Direct rooting of pine cuttings is not done. Because of small quantity callus under the bark - roots do not form, the tree does not grow.
How to graft cuttings?
- We prepare cuttings - twigs 5-6 cm long, about 5 mm in diameter, there should be a bud at the top of the twig. We cut them from shoots aged from 1 to 3 years. It is best to take last year's growth. After cutting the cuttings (the needles are removed (cut) from them).
- Selecting a rootstock tree. This may be a conifer no older than 5 years old. Its needles and side shoots longer than 6 cm are also cut out. The best place for grafting is a young shoot. It must be sufficiently formed. Therefore, at the beginning of spring, a cutting is grafted onto last year’s shoot. And in the middle of summer - to escape the current code, which has already been formed.
Important: you can vaccinate in early spring and in mid-summer (first half of July). However, the best effect and the highest survival rate are observed with early spring vaccinations.
- The grafting technique is similar to other trees: we cut off the main trunk of the rootstock, take a sharpened knife, and make cuts in its bark around the cut. We refresh the cut of the prepared cuttings (cut it again obliquely) and insert it into the resulting stump (under the bark, at the place where it was cut). We wrap it tightly with twine and cover the top with a piece of fabric and polyethylene (to prevent drying out). We leave and wait for the needles to appear from the upper bud.
Grafting a pine tree is more difficult. But growing seedlings from seeds is simple and accessible to everyone.
There are three methods of plant propagation available to the average gardener. Reproduction coniferous trees Can be seed, cuttings and grafting. Sowing is practiced to grow species forms Sowing seeds collected from varieties can give both the desired and completely unexpected results. For example, among the seedlings obtained from the blue form of prickly spruce, there will be both green and blue of all shades. When grown from seeds, they also obtain material that is more resistant to local conditions, since all seedlings with low viability fall out.
For better seed germination, you should resort to the stratification method. Stratification of conifers, like stratification in conifers, is a long-term holding of plant seeds at a certain temperature.
When propagating conifers by seeds, cones should be collected from the beginning of autumn. Closed buds can be kept in a warm, dry place, for example, on a radiator until full disclosure, and then pour out the seeds. If possible, it is better to sow the seeds immediately, imitating the natural situation.
Propagation of conifers by seeds
Spruce. Seeds of many species do not have dormancy (common, spiny, Sitka), but cold (+1°C - +4°C) stratification for 1 to 3 months in any case improves germination.
Cypress. 3 months of stratification improves germination, although you can do without it. For Nootkan cypress, 2 months of warm (about +20°C) and 1 month of cold stratification are recommended.
Larch, pseudotsuga. 0.5-2 months of stratification improves germination. Daurian and European larches germinate well without it.
Juniper. The seeds are washed for about 1 week. For unripe seeds, stratification for 4 months or sowing before winter is sufficient. For seeds from overripe cones, preliminary warm period three months.
Fir. Stratification of coniferous seeds for one month improves germination in all species, although germination is possible without it. Seeds during propagation coniferous plants It is better not to embed it in the soil, as light promotes germination.
Pine. Many species do not need stratification if the seeds are fresh. In addition to pine pines, Weymouth pines, Scotch pines, Roumeli pines, Banks pines. After dry storage, it is needed for 1-3 months. When reproducing conifers, the duration of stratification depends not only on the species, but also on reproduction and seed storage conditions.
For Siberian and Korean pine, a good result is obtained by keeping it for 1.5 months at 2°C, 1.5 months at 25°C and again 2 months at 2°C, after which, with an increase in temperature, spontaneous germination occurs.
Yew. When propagating coniferous plants of the yew family, it is better to sow seeds before winter. According to some sources, stratification is two-stage: 3-7 months warm, 2-4 months cold.
Hemlock. 3 months of cold stratification.
Tuevik. The seeds of this type of coniferous tree are difficult to germinate even after preliminary certification.
Thuja. The instructions are very varied. There is evidence that stratification is not necessary, but it is better to keep it at a low temperature for 1-2 months. According to other sources, a long-term cold stratification of 3-7 months or even a preliminary warm period of 3-7 months is needed.
As a sowing substrate, acidic compost from turf soil with rotted remains of coniferous forest litter is optimal. Coniferous seedlings, except for , grow slowly in the first years, so transplanting and picking can be postponed for two years.
Propagation of conifers by cuttings
Cuttings are the easiest and most common method for many varieties. But to take cuttings of coniferous plants, you need to have a greenhouse with soil made of coarse sand and peat and the possibility of constant supervision for watering, shade and ventilation. Typically, semi-lignified cuttings collected in mid-summer take root best.
In principle, cuttings of coniferous plants are also possible using lignified shoots. This should be done starting in May and throughout the season until late autumn, but then the autumn cuttings will have to be rooted indoors. The cuttings can be cut with pruning shears or the shoot with the “heel” can be torn off with a piece of wood. What will it give best result- it’s not always clear, perhaps it depends on the type of plant.
The main thing when propagating conifers by cuttings is not to forget about the safety of the queen cell and not to take all the growth from it. Although it rarely goes to extremes, as with the Engelmann spruce variety ‘Snake’: when the cutting is cut, the entire branch often dies off. The size of the cutting is determined by common sense: c dwarf varieties it can be 2-3 cm long, with large and rapidly growing specimens - up to 20 cm.
Before planting, to be safe, it is better to treat the bases of the branches with a growth substance like Kornevin. Most coniferous trees take root in the fall and are suitable for planting on next year. In the first season, yew forms only a shapeless thickening - callus, and its roots grow the next year. Pine trees practically do not take cuttings.
Grafting of coniferous trees
To propagate coniferous plants, you can resort to grafting. However, this method requires some professionalism. This propagation method is especially common in commercial nurseries. Grafting of coniferous plants is used mainly for those varieties that take cuttings poorly or grow worse on their own roots, and also to obtain special forms. Grafting coniferous trees of creeping or prostrate varieties onto a trunk will help to obtain a weeping or umbrella-shaped shape; miniature ball varieties on a trunk are better visible and will not get lost.
By grafting several mini-varieties onto one tree, you can create something like a bonsai. Another reason is that a grafted cutting grows faster than a rooted cutting.
But this method also has disadvantages that both beginners and experienced experimenters will encounter. If the selection of a rootstock is unsuccessful, with age the scion may outgrow it and fall off, as happens when grafting Siberian pine onto Scots pine. Physiological incompatibility may occur, even several years after the operation, and the graft will wither.
There are many subtleties in this matter related to the species and variety of the material; mastering it requires familiarity with special literature.
Probably, many gardeners have come up with the idea of propagation. This is quite real! Cuttings of conifers can be carried out both in early summer in the ground and in winter at home.
The best way to propagate coniferous plants by cuttings is cypress, thuja, juniper and yew (larch is easier to propagate by seeds, but spruce is generally difficult to propagate by cuttings). Green shoots with a lignified lower part act as cuttings.
Take shoots from young, dense and even plants so as not to end up crooked and weak. If there are no “youth” on the site, then select cuttings from the upper part of the crown from an adult coniferous plant. You should not take shoots from the side branches, as the plant may then bend, not have a beautiful pyramidal shape, and the growth of density will be uneven. If by chance you break off a branch of a coniferous plant, do not rush to throw it away, take cuttings from it with a heel and root it.
Cuttings of conifers in the ground
From a branch of a coniferous plant we tear off a cutting with a heel, i.e. with a piece of wood. Using pruning shears, cut off the pine needles from the lower third of the cutting (if there are any) and lower it into the root formation stimulator.
Disinfect the sand with a strong (dark pink) solution of potassium permanganate and pour it into a container. Using a peg at an angle of 45°, make holes 3 cm deep. Plant coniferous cuttings for rooting at a distance of 5 cm. Press sand at the base of the cuttings, filling the voids. Cover the plantings with a transparent bag or jar. Place in a shaded place and ventilate and water regularly.
In the fall, bury the container in a greenhouse.
If in the spring the container will be illuminated by the sun, it will need to be shaded.
At the end of spring, the cuttings are transplanted for growing, having first checked the presence of roots (carefully remove the cutting from the sand).
Cuttings of conifers at home
Cuttings of thuja, cypress and juniper are suitable for winter propagation:
In the spring, when mass plantings begin (May), rooted cuttings of conifers are planted for growing in a semi-shaded place.
After 1-2 years, young coniferous plants can be transplanted to permanent place habitat and immediately think about the future.
They take cuttings well in early summer. Shoots that are green at the top and woody at the bottom are suitable for cuttings.
Coniferous plants from cuttings sometimes turn out great, but sometimes they grow crooked and weak. The trick is to take the cuttings correctly. Try to choose young plants with an even, symmetrical crown that retains its density right down to the ground as queen cells. If there are no other options, you can use old specimens, but in any case, take cuttings from the upper part of the crown - this way you will have a better chance of getting planting material with characteristics typical for the variety.
Plants obtained from cuttings from old lateral branches often behave like lateral branches all their lives: they bend, unevenly overgrow with young branches and do not have a spectacular appearance.
Usually the first roots on coniferous cuttings appear towards the end of the season, and on some only after winter freezing. In the fall, the container will need to be buried, for example, in a greenhouse, and do not forget to shade the plantings in the spring if they are exposed to the sun. Late spring transplant the rooted cuttings for growing. To determine whether roots have appeared, just carefully remove the cutting from the sand - there is nothing wrong with that.
Step 1
With a sharp movement to the side and downwards, tear the cutting away from the branch so that a “heel” is formed in its lower part: a piece of wood with bark.
Step 2
Having previously cleared the lower third of the cutting from the needles, dust it with a root formation stimulator.
Step 3
Fill the container with wet sand (pre-spill it with a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate) and make holes in the sand. Use a peg for this, immersing it in the substrate at an angle of 45 degrees.
