Planting Tips

Chapter 28 Which flowers can be propagated by layering

The layering method is to bury the lower branches of the mother plant into the soil to promote the adventitious buds at the nodes or internodes to germinate and grow new roots, and then cut them off from the mother body and plant them separately to form a new plant.For taller branches, the high-pressure method is used, that is, the cut part of the branch is surrounded by moist soil or moss, and the environmental conditions for rooting are given. After rooting, the parent body is cut off and replanted.Layering propagation is mostly used for flowering shrubs with strong clusters or vines with soft branches.For some trees and shrub species that are difficult to root, they can be propagated by high-branch layering.The advantages of layering propagation are easy survival, fast seedling growth, and no waste of propagation materials.The disadvantage is that the amount of seedlings produced is small and the growth of seedlings is not prosperous.For small trees such as peach, cherry blossom, plum blossom, crabapple, magnolia, and bauhinia, it is difficult to take root from cuttings. When producing seedlings in large quantities, grafting is often used for propagation, which is troublesome to operate.In a small amount of reproduction, you can use the long branches that germinated from the main trunk for plying propagation. Before plying, you should incise the buried part. The part is buried in the soil.

In order to prevent the branches from bouncing back, you can use a stone to hold them down or fix them in the soil with a wire hook, and at the same time insert a bamboo pole to support them, so that the branches can grow upright.The layered seedlings in spring can form their own root system after growing in summer and autumn. They should be cut away from the mother body one month before the leaves fall, so that the layered seedlings can grow on their own root system for a period of time.Before winter, trenches should be dug for artificial planting or buried in soil to prevent cold and ensure safe overwintering.Honeysuckle, wisteria, Lingxiao, grape, brocade, stellite, kiwi, barley and other vines have long soft branches and are more suitable for layering.When propagating, these branches can be straightened and then buried shallowly in the soil, the depth should not exceed 1 cm. After a period of time, the roots will take root, and the axillary buds will then sprout out of the soil, and then new branches will grow.At this time, you can use a sharp shovel to cut off the branches and vines in the soil from the internodes, let them grow independently for a period of time, and then dig the seedlings and transplant them.It is difficult for flowers and trees such as Bailan, Milan, camellia, osmanthus, and Michelle to grow roots, so high-pressure methods are used to propagate them.First, select 3-1 years old full and full branches on the crown of the tree as propagation materials, and incise them under a node in the middle and lower part of the branches. It is best to peel off a circle of cortex with a width of 2 cm, then wrap it with soil or moss, and tie it outside. The plastic film or bamboo tube should always keep the substrate moist, and it can take root after cultivation in summer and autumn.Generally, they are cut off from the parent body in the spring of the next year, planted in pots or moved into nurseries to raise large seedlings.

(End of this chapter)