Content
Chinese lemongrass is a fast-growing vine. It grows in China, Korea, Japan, as well as in the north of Russia. Increasingly, it is planted in summer cottages, since the berries of the plant have a large number of healing properties. Lemongrass can be propagated in several ways: by seeds, cuttings, layering. Each method has certain advantages, therefore, when choosing, gardeners are guided by the convenience and speed of obtaining the result.
How Chinese lemongrass reproduces
Schisandra chinensis is still considered a rare and even exotic culture in our country. Therefore, it is not always possible to easily buy his seedlings. We have to do reproduction at home. There are several ways in which Schisandra chinensis reproduces:
- Green cuttings - a rare, not laborious method. Suitable if there is one liana in the garden, from where you can take cuttings.
- Seeds - long-term method. The gardener receives the first fruits from the plant only in the fourth or fifth year. Therefore, reproduction by seeds is painstaking, troublesome work.
- Reproduction by shoots among specialists it is considered the most effective method that does not require a large amount of investment of effort. The shoots appear in the second year of the vine's life.
- Root offspring - the first year the plant develops poorly, but then it grows vigorously, gives many basal offspring. An uncomplicated method of breeding young shrubs.
- Separation of the maternal lemongrass. The method is used when the main shrub needs to be transplanted. As a result, in the new place, the divided parts will quickly begin to bear fruit.
- Layers - this method is for those who do not want to work. It is just that until the layers take root, they do not need to be replanted.
Which method to use for breeding lemongrass depends on the specific situation, the number of plants available on the site, the time of planting, the health of the mother shrub. It is not recommended to buy seedlings from the Far East, since wild, uncultivated vines are often found. Thus, instead of the useful Chinese lemongrass with decorative properties, you can get unnecessary diseases, pests on the site.
Lemongrass also reproduces at home. You will need a cutting - it is cut according to all the rules of cuttings from the mother plant of lemongrass. This material is planted in a pot filled with fertile mixture and coarse sand. A glass jar or a plastic bottle without a neck is placed on top.
Watering a lemongrass seedling is done with water at room temperature. After about 18 days, roots appear. Starting from this time, the shelter must be removed first for a short time, then to increase the interval. A month after planting the cutting, the shelter should be removed altogether. In the fall, the stalk can be transferred to the site, to a permanent place. It is important that he has time to settle down before the onset of frost. Many gardeners transplant lemongrass from a pot in the spring.
It is very important to remember that when lemongrass is propagated vegetatively, the plant retains all the characteristics of the mother. In this case, an important feature is the floor of the creeper. The Chinese Schisandra plant has four sexual varieties:
- plants with different sexes, which change their flowers every year: the year is female, the year is male;
- monoecious plants, when one specimen has both male and female flowers;
- a dioecious female with only female flowers;
- dioecious male - such a vine does not bear fruit and has only male flowers.
If the vine does not bear fruit, then when it is cultivated by shoots or cuttings, its descendants will also not bear fruit. This problem arises for those who wish to propagate wild lemongrass and are mistaken with the floor of the plant.
Reproduction of schisandra chinensis by cuttings
For propagation of Chinese lemongrass by cuttings, only summer cuttings should be used. For cuttings, small shoots of a greenish-brown color are cut off, which did not have time to fully lignify. It is necessary to cut it in mid-June. Each cutting should have 3-4 buds. A straight cut is made above the upper kidney, and an oblique cut under the lower kidney. There should be a distance of 5 cm between the cut and the upper bud. Cutting cuttings for reproduction of lemongrass in autumn is not recommended - the plant will not have time to prepare for spring.
After cutting, all cuttings must be placed in water. Can be placed in a special solution (growth stimulant) for 12 hours. It is necessary to plant the planting material in a cold greenhouse. The soil should be moist and loose, and coarse river sand should be poured over the dug soil. The optimal layer of sand is 8–9 cm.
When planting, the cuttings are dipped into the ground at an angle. In this case, the lower kidney deepens into the ground, while the middle one remains on its surface. The distance between the planted cuttings should be 5 cm. From above, the entire planting is covered with a nonwoven material, on which watering will be made from above 3 times a day. After about 30 days, roots will begin to appear. There will not be many of them, this is typical of the Chinese magnolia vine. Therefore, do not be upset if only half of the planted cuttings take root.
After a month, you can remove the material that covered the seedlings. Reproduction of Schisandra chinensis by cuttings continues in the fall. At this stage, together with a lump of earth, the seedling is dug up and left in a cool place for winter storage. Until spring, you can save rooted lemongrass by covering it with wet sawdust in the basement. In the spring, workpieces can be planted for permanent residence.
Reproduction of schisandra chinensis seeds
This is an inexpensive method of breeding lemongrass, which takes time, but is quite simple in technology. It is common among gardeners who previously did not have lemongrass, and there is simply nowhere to take cuttings.
It has been noticed that specimens that are grown from seeds live longer and are more unpretentious in care than offspring obtained by other methods.
Seed propagation technology:
- Collect seeds from berries, wash, dry and save in a paper bag.
- At the beginning of December, be sure to place it in water for 3-4 days.
- Wrap in cloth and bury in sand.
- Keep the box with sand for 30 days at a temperature of +20 ° C.
- During this month, you need to pull out the package every week, unfold and air the seeds for several minutes. Then wrap it up again and rinse under running water, wring it out and bury it again in the sand.
- After a month, the seeds are dug up and transferred to a pot of sand, which is set in the refrigerator at a temperature of zero degrees.
- After a month (at the beginning of February), transfer the bowl of seeds to the fruit compartment, where the temperature is slightly higher.
- After about 35–40 days, the seeds will begin to crack. This means it's time to plant them.
For planting, it is imperative to use wooden boxes that are filled with special nutritious soil. The composition of the soil for the propagation of lemongrass by seeds:
- 2 parts of peat;
- 1 part of river sand and earth.
It is necessary to make shallow grooves in the ground. Enough 4 cm deep and half a centimeter wide. Place the seeds a centimeter apart. Cover with earth and water. Top can be covered with paper, film is also allowed.
Monitor soil moisture regularly.If the soil dries up, the seeds will not sprout. After 14 days, the first shoots begin to appear. Unlike many plants, lemongrass takes longer to straighten the initial arc to two leaves.
When all the seedlings appear, you will need to remove the film and put the box with the seedlings on the windowsill. In this case, it is undesirable for the sun's rays to directly fall on the sprouts. In some cases, it is recommended to even glue the window or put the box on the shady side. You can plant on the beds after 4 leaves have appeared on the shoots. Depending on the weather, it can be planted in open ground or in a cold greenhouse.
Experts recommend transplanting in the first week of June. In any case, you need to wait until the threat of frost completely disappears. Even mild night frosts can kill all seedlings or significantly slow down their development.
They are planted in furrows. Distance between seedlings is 5 cm. Between furrows - 15 cm. Care consists in watering and loosening the soil.
Reproduction of lemongrass by layering
This method is ideal for breeding in the spring. The soil at the time of reproduction by layering should be loose, dug up. Gardeners recommend two ways to propagate lemongrass by layering.
- Horizontal. Around the bush, grooves up to 20 cm deep should be made. Layers are laid in grooves, pressed with wooden stakes, metal clamps. Sprinkle the grooves with earth. The tops of the layers must be left on the surface of the earth. Until autumn, the soil must be watered.
- Vertical. The vertical method differs in that a wooden support is added to the top remaining on the surface. The future liana grows along it until it acquires the necessary appearance.
Reproduction of lemongrass by shoots
The most effective breeding method that is used most often. The algorithm is quite simple. An adult plant has a huge number of shoots with young buds. For planting, they must be separated from the adult creeper.
There are more root suckers in older plants. To separate, you need to use a shovel, but as carefully as possible. Separate the rhizome together with the adventitious root. If there are many appendages, then divide the young shoot for reproduction into several parts with shears, each of which must have its own appendage.
For growing, you need to place the adventitious root in loose, moist soil. It usually takes about two years to grow. New roots grow on the adventitious shoot. Then the shoots are transplanted to a permanent place in the garden plot with nutritious soil, fertilized soil.
Conclusion
Every year more and more gardeners want to propagate lemongrass. Someone heard about the healing properties of this plant, which successfully helps hypotonic patients, and someone just likes a beautiful vine on a gazebo or garden fence. In any case, you should not mess with wild-growing seedlings and it is better to take seeds or cuttings from a cultivated plant. If there is already one lemongrass in the garden, then it can be divided into several bushes or propagated by layering.
