Content
It will not be difficult to propagate honeysuckle - if you follow simple rules, even a gardener with little experience can cope with this. The shrub has received recognition for its decorative and taste qualities, unpretentiousness, as well as for the ability to easily propagate it.
Features of reproduction of honeysuckle
The shrub can be propagated by seeds and vegetative methods: by layering, cuttings (green and lignified), dividing the bush and shoots. If you need to get a small number of seedlings quickly, the best way to propagate honeysuckle is to root the layers. If a significant expansion of the planting of a culture is planned, then it is better to propagate it by cuttings. In this case, it is preferable to use green shoots, since they take root best.
Particular attention is paid to the timing of the preparation of the material and planting it in open ground.
Breeding timing of garden honeysuckle
The timing at which it is best to propagate honeysuckle depends on the method chosen. Throughout the season, you can do some work on its breeding. In order for honeysuckle to take root well in a new place, when planning plantings, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the growing season of this culture.
How to plant honeysuckle in spring
The spring planting of honeysuckle has its own specifics, since the growing season of this culture begins early - from the end of March, the buds are already blooming, which means that it is undesirable to disturb the shrub after this period.
In the spring (at the beginning of March), you can propagate the honeysuckle by root suckers, dividing the bush and transplant the cuttings planted last season into open ground. Also in March - April, seeds are sown for seedlings.
At a later date, only seedlings with an earthen clod are rooted in order to disturb the root system as little as possible.
You can also propagate honeysuckle by layers from the bush in the spring, and May days are a good time for cutting and rooting green cuttings. It is during this period that the seedlings take root most successfully.
How to plant honeysuckle in summer
Honeysuckle can be propagated in summer, but this is not the best time to plant it outdoors. According to reviews, many gardeners successfully plant honeysuckle throughout the growing season, including in the summer months.
In the first few weeks of June, they continue to harvest green cuttings and root the layers.
How to plant honeysuckle in the fall
Honeysuckle refers to garden crops in which the growing season ends early - by the beginning of August, the growth of branches stops until spring, therefore, most often the culture is planted in the ground between August and October.
In September - October, you can propagate the culture by seeds, at this time they begin to drive out the seedlings
In autumn, starting from the second half of September, lignified honeysuckle cuttings are harvested, at which time bushes can be planted.
Honeysuckle breeding methods
The shrub belongs to those unpretentious crops that are easy to propagate both by seeds and vegetatively. The seed method is considered the least effective. It is most convenient to propagate the plant by layering, division, cuttings and root shoots.
Honeysuckle propagation by layering
The easiest way to get young specimens is to propagate them by layering from the mother. It is suitable if the bush has reached the age of 3-5 years. In the spring or in the first weeks of summer, it is necessary to find young shoots located near the ground, dig furrows in the ground, bend the intended branches and fasten them with wire loops. Layers must be watered regularly. When they take root, you can separate them from the mother plant, but you should not rush to transplant - only shoots with well-developed, strengthened roots will successfully take root in a new place.
How to plant honeysuckle by dividing a bush
Dividing the bush is also an easy way to propagate honeysuckle, this procedure is done in spring or autumn.
They act according to the following algorithm:
- the bush is dug up, the root system is freed from excess soil;
- the branches are divided into the required number of parts, the roots are cut;
- cuts are treated with wood ash;
- the resulting plants are planted.
When breeding honeysuckle, you can separate any number of shoots
Seed propagation of honeysuckle
Seed propagation of honeysuckle is not the most efficient way to get young plants. Shrubs grown in this way, in the overwhelming majority of cases, will not have the varietal characteristics of the mother. Only 3-5% of the seedlings will give really high-quality specimens, in other cases the decorative properties and taste of the berries will be lost.
If you need to propagate honeysuckle by seeds, and the material is selected independently, then you must adhere to the following algorithm:
- Choose large, well-ripened berries from the healthiest and most developed bushes.
- Squeeze the juice with your hands as carefully as possible.
- The squeezed berries are placed in water.
- When the seeds separate from the peel and settle to the bottom of the container, they are collected.
- Seed material is dried and stratified for several months at temperatures from 0 to + 3 ° C.
Seeds are preferably sown at the very beginning of spring, in March - April, then shoots will appear over the summer. However, you can sow them in the fall. For forcing seedlings, it is better to use containers in which the seeds are buried by 5–7 mm. A peat-sand mixture enriched with humus is used as a substrate. You can expect the first shoots to appear in 3-4 weeks.
How to breed honeysuckle by cuttings
Many gardeners recommend propagating honeysuckle by cuttings. You can use both green and lignified shoots, but it should be borne in mind that the technology for breeding shrubs in these cases is different.
Honeysuckle propagation by green cuttings
The harvesting of planting material begins at the very end of spring, when fruit ovaries begin to form. A sign of the readiness of the shoot is their fragility when bent. Elastic soft shoots are not suitable for planting.
The key to successful survival is the correct preparation of planting material:
- branches 8–13 cm long are cut from the central part of the shoot;
- the lower cut is performed at an angle of 45-50 degrees, the upper one should be straight and be 20 mm higher than the last kidney;
- each segment should have 3-5 internodes;
- only the buds should be left at the lower node, the leaves should be removed;
- the leaf plates of the upper and middle nodes are cut in half.
The planting material is rooted as follows: the lower part of the cuttings is soaked in a root growth stimulator, placed in a mixture of 1 part of peat and 3 parts of sand, and covered with a film. At a temperature of + 23-25 ° C and high humidity, cuttings take root within 1-2 weeks. Then they can be transplanted in the same season or wait until next spring.
It is allowed to propagate honeysuckle by rooting sections of branches directly into the ground, as shown in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJ4aPHOtaA
Propagation of honeysuckle by lignified cuttings
The use of lignified cuttings is also possible, but this method is less effective. According to some reports, their survival rate rarely exceeds 20%.
Planting material is harvested either in early spring, before the start of sap flow, or in the fall - from the last days of September to mid-October.
To successfully propagate honeysuckle in this way, you need to consider the following recommendations:
- for cuttings, an annual growth with a thickness of 1 cm is suitable;
- harvest branches no more than 20 cm long;
- each branch segment should have 3-5 internodes;
- if the planting material is harvested in the fall, until spring it is placed in sawdust, sand or wet burlap pre-treated with fungicide; it is also allowed to dig in the cuttings in the ground;
- in spring, the branches are cut short, no more than 12 cm in length;
- from below, the cut is made oblique, from above - straight, departing from the upper kidney about 1 cm.
Lignified cuttings should have 3-5 buds
In the southern regions, cuttings can be rooted directly in open ground, in areas with a cold climate, they are first placed in nurseries. In both cases, the soil is thoroughly watered, a root formation stimulator is added and treated with fungicides. The distance between the seedlings should be at least 12 cm. Further, they are provided with high humidity and a temperature of 23-25 ° C, for which they are covered with a film. After a few weeks, the first roots appear, and the shelter is removed. The seedlings are transferred to a permanent place next year in the spring.
Honeysuckle propagation by shoots
One of the methods of vegetative propagation of honeysuckle is growing from root shoots. Not a lot of planting material is obtained from such shoots, but it is of good quality.
To propagate a culture with shoots, you need to adhere to the following rules:
- the procedure is carried out in spring or autumn;
- choose the strongest shoots;
- together with the root system, they are separated from the bush;
- soaked for several hours in a growth stimulator;
- planted immediately in open ground.
Seedling care
To successfully propagate honeysuckle, it is not enough to properly prepare the planting material. It is also necessary to create conditions as close as possible to natural ones. For planting, sunny or semi-shaded places away from noisy areas are suitable. You need to choose a place and prepare the soil in advance. Due to the delicate and fragile root system, the bush suffers greatly during transplantation.
The culture is not very demanding on the substrate, but heavy clay soils in which moisture stagnates are not suitable for it.
Newly rooted seedlings need to be tied up, well watered and the peri-stem circles should be mulched. The best mulch is cut grass, which needs to be renewed periodically. If the planting pit was not prepared properly, you should feed the seedling with some kind of organic fertilizer. If the soil has been pre-treated, top dressing is started no earlier than 3 years after planting.
Young plants grown from seeds are best covered with spruce branches for the winter.
If the plantings are not mulched, for the first 3 seasons they only need watering, hilling, weeding, surface loosening and disease prevention.
Until the bush reaches the age of 5–7 years, it is undesirable to dig and deeply loosen the trunk circle so as not to damage the root system. Pruning can begin in the fifth year of the honeysuckle planting.
Useful Tips
To properly propagate honeysuckle, it is useful to heed the advice of experienced gardeners:
- it is very important to harvest green cuttings at the time when green berries begin to form. At this moment, their rooting rate is maximum;
- if a young plant is obtained from seeds, it is advisable to plant it in open ground only in the next season so that it does not suffer from winter frosts;
- in order to propagate honeysuckle by cuttings, you should not cut too long shoots, otherwise they will use all their strength for the growing season, and not for the formation of the root system;
- it is recommended to plant several varieties of honeysuckle at once on the site, then it will bear fruit well.
Conclusion
Honeysuckle can be propagated in any convenient way. It is important to remember that not all methods are equally effective, however, adherence to the timing and rules of breeding this crop significantly increases the chances of success.
