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The idea to grow a dogwood from a bone usually comes to mind either to experimenters or to people who, for objective reasons, cannot acquire other planting material. It is most convenient to grow a tree from a seedling, but today, even on domestic flights in Russia, it is forbidden to transport live plants without the appropriate documents. Inspection when boarding a plane has been tightened for a long time and it will not be possible to smuggle a seedling in, especially since at least two different plants are needed. If there is no dogwood nursery within driving distance, there is only one option: seeds.
Is it possible to grow a dogwood from a bone
The most convenient way to grow dogwood is from seedlings and cuttings purchased from a nursery with a good reputation. This is a guarantee of obtaining the desired variety, and not a re-grading. And sometimes a wild bush. But sometimes the gardener thinks that a dogwood seedling, which will yield a crop in a couple of years, is very expensive. Or there is simply no way to bring a full-fledged plant. Then there is only one way out: to grow a dogwood from seeds.
Why dogwood is rarely grown in gardens
The idea of growing a bush from seeds has its advantages: the sprouts will be more adapted to a climate different from where the mother tree grew. Especially if the bones were brought to the northern region after a holiday in the south. But when growing a dogwood from a bone, there is one serious point that is usually forgotten.
If for growing dogwood at home it was enough to plant seeds "according to the instructions", this plant would be in almost every vegetable garden today.
When buying seedlings, the soil remains on the roots in which the trees grew. This is enough to bring the necessary microflora into the soil at the new planting site. The bones are sterile in this respect. For their successful cultivation, at least a handful of forest land is needed from the place where the wild dogwood grows. Or from under a bush of garden dogwood, if this plant is somewhere with friends.
But it's not just that there are no photos of dogwood sprouts on the entire Internet. It takes a long time to prepare and even germinate the seeds, but it is not difficult. But "photo and video reports on the further fate of the young plant" are completely absent. And this is now, when taking a photo and sending it to Instagram is a matter of one minute.
The maximum for what the experimenters had was in the photo of dogwood seedlings in the initial stage, when germination so far depends only on the nutrients accumulated in the nucleus.
Therefore, it is possible to grow dogwood at home only if the "native" soil is added to the pot in which the dogwood will germinate. Or in the ground prepared for planting, if the bones are planted immediately into the ground.
If the necessary microflora in the soil is available, then three disadvantages appear:
- bones germinate for a long time;
- the harvest after the emergence of sprouts will have to wait 8-10 years;
- from the seeds of a varietal garden dogwood "wild" will grow.
But if the cost of dogwood seedlings seems very high, and the seeds are still free, then you can always experiment. If it grows, it will be good, it will not grow - the gardener loses nothing.
How to grow dogwood
If, nevertheless, it was decided to grow a dogwood from a stone, work will have to be done on the preparation of seed material.And first, decide which type of dogwood is best used for planting. In the wild form of berries, the bone takes up a lot of space and the amount of pulp is negligible. Garden varieties have large berries with a lot of pulp and a relatively small pit. But in absolute terms, the seeds of the garden dogwood are larger than the wild one.
Seed preparation takes a long time, if the gardener did not follow the path of "sticking unripe berries and the earth, they will suddenly grow." Therefore, you don't have to worry about preparing the soil for planting for about six months.
The difference between garden and wild seeds
The idea to grow dogwood from seeds usually comes up after buying fresh berries. Drying today takes place in an unnatural way, and at high temperatures in an accelerated mode. In this case, the embryos die.
The differences between garden and wild berries are clearly visible. But there are such differences between the bones:
- the seeds of garden varieties are objectively larger than those of a wild plant;
- the tip of the garden seed has a sharp, needle-like thorn, which is absent in wild seeds.
For comparison, a photo of the seeds of a wild dogwood.
And a photo of garden dogwood seeds.
Preparation of planting material
The embryo in the seed is formed much earlier than the fruits ripen. And this applies to any fruit and berry crops. Therefore, one of the simplest ways to grow a dogwood from a stone is to bury unripe berries in the ground, mark this place in the garden and water it periodically. If the berries were buried in the summer, it is possible that the shell will have time to rot, stratification will occur naturally in winter, and shoots will appear in spring. Or they will sprout next spring. If the sprouts did not appear in the first spring, you need to wait a year. At this time, you will have to carefully remove weedsso as not to pull out the planted bone together with the weed.
When buying a mature dogwood, preparation takes 1.5 years and requires mandatory stratification of seeds.
Method of obtaining planting material from ripe berries:
- the fruits are poured with water and left for several days until signs of fermentation appear;
- the water is drained, the pulp is kneaded and washed thoroughly with water until peeled seeds are obtained;
- clean bones are dried, sprinkled with sawdust or sand and placed in the refrigerator;
- at the end of February, the seeds are removed from the refrigerator and left to warm up for a week;
- before planting, the shell is either carefully filed or chipped on a whetstone.
If it is not possible to file the shell, you should prepare for the fact that the sprout will appear only after a year. For 12 months, the soil will have to be kept moist so that the bacteria can destroy the shell.
Soil preparation
Cornel is a plant that grows on relatively scarce, highly calcified soils. Its natural environment is mountains of limestone deposits.
The soil for planting should be light and permeable. Under natural conditions, this is a rotted forest litter that allows water to pass through well.
For growing at home, the soil is prepared from three equal parts of humus, black soil and sand. Instead of humus, it is better to take leafy soil. All ingredients are mixed and some chalk is added. Fertilizers are not needed.
The pot is chosen not as high as wide. Dogwood trees have a superficial, well-developed root system. A drainage layer is placed below the pot so that water does not stagnate in the container when growing dogwood.
It will not work to grow a dogwood bush in a pot so that it also bears fruit. At home, sprouts can only be kept until the moment when they can be planted in the garden in a permanent place. The feeding area of one dogwood tree on fertile soil is 4.5x4.5 m. On poor soil - 49 m².
Planting and caring for sprouts
The prepared bones are placed in the ground to a depth of 3 cm and watered thoroughly. The pot is covered with a film so that excess moisture is not lost, and placed in a warm place. The sprouts can take a couple of months or a year to grow.After the emergence of seedlings, the film is removed. The pot is placed out of the reach of direct sunlight.
No special care for the seedlings is required. You just need to keep the ground slightly damp and periodically gently loosen the surface layer.
Transplanting dogwood seedlings into open ground: terms and rules
A pit with soil for transplanting must be prepared about six months before the procedure, so that the soil has time to settle. The dimensions of the pit: diameter 0.8-1 m, depth 0.8 m. The pit is filled with a mixture prepared for the dogwood seedling. In areas north of Voronezh, lime must be added to the soil. In the more southern ones, they are guided by the acidity of the soil and the content of calcium in it.
Planting is carried out in late autumn, when the seedling goes into hibernation or in the spring before the awakening of the plants. If an annual seedling grown from a bone is planted in the fall, it is covered with an insulating material. A young plant may freeze if the temperature is too low.
Since the dogwood sprout is dormant in winter, planting it in open ground can be postponed until spring. In this case, the pit must be started in the fall. The pot with the sprout should be kept in a cool place in winter, imitating the natural conditions.
Dogwood wakes up early, so the seedling needs to be planted in late March - early April. It is better to transplant a plant to a permanent place with a closed root system, that is, directly with a lump of soil from the pot. After planting, the seedling is covered with foil in case of frost. Watering depends on the climatic zone and weather forecast. If cold weather is not expected, you can spill the earth a little. If frost is promised, it is better to wait with watering so that the roots do not become icy.
In the future, caring for a dogwood seedling consists in loosening the top layer of the soil, removing weeds and cutting off excess shoots in a timely manner, if you need to form a crown.
There is a high probability that even a wild form of dogwood will grow from a varietal seed. In addition, the harvest will have to wait 10 years. But it is better to plant a garden variety just on a wild stock. Varietal varieties take root much better on their wild "ancestor" than on trees of other species. And the harvest in this case can be obtained after 2-3 years.
Conclusion
It is theoretically easy to grow a dogwood from a bone, but it is a very long process with great risks. Experienced gardeners who have experimented with seeds claim that garden varieties with this method of growing are reborn into a wild form. To avoid such a situation, you will have to plant a tree without waiting for the first harvest. It is much more effective to buy varietal seedlings right away.
