5 Ways to Propagate Hydrangeas

Among the flowering bushes hydrangea is very popular and demand, many amateur gardeners dream of breeding and planting it in their garden. They are engaged in the cultivation and propagation of shrubs on their own, without resorting to buying a finished seedling.

Hydrangea can be propagated at home and grown in several ways:

1. Green cuttings.
2. layering.
3. Offspring.
4. Transplanting or dividing the mother bush.
5. Seeds.

How to propagate by seeds

The best way is to propagate by seeds.. To do this, the seeds are sown in prepared boxes with moist soil. You don't need to deepen them. Spread on the surface and cover with glass or film.

The first shoots appear within a month. Seedlings must be transplanted into separate pots and grown in them for 2 years.

It is recommended to plant in open ground in a permanent place from 3 years of age., sprouts should reach 40-50 cm in height.

This method may fit for growing simple garden hydrangea. For bred varieties, this method is not suitable, they lose their decorative qualities.

Green cuttings (cuttings in water)

The most common method is propagation using green cuttings.- cuttings. They begin to harvest cuttings in July, when buds appear on the bush.

It is better to cut cuttings from young lateral shoots, about 15 cm long. Cut shoots should be immediately placed in water in a dark place. From them we prepare cuttings.

To do this, cut off the top with a bud. We divide the shoot itself into several parts, so that 3-4 pairs of leaves remain on each. The lower leaves must be removed, and the remaining ones cut in half.

Next, the finished cuttings should put for 3 hours in a special solution of root. The cuttings are planted in a prepared soil mixture of peat and sand, slightly moistened. For quick rooting, they can be covered with bags or banks.

Watered 2-3 times a week. Within a month, new leaves should appear on them. Banks and packages must be removed from the cuttings. But it is recommended to cover with material when frost occurs.

For the winter, rooted cuttings are covered with dry leaves, grass, and then with covering material.

How to propagate hydrangea cuttings:

layering

Propagation of hydrangeas by layering should start from the beginning of spring until the buds open. Loosen the ground around the main bush. Next, make small indentations, about 2 cm each.

Lay the lower side shoots in them and sprinkle with earth so that the top of the shoot sticks out. You can fix the shoots with wire. It should be wrapped around the shoot and brought into the ground.

Should be watered daily to keep the ground constantly moist. By the end of summer, young shoots form on the layers. When the layers reach a height of 20-25 cm, they should be spudded.

In October, when the seedlings reach half a meter, they should be dug up and the shoots separated from each other. Next, the seedlings are dug in, in the spring they sit on the garden.

offspring

Hydrangea also reproduces well by offspring. but more attention needs to be paid to this.

In autumn, around the main bush, you need to move the ground apart, carefully so as not to damage the rhizomes of the mother bush and separate the shoots. Then they should be planted in the garden so that they grow up.

Already after a year they are planted in a permanent main place.

Grow by dividing the bush

The division of the bush is best to start in the spring until the buds swell. This method is suitable for all types of hydrangea.

To do this, it is necessary to pour plenty of water on the bush, pull it out of the ground and rinse the roots. Next, the bush is divided into several parts so as not to damage the root system, and each is planted in its place.

When is the best time to breed: autumn or spring?

As with many plants, there is an optimal and best time for hydrangea to reproduce. Each method has its own period.

1. In the spring, it is best to propagate the hydrangea by dividing the bush.
2. Propagation by cuttings is best done in the summer in mid-July.
3. The optimal time for planting seeds is the spring period, the month of March.
4. Reproduction by layering can be done both in spring and autumn.
5. The optimal time for dividing hydrangea offspring is autumn.

Paniculata hydrangea propagation is best done in the second half of summer, since after the winter period most of the cuttings die. In spring and autumn, it is not recommended to propagate it.

It is necessary that water constantly stands around the bush.

Bushes by the winter period are well accepted and grow.

If you transplant a hydrangea in the fall, it will not have time to get stronger and can die in winter in severe frosts.

Propagation of hydrangeas is troublesome requiring a lot of attention. But in return for her labors, she will decorate the garden with her beauty and fragrance.

Even beginners will be interested in trying to propagate a flowering shrub on their own.