How to plant lilac cuttings in spring. Reproduction of lilac: methods and features. Lilac cuttings in spring and summer: harvesting planting material

Breeders regularly bring out new varieties of lilacs. Lush brushes of fragrant flowers will decorate any garden, and naturally the desire of the gardener to propagate the variety he likes. Lilac bushes are propagated by grafting, as well as layering and cuttings.. Accordingly, they distinguish between grafted (developed after grafting on the roots of the stock) plants and own-rooted (obtained from cuttings and layering and formed their own root system).

Own-rooted lilac has significant advantages over the grafted one: it life cycle significantly longer (up to 25, and in favorable conditions- up to 50 years); caring for it is not complicated by the need to regularly remove root growth; with further reproduction, own-rooted plants produce high-quality varietal planting material. Therefore, despite the laboriousness, such a method of propagation of lilacs as cuttings deserves the attention of gardeners.

Choosing a mother plant and harvesting lilac cuttings

Cuttings should be harvested from those plants, in the varietal purity of which you are sure. The mother plant needs good care, regular watering and feeds. It is not necessary to overfeed them, since an excess of fertilizer leads to an abundant growth of fatty shoots unsuitable for harvesting cuttings. A strong pruning can give the same effect. In mother plants, it is recommended to maintain optimal height, preventing the stretching of skeletal branches and the exposure of the shrub from below.

For harvesting cuttings, it is best to choose thin overgrown branches that extend at an angle to vertical growth shoots. At the same time, in order not to weaken the plant, it is advisable to use for cuttings no more than 70 - 80 percent of total number shoots of the current year and, if possible, avoid annual cuttings from the same bush.

Rooting of green lilac cuttings is difficult; in the conditions of ordinary greenhouses or greenhouses, you should not count on results above 30, maximum 50 percent. When harvesting cuttings, it is important to properly cut; they should have an oblique lower cut, located exactly under the node - it is usually not possible to achieve rooting of cuttings cut at the internodes.

Harvest cuttings during the flowering period of lilacs or after its completion. Cut them up to 15 cm long without removing the leaves. the prepared material is stored laid out under a plastic film.

Preplant preparation of lilac cuttings

To increase the percentage of rooting, to stimulate the formation of roots, green cuttings are recommended to be treated with growth regulators before planting; in greenhouse conditions, indolylbutyric acid (IMA) is used for this, and amateur gardeners usually use heteroauxin in the form of an aqueous or alcoholic solution.

It is advisable to prepare in advance a concentrated stock solution, which is diluted to the desired concentration before use. To prepare the stock solution, take 98% ethyl alcohol or acetone and powdered growth regulator (1 g per 100 ml of alcohol). The mother liquor is stored for up to two months in a dark glass container.

An alcohol solution is prepared by diluting the mother alcohol twice. An aqueous solution from the mother is obtained by adding 5 - 10 ml of the mother solution of IMC or 15 - 20 ml of a heteroauxin solution to the water, and then bring the volume of liquid to one liter. For lilacs, an aqueous solution of growth regulator is used in higher concentrations than for cuttings of other plants: 50-100 mg of IBA or 150-200 mg of heteroauxin per liter.

When using an alcohol solution, the bases of the cuttings are dipped into the liquid for a few seconds; they are kept in an aqueous solution for 16-18 hours, and then washed with water. Prepared cuttings are planted in greenhouses or low greenhouses located in partial shade. At the same time, soil mixtures containing sand should not be used, since lilac does not root well in them; the preferred composition of the soil mixture: two parts of lowland peat, one of high-moor peat, one of coarse-grained perlite (M-150).

The place for planting the cuttings is prepared as follows: 10 - 15 centimeters of the drainage layer (crushed stone or expanded clay can be used), 15 - 20 centimeters of humus or rotted manure and on top of it - from 5 to 8 centimeters of soil mixture. All this must be compacted and carefully poured from a watering can.

Planting and caring for lilac cuttings

Prepared lilac cuttings are planted in a greenhouse in rows with a distance of 10 centimeters between them, between cuttings in a row - 5 centimeters and watered abundantly. Shelter for cuttings is built at a small (about 40 cm) height, covering the frame with two layers of plastic film, between which is white paper or cloth. The resulting covering material is tightly sealed and fixed along the edges of the greenhouse.

During the rooting period, when using this method, cuttings can be watered no more than once a week, while removing fallen leaves. The first roots will appear no earlier than a month after planting, and the results can only be judged closer to autumn.

A month and a half after planting, the greenhouse must begin to be ventilated in the evenings; later it will be possible to completely remove the shelter and in early autumn transplant the plants to permanent place. Sometimes the transplant is postponed until spring, covering the cuttings for the winter with spruce branches. When transplanting plants, care should be taken, since the root system of the cuttings is easily damaged.

Rooting results depend both on the competent performance of all necessary operations, and on the selected variety. So, for example, varieties Dream, Hope, Buffon well enough rooted; worse results in varieties such as Joan of Arc, Hydrangea, Red Moscow; difficult to reproduce green cuttings varieties Katerina, Ludwig Shpet, Havemeyer.

Lilac - amazing ornamental plant, interest in it is growing every year, and accordingly, the demand for planting material is also increasing. All cultivars lilacs breed only vegetatively(grafting, green and lignified cuttings, layering). Let us dwell in more detail on the propagation of lilacs by green cuttings.

mother plants

Both grafted and own-rooted plants are suitable for harvesting cuttings. The main thing is that they are proven, they must bloom at least once, then there will be no doubt about their varietal purity.
It is better to keep mother plants low so that it is convenient to harvest cuttings. If individual skeletal branches (or the whole plant) are strongly extended and bare from below, then they are shortened to perennial wood by pruning.
The annual cutting of green cuttings can weaken the mother liquors, therefore, when harvesting material, the shoots of the current year longer than 20 cm are cut off, but not all, but only 70-80% of their total number. If possible, after cutting the shoots to cuttings, the plants should be given a rest for 1 year.
Mother plants of lilacs need to be regularly fed and watered, but not overestimating the recommended doses. Excess fertilizer, like heavy pruning, stimulates the formation a large number fatty shoots (the so-called tops). Green cuttings taken from such shoots, as a rule, take root weakly.
Our many years of experience have shown that small cuttings rooted better, harvested from thin overgrown branches that do not grow vertically, but at an angle to upright growth shoots.

Procurement of cuttings

The best cutting time varietal lilac the period of mass flowering or its end (in the Moscow region this is usually the beginning of June).
Cutting material is best harvested from the middle part of the crown. The size of the cuttings is 10-15 cm (1-2, less often - 3 internodes). It is better to remove the leaves on the cuttings, including the lower ones, do not shorten the leaf blades.
Cutting cuttings should be done with a sharp grafting knife, the lower cut should be oblique, exactly under the knot, without leaving a stump. Cuttings with cuts in the internodes, as a rule, do not take root.
It must be remembered that lilac is a difficult-to-propagate culture. The root system on green cuttings is formed only in the zone of the lower node, immersed in the substrate, where the activity of meristematic tissues is much higher than in the internodes. Therefore, cuts on the cuttings must be treated very carefully.
After cutting, the cuttings should not be placed in water, it is better to store them, spreading them out in a thin layer under the film.

Pre-planting treatment

Green lilac cuttings are treated with growth regulators to stimulate adventitious root formation. Indolylbutyric acid (IMA) is best suited for these purposes. But in amateur gardening, heteroauxin (IAA) is more often used, it is more accessible. Pre-planting treatment of cuttings with auxin-type growth regulators is appropriate for both difficult and easy-to-root lilac varieties. As a result, root formation is accelerated, and the quality of the rooted material improves.
Both aqueous and alcoholic solutions of growth regulators can be used. It is better to prepare the concentrated mother solution in advance (it can then be stored in a dark glass container for 1-2 months). Take 1 g of the regulator (powder) and dilute in 100 ml of 98% ethyl alcohol or acetone.
When processing lilac cuttings with an alcohol solution, the initial mother solution is diluted 2 times with alcohol before use. Then it is poured into a flat glassware, where the bases of the cuttings are immersed for 5 seconds, after which the cuttings are ready for planting in the substrate.
An aqueous solution is prepared from the original mother liquor as follows. Take the right amount, usually 5-10 ml (IMC) or 15-20 ml (heteroauxin), pour these volumes into water and then bring water to 1 liter. The concentration of aqueous solutions for lilacs is usually higher than for other plants (currants, honeysuckle, etc.). This is not 20-30 mg/L, but 50-100 mg/L (BMI) or 150-200 mg/L (heteroauxin). The bases of the cuttings connected in bundles are immersed in the prepared working aqueous solution to a depth of 1 cm, kept in it for 16-18 hours, then the solution is poured and the bases of the cuttings are rinsed several times with water. The cuttings are ready for planting.

Rooting cuttings

Greenhouse preparation.In amateur gardening, for rooting green lilac cuttings, if there are no greenhouses, you can use greenhouses (1 m wide). It is recommended to stir them in partial shade and deepen into the ground by 15-20 cm.
As a substrate, it is best to use a mixture of 2 types of peat (lowland and highland, in a ratio of 2: 1) with the addition of coarse-grained perlite (1 part) grade M-150. In mixtures with sand or in pure sand, lilacs take root poorly.
By vertical profile greenhouse, in its lower part, it is necessary to make drainage (sand, crushed stone, expanded clay) 10-15 cm thick, then place it in a fertile layer (15-20 cm) from well-rotted manure or leaf humus, but only from above - 5-8 cm substrate layer.
Planting cuttings. The prepared greenhouse is compacted from above, carefully watered from a watering can, after which the lilac cuttings are planted in transverse rows according to the 5 × 10 cm scheme. Then they are watered again (water consumption - 1 watering can (10 l) per 1 m2 of greenhouse). From above, rigid frames are installed across the greenhouse, the height along the ridge is 40 cm. polyethylene film, then a layer of white paper or fabric, then another layer of film. The edges of the film along the contour of the greenhouse are hermetically sealed.

Care during the rooting period

If everything is done correctly, with this technology for lilacs in the future, 1 watering per week is enough. It is necessary to regularly remove rotting and fallen leaves (protection measures against moles should be provided in advance).
Lilac refers to plants with a long rooting period of green cuttings. Callus may appear on the bases of the cuttings as early as 15-20 days, but this still does not mean anything. As a rule, a large callus is formed on cuttings of plants that are difficult to root. The first roots of lilac cuttings appear on the 30-50th day, and full rooting occurs closer to autumn. Due to the fact that the lilac buds are late-ripening, in the year of rooting, the cuttings do not give growth, but only the next year.
After the mass rooting of the cuttings, the greenhouse begins to ventilate, it is better to do this in the evening, and after a while (preferably in rainy weather) - fully open.

What results to expect?

Our long-term experience has shown that with production cuttings in conditions of artificial fog, it is possible to obtain 100% rooting of green cuttings, but at home, in greenhouses, it is not always possible to achieve high rooting of lilac cuttings, and no more than 30-50% should be expected.
Varieties propagated quite well by green cuttings: Buffon, Charles Joly, Mechta, Nadezhda, etc. Varieties with medium rooting: Jeanne d'Arc, Madame Casimir Perrier, Hortensia, Beauty of Moscow, Krasnaya Moskva, etc. Varieties with low rooting: Katerina Havemeyer , Ludwig Shpet and others.
It is possible to improve the rooting of green cuttings of hard-to-propagate lilac varieties by selecting the optimal concentrations of growth regulators, using etiolation and using young mother plants for cuttings.

Digging and transplanting

Rooted lilac cuttings, if they are well developed, can be transplanted to a permanent place for growing early autumn, or save them until spring at the place of rooting with a light shelter from spruce branches.
When digging lilac cuttings, care should be taken, because. the resulting root system is very fragile and can come off entirely. And one more feature: the root systems of adjacent shards are tightly intertwined with each other and even go into neighboring rows, which also makes it difficult to dig them out.

Species lilacs are propagated by seeds, and seedlings are grown from seeds intended for grafting and for breeding new varieties. The first two years, lilac seedlings grow slowly and need care. They usually bloom in the 5-6th year. Seedlings intended for grafting are suitable for rootstocks 2-3 years after sowing, when they reach the thickness of a pencil.

Just

If the lilac bush forms a shoot, it can be transplanted. This is the most affordable "grandmother's" way of breeding lilacs. Important condition- the mother bush must be own-rooted. In grafted lilacs, the shoots are “wild”, not varietal, and are not suitable for reproduction. You can propagate lilac and layering, both horizontal and vertical.

More difficult

Own-rooted lilacs are obtained by cuttings. It is propagated only by summer, the so-called green cuttings with leaves. Winter (lignified) lilac cuttings practically do not take root. In addition, not all lilacs can be propagated in this way.

For example, the Hungarian lilac and other lilacs from the Hairy section take root well. Common lilac varieties take root differently - some are good, and some practically do not form roots. So, the cuttings of many varieties with dark and double pinkish flowers take root quite satisfactorily - "India", "Charles Joly", "Katherine Havemeyer", "Montaigne", "Paul Hariot", etc. Among the white and bluish ones, the cuttings of which are more common take root very badly - "Flora", "Mme Charles Souchet", "Monique Lemoine".

The success of lilac cuttings is also influenced by other factors that we can control, and therefore use to achieve better results.

It is very important to observe the timing of cuttings.

Most right time for this - the period when the shoots end in growth in length. This usually happens during the mass flowering of lilacs.

The age of the mother lilac plant from which cuttings are taken is also important - the result of cuttings is the better, the younger it is.

This is especially important for varieties with low rooting of cuttings. Perfectly rooted cuttings taken from young lilac plants obtained by tissue culture.

Cuttings are prepared from shoots taken in the middle part of the crown, not too thick, but not very thin. Cut them with a sharp knife or razor.

The finished cutting consists of two internodes with three pairs of buds; the lower pair of leaves is usually removed, the upper ones are shortened. The lower cut is placed as close as possible to the lower pair of kidneys, making it slightly oblique. It is useful to treat ready-made cuttings with some drug that stimulates root formation.

For rooting lilac cuttings, a special substrate is needed. It must be clean, moisture-absorbing and breathable, such as a mixture of sand with neutralized peat, coarse perlite, vermiculite, etc. A greenhouse or just a box is filled with a nutrient soil mixture, and a layer of substrate about 5 cm thick is poured on top of it and gently watered. The cuttings are planted vertically, so that the lower buds are completely covered, and pressed with fingers so that they do not fall. After that, the cuttings are sprayed and the greenhouse is covered with a film.

For the rooting of lilacs, air humidity close to 100% is required, but stagnant water is absolutely unacceptable. It can also be sprayed manually with a fine mist sprayer. This should be done several times a day, as the water dries on the leaves of the cuttings. It is desirable to stretch the covering film as close as possible to the cuttings.

The roots of the cuttings appear in 8-12 weeks. By the end of this period, they are increasingly aired and gradually accustomed to normal conditions. It is possible to transplant rooted cuttings from a greenhouse not earlier than next spring, and even better - a year later in the fall. So they get along better. In the first 2–3 years, rooted lilac cuttings mainly develop the root system, and the aerial part grows very slowly. Then the growth rate increases. Such a lilac blooms on average for the 4-5th year.

Professionally

Vaccination - traditional way breeding, suitable for all varieties of lilacs. The best stock is a seedling of the same species. On root shoots, vaccinations do not take root well. In extreme cases, varieties of common lilac can be grafted onto seedlings or rooted cuttings of Hungarian lilac and privet. But such plants need to be transferred to their own roots as soon as possible, and it is most reliable to get layering from them.

In the spring, when sap flow begins at the rootstocks, lilacs can be grafted by any means - both by budding (grafting with a bud-eye), and grafting with a cutting (copulation, behind the bark, etc.). For grafting, cuttings from annual lilac shoots are used, cut before the buds swell, which are stored until grafting on a glacier or in a refrigerator. In summer, they are grafted only by budding, using well-developed axillary buds from the shoots of the current growth for grafting.

And the various colors of the bud itself are simply mesmerizing. You can see white, purple, blue, pink flowers. To date, scientists know about 30 species of this amazing bush. Very often, having met a charming ornamental plant, I want to plant it on my site. But how to do that? How does lilac reproduction actually occur? Learn a few important secrets. But before we learn how to propagate lilacs at home, let's look at the preferences of this plant.

Peculiarities

Lilac - thermophilic, and in general, unpretentious plant. The shrub is very fond of sunlight and freedom. Therefore, it is better to plant lilac in the place where it can grow freely. However, the shrub does not like drafts very much, so keep this in mind when planting. The soil is suitable for any, not even the most fertile, possibly rocky. Lilac does not like stagnant moisture, so you can plant a shrub for drainage. At least it will help normal growth. Lilac is unpretentious in care and planting. Therefore, it does not require any mineral supplements.

Reproduction methods

The shrub reproduces:

cuttings;
layering;
root growth.

Let's take a closer look at each of these methods. So.

cuttings

Reproduction of lilacs in this way is quite simple. You will need a cutting. Suitable as a young, green pagon, and already stiff. You can cut it in spring, summer, and also in late autumn, when the bush has shed its leaves. Let's take a closer look at those cuttings that are cut in the spring, during the flowering of the bush. What do you need to know?

carefully cut off the stalk, on which 4 to 6 leaves are located. Usually it is a branch with three or four pairs of buds. Leave a sheet on it;
before planting a cutting, you need to remove the leaves from the last two buds;
cut off a branch of the bevel;
the top of the branch must be cut in a straight line;
you can treat the cuttings with special growth solutions and leave them for 18 hours;
preparing a hole for planting. To do this, we pour drainage to the bottom, about 15 cm, fill it with liquid humus, and pour it abundantly with water;
we plant cuttings, leaving 5 cm apart;
cover with foil;
water them about once a week;
remove fallen leaves;
we select the best shoots and transplant them to a permanent place, remove weak shoots.

As you can see, the method of propagation by cuttings is very simple. Sometimes you can not immediately plant the cuttings in the ground, but first plant them in a pot. But you should immediately understand that you will not have 100 exits. Approximately 50% of all cuttings will be rejected or not accepted.

If you need to grow lilacs from already woody branches, then they should be prepared in late autumn. Cut the cuttings, as shown above, and leave in the wet sand in the basement to winter. Then in the spring transplant the chibouks into warm earth. In this way, the planted lilac will begin to bloom in about 5-7 years.

Root growth

Lilac is an amazing shrub that also reproduces by shoots. This is perhaps the easiest way to transplant, it does not require much effort from the owner. A new bush usually has very strong roots, takes root well and grows without requiring special care. Wherein, new bush completely preserves the characteristics of its variety, which is important for true connoisseurs of lilac.

A young seedling is separated from the maternal root system around the month of October, it is during this period that it should be planted. Indeed, at the end of October, sap flow is significantly reduced, and the injury to the root system from transplantation will be minimal. For transplanting, it is best to choose a non-sunny day and pour plenty of water on the new bush. Everything should be done very carefully so as not to damage the young pagons.

layering

Talking about how lilac breeds, it is impossible not to recall Chinese way. Its essence is as follows:

in spring, near a well-established 3-4 year old lilac bush, small furrows are made in the ground, about 20 mm wide;
the strongest shoots are placed there and fixed several times;
pull the shoots with copper wire;
cover the shoots with earth. Vertical shoots should grow from the nodes;
spud shoots when they grow to a distance of 15 cm;
water regularly;
at the end of September, they clean the ground around the bush and transplant it for growing.

This is a more troublesome way of reproduction, but it has the right to life.

seeds

Lilac also reproduces with the help of seeds. Collect them in the fall from the bush that you would like to grow. Seeds need to be dried a little so that the sashes do not open. Mix the seeds with sand and store in the refrigerator for several months. After this procedure, it is worth transplanting the seeds into a special container or pot. Seeds of ordinary lilacs will begin to germinate in about 2 weeks, varietal ones - a little longer. After you have dived the young, they can be transferred to the ground. Some practice sowing seeds directly into the ground. This should be done in November, October, before the first frosts.

As you can see, you can grow lilacs most different ways. The main thing is to achieve the desired result.

For harvesting cuttings for planting future lilacs, the moment of flowering of the plant is best suited. Cuttings should be cut from bushes in the morning. At the same time, it is better to take those branches that are still green and have not had time to stiffen, have an average thickness and are located in the middle of the crown. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that each of the cuttings has 2-3 nodes, and the internodes are not long.

All leaves present on the lower node are removed. After that, a cut is made at an angle, located as close as possible to the lower node. For cutting, it is recommended to use a special secateurs or a sharp grafting knife. The remaining leaves on the handle should be shortened by half. The top of the shoot itself is removed with a straight cut above the topmost node. The stalk prepared in this way is placed in a growth stimulator solution for 18 hours. Not all lilac cuttings can take root, so it is advisable to prepare several branches at once.

Lilac cuttings are planted in a container, which is filled with a mixture of peat and perlite in a ratio of 1: 1. The thickness of such a layer should be about 20 cm. It is recommended to pour over this mixture river sand a small layer, after which it can be spilled with a fungicide solution. Immediately before planting, each cutting must be dipped in the Kornevin stimulator. The lower end of the lilac cutting should be completely placed in the sand. After planting, all cuttings are sprayed with water (you can use a spray bottle), to which you can add a little solution left over from soaking.

Then the container with plantings is covered with two layers of polyethylene and darkened (should stand in partial shade). In order to prevent the sand from drying out, it is recommended to spray it 3 times a day. The success of rooting cuttings largely depends on the maintenance high humidity. About once every 7 days, you can use a solution of potassium permanganate to spray the plantings, this will help prevent the development of mold on lilac leaves.

The roots on the cuttings appear approximately 45-55 days after planting (depending on the variety). From about this time, airing of lilac plantings is allowed, after which they fully open.

The young roots that have appeared in the cuttings are still very weak, so they need to be planted with great care. Rooted lilac cuttings are planted for growing at a distance of about 35 cm. The leaves may turn black - this is not scary, the main thing is not to damage the roots. For the first winter, young lilac seedlings are recommended to be covered with spruce branches, and removed in spring. Such a lilac is planted in a permanent place after 2 years, and it can bloom in the 4-5th year.