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The idea to grow dogwood from a stone 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 Our Country it is forbidden to transport live plants without proper documents. Inspection when boarding a plane has been tightened for a long time and it will not work to smuggle a seedling, especially since at least two different plants are needed. If there is no dogwood nursery within driving distance, there is only one option left: seeds.
Is it possible to grow dogwood from a bone
It is most convenient to grow dogwood from seedlings and cuttings purchased from a nursery with a good reputation. This is a guarantee of obtaining the desired variety, and not regrading. And sometimes a wild bush. But sometimes the gardener believes that a dogwood sapling, which will yield a crop in a couple of years, is very expensive. Or simply there is no way to bring a full-fledged plant. Then there is only one way out: to grow dogwood from seeds.
Why dogwood is rarely grown in gardens
There are advantages to the idea of growing a shrub from seed: 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 dogwood from the stone, there is one serious point that is usually forgotten.
If it were enough to plant seeds “according to the instructions” to grow dogwood at home, this plant would be in almost every 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 wild dogwood grows. Or from under a garden dogwood bush, if friends have this plant somewhere.
But it’s not just that all over the Internet there are no photos of dogwood sprouts. Prepare and even germinate the bones for a long time, but 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 that was enough for the experimenters was in the photo of dogwood seedlings at the initial stage, when germination still depends only on the nutrients accumulated in the core.
Therefore, it is possible to grow dogwood at home only if “native” soil is added to the pot in which dogwood will be germinated. Or in the ground prepared for planting, if the bones are planted immediately in the ground.
If the necessary microflora in the soil is available, then three minuses appear:
- bones germinate for a long time;
- harvest after the appearance of sprouts will have to wait 8-10 years;
- a “wild” will grow from the seeds of a varietal garden dogwood.
But if the cost of dogwood seedlings seems very high, and the seeds are still free, then you can always experiment. Grows up – well, does not grow up – the gardener loses nothing.
How to Grow Dogwood
If, nevertheless, it was decided to grow dogwood from the stone, it will be necessary to carry out work on the preparation of seed material. And for starters, decide which type of dogwood is better to use for planting. In the wild form of berries, the stone 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 stone. But in absolute terms, garden dogwood seeds are larger than wild ones.
Seed preparation takes a long time if the gardener has not followed the path of “sticking unripe berries and earth, they will suddenly grow”. Therefore, you can not 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 after buying fresh berries. Drying today takes place in an unnatural way, but at a high temperature 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 stone has a spike, sharp as a needle, which is absent in wild seeds.
For comparison, a photo of the bones 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 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, the shell may have time to rot, stratification will occur naturally in the winter and seedlings will appear in the spring. Or they will sprout next spring. If sprouts did not appear in the first spring, you need to wait a year. At this time, you will have to carefully remove the weeds so that, together with the weeds, you do not pull out the planted bone.
When buying a mature dogwood, the preparation stretches for 1,5 years and requires mandatory seed stratification.
Method for 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 thoroughly washed 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 cut off on a grindstone.
If it is not possible to file the shell, you should prepare for the fact that the sprout will appear only after a year. All 12 months the soil will have to be kept moist so that the bacteria can destroy the shell.
Soil preparation
Dogwood 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 passes water well.
For growing a house, 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 a little chalk is added. Fertilizers are not needed.
The pot is not picked up as high as wide. Dogwood trees have a superficial, well-developed root system. A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the pot so that when growing dogwood, water does not stagnate in the container.
It will not work to grow a dogwood bush in a pot so that it also bears fruit. At home, sprouts can be kept only until the moment when it will be possible to plant them in the garden in a permanent place. The feeding area of one dogwood tree on fertile soil is 4,5×4,5 m. On scarce ones – 49 m².
Planting and caring for sprouts
Prepared seeds 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. Growing sprouts can take a couple of months or a year. After the appearance of seedlings, the film is removed. The pot is placed out of reach of direct sunlight.
Special care for seedlings is not required. It is only necessary to keep the earth slightly moist and periodically gently loosen the surface layer.
Transplanting dogwood seedlings in open ground: terms and rules
A pit with soil for transplantation should be prepared about six months before the procedure, so that the soil has time to settle. Pit dimensions: 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 done in late autumn, when the seedling hibernates or in the spring before the plants awaken. If an annual seedling grown from a seed is planted in the fall, it is covered with insulating material. A young plant may freeze at too low a temperature.
Since the dogwood sprout is dormant in winter, its planting in open ground can be postponed until spring. In this case, the pit should be prepared in the fall. A pot with a sprout should be kept in a cool place in winter, simulating natural conditions.
Dogwood wakes up early, so the seedling should 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 clod of soil from a pot. After planting, the seedling is covered with a film in case of frost. Watering depends on the climate zone and weather forecast. If cold weather is not expected, you can shed a little earth. If frosts are promised, it is better to wait with watering so that the roots do not freeze.
In the future, caring for a dogwood seedling consists in loosening the top layer of soil, removing weeds and timely pruning of excess shoots if you need to form a crown.
There is a high probability that even a wild form of dogwood will grow from a varietal stone. 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 stone, 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 cultivation are reborn into the wild form. To avoid this situation, you will have to graft the tree without waiting for the first harvest. It is much more efficient to immediately buy varietal seedlings.