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It will not be difficult to propagate honeysuckle – if you follow simple rules, even a gardener with little experience can handle it. 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: layering, cuttings (green and lignified), dividing the bush and shoots. If you need to quickly get a small number of seedlings, the best way to propagate honeysuckle is to root cuttings. If a significant expansion of crop plantings 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.
Terms of reproduction of garden honeysuckle
The best time to propagate honeysuckle depends on the method chosen. During the whole season, it is possible to produce certain works 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 vegetation of this crop.
How to plant honeysuckle in spring
The spring planting of honeysuckle has its own specifics, since the vegetation of this crop begins early – buds are already blooming from the end of March, which means that it is undesirable to disturb the shrub after this period.
In the spring (early March), honeysuckle can be propagated by root offspring, dividing the bush and transplanted into open ground cuttings planted last season. Also in March – April, seeds are sown for seedlings.
At a later date, only seedlings with an earthy clod are rooted in order to disturb the root system as little as possible.
Also in the spring, honeysuckle can be propagated by layering from a bush, and May days are the right time for cutting and rooting green cuttings. It is during this period that seedlings take root most successfully.
How to plant honeysuckle in summer
Honeysuckle can be propagated in the summer, but this is not the right time to plant it in open ground. According to reviews, many gardeners successfully plant honeysuckle during the entire growing season, including in the summer months.
In the first few weeks of June, green cuttings continue to be harvested and cuttings rooted.
How to plant honeysuckle in autumn
Honeysuckle belongs to horticultural crops in which the growing season ends early – by the beginning of August, the growth of branches stops until spring, so most often the crop is planted in the ground from August to October.
In September – October, you can propagate the culture with seeds, at this time they begin to expel seedlings
In autumn, starting from the second half of September, lignified cuttings of honeysuckle are harvested, at this 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.
Propagation of honeysuckle 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 down the intended branches and secure them with wire loops. Layers need to 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 operate 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;
- slices are treated with wood ash;
- the resulting plants are planted.
When propagating honeysuckle, any number of shoots can be separated
Reproduction of honeysuckle seeds
Seed propagation of honeysuckle is not the most effective way to get young plants. Shrubs grown in this way, in the vast majority of cases, will not have the varietal characteristics of the parent. Only 3–5% of 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 out the juice as carefully as possible.
- Squeezed berries are placed in water.
- When the seeds separate from the peel and settle to the bottom of the container, they are harvested.
- The seed material is dried and stratified for several months at a temperature of 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. As a substrate, a peat-sand mixture enriched with humus is used. You can expect the first shoots to appear in 3-4 weeks.
How to propagate honeysuckle from cuttings
Many gardeners recommend propagating honeysuckle from cuttings. You can use both green and lignified shoots, but it should be borne in mind that the technology for growing shrubs in these cases is different.
Reproduction of honeysuckle by green cuttings
Planting material is harvested at the very end of spring, when fruit ovaries begin to form. A sign of the readiness of the escape 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, while the upper one should be straight and be 20 mm above the last kidney;
- each segment should have 3–5 internodes;
- at the lower node, only the buds should be left, the leaves should be removed;
- the leaf plates of the upper and middle nodes are cut in half.
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 peat and 3 parts sand, covered with a film. At a temperature of +23-25°C and high humidity, the 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 segments of branches directly into the ground, as shown in the video below.
Reproduction of honeysuckle with 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 autumn – 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 or more 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 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, stepping back 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 stimulator is added and treated with fungicides. The distance between the seedlings should be at least 12 cm. Then 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. Seedlings are transferred to a permanent place next year in the spring.
Reproduction of honeysuckle shoots
One of the methods of vegetative propagation of honeysuckle is growing from root shoots. Planting material from such shoots is not much, but it is of good quality.
To propagate the culture by shoots, you must adhere to the following rules:
- the procedure is carried out in spring or autumn;
- choose the strongest shoots;
- together with the root system separate them from the bush;
- soak for several hours in a growth stimulator;
- planted immediately in open ground.
Care of seedlings
To successfully propagate honeysuckle, it is not enough to properly prepare planting material. It is also necessary to create conditions that are as close to natural as possible. Sunny or semi-shaded places away from noisy areas are suitable for planting. 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 transplants.
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 mulched near the stem circles. As a mulch, cut grass is best, which needs to be updated periodically. If the planting pit has not been properly prepared, the seedling should be fed with some kind of organic fertilizer. If the soil has been pre-treated, fertilizing begins to be applied no earlier than 3 years after planting.
It is better to cover young plants grown from seeds for the winter with spruce branches
If plantings are not mulched, for the first 3 seasons they only need watering, hilling, weed removal, surface loosening and disease prevention.
Before the bush reaches the age of 5–7 years, it is undesirable to dig and deep loosen the near-stem circle so as not to damage the root system. Pruning can begin in the fifth year of planting honeysuckle.
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 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, shoots that are too long should not be cut, otherwise they will use all their strength for vegetation, and not for the formation of the root system;
- on the site it is recommended to plant several varieties of honeysuckle at once, then it will bear fruit well.
Conclusion
You can propagate honeysuckle in any convenient way. It is important to remember that not all methods are equally effective, however, compliance with the terms and rules for breeding this crop significantly increases the chances of success.