Content
Boxwood, or buxus, as this evergreen shrub is called in Greece, has become popular everywhere. A slow-growing plant ideal for creating hedges and garden compositions. It is not difficult to propagate boxwood at home.
How does boxwood reproduce?
The shrub is propagated by cuttings, layering and seeds. This can be done in spring and autumn. Gardeners believe that autumn seedlings are easier to transplant and grow faster than spring ones.
- To prepare planting material, choose healthy, strong bushes that are at least 2 years old.
- The soil for germination needs to be loose and fertile.
- To speed up rooting, mini-greenhouses are used.
- Boxwood seedlings require shelter in winter.
If planting material is harvested too late, the plant can be propagated indoors during the cold period. In spring, grown healthy seedlings should be planted in a permanent place in the garden.
Propagating boxwood with seeds is a more complex method. Low germination and a long period of germination often lead to failure in all attempts to propagate shrubs from seeds, even by experienced gardeners.
How to propagate boxwood at home from cuttings
You can prepare planting material for propagating boxwood at home using cuttings while pruning the bush. You need to choose short, up to 15 - 20 cm, parts with intact bark. There must be 2 - 3 live buds on the cuttings. It is better to make a cut at an angle of 45 degrees with a sharp knife.
For the cutting to take root:
- Remove lower leaves.
- Soak in root-forming solution according to the instructions for the drug.
- Prepare fertile nutritious soil with a drainage layer.
- Bury the cuttings vertically at a distance of 10 - 15 cm from each other.
- Water with warm water and mulch the soil.
- Cover with film or covering material.
It takes about a month for the cuttings to develop roots. This should be taken into account when preparing seedlings for propagation. In the southern regions, rooted boxwood cuttings are planted in a permanent place in late September - early October. In areas with colder climates, it is better to plant boxwood seedlings a month earlier so that the young plants have time to gain strength and do not die in the winter.
During the entire period, boxwood cuttings for propagation should be regularly watered and ventilated. It is better to do this in the evening after solar activity has decreased.
Young plants should be planted in the chosen place along with a lump of earth, so as not to damage the fragile root system.
How to propagate a boxwood bush by layering
For beginning gardeners, the method of propagating evergreen boxwood by layering is suitable.The procedure can be carried out at any time from spring to autumn.
For a strong, healthy boxwood bush that is at least two years old, you need to choose an outer branch located close to the soil surface. Then prepare a small trench up to 15 cm deep with loose fertile soil. The groove should be located along the direction of the selected mother branch.
To propagate boxwood shrubs by layering, you will need pins to secure the branch to the ground. You can use wooden pegs with a forked edge or bent metal wire. To develop the root system, the branch should be cleared of leaves and the bark should be slightly cut.
Tilt the branch, secure it with pins and sprinkle it with a loose soil mixture of peat, humus and turf soil.
Caring for layering during reproduction involves regular watering. The soil should not dry out. With the appearance of the first shoots, it is necessary to protect young shoots from direct sunlight.
Transplanting layerings
If the shoots from a buried branch have developed sufficiently only in the fall, then it is better to leave the propagation of the shrub until spring. Before the onset of cold weather, they will have time to get stronger enough. For the winter, young shoots can be covered together with the mother bush. And if the cuttings have grown at some distance from the adult plant, then the shelter is made of spruce or pine spruce branches.
To separate planting material:
- Cut off the mother branch from the bush with pruning shears.
- Carefully dig up the soil to raise all the shoots at the same time without damaging the root system.
- Use pruning shears to separate the seedlings so that a small part of the mother branch remains on each. This will enable the development of additional roots.
The area for boxwood propagation must be prepared in advance.It will take considerable skill and speed to prevent the roots from drying out. If possible, you should preserve a lump of earth around the root system so as not to stress the boxwood. Then the plant will quickly take root in its new location.
The soil under young plants should be moist and well fertilized. In this case, boxwood can be fertilized a year after reproduction.
To create comfortable conditions during propagation, seedlings can be covered for a month with film caps or covering material. Be sure to monitor the soil moisture. Drying out or too much moisture will kill the plants. When propagating boxwood in the fall by layering, be sure to cover the plants before the onset of cold weather.
How to propagate boxwood by seeds
Propagating boxwood by seeds can be a lot of trouble. It takes a lot of patience to collect and germinate the seeds. Problems begin already when collecting seeds. Frequently pruned shrubs rarely have time to produce mature seed material for propagation.
You need to collect seeds in the fall. To do this, gardeners leave branches on several bushes without trimming. Large dark achenes of boxwood are very difficult to germinate. They lose their germination capacity the very next year after harvest. If the seeds were purchased in a store, then you must pay attention to the collection date. Otherwise, all the troubles of growing boxwood will be wasted.
To soak the seeds, you will need a solution of Kornevin or a similar preparation. Some gardeners use Zircon, Epin or Agricola Ecogel. Pre-planting preparation will help increase the germination energy of seed material for propagation and increase the immunity of future seedlings.
For swelling, boxwood seeds are kept in solution for about a day. Then they need to be laid out on a thick damp cloth and covered. Germination takes at least a month. The entire period must be ensured that the seeds remain moist.
Boxwood seed sprouts are white. Sow the sprouted seeds with the sprouts facing down.
To do this you should:
- Soak the seeds in water or root-forming solution according to the instructions for the preparation.
- Pour a layer of sand into a small container and moisten thoroughly.
- Place the seeds at a distance of a centimeter from each other.
- Cover the top with a small layer of wet sand.
- Place the container on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, where the temperature is suitable for storing vegetables.
You need to ensure that the contents of the seed container do not dry out or freeze for about a month.
At the end of the period, place the container in a warm place and cover with a plastic lid. The seeds should hatch in 3 - 4 weeks.
To sow sprouted seeds, the soil must be very loose. It is recommended to add perlite or crushed foam to the soil mixture.
Place a layer of drainage mixture on the bottom of the boxwood container. You can buy it or make it yourself from charcoal, eggshells or small pebbles. Be sure to drill holes in the bottom to remove excess water when watering.
The soil for planting seeds must be prepared in advance. If you made the soil mixture yourself, then it is important to warm it up or treat it with antifungal drugs for disinfection.
It is better to sow the seeds one by one in small containers. This method is not very economical, but it allows you to leave young boxwood seedlings undisturbed for a long time.
If the root system of the plant has completely filled the container, and planting in a permanent place is still far away, then the seedlings need to be transplanted into large pots using the transshipment method.
- Partially fill the new container with soil, after laying the drainage.
- Water the plant generously.
- Carefully remove the seedling along with the lump of earth.
- Place in a new pot.
- Add soil along the diameter, compacting it slightly.
Further work on propagating boxwood by seeds involves regular watering and fertilizing. The first feeding should be done a month after the sprouts appear. To do this, it is better to use complex mineral preparations. In the future, plants can be fertilized after 2 – 2.5 weeks.
As the weather warms up, containers with seedlings can be placed in a greenhouse or a place protected from wind and sunlight for hardening.
It is better to plant boxwood obtained from seeds in open ground at the end of August. Before the cold weather, young seedlings will have time to become sufficiently strong and develop a root system.
It is important to remember that for wintering it is necessary to mulch the soil under the bushes with a thick layer of peat or rotted compost or manure.
Sometimes it is simply enough to propagate boxwood with seeds. Some rare varieties of this evergreen shrub are too expensive. Growing them from cuttings or layering may take too long due to the slow growth of the shrub.
An alternative method of propagating boxwood
Sometimes gardeners are forced to resort to dividing boxwood bushes. Old bushes, even with careful pruning, eventually fill the allotted space.With a lack of light and nutrition, overgrown branches lose their decorative effect.
By dividing the bush you can grow boxwood in the garden. Transplantation can be done at any time from spring to autumn. To do this, you need to dig up the soil from the side where you plan to separate part of the plant. Using a sharp shovel or knife, cut off part of the root with a few healthy shoots.
Place the seedling strictly vertically in a prepared planting hole with nutrient soil. Lay the soil, gradually compacting it. It is desirable that the soil is moist. This will avoid the occurrence of voids around the root system. New seedlings should be watered regularly and fed like adult plants. In the first days after planting, crops must be protected from direct sunlight.
Conclusion
A beginner can propagate boxwood on his own. The evergreen shrub looks very beautiful in group plantings and hedges. But do not forget that boxwood is a poisonous plant, and if the juice of the leaves gets on the skin or inside, negative consequences can occur.
