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Chinese lemongrass is a fast-growing vine. It grows in China, Korea, Japan, and also in northern Russia. It is increasingly being planted in summer cottages, since the berries of the plant have a large number of healing properties. Schisandra can be propagated in several ways: by seeds, cuttings and layering. Each method has certain advantages, so when choosing, gardeners focus on convenience and speed of obtaining results.
How does Schisandra chinensis propagate?
Schisandra chinensis is still considered a rare and even exotic crop in our country. Therefore, it is not always possible to easily buy its seedlings. You have to do propagation at home. There are several ways in which Schisandra chinensis propagates:
- Green cuttings - a rare, non-labor-intensive method. It is suitable if there is one vine in the garden from which you can take cuttings.
- Seeds - long-term method. The gardener receives the first fruits from the plant only in the fourth or fifth year. Therefore, propagation by seeds is painstaking, troublesome work.
- Reproduction by shoots Among experts it is considered the most effective method, which does not require a large amount of investment.The shoots appear in the second year of the vine’s life.
- Root suckers — the first year the plant develops weakly, but then grows rapidly and produces many basal shoots. A simple method of propagating young shrubs.
- Separation of mother Schisandra. The method is used when the main shrub needs to be replanted. As a result, in a new place, the separated parts will quickly begin to bear fruit.
- By layering - this method is for those who do not want to work. Just until the cuttings take root, they do not need to be replanted.
Which method to use for propagating Schisandra depends on the specific situation, the number of plants available on the site, planting time, and the health of the mother bush. It is not recommended to buy seedlings from the Far East, since you often come across wild, uncultivated vines. Thus, instead of the useful Chinese lemongrass with decorative properties, you can get extra diseases and pests on the site.
Schisandra also reproduces at home. You will need a cutting - it is cut according to all the rules for cuttings from the mother plant of lemongrass. This material is planted in a pot filled with a fertile mixture and coarse sand. Place a glass jar or plastic bottle without a neck on top.
Watering the lemongrass seedling is done with water at room temperature. After about 18 days, roots appear. Starting from this time, the cover needs to be removed first for a short time, then increase the interval. A month after planting the cuttings, the cover should be removed completely. In the fall, the cuttings can be transferred to the site, to a permanent place. It is important that it has time to take root before the onset of frost.Many gardeners replant lemongrass from a pot in the spring.
It is very important to remember that when Schisandra is propagated vegetatively, the plant retains all the characteristics of the parent individual. In this case, an important feature is the sex of the vine. In Chinese lemongrass, plants of four sexual varieties have been recorded:
- plants with different sexes, which change their flowers every year: one year females, one year males;
- monoecious plants, when one specimen has both male and female flowers;
- dioecious female, which has only female flowers;
- dioecious male - such a vine does not bear fruit and has only male flowers.
If a vine does not bear fruit, then when propagated by shoots or cuttings, its descendants will also not bear fruit. This problem arises for those who want to propagate wild lemongrass and make a mistake about the gender of the plant.
Propagation of Schisandra chinensis by cuttings
To propagate Chinese lemongrass from cuttings, only summer cuttings must be used. For cuttings, small shoots of a greenish-brown color are cut that have not had time to fully lignify. It is necessary to cut in mid-June. Each cutting should have 3-4 buds. A straight cut is made above the upper bud, and an oblique cut is made under the lower bud. There should be a distance of 5 cm between the cut and the upper bud. It is not recommended to cut cuttings to propagate Schisandra in the fall - the plant will not have time to prepare for spring.
After cutting, all cuttings must be placed in water. Can be installed in a special solution (growth stimulator) for 12 hours. Planting material must be planted in a cold greenhouse. The soil should be moist and loose, and coarse river sand should be poured over the dug up soil.The optimal sand layer is 8–9 cm.
When planting, the cuttings are immersed in the ground at an angle. In this case, the lower bud goes deep into the ground, and the middle one remains on its surface. The distance between planted cuttings should be 5 cm. The top of the entire planting is covered with non-woven material, which will be watered from above 3 times a day. After about 30 days, roots will begin to appear. There will not be many of them, this is typical for Chinese lemongrass. Therefore, you should not be upset if only half of the planted cuttings take root.
After a month, you can remove the material that covers the seedlings. Propagation of Schisandra chinensis by cuttings continues in the fall. At this stage, the seedling is dug up along with a lump of earth and left in a cool place for winter storage. You can preserve rooted lemongrass until spring if you cover it with damp sawdust in the basement. In the spring, the blanks can be planted for permanent residence.
Propagation of Schisandra chinensis by seeds
This is an inexpensive method of breeding lemongrass, which takes time, but is quite simple in technology. It is common among gardeners who have never had lemongrass before, and there is simply nowhere to take cuttings from.
It has been noticed that specimens grown from seeds live longer and are more easy to care for than offspring obtained by other methods.
Seed propagation technology:
- Collect seeds from berries, wash, dry and store in a paper bag.
- At the beginning of December, be sure to place it in water for 3-4 days.
- Wrap in cloth and bury in sand.
- Keep the box with sand for 30 days at a temperature of +20 °C.
- During this month, you need to take out the package every week, unwrap it and air the seeds for a few minutes.Then wrap it again and rinse under running water, squeeze it out and bury it in the sand again.
- After a month, the seeds are dug up and moved to a pot of sand, which is placed in the refrigerator at a temperature of zero degrees.
- After a month (early February), you should transfer the cup with seeds to the fruit compartment, where the temperature is slightly higher.
- After about 35–40 days, the seeds will begin to crack. This means it's time to plant them.
For planting, be sure to use wooden boxes filled with special nutrient soil. Composition of soil for propagation of lemongrass by seeds:
- 2 parts peat;
- 1 part river sand and earth.
It is necessary to make shallow grooves in the ground. 4 cm deep and half a centimeter wide is enough. Plant the seeds at a distance of a centimeter from each other. Cover with soil and water. The top can be covered with paper, film is also allowed.
Monitor soil moisture regularly. If the soil dries out, the seeds will not sprout. After 14 days, the first shoots begin to appear. Unlike many plants, in Schisandra the straightening of the initial arch to two leaves takes longer.
When all the seedlings appear, you will need to remove the film and place the box with seedlings on the windowsill. At the same time, it is undesirable for the sun’s rays to directly hit the sprouts. In some cases, it is even recommended to seal the window or place a box on the shady side. You can plant on the beds after 4 leaves have appeared on the sprouts. Depending on the weather, you can plant in open ground or a cold greenhouse.
Experts recommend transplanting in the first week of June. In any case, you need to wait until the threat of frost has completely disappeared.Even light overnight frosts can kill all seedlings or significantly slow down their development.
Planted in furrows. The distance between seedlings is 5 cm. Between furrows is 15 cm. Care consists of watering and loosening the soil.
Reproduction of lemongrass by layering
This method is optimal for propagation in spring. At the time of propagation by layering, the soil should be loose and dug up. Gardeners recommend two methods of propagating lemongrass by layering.
- Horizontal. Grooves up to 20 cm deep should be made around the bush. Layers are placed in the grooves and pressed with wooden stakes and metal clamps. Cover the grooves with earth. The tops of the cuttings must be left on the surface of the ground. The soil must be watered until autumn.
- Vertical. The vertical method differs in that a wooden support is dug into the top remaining on the surface. The future vine grows along it until it acquires the desired appearance.
Reproduction of lemongrass by shoots
The most effective propagation method, which is used most often. The algorithm is quite simple. An adult plant has a huge number of shoots with young buds. To plant, they must be separated from the adult vine.
There are more root suckers in older plants. To separate, you need to use a shovel, but as carefully as possible. Separate the rhizome along with the adventitious root. If there are many appendages, then use pruning shears to divide the young shoot for propagation into several parts, each of which should have its own appendage.
To grow, you need to place the adventitious root in loose, moist soil. It usually takes about two years to grow. New roots grow on the adventitious shoot.Then the shoots are transplanted to a permanent place in the garden plot with nutritious soil and fertilized soil.
Conclusion
Every year more and more gardeners want to propagate lemongrass. Some people have heard about the healing properties of this plant, which successfully helps people with hypotension, while others simply like a beautiful vine on a gazebo or garden fence. In any case, you should not mess with wild seedlings and it is better to take seeds or cuttings from a cultivated plant. If there is already one lemongrass in the garden, then it can be divided into several bushes or propagated by layering.
I'm trying to propagate lemongrass, but it's not working out well. A very capricious plant. I dig up branches already with roots from the mother plant, plant them in high containers and do not take root.