Content
- 1 Propagation of lilies by dividing the bush
- 2 How to propagate lilies by children
- 3 Reproduction of lilies by bulblets
- 4 How to propagate lilies from stem cuttings
- 5 Growing new lily plants from flower shoots
- 6 How to propagate lilies with leaves
- 7 Reproduction of lilies by scales
- 8 Propagation of lilies by seeds at home
- 9 Propagation of lilies in spring by dissecting the bottom of the bulb
- 10 Conclusion
Lilies are luxuriously flowering perennials that have many fans. The easiest way to grow a lily is to buy a bulb at a store or garden center and plant it in the ground in spring or fall. But prices for lily bulbs, especially new beautiful varieties, can be so high that not everyone can afford to buy them in sufficient quantities. But what a pleasant surprise it will be to learn that lilies are not only unpretentious flowers, they also reproduce very easily, and there are so many methods of reproduction that everyone can find the most suitable one for their conditions.
Propagation of lilies by dividing the bush
This method is rightly considered the easiest and most accessible even for those who have never dealt with lilies before. Lilies, like most perennials, grow over time and if they are not replanted, then after a few years several bulbs may form in the nest. Their number is quite easily determined by the number of stems that grow from the ground in the spring.
Therefore, once every 3-4 years in late summer or autumn, a lily bush is dug up with a pitchfork, carefully divided into separate bulbs and each planted in a separate new place. If you act carefully, then practically no disturbance is caused to the plants, and next season they will bloom actively and profusely.
This method is good for everyone, except that you won’t get a lot of lilies at once this way. Additionally, not all lily varieties produce replacement bulbs. Reproduction of some species, for example, tubular and oriental hybrids, is difficult in this way, because they form few bulbs and rarely.
How to propagate lilies by children
The method may be somewhat reminiscent of the previous one, since it is also necessary to dig up a bush in the fall and inspect it in search of small bulbs that can and should be used for propagation. The main difference is that these small daughter bulbs are formed on the underground part of the stem; in some varieties of lilies (for example, Asian hybrids), a lot of them can form in one season - up to several dozen.
But at the same time, they are not yet large enough to fully bloom next year. Baby bulbs are separated from the mother stem and planted in a separate bed, to a depth of about 3 cm, thoroughly cleared of weed, and are well covered for the winter with fallen leaves or straw. Throughout the next year they will continue to grow and gain strength.
It should be noted that the mother lily bulb can be left in the same place or transplanted to another flowerbed - its development and flowering next year will not be affected in any way.
In the fall, already well-formed bulbs can be planted in places specially planned for them, in flowerbeds and mixborders, so that next summer they will delight you with their flowering.
The following types of lilies easily form baby bulbs: Canadian, golden, beautiful, long-flowered, tiger, leopard.
Reproduction of lilies by bulblets
The variety of lilies and, accordingly, the methods of their propagation is impressive: some, as mentioned above, form replacement bulbs after flowering and seed formation, others do not form them. In some, a whole family of babies is formed every year at the underground base of the stem, and there are also those in which babies are formed directly in the axils of the leaves of the outer stems. They are usually called bulbs or air bulbs. Under natural conditions, after the lily has flowered, they simply fall to the ground, take root and sprout in the form of new plants. There can be up to 100 of them on one plant.
Of course, for a gardener, bulblets are an excellent planting material, allowing you to get a lot of lilies that retain all the properties of the mother plant. In addition, among the many ways to propagate lilies, this is one of the most cost-effective. True, flowers are usually formed only in the third year, and full, abundant flowering can be expected only in the fourth season.
But not all lilies are capable of forming them.Typically, this ability is distinguished by Tubular and Asian hybrids, as well as species such as brindle, Sargent, bulbous, sulphurous.
Some types of lilies (Long-flowered, saffron, Thunberg, Formosan, snow-white, umbrella) can form bulbs on the stems if their buds are cut off, and the stems are slightly bent to the ground and covered with earth.
In general, simply removing the buds stimulates the formation of air bulbs in the axils of the stem; in addition, this procedure makes them grow larger.
The process of propagating lilies by bulbs is very simple. Usually, 2-3 weeks after the end of flowering of lilies, they fall off on their own, so it is important to have time to collect them before this moment. The ease of separation of the bulbs from the stem and the formation of small roots on them serves as a signal of their maturity. Their sizes can vary from 3 to 8 mm in diameter. At the base of each leaf there are usually 2-3 bulbs. First, they are collected in a separate container. Special beds for growing are prepared in advance so that it is easier to care for them, and they would not get lost among the weeds.
The collected bulbs are soaked for 2 hours in a 0.2% solution of foundationazole and planted to a depth of 5-10 mm at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other. You can leave 20 cm between the rows. The plantings are watered and mulched with straw, dry leaves or peat before the onset of cold weather. In the spring, the mulch is removed and watered, and young lily plants are weeded as needed. In the first year, lilies grow only leaves without a distinct stem up to 20 cm high, the bulb reaches a size of 10-12 mm.In the fall, they can be planted in a permanent place, in a flower bed.
In the second season, lilies already form a stem with leaves up to 25-30 cm high, on which bulbs may already begin to appear. Flowers are formed, as a rule, in the third year after planting, when the bulbs reach a size of 25-30 mm and the stem grows up to 50 cm in height. From the fourth season, lilies reach the state of fully developed, mature plants with large bulbs.
How to propagate lilies from stem cuttings
If you want to quickly propagate lilies and are wondering how to do this, then take note of the following method.
In spring, a young flower shoot is carefully separated from the lily. It is advisable that it be no more than 10-15 cm in height. The shoot is treated with rootstock and immediately planted in a spacious pot with drained and nutritious soil or, if weather conditions allow, directly into the soil, adding a little sand to the hole.
After abundant watering, the shoot is covered on top with a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off and without a lid. It will serve as a mini-greenhouse for better rooting of the lily stem. If the soil is not allowed to dry out, the rooting of the shoot will occur within 1.5-2 weeks, and after a few more weeks, bulbs will begin to form near its base. Then the bottle can be removed, and the shoot itself can be covered with light soil to increase the number of bulbs formed.
In August, the resulting bulbs can be separated and planted separately for growing.Flowers with this method of propagation may appear as early as the next or second year after planting.
Growing new lily plants from flower shoots
The most interesting thing is that you can also propagate lilies by cuttings after flowering. Moreover, you can try to use this method to propagate lilies from a bouquet that was given to you for some celebration.
After the lily has finished flowering in your garden, completely cut off its peduncle along with the leaves (it is better to leave a stump, 15-20 cm in size, so as not to forget about the place where the bulb is planted) or take a flower shoot from a withered bouquet.
In a shady place in the area, dig a small groove, about 2 cm deep, and a length equal to the length of the cut shoot. The soil should be loose, light, but quite nutritious. Place the lily flower shoot horizontally in this groove and cover it with a light, loose soil mixture on top. After that, pour everything generously with a stimulant solution (Epin, HB-101, Zircon, succinic acid). It is better if it is possible to cover the planting site with film or lutrasil on small arcs. After two months, small bulbs should form on the stem, which are best left untouched until next spring. In winter, mulch the planting site generously with peat, humus or sawdust.
Next spring, the bulbs can be planted in a permanent place in the garden or in containers for growing in a greenhouse or on the balcony.
How to propagate lilies with leaves
Lilies can even be propagated by leaves. Moreover, this method is best applied to lilies: Snow White, tiger, Regale, Maksimovich, Thunberg, long-flowered and sulphurous.
If your friends or neighbors grow lilies of the varieties listed above, then ask them, during the period of bud formation, to carefully pluck several leaves with a base from the top of the stem and plant them, buried half their length in an inclined position. It is better to plant them in a container with drainage holes, into which pour 5-6 cm of loose soil, and on top 3-4 cm of wet river sand.
The container must be covered with a bag, which must be removed and turned over every day, removing accumulated moisture.
After about a month, small bulbs will form at the base of the leaves, then the bag can be removed. For the winter, the container is placed in a frost-free room or buried in the garden with insulation from fallen leaves on top.
Next year, in spring or autumn, the bulbs can be planted in a flower bed in the garden.
Reproduction of lilies by scales
This method of propagating lilies is most popular among gardeners, first of all, because it can be used all year round, even in winter.
In this case, you can get a large amount of planting material and save the mother bulb for flowering.
Its meaning is that the outer scales that make up the lily bulb are used for propagation. Without harm to the health of the mother bulb, up to 1/3 of its scales can be used. The most productive are the outermost layers - on each such scale, under favorable conditions, up to 5-7 bulbs can form.
Lilies from scales can be obtained in just one year, although they will most likely bloom in the second or even third year.
Already in early spring or even at the end of winter, you can buy lily bulbs of various varieties in garden stores. And from each of the most valuable varieties you can get about a dozen or more scales.
How can you germinate lily scales? First, carefully separate the required number of scales from the bulb, starting from the outermost ones. They are strongly deviated from the mother bulb, and separating them is not difficult. Then prepare a thick plastic bag or other plastic container in which you don’t mind making holes so that future young plants can breathe. Any loose substance can serve as a filler - it is ideal to use sphagnum moss, coconut substrate, vermiculite and even peat for germination. Sometimes a regular peat mixture is used to grow seedlings.
The container or bag is filled with the filler of your choice, separated lily scales are placed in it and lightly covered with a damp substrate. The bag is tied, holes are made in it, and it is placed for about a month in a warm room with a temperature of about +22°+24°C.
The video below shows in detail how to propagate lilies by scales.
After about a month, you can already observe how the first bulbs begin to appear on the scales. They grow rapidly and have tiny roots. After 1.5-2 months they can be planted in separate pots.
True, you will have to wait at least another one or even two years for the first flowering.
In the following video for beginning flower growers, you can see the process of propagating lilies by scales as a continuation of planting them in the spring.
For many gardeners and summer residents, it is convenient to begin propagating lilies by scales in the fall, when lily bushes are dug up for replanting, planting, or preserving at home (for non-winter-hardy varieties).
The whole process is repeated with one peculiarity: a month after the bulbs appear on the scales, it is advisable to place them in a cooler room with a temperature of about +17°C.
Propagation of lilies by seeds at home
The seed method is only suitable for species lilies, the seedlings of which are capable of repeating the main parental characteristics. Hybrid varieties of lilies are useless to propagate using seeds.
Of course, propagating lilies by seeds is a long and troublesome process, which breeders usually use when developing new varieties, but if you want to get a large number of strong and healthy seedlings, best adapted to your conditions, then why not try it. Just keep in mind that some types of lilies (long-flowered, snow-white, Canadian, luxurious, special, Ganson) will require artificial pollination from you in order to obtain viable seeds. Henry, Tibetan, Wiolmotta, saffron, Martagon, Daurian, Regale, drooping, Maksimovich, monochromatic lilies produce many full-fledged seeds.
All lily seeds are divided into two groups according to the method of germination:
- aboveground - when the cotyledon leaf comes immediately to the surface and turns green
- underground - when the cotyledons germinate and remain in the soil, and the first true leaf appears on the surface of the soil.
If there are a lot of seeds, then it is better to sow them immediately in open ground on prepared beds. In the case of a small number of seeds, they are sown in boxes and then planted in pots, like ordinary flower seedlings. It should be remembered that from the moment of seed germination to flowering it can take from five to seven years. Caring for growing seedlings is traditional: watering, fertilizing, weeding.
Propagation of lilies in spring by dissecting the bottom of the bulb
There is another rather exotic way of propagating lilies. In the spring, the bottom of a large onion is carefully cut out, and then it is planted in the ground with the crown down, and the lower part without the bottom should be at the top. In summer, the bulb will only need watering; when winter comes, the planting must be well insulated.
In the spring, all the bulbs formed by this time should be planted in a garden bed for growing. True, the mother bulb dies as a result. But the number of children obtained is several times higher than the number that can be obtained from reproduction by scales.
Conclusion
The variety of ways to propagate lilies makes it possible for even the most inexperienced gardener to soon decorate his garden with a variety of luxurious flowers, and without any special financial investments.
The most complete article on propagating lilies, 9 methods are described in detail with instructions and descriptions of the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
