Would you like to create a cypress hedge or plant a cypress as a single tree in the garden, but don't want to spend a lot of money? Multiply your cypress yourself. This is time consuming and requires some maintenance. In return you get robust plants if the propagation is successful.
It can take eight years for a cypress cutting to reach a height of one meter
Is it worth it to propagate cypresses yourself?
Propagating cypresses yourself is only worthwhile if you have a lot of time. It takes up to eight years for cuttings to grow into trees over a meter tall.
Propagation can be by cuttings or by seeds.
The best time to propagate cypresses is winter or early spring.
Growing cypresses from cuttings
- Tear off cuttings in winter
- Remove needles below
- decapitate the cutting
- stick in potting soil
- keep moist and cover with foil
- Air the film regularly
Cypress cuttings root best if you rip them off in winter. A piece of bark should remain on the cutting. The length of the cutting should be about eight centimeters.
You can tell whether roots have formed by the new growth of the cutting.
Once it's big enough, plant it in a pot and keep caring for it there. Overwinter the young plants frost-free in the first few years. They should only go outdoors when they are at least 80 centimeters high.
Sow cypress
In principle, it is possible to propagate a cypress by sowing seeds, but this is rarely done. To do this, they need a female cone in which seed has matured. It takes at least two years for germinable seed to form. The cones become lignified and only spring open when they have been exposed to great heat.
The seed is sown in a prepared seed tray and lightly covered with soil. Cover the tray with foil to keep the seeds from drying out.
Set them up bright at around ten degrees. It takes several months for the first peaks to appear. Cypresses propagated in this way must be overwintered frost-free for the first few years.
tips
Cypresses that you bring home from your holiday on the Mediterranean don't stand a chance in your garden in Germany. You can get healthy plants that also thrive here in specialist garden shops or online.