Anyone can buy plants. However, growing beautiful plants yourself from seeds or cuttings is an interesting hobby that is simply a lot of fun and has a lot of surprises in store - especially if you just sow seeds and see what happens.
When growing from seeds, surprises can occur
Grow your own oleander plants
Especially when it comes to seed propagation, you don't know what you will end up with. In contrast to cuttings, which are cut from the mother plant and are therefore only clones of the same, with seeds you do not know which genetic material of the ancestors will prevail. Basically, it's the same as with children: Here, too, you don't know during pregnancy what the child will look like and what character it will have.
Growing oleanders from seed
You can buy oleander seeds or collect them yourself from the ripe pods of an existing plant. Soak the seeds in lukewarm water for about 24 hours and then sow them in a tray filled with nutrient-poor potting soil. Oleander belongs to the light germs, which is why you should not cover the seeds or only cover them very thinly with sieved soil. Cover the tray with a translucent hood (e.g. perforated plastic sheeting) and keep the substrate slightly moist at all times. The culture vessel should be in a warm and bright place.
Root oleander cuttings
Rooting oleander cuttings is even easier than growing from seeds. To do this, cut non-flowering shoots about 20 to 30 centimeters long during the summer months and remove all leaves except for the top two. The cut surface to be rooted should be kept as slanted as possible to make it easier for the cutting to absorb water. Now place the cuttings in an opaque (Important! Roots develop in the dark after all!) container with lukewarm water and put them in a light and warm place. Put a cut plastic bottle or a plastic bag (such as a freezer bag) over it and you have a mini greenhouse. (7.95 €)
The right care for young oleander plants
Whether grown from seeds or cuttings, the young oleanders should be planted in a pot with oleander soil that is low in humus and placed in a warm and bright spot. In the hot summer months, the plants can already go outside, but you should put them in winter quarters as early as possible - before the first frosts. Older oleanders can easily tolerate up to minus five degrees Celsius in the short term, while young plants are much more sensitive.
tips
You can also divide older oleander bushes into several subplants and grow new bushes in this way.