Loving bougainvillea isn't difficult - there's just an uncanny appeal to their blooms. Who wouldn't want more of that? Propagating bougainvilleas is not easy - we will show you how it can still succeed.
Propagation from cuttings is promising
Two methods - two chances
There are two main ways to propagate a bougainvillea:
- The cuttings method and
- The shoot tray
However, both require some skill, tools and, above all, patience.
The cuttings method
This variant is really not that easy. For all steps you need a certain knack, maybe a bit of luck. For the cutting, cut off a mature but not yet woody shoot from early spring to summer. This should be about 30 cm long. The biggest challenge and test of patience is rooting. This requires a lot of heat from below and usually also hormonal support.
It is best to put the cuttings in a mini greenhouse or a propagation bed - preferably with underfloor heating. You can also try a seed tray with a styrofoam plate underneath (€35.50) if it is otherwise very warm in the growing room. However, the ground temperature should be around 30 to 35°C. If you don't have a mini greenhouse available, make one yourself by covering the cutting with foil. This ensures a constant, warm, humid microclimate.
At best, you should also stimulate rooting with hormonal rooting powder. However, you usually have to wait several months for the cutting to take root. Then immediately place it in a pot and harden it by changing environmental conditions - that means: gradually get the cutting used to lower and warmer temperatures and sometimes place it a little lighter and sometimes a little darker. This allows it to grow into a vigorous new plant.
The cuttings method at a glance:
- Cut off mature, non-lignified, 30 cm shoots in spring
- place in a cultivation bed under foil/mini greenhouse with floor heating (floor temperature 30-35°C)
- help with rooting powder
- Transplant rooted cuttings and harden off
The shoot tray
A slightly simpler method is shoot storage. To do this, remove a healthy, non-lignified tendril from the plant - also in spring - and place it in a curve and with the driving head upwards again in a pot with potting soil. To keep the curved part of the shoot in the ground, you can fix it with a metal hook, such as a tent peg. It is best to stabilize the above-ground part of the shoot with a support in the form of a bamboo stick.
Once you have planted and aligned the shoot, just keep it evenly moist. The rooting also takes some time here, but can be accelerated by a wound cut. To do this, score the underside of the sunken drive arch with a knife.
With this method, it is advisable to put down several shoots at the same time - this increases the chance of success.
The shoot shedding method at a glance:
- remove healthy shoots from the plant into a pot with potting soil
- Score and fix the drive arch to be sunk in at the bottom
- Align above-ground shoot with rod upwards
- keep moist