Hydrangeas with their romantic flower balls are a wonderful decoration for every garden. If you would like to raise offspring yourself from a particularly attractive hydrangea, this is not as difficult as is often thought and can be done without a green thumb without any problems. We'll tell you how it's done.

Propagation by cuttings

If you want to grow hydrangeas yourself in this way, you have to cut cuttings about 15 centimeters long from the hydrangea in June or July. Make sure the mother plant is thriving and flowering profusely, as she will pass these traits on to her offspring. Only cut shoots from one-year-old but already mature wood, as they form roots more easily.

Preparing the cuttings:

  • Cut off shoot tips and flowers.
  • Cut off the shoot diagonally below a pair of leaves with a sharp knife.
  • Remove the pair of leaves just above the cut.
  • Shorten the shoot to a remaining pair of leaves.
  • Cut leaves in half to reduce evaporation surface.

In this way you can cut a number of shoots from a longer branch of the hydrangea and require relatively little plant material to produce several cuttings.

Bringing in the saplings

Plastic fruit bowls with slits or holes at the bottom to prevent waterlogging are ideal as growing containers. Fill them with coconut soil or potting soil. Coconut soil is preferable because its porous structure keeps it very loose, so that the delicate roots can penetrate the material easily.

Insert the cuttings about five centimeters deep into the substrate, making sure that the leaves do not touch. This is necessary so that the air can circulate well, because hydrangea cuttings quickly begin to mold in high humidity. Press the soil down lightly so that the sprouts have a good grip and water the sprouts.

Creating the right climate

Now make a small greenhouse by putting a transparent plastic bag over the growing pot. It is important to regularly provide fresh air over the next few weeks and to ventilate the foil house at least once or twice a day.

It is also important to always place the cuttings in the sun. The delicate plants will burn as soon as they are exposed to direct sunlight for a long time.

Hydrangea shoots need a lot of nutrients to thrive. You can recognize a lack of nutrients by the fact that the leaves only turn light green. However, only fertilize very sparingly, because too much fertilizer is just as harmful as too little. The easiest way to handle is a special liquid fertilizer for hydrangeas, which you add to the irrigation water in half the prescribed dosage.

Separating the cuttings

As soon as the plants have formed small root balls, you can transplant them into flower pots. Continue caring for hydrangeas indoors for the first year. In the second year, slowly acclimate the offspring to the changed conditions in the garden before you place the hydrangea in the flower bed.

Propagation by sinkers

If you want to grow a hydrangea yourself, this is the easiest method. All you need for this is:

  • enough space in the flower bed
  • Einstein
  • a plant shovel

Choose a long shoot from the bottom of the mother plant and gently press it to the ground. Where it touches the ground, dig a small hole. Lower the branch into the indentation and cover the center with soil. Complaint the point with the stone.

In the next gardening season you can carefully dig up the sinker with a spade and separate it from the mother plant. We recommend cultivating the young plant for a year in a sufficiently large pot so that dense and strong roots form. In the following spring you can put the hydrangea in the bed, where it will grow quickly and, with a bit of luck, produce the first flowers in the same year.

Random multiplication in a glass of water

Hydrangeas are popular cut flowers that last exceptionally long in the vase. They often form roots here. If you transplant these saplings into a container that you have filled with potting soil, a small hydrangea will grow out of the former vase decoration, and in most cases it will already flower the next year.

propagation by division

You can carefully divide hydrangeas that are particularly wide and not too tall. At the edge of the mother plant, use a spade to cut off part of the shrub and transplant it to the desired location. Mulch the hydrangea well and water the plant regularly to help the plant take root quickly.

tips

Hydrangeas need some time to root, please be patient when growing. In our experience, it can take up to eight weeks for the shoots to form a small root ball.

Category:

Vegetable garden