The firethorn is very easy to propagate yourself, so you can raise numerous offspring from a vigorously growing mother plant. The offspring succeed both with seeds, which are in the bright orange-red berries, as well as with cuttings or lowers.
Propagation by cuttings
You can propagate firethorn by cuttings on:
- Spring or early summer is the best time for breeding.
- Take cuttings about 15 centimeters long from already woody shoot tips.
- Separate the scion from the mother plant with a pair of clean rose scissors.
- Remove the foliage except for two or three pairs of leaves.
- Stick the shoot directly into the prepared soil in the designated place and water.
- Alternatively root in potting soil or water.
- The seedling will root faster if you cover it with a foil hat (greenhouse climate).
Propagation by seeds
In autumn, when the bright red berries have ripened, you can pick some of the fruit. Completely free the small seeds from the pulp and sow the seeds in small pots filled with potting soil. Since firethorn is very sensitive to moisture, it is advisable to put a drainage layer of clay granules in the growing pots (€16.68). Alternatively, you can mix the substrate with fine-grain granules or sand before filling.
Firethorn is a dark germinator
Use a skewer to dig narrow furrows in the soil into which you will sprinkle the seeds. The distance between the grooves should be at least two centimeters. Cover the seeds with a fine layer of soil and put a plastic bag over the seed pots. Water the soil regularly with a sprayer to keep the seeds from being washed out of the soil.
Separating the plantlets
Once the little firethorn plants have grown a few inches tall, you can remove the plastic bag greenhouse. If the small fire thorns have expelled several leaves, they are isolated. Keep the plants indoors during the winter and slowly acclimate them to the changed outdoor conditions in the spring.
Propagation by sinkers
Over time, you can use sinkers to multiply individually growing firethorn bushes into a densely growing hedge.
- Choose a lower, slightly hanging branch.
- Curl towards the ground and mark the spot where the branch will be buried.
- Loosen the soil thoroughly at this point so that the new shrubs can grow in well.
- Make an indentation.
- Bend the branch into the hollow so that a few shoot tips still stick out of the ground.
- Completely defoliate the overlying area of the branch.
- Fix the branch in the ground. The branch fork of a tree, a tent peg or a flat stone is suitable for this.
- Cover evenly with soil.
- As soon as roots have formed and the sapling thrives, separate it from the mother plant.