Propagating forsynthia's

Hi Folks,
I want to make sure I have this right before I whack all my forsythia’s for propagating.

I cut about 6 inches off, strip the lower four leaf sections, remove the bark/skin about an inch from the bottom, pour rooting compound on the stripped section & plant them in a loose soil.

If that is right my next questions:
1: Do I cut them from my new shoots or the older branches?

2: Can I cut the new shoot down 6 inches and cut another 6 below & continue on to get two or more from one shoot or do you only use the top portion with the tip of the shoot.

3: I have older ones that I transplanted. They got chowed by deer but this year a bunch of new little leaves came out on them. They don’t have new long shoots like my other ones do. These have thick stems and branches. Should I cut these down to 2 ft to start over and can I use the pieces I cut off with the thick stems to root somehow?

4: Would it be best to plant them right in the ground or put them in a cold/hot frame I’m building & keep them over winter to get bigger then plant them in the ground.

Same with the common lilac. Can I sever off shoots from the bottom of older big lilac shrubs and put rooting compound on the severed part & plant them. Some of these shoots are four feet high. Do I cut them down to 2 ft when I sever them.

Thanks again folks.

Joel.


This message was edited Aug 7, 2009 10:25 PM

Sorry, forgot the pic

Joel, Don't kill yourself... my method; take lots of 6"-8" cuttings, put them in a glass of H2O, place on a sunny windowsill and in a couple of weeks you should have loads of rooted cuttings. just make sure that you strip the lower leaves and change the H2O every few days. Robb

Thanks Robb,
Wow, Couple of weeks.... That method is sure a lot easier than I have been reading about.

How about the lilacs. Can I just shear off shoots from old full grown common lilacs and just stick them in the ground????

Should I be dumping root powder on all these things before I put them in the ground.

Thanks again. I spent all day today mixing good soil/perlite/sand and clipping/stripping/powdering forsythia's and planting them in gallon pots

Also, can you look at my second pic. The deer ate those last winter. They were forsythia's. Should I whack those down to about two foot and can I root the part I whacked. They are older thicker ones with stems about the diameter of a quarter & less.

Thanks again.

Forsythias are very easy.
When they need trimming, I just put lengths of them into moist potting soil. I use my finger nail to remove a bit of the stem, bury about two or more nodes in the soil. I leave all the rest of the foliage on. It does seem to root quicker with the softer wood. But anything will eventually root if kept moist.
You can also bury a piece of stem that is hanging close to the ground and pin it down so it remains buried yet still attached to the mother plant. It will eventually grow roots and you can then sever it from the main plant.
I grow them in pots at first so I can control the moisture they receive. If watered and then placed in the shade such as under a bush of some sort, they do well just with rain to sustain them.
They grow very quickly and in a couple of years you will have large plants.

Penth2o, I have never been able to root lilacs, and I have a couple of beauties in mind. If there is an easy method I would love to hear of it. Robb

Hi Robb,
I don't know. I'm just learning all this stuff from what I read or what people that have gardened for a long time tell me.
A friend of mine told me you can just sever the little shoots that grow around the bottom of common lilacs and plant those and they should root and grow. I was asking the question to try to get a little backing and hopefully find out what she said is true. I will try it this weekend and let you know of any progress.

Yesterday I started a propagation box. Well two of them actually. They are 4X8.
I bought the 100 ft heat cables & thermostats. This is where I got tonight. I still need to finish insulating the cold frame and lay the gravel,mat,wire,sand & soil.
I will sink them in the ground as you can see the shallow grave in the background.
It is getting dark and the skeeters are starting to penetrate the 100% Deet I swam in before I went outside so I'm wrapping it up for the night.

I started a blog a couple of weeks ago if you want to see what I'm doing with the knowledge I gain from Daves, Friends & ideas that I want to have materialize.

http://pentwaterproperty.blogspot.com/

Joel, I am about as plant and propagation crazy asyou can get. I start trees and shrubs in my Toronto basement and backyard. Here is a photo of my backyard from the second floor... haw many plants and trees can you identify? I ship and carry these to a property in Nova Scotia where I finally plant them in the ground. Robb

Robb,
I need to pick your brain sometime if you don't mind. I am just getting into propagation actually, I am just getting into everything. If you look at that blog thing I just started you will see that I am a novice and just starting out. I'll try anything though. Twice if I like it...
http://pentwaterproperty.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

I really want to start propagating shrubs and trees, I'll use the grow boxes I built for some ornamental flowers & plants but I would like to get a ton of shrubs & trees going.

Do you know if privet is just as easy to root as the forsythia's and if they grow in total shade? I don't think the lilac or forsythia's grow in total shade.

I'am putting up deer fencing around 5 acres and need something for total shade in the woods on part of it. I would like to try to hide the 8 ft fencing if I can somehow. Any suggestions.

Beautiful city you live in. Nice to have property in Nova. I always wanted to go there and for some reason have not. I hope to make it there within my next four trips.
Hope you don't mind a pesky newbie. Sounds like you may be the one that can answer a lot of stupid questions I have on this stuff.

Joel.

Sure hope your right guys,
I just whacked a ton of my forsythia's. I have some root hormoned and in gallon pots, some 6-8 inches tall, some 10 - 12 inches tall. Some in a bucket of water with root hormone powder mixed in and some just powdered and stuck in the ground.

I'll see what does what with these and let you know.

Joel, another family of shrub that I find easy to start is hydrangeas... both big leaf (macro) and pee gee hydrangeas. Just keep them out of the direct sun. Clematis is a good flower to start also. You said that you had lots of shade, is it dense shade or light shade... is there a high canopy? If you are goung to under-plant you also have to be concerned if there is enough moisture. R