Propagation of honeysuckle edible cuttings

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Honeysuckle relatively recently entered the list of popular edible garden crops. Its unpretentiousness, cold resistance and useful properties attracted, first of all, the attention of northerners. For them, this is the earliest berry, which is rich in vitamins, minerals and other substances necessary for the body. A pleasant taste with a slight acidity, the ability to replenish your fruit menu, as well as winter preparations, with a new product is the main reason for the increased breeding of honeysuckle in all regions, but especially in the cold. Propagating honeysuckle is easy. The article describes in detail the methods of grafting, the timing of the harvesting of cuttings and their rooting.

Honeysuckle in a nutshell

For beginners in gardening, honeysuckle is easily recognizable. The shrub belongs to the group of deciduous, 1-2 m high with thin branches.

Young branches of the honeysuckle are pubescent, their color is greenish with a purple tint of different brightness. The old honeysuckle bark acquires a grayish-brown hue and loses its pubescence, it exfoliates along the perennial stem with narrow stripes.

Honeysuckle leaves are lanceolate in shape, 6–9 cm long. The tops of leaf blades are pointed. A distinctive feature of honeysuckle leaves is the presence of disc-shaped leaflets fused with petioles, dense pubescence of young leaves. With age, pubescence of leaf blades is lost or remains in the form of separate bristles.

Funnel-shaped honeysuckle flowers, corolla yellow. Flowers are usually located in pairs in the leaf sinus. Honeysuckle blooms, depending on the region and variety, from the first half of May to early June.

Honeysuckle fruits of various shapes:

rounded
oblong-cylindrical;
cylindrical with an oblique cut below;
ellipsoidal and others.

The color of the honeysuckle berries is purple with a bluish bloom or dark blue, in different shades. The pulp is very juicy, painted in red-violet colors. There are types of honeysuckle with yellow berries. Inside are light brown seeds, not more than 2 mm.

Remember! Only blue and blue berries of honeysuckle are edible. Yellow berries are inedible.

Honeysuckle propagation methods

For those who want to grow honeysuckle in the country, initially it is better to buy seedlings. If you like the berries to taste (not everyone likes the bitter aftertaste of berries, astringent flesh and other flavoring characteristics of some varieties of honeysuckle), the shrub can be propagated independently.

Honeysuckle propagated:

by seeds;
dividing the bush;
layering;
cuttings (green and lignified).

Of the above, the simplest and most affordable way to reproduce honeysuckle to obtain a large number of young seedlings is cuttings. Green cuttings have the highest survival rate during cuttings.

Technology for harvesting green honeysuckle cuttings

Terms of procurement

The best reference point for the beginning of harvesting of green cuttings is the phase of the end of flowering and the formation of the first fruit ovaries of honeysuckle. This phase usually occurs in late May - early June.

Determining the readiness of honeysuckle shoots for cutting green cuttings

Before starting cutting honeysuckle cuttings, it is necessary to check the readiness of the shoots for their use for cuttings:

marked honeysuckle branches bend: soft, elastic - unsuitable; such cuttings do not have enough energy for the rapid formation of roots;
the ripened material for cutting green cuttings are shoots that break when bent with a crunch.

Rules for harvesting green honeysuckle cuttings

Green honeysuckle cuttings are harvested from the middle of the selected shoot.
The length of the handle is 7-12 cm and has 3-4 internodes.
Each node has a kidney and a leaf.
The leaves of the lower node are completely removed. Only the kidneys remain.
At the middle and upper nodes, they cut along the floor of the leaf blade.
On the bottom of the honeysuckle cuttings, the slice is slanted at 45 degrees.
A cut of the honeysuckle cuttings on the upper part is made straight and 1.5 cm higher than the last kidney.

Rooting green honeysuckle cuttings

The lower part of the prepared honeysuckle cuttings is treated with root-forming agents (root, heteroauxin), which help the root system to form more quickly, prevent its infection with fungal infection and decay. The procedure is carried out according to the recommendations.

Rooting is carried out in a soil mixture prepared independently or in a substrate purchased in a store.

A self-priming mixture for honeysuckle cuttings is prepared from peat and sand, respectively 1 and 3 parts. Perlite or vermiculite can be used for soil mixtures.

Honeysuckle cuttings are immersed with the lower part in the prepared moistened substrate and covered with a film to maintain an increased humidity regime of air and substrate. The temperature for the rooting period is maintained within + 20 ... + 25 ° С. Roots appear within one to one and a half weeks. Honeysuckle seedlings in the same year are transferred to a permanent place or next spring.

The technology of harvesting lignified honeysuckle cuttings

Terms of procurement

Lignified honeysuckle cuttings can be harvested in 2 terms:

in the spring before budding;
in the fall after falling of leaves - approximately in the third decade of September - the first decade of October.

A more accurate period is determined by the conditions of the region.

Rules for harvesting lignified honeysuckle cuttings

For the propagation of honeysuckle, annual growth is chosen.
The thickness of the handle should be at least 1 cm in diameter.
During autumn harvesting, honeysuckle cuttings are harvested 15–20 cm long with 2–5 internodes.
Honeysuckle cuttings cut in autumn are stored in wet burlap, in sand or sawdust. Can be stored dug in the ground.
Sand, sawdust and substrate must be treated with fungicidal or biofungicidal preparations to protect against fungal infection during storage.
During spring cutting, honeysuckle cuttings are harvested shorter - 10-12 cm.
The upper section is straight, 0.5-1.0 cm higher than the last kidney. The lower section is 1.0-1.5 cm lower than the lower kidney, the oblique section.

Rooting of lignified honeysuckle cuttings

Prepared honeysuckle cuttings are planted in a nursery in cold regions, and in warmer ones - immediately on high ridges in open ground.
The soil in the nursery and on ridges is dug up, leveled, well moistened with the addition of root or heteroauxin and biofungicides: planris or trichodermin, or other drugs. Cornevin, heteroauxin are needed to accelerate the formation of the root system, and fungicides are needed to disinfect the substrate from fungal infection, which can cause rot of the part of the cuttings in the soil.
Honeysuckle cuttings are planted through 12-15 cm at an angle of 45 degrees.
The upper kidney is covered with a layer of substrate about 1.0 cm or left open.
Landings are covered with a film or covered in another way and maintain a high humidity of the substrate and air.
15-20 days after planting, the shelter is removed. In honeysuckle cuttings, the first roots appear.
Further care consists of watering (more rare than under shelter), in which the soil should be moist, not wet, and loosening, timely removal of weeds.
In the spring of next year, if necessary, rooted honeysuckle cuttings are transplanted for growing or immediately planted in a permanent place.