How to propagate a perennial delphinium

Delphinium is a tall perennial, a member of the Buttercup family. For quite a long time, these tall, beautiful flower stalks have been used as decoration for gardens and backyard plots. Due to its gracefulness and popularity among gardeners, breeders began to actively try to develop all new varieties of delphinium. There are several ways to breed this ornamental plant, new crops are obtained by cuttings, dividing rhizomes and seeds.

Delphinium breeding methods

Which way to use to propagate a given plant is decided only by the gardener himself. There are several methods of propagation of this flower: using the procedure of dividing and rooting shoots, cuttings and seedlings.

Seed reproduction

It is considered the easiest and simplest breeding method. Although you should know that when several subspecies are planted near each other at once, cross-pollination may occur and new specimens will have third-party signs, and not maternal ones. If propagated by seed, only hybrids will be able to recreate traits such as color shades and size. Getting a new plant at home is quite feasible, but on condition that the freshly harvested planting material immediately sits in the soil. If you are collecting varieties, then you should plant different varieties at a distance of one and a half meters from each other, no less, so as not to get confusion. And be sure to consider the fact that planting only freshly harvested seeds contributes to the best similarity.

When purchasing seeds in a store, you should especially take a closer look at their packaging. Make your choice in favor of those seeds that are packed in foil sachets. In order to increase the percentage of germination of non-new seeds, they should be soaked in solution for literally a few minutes. For the solution, preparations of the Epin type are used. In the case of sowing directly to the flower bed, you need to take into account the moment that the germination rate is rather falling, so it would be better to plant a larger amount of seed at once.

Reproduction using delphinium cuttings

A fairly common breeding method that they like to use when dealing with different plants. When using this method to reproduce a delphinium, a number of requirements must be observed, such as:

- For this procedure, cuttings of the upper part of the plant are taken, prepared and cut off in early spring, and only young, new cuttings are taken.

- Cutting cuttings is done so that a small amount of root tissue remains at the tip. Cuttings are cut off at least 10 centimeters in length.

- In order for the cuttings to take root well and quickly, it is necessary to prepare the soil for planting in advance. The best option would be a mixture of fine sand and peat in equal proportions.

- The cuttings should be planted at an angle in separate containers and then covered with a cap. The heel should be deepened two centimeters in depth.

- In order for the cuttings to successfully take root, a temperature regime of at least 20 degrees should be ensured. And it should also be borne in mind that the soil at new plantings should be constantly wet. Even a slight drying out can lead to the fact that the young plant will die.

- There is a small chance that the rooting of the cuttings will happen quickly enough.After all, only a month after planting, callus forms at the tip of the cuttings, and then young roots are formed.

In order to quite successfully transplant rooted cuttings, you need to build up pretty good roots first. Only a year after the rooting of cuttings can they be planted in a permanent place of growth. Moreover, it is required to leave a distance of about 30 centimeters or more between the cuttings.

Reproduction by dividing the delphinium bush

With this method of reproduction, the loss of planting material is completely excluded, it is important only to perform certain actions. The most important thing to know is that the most developed and mature plant with a good root system is selected for the reproduction procedure. But it is also important not to choose rather old plants, because they can most of all be subject to various diseases and infections. Let's consider the process of division more similarly:

- First of all, you should know when exactly to deal with the division of a given plant. Experts say that the best time to dig up a plant for reproduction is early spring, or autumn.

- After you have dug out the bush, it should be very carefully placed on the surface of the ground and the root system should be divided using a sufficiently sharp tool.

- In the autumn season, division occurs after the removal of the foliage of all and not young stems.

- To perform this procedure, use a shovel or garden shears. Although some gardeners prefer to do it by hand, thinking that this way they feel the plant better and will bring him less suffering during this procedure.

- Compared to other perennials, when dividing this plant, it seems possible to leave only one bud on it. The delphinium is gaining so quickly in growth that already in this season it will be able not only to grow dense green foliage, but even give color.

The resulting delenki are planted in a previously prepared area. After that, he is cared for, in the form of regular watering, weeding, dressing, garter and pruning. The best period for dividing the root system is the spring period, and at the moment when fresh, new leaves begin to appear on the plant. When dividing the root system in the autumn period, it is rather difficult to guess exactly the right moment, since the plant can either end the flowering period, or ripen the seeds. Plus, the green mass of foliage is built up a second time. Many beginners and not only gardeners ask the question: is it possible to divide this plant in the summer season? How do you do it? Experts say that this is quite possible, just the delenki will take root for a long time and this year it will not be possible to observe the beauty of these flowers. Most often, the division is carried out in the summer in the case when urgent help is required to save the bush, for example, with a plant disease, and in other cases it would still be better to choose spring or autumn.

How to harvest seeds correctly

This plant has spike-shaped inflorescences, so it is better to use paper bags when collecting the seed. This perennial reproduces quite well itself. This happens when the seed pods crack and the seeds that have fallen to the ground begin to sprout by themselves. Consider the rules for collecting the seed:

- Collecting the seed is best done from flowers that are located at the bottom of the stem. It is required to look after the seed pods, and when they start to crack, immediately start collecting the seeds.

- You can cut off the top of the plant and wrap it in a bag. Then hang the bag upside down. After the seed ripens, the capsules will open on their own and the seeds will fall to the bottom of the bag.

- In case of unfavorable weather conditions that affected the underripening seed, you can cut the branches and hang them in a dry enough room for the seeds to ripen.

The germination of seeds in the spring depends very much on the correct stratification performed. Storage takes place in the refrigerator at temperatures up to +5 degrees.

Experienced gardening tips

Many gardeners who have been growing delphinium for a long time have a number of secrets for the successful and effective development and growth of this plant, and are ready to share this.

- The very first and most important rule for the successful cultivation of a delphinium is a correctly selected landing site. This plant looks great externally against the background of lawn grass, it is planted along various fences, and also decorates the background of the flower bed with it. Lilies are wonderful neighbors of this plant.

- It will be very successful to plant this plant together with zonal pelargoniums and sage.

- The flowering period of this plant happens twice in one season, but if you properly and correctly care for this plant, do a timely pruning procedure, then the process of bud formation is likely to stretch over the entire summer period.

For sowing seeds, you should prepare the soil from leafy and soddy soil in advance, while adding a small amount of peat and humus to it. After reviewing and analyzing all the methods of propagation of this plant, you begin to understand that the methods are good in their own way. In absolutely any case, the delphinium takes root one hundred percent and gives excellent germination. The most important thing to remember is that for good germination, fresh, freshly harvested seeds should be used for sowing, and then you will succeed.