How to reproduce a laurel? It's grown and want some more...?
Question:My laurel plant is beautiful and has grown much; when is the best time to reproduce and how? I have tried cutting from the stem but to no avail.
Answers:
There are three methods of propagating bay - layering, sowing seeds and taking cuttings.
Bay Laurel seeds should be sown in the spring. Use moist, but definitely not water-saturated compost. Place the seeds on the surface and just barely cover them with dry compost. Place the container in the dark, ideally at a temperature of around 65F (21C).
Success is erratic and the seeds can take as long as 3 months to sprout a shoot. But normally they take about 3 to 4 weeks. The big danger with bay seeds is that they rot before they germinate.
Take cuttings in late summer to early autumn. It is very difficult to be successful with cuttings. Choose ripe shoots between 9 to 15cm (4 to 6in) long using a knife - leave part of the main stem (a heel) on the cutting. Trim so that only three or for leaves remain and place the cutting in a small pot filled with potting compost. Label the plant and place it in a site with no direct sunlight (a cold frame is ideal). One essential is high humidity, so a heated propagator offers the best chance of success. The cutting will have rooted after one year or so.
Layering is done as normal. Simply bend a stem down to the ground. Using a penknife, make a small nick in the stem where it touches the soil. Cover the stem with soil and secure it there with stones or wire it down. Shoots should appear in six to twelve months. The best time to layer is in spring.
I find them really easy from stem cuttings, though also layer them, pegging some of their lower shoots down into the ground. They often do this naturally too, as a means of spreading. Sever the pegged down plant when well rooted, perhaps the next year.
Otherwise, they do flower and set seeds readily: I have a ton of them that a neighbor has been digging up, as the branches overhang and the birds eat the berries and drop the seeds elsewhere. If yours isn't flowering yet, as it's a small plant, then look out for friends with bushes, and take seeds in autumn. The seeds may benefit from an overwintering chill, although you can mimic this, by putting some seeds in a plastic bag, inside your refrigerator, for a couple of months.
This years seedlings are about 6'' high, some growing through driveway cracks - they're pretty hardy plants.
Overall, take some semi-rip cuttings, about 6'' long. Dip into hormone rooting powder or gel, and insert into compost, part grit, part peat or similar. Cover with a polythene bag, to retain moisture, keep out of harsh direct sunlight for a couple of months, though with good light, and you should find 75% rooting success, potentially more. Best of luck with them.
Bay Laurel(Laurus nobilis) ? That's done from cuttings . Manual of Woody Landscape Plants : " Easily rooted from summer (July-August) cuttings." Good timing ;D
or
Mountain Laurel ( Kalmia latifolia) ? One of the most difficult plants to propogate . Seeds are the best bet . Again from MoWLP: Sow directly on peat under lights . Continuous lighting @ 77F, resulted in 90 % germination, in 18 days .
you need to cut a small part of the plant that comes out from the V part of the stalk,it will be a small branch,cut off some of the leaves and put the cutting in some rootone then in a steel woolcube happy cloneing
More Related Questions & Answers...