How does barberry reproduce?
Barberry is a beautiful ornamental shrub from which hedges are made. Berries and leaves of barberry are widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of various diseases. In addition, tasty and healthy jam is prepared from them or added as a spice to meat and fish.
At home, barberry is easy to reproduce. Depending on the variety, the shrub can be propagated in the following way:
- seeds;
- cuttings;
- young layering;
- dividing the bush.
In order to preserve all varietal characteristics during the propagation of barberry by layering or cuttings, grafting is carried out with an eye.
Sowing seeds
All varieties of barberry that have seeds reproduce by seeds. To do this, choose pulp from ripe berries, rinse the seeds in a weak solution of potassium permanganate and dry slightly so that they do not stick together.
Seeds are sown in the ground:
- Autumn. Pour sand into grooves up to 3 cm deep and sow seeds on top. Mulch the beds with sawdust. In early spring, gently rake the mulch and cover the crops with foil until they sprout.
- In the spring. So that the seeds collected in the fall are preserved until the spring planting, they are stored in the refrigerator, after placing them in a box or tray with sand. Seeds sown in spring germinate in early summer.
After the formation of two real leaves, the seedlings need to dive, and pinch the roots. Young barberry bushes will be ready for transplanting in one to two years.
When propagated by seeds, there is a risk of losing varietal traits in young plants; besides, barberry seeds are characterized by low germination.
Cuttings
At the beginning of summer, cut cuttings with 4 buds from lateral, already lignified shoots. The length of the cutting should be no more than 20 cm. In the lower part of the cutting, remove the leaves and process it with a root. Fill the containers with a mixture of sand and peat, plant the cuttings and cover them with foil.
Periodically ventilate and spray the cuttings before they take root. After the shoots begin to grow and form roots, plant them in separate pots and send them to the greenhouse, and with the arrival of spring, they can be planted in open ground.
You can propagate barberry by cuttings in early spring. In this case, the cuttings are cut before the start of sap flow and they are kept in the refrigerator until the ground warms up. Then immediately, without rooting, they are planted.
Those who have chosen this breeding method should take into account that barberry cuttings take root very slowly. To speed up the process, they should be treated with stimulants.
Reproduction by layering
In order to get the rooted layers by the fall, they are added dropwise in the spring. Make a groove near the old bush and lay a young (no older than 1 year old) shoot in it so that only the upper part protrudes above the soil.
Some barberry varieties give a lot of root growth. Having chosen and planted the strongest shoots, in two years they get a full-fledged young seedling.
Division of the mother bush
If the site already has a healthy barberry bush of a suitable variety, you can use it to plant several young plants. To do this, carefully dig up an adult barberry and divide it into parts. Too large and strong roots are cut off with a special saw.