How to Propagate a Camphor Tree? An Introduction to Several Common Methods

The camphor tree is a common landscaping plant, cultivated in many places, so how do you propagate a camphor tree? In fact, the camphor tree is mainly propagated by seed or by cuttings. For details, see the text below.

1. Seed propagation

1. It is advisable to select camphor trees over 25 years old. Around November each year, when the fruit ripens and turns purple-black, harvest it promptly, soak it in water for 3-4 days, then rub and wash it to remove the fruit skin, then soak it in wood ash water for 1 day, take it out, wash it clean and dry it in the shade, and finally store it in a cloth bag or subject it to stratification treatment, ready for spring sowing the following year.

2. In February-March of the following year, when the ground temperature reaches about 5°C, sowing can begin. Before sowing, pretreat the seeds: soak them in 0.5% potassium permanganate for 2 hours, then soak the seeds intermittently in 50°C warm water for 3 days. This can advance sprouting by about 10 days, and the seedlings emerge uniformly. Use the drill sowing method: open furrows 3-5 cm deep, with a row spacing of 20 cm, a spacing of 3-5 cm between each seed, and a covering soil thickness of about 2 cm; the soil covering should not be too deep.

3. Place the seedling trays with the transplanted seedlings under a shade net, manage water and fertilizer intensively, and keep the bottom of the tray moist. After one week, apply a small amount of dilute manure water, and carry out a second seedling transplant after about 50 days. Choose a field with good fertility for the transplant bed; one week before transplanting, control water for the small seedlings, watering at half the normal amount; on the night before transplanting, water thoroughly once; transplant after 4 p.m. the next day or choose a cloudy day for transplanting.

2. Cutting propagation

1. For the camphor tree, using sprout shoots after felling, or root-sucker shoots of robust camphor trees, or current-year branches at 20-60 cm above the ground from 2-year-old seedling trees, the survival rate of cutting propagation can reach 70-90%. Before cutting the shoots, they should undergo girdling or ringing and softening treatment.

2. After the camphor tree cuttings are cut back, cut them again into cuttings about 4-5 cm long, keeping 1 leaf at the upper part; if the leaf is relatively large, half of it may be removed. Insert them obliquely into the bed, with a depth of half the cutting. The cutting bed is a soil bed, with the bed surface covered with about 5 cm of well-aerated subsoil; the shading degree on the seedling bed is 90%. After insertion, carry out routine management, watering once daily at 11-12 o'clock.

3. Camphor tree cuttings are best done at a temperature of 24-26°C and a humidity above 80%. From the perspective of growth and development, February-April is the beginning period of flowering, sprouting, and shoot extension and the leaf-changing period of the camphor tree; the new leaves are tender, making it difficult to select shoots, so it is not suitable for cuttings. May-October is the period of rapid new shoot growth, when current-year branches are easy to obtain, making it the most suitable for cuttings; November-December has low temperatures and is not suitable.

The camphor tree is still relatively easy to keep alive, has low demands on the environment, and is a common landscaping plant.