What are the cultivation methods for camellias? A detailed explanation of the latest care techniques

The camellia has a beautiful form, rich and glossy leaves, and lovely, brilliantly colorful flowers. It is one of the world's famous flowers, and is also the provincial flower of Yunnan Province, the city flower of Chongqing, Ningbo in Zhejiang Province and other cities, and the prefectural flower of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. As early as the Sui and Tang dynasties, the cultivation of Chinese camellia had already entered the imperial court. So how should camellias be cultivated to do well? Let's share the cultivation methods for camellias below:

The growing environment for camellias

The suitable temperature for camellia growth is between 15 and 32°C, and a certain temperature difference is required. The environmental humidity should be above 60%. Most varieties can tolerate a low temperature of -8°C (natural overwintering; Yunnan camellias are slightly less cold-tolerant), and in areas south of the Huaihe River they can generally overwinter naturally. The cultivation soil for camellias should be on the acidic side and should also have good air permeability. To facilitate the development of root hairs, peat, rotted sawdust, red soil, humus soil, or a mixed substrate of the above can usually be used for cultivation. Camellias require stronger light than rhododendrons. In spring, autumn and winter, no shading is needed, while in summer 50% shading can be used.

1. Light and temperature: Camellia is a long-day plant. Flower buds can only form in an environment with a day length of 12 hours. The optimal growth temperature is 18-25°C, and the optimal flowering temperature is 10-20°C. Above 35°C, the leaves will be scorched. It is not cold-tolerant, so in winter it should be moved indoors and the temperature kept at 3-5°C. It can also endure a short period of -10°C, but it cannot be kept above 16°C for a long time, otherwise it will be prompted to sprout and cause leaf drop. During the growing period, it should be placed in a semi-shaded environment and should not receive excessively strong direct sunlight. In particular, shading should be carried out in summer and autumn, or it should be placed in a dappled shade under trees.

2. Watering and fertilizing: Camellias have relatively high requirements for fertilizer and water, and both neutral and alkaline loam soils are unfavorable for their growth. In the north, special attention should be paid to acidifying alkaline water before it can be used to water the flowers. The specific method is to store tap water for 2 days so that the chlorine in the water volatilizes, then add an appropriate amount of ferrous sulfate (about 0.5% of the water). The amount of water should not be too large, otherwise the roots are prone to rot. The potting soil should also not be dry, otherwise the roots are prone to shriveling due to water loss. It is advisable to keep the potting soil and the surrounding environment moist. Do not spray water during the flowering period. For fertilizing, thin alum fertilizer water is good, and concentrated fertilizer should be avoided. Generally, after sprouting in spring, apply a thin fertilizer solution once every 17 days; in summer, apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizers; in early autumn, fertilizer can be stopped for about 1 month; before flowering, apply alum fertilizer water again; and when flowering, apply quick-acting phosphorus and potassium fertilizers again, so that the flowers are large and brightly colored and the flowering period is long.

Propagation methods for camellias

There are many propagation methods for camellias, and both sexual propagation and asexual propagation can be used. Among them, cutting and approach grafting are the most commonly used.

1. Cutting propagation: Cutting propagation is the simplest. The most suitable time for cuttings is September, and spring is also acceptable. Choose well-grown, semi-lignified branches, remove the leaves at the base, keep the upper 3 leaves, cut a slanted opening with a sharp knife, immediately soak the cut end in 200-500 ppm indolebutyric acid for 5-15 minutes, dry it in the sun, then insert it into a sand pot or vermiculite pot. After insertion and watering, the wound heals in about 40 days and roots form in about 60 days. Cuttings treated with hormones root 2-3 months earlier than those not treated with hormones. When vermiculite is used as the cutting bed, rooting is also much faster than in a sand bed.

2. Approach grafting propagation: Choose an appropriate variety such as teacup camellia or oil tea as the rootstock, and approach graft a valuable camellia onto it. The time for approach grafting is generally between Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. First plant the rootstock in a flowerpot, use a knife to cut away about half at the parts to be joined respectively, the cuts should be smooth, then make the cut surfaces of both sides fit tightly together, wrap with plastic film, and water the rootstock twice a day. After 60 days, it can heal. At that time, it can be cut off and planted, and placed under tree shade to avoid direct sunlight. In February of the following year, use a knife to cut off the tail part of the rootstock, and then plant it in its final position.

3. Leaf cutting propagation: For camellia propagation by leaf cutting, branch cuttings are generally used, but for some valuable varieties, due to restrictions on the source of branches, or considering that taking material will affect their tree shape, leaf cutting is also used. Use mountain soil as the cutting substrate, and 1/3 river sand can be mixed in to facilitate aeration and drainage. Put the substrate in a clay pot, then carry out pot insertion. Leaf cutting is best done in the rainy season. Take one-year-old leaves as leaf cutting material; too old ones do not easily root, and too tender ones easily rot. Insert about 2 cm into the soil, press the soil firmly after insertion, water thoroughly, then place in a cool and ventilated place. Generally, roots can develop in 3 months, and in the spring of the following year they can sprout and send out branches.

4. High-layer cutting propagation: The greatest feature of the aerial layering method is that it can give new life to all the weak and small branches on the camellia that should originally have been pruned off. Moreover, this method has a high survival rate, quick rejuvenation, and early flowering. The method is: on the thin and weak branches that need to be pruned off, carry out girdling at an appropriate position (generally 15-25 cm of branch can be left on the upper part). The girdling length can be between 5 and 8 mm. Tie on a suitably sized plastic film, add sterilized and disinfected grass peat soil or leaf mold into the film, and after 7-10 days, girdle another 5-8 mm at the lower part of the plastic film. This is called the double-ring high-layer cutting method.

5. Tree grafting propagation: Camellia is a plant that is relatively difficult to keep alive. There are many and varied propagation methods for camellias, among which grafting is the most commonly used. Grafting camellias has many advantages: it can maintain the excellent traits of the variety; it can accelerate plant growth, enable it to take shape quickly, and allow large-scale production; it saves scion wood, especially for rare varieties with few sources of scion wood, which is particularly important; the technique for grafting camellias onto oil tea trees is as follows.

① Grafting time: The suitable grafting time is between June and July. At this time, the leaves of the new shoots of the camellia scions have already unfolded, and the temperature is relatively high, so the grafting wounds heal quickly and the survival rate is high.

② Grafting method: Use the cut grafting method among branch grafting methods. Because the grafting site is relatively high, we often call it “high grafting to change the head”.

After reading about the growing environment and propagation methods of camellias, please follow the editor next to take a look at the cultivation methods for camellias!