A Detailed Guide to Propagating Red Loropetalum from Cuttings

Red loropetalum (see detailed description) is mainly distributed across the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and regions to the south. Its flowers, roots and leaves can all be used medicinally, which is why so many plant lovers adore it. Common propagation methods for red loropetalum include grafting, cuttings and sowing. Here, the editor introduces the cutting propagation method for red loropetalum, so fellow enthusiasts can learn about it together.

Red loropetalum (see detailed description)

Choose field soil or dryland soil that drains well, receives plenty of sunlight, and has a deep, fertile layer, and build a cutting bed 1.5 m wide, 10 cm high and as long as the terrain allows. The best medium is a mix of 50% fine yellow clay, 10% moist sandy soil and 40% rice-hull ash. From healthy mother plants, select stout, plump, well-developed branches with raised nodes and clearly protruding buds. According to the degree of lignification of the branches, cuttings fall into three types: softwood cuttings (or green cuttings), hardwood cuttings and old-wood cuttings. Cuttings usually have 4-5 nodes and are about 10 cm long, with 1-2 leaves kept at the top and the base cut into a horse-ear shape. Then treat them for 5-30 minutes in a rooting agent such as 300 ppm naphthaleneacetic acid, 200-300 ppm ABT or 300-500 ppm indoleacetic acid, and insert them immediately into the moist medium, to a depth of 1/2-2/3 of the cutting length. After inserting, water thoroughly with a fine-hole watering can, then cover with plastic film to seal it, keeping the bed at high temperature, high humidity and with appropriate light and ventilation. After 20-30 days, callus tissue forms at the wound at the lower end of the cutting, a large number of small roots sprout from it, and new shoots and leaves emerge inside the bed. After 50 days, more than 90% have rooted, and the film can then be removed. Generally the seedlings reach 15-20 cm tall in the same year and have 2-3 branches, and can be transplanted.

Propagation Methods for Red Loropetalum

Red loropetalum has fairly strong adaptability, tolerating cold, drought and pruning, and it is also very well suited to wiring and shaping. Nowadays many plant lovers grow red loropetalum as potted plants indoors, which has a special charm of its own. Growing red loropetalum is not difficult, and it can be propagated by sowing, cuttings, grafting and air layering, all with very high survival rates.

Red Loropetalum

I. Propagating Red Loropetalum by Sowing:Select healthy 9-10-year-old mature plants, and from late September to early October, when the capsules have not yet split open, pick them in batches. After picking, remove the shells, take the seeds and sow them. Autumn-winter sowing is done in November-December, while spring sowing is best done in early March. Before sowing, soak the seeds in warm water for 1-2 days, or soak them in 500 ppm gibberellin for 30 minutes. Choose well-drained, fertile, loose sandy loam or yellow loam and make a seedbed 1.2 m wide and 15 cm high, then sow in spots at a spacing of 5 cm x 10 cm. After sowing, cover with fine yellow soil and sand to a thickness of 1.5 cm, and on top add a cover of cogon grass. Seedlings generally emerge in about 25 days; during this period, watch out for damping-off disease. When the seedlings grow to about 15 cm, they can be transplanted. They flower after 2-3 years of growth and bear fruit after 5-6 years. Seedling leaves show a serious reversion to green, so seedlings are mostly not used for nursery stock production but mainly for variety breeding.

II. Propagating Red Loropetalum by Cuttings:Choose field soil or dryland soil that drains well, receives plenty of sunlight, and has a deep, fertile layer, and build a cutting bed 1.5 m wide, 10 cm high and as long as the terrain allows. The best medium is a mix of 50% fine yellow clay, 10% moist sandy soil and 40% rice-hull ash. From healthy mother plants, select stout, plump, well-developed branches with raised nodes and clearly protruding buds. According to the degree of lignification of the branches, cuttings fall into three types: softwood cuttings (or green cuttings), hardwood cuttings and old-wood cuttings. Cuttings usually have 4-5 nodes and are about 10 cm long, with 1-2 leaves kept at the top and the base cut into a horse-ear shape. Then treat them for 5-30 minutes in a rooting agent such as 300 ppm naphthaleneacetic acid, 200-300 ppm ABT or 300-500 ppm indoleacetic acid, and insert them immediately into the moist medium, to a depth of 1/2-2/3 of the cutting length. After inserting, water thoroughly with a fine-hole watering can, then cover with plastic film to seal it, keeping the bed at high temperature, high humidity and with appropriate light and ventilation. After 20-30 days, callus tissue forms at the wound at the lower end of the cutting, a large number of small roots sprout from it, and new shoots and leaves emerge inside the bed. After 50 days, more than 90% have rooted, and the film can then be removed. Generally the seedlings reach 15-20 cm tall in the same year and have 2-3 branches, and can be transplanted.

III. Propagating Red Loropetalum by Grafting:Red loropetalum and Chinese loropetalum (Loropetalum chinense) have exceptionally strong compatibility with each other. Grafting is often used to create red loropetalum bonsai and large-sized red loropetalum landscaping stock. The commonly used methods are: 1. Cleft grafting: spring and autumn are the suitable seasons for grafting. From the middle and upper parts of healthy mother trees, select one-year-old or current-year shoots with plump, well-filled buds and a certain thickness; depending on the length of the internodes, each scion is generally best with 2-3 buds and a total length of 2-2.5 cm. Choose the flat side as the long cut surface, shaving off the bark with a thin layer of wood, 1.5-1.6 cm long, at an angle of about 15 degrees. The short cut surface is on the opposite side of the long cut surface, one third the length of the long cut surface, at an angle of about 60 degrees. The cut on the rootstock branch must be smooth and slightly slanted to one side. First make an angled cut upward on the lower slanted side, then cut straight down along the wood for 1.5-1.6 cm, then insert the prepared scion with its long cut surface facing inward and aligned with the cambium; if the size difference between rootstock and scion is large, align the cambium on one side. Then wrap and tie with a strip of plastic film, and put a plastic bag over the upper part of the scion. When the rootstock is many times larger than the scion, the mud-ball sealing method can be used: after grafting, wrap and bind with a plastic strip but do not seal the top, then at the junction of rootstock and scion, knead moist fine yellow clay into a long oval mud ball, wrap it tightly with a 5-cun long, 4-cun wide piece of plastic film, wind string around it, and leave only a few leaves exposed outside the mud ball. This isolates the scion in the mud ball from the hot, dry outside climate, raising the survival rate and extending the grafting period. 2. Bud grafting: this method is often carried out in summer and autumn, and the common bud grafts are the T-shape and H-shape. At the chosen bud position, cut a T or H shape deep enough to reach the wood, gently pry open the bark to separate it from the wood, then on the scion branch cut off the leaf below that bud, leaving only the leaf stalk, cut the bud into a shield-shaped bud piece with a thin layer of wood, about 1-1.2 cm long, then insert it into the T-shaped or H-shaped cut on the rootstock, leaving the leaf stalk outside when wrapping. After 7-8 days, touch the leaf stalk lightly with a finger; if it falls off at once, the graft has taken. Management of grafted seedlings: once they have taken, untie and remove the plastic film, promptly remove sprouts and cut back the rootstock, strengthen loosening of the soil and weeding, pay attention to drainage and irrigation in dry seasons, apply fertilizer at the right times and in the right amounts, and carry out initial pinching and shaping as needed.

IV. Propagating Red Loropetalum by Air Layering:When a bud sport is found on a red loropetalum plant, or when stout branches of red loropetalum are used to grow small stock for miniature and mini bonsai, the mud-bag plus ABT(2) ring-barking air-layering method is often used. In mid-April, the width of the ring bark is 3-5 times the diameter of the layered branch, the ABT(2) concentration is 50 ppm, and the plastic-film mud bag used has a diameter 3-5 times the diameter of the layered branch and a height 6-8 cm greater than the ring-bark width; the top of the bag is tied tightly to strictly prevent rain from seeping in. Cut it off in October of the same year and plant it in the nursery; the survival rate is 80%-90%.

Propagation Methods for Red Loropetalum