Detailed Explanation of Chinese Holly Bonsai Planting Methods and Cultivation Management Points

Chinese holly (Ilex cornuta) is an evergreen tree of the genus Ilex in the family Aquifoliaceae, also known as cat's thorn, tiger thorn, etc. It is produced in the Yangtze River basin of China, parts of the Qinling Mountains and areas to the south, grows very slowly, and is mostly found scattered on hillsides, valleys, and in mixed forests or thickets by streams. It is cultivated in Qingdao and Jinan, Shandong, and has high cultivation value. Let us take a look at the cultivation techniques of Chinese holly together!

Growth Habits of Chinese Holly

Chinese holly is produced in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces and regions. It is cultivated in gardens in cities such as Kunming, Yunnan, and also cultivated in botanical gardens in some European and American countries. It likes light, tolerates slight shade, prefers a warm climate and fertile, moist, well-drained slightly acidic soil, has weak cold tolerance, adapts well to urban environments, has strong resistance to harmful gases, grows slowly, has strong sprouting ability, and tolerates pruning.

Propagation Techniques of Chinese Holly

1. Sowing: For Chinese holly, mature seeds can be collected from September to October. The seeds need 3 months of after-ripening before they can germinate. Store them stratified in sand and sow in March to April of the following year, with a relatively high germination rate. For varieties of Chinese holly with colored markings, seedlings will show atavism and the leaf color will turn green.

2. Cuttings: Chinese holly can be propagated by hardwood or softwood cuttings. Generally, softwood cuttings are taken during the rainy season, with a high survival rate. Cuttings are cut from plants with abundant fruit and robust growth, 12-15 cm long, inserted 8-10 cm deep, and shaded and kept moist after insertion. To promote rooting and improve the propagation effect of cuttings, certain treatments should be applied to the cuttings before insertion. If conditions permit, using ABT No. 2 rooting powder during cutting can greatly increase the rooting rate.

3. Grafting: Grafting propagation of Chinese holly is mainly used for propagating varieties with colored markings on the leaves. It is usually carried out before spring sprouting, using Chinese holly as the rootstock, with the cut grafting method or bud grafting method, and the survival rate is high.

Planting Techniques of Chinese Holly

1. Transplanting: Chinese holly can be transplanted in spring and autumn, with spring March to April or autumn transplanting with soil balls being better. Because Chinese holly has few fibrous roots, special care must be taken during operation to prevent the soil ball from breaking apart, and some branches and leaves should be pruned to reduce transpiration, otherwise it will be difficult to survive.

2. Watering: During the vigorous growth period of Chinese holly, frequent watering is needed. Generally, the potting soil should be kept moist but not waterlogged. In summer, water should often be sprayed on the leaves to facilitate evaporation and cooling.

3. Fertilizing: For Chinese holly, generally apply dilute cake fertilizer water once every 2 weeks in spring, topdress once a month in autumn, no fertilizing in summer, and fertilize once in winter.

4. Pruning: Chinese holly has strong sprouting ability and is very tolerant of pruning. For finished bonsai works, unnecessary water sprouts, sprouting branches and excess buds can be pruned regularly to maintain a certain tree shape. For tree material that needs processing, a certain number of branches can be retained as needed to facilitate shaping.

5. Repotting: Chinese holly bonsai is usually repotted once every 2-3 years, often in spring from February to March, or after autumn when the tree enters dormancy. When repotting, some old roots can be trimmed, sufficient base fertilizer applied, 1/2 of the old soil retained, and the plant repotted.

Methods and Key Points for Planting, Cultivation and Management of Chinese Holly Trees

Chinese holly trees remain evergreen through winter and are an excellent foliage and fruit ornamental tree species. At the same time, Chinese holly trees also have high medicinal value. The leaves, fruits and roots can all be used medicinally, and the planting value is high. So, how should Chinese holly trees be planted? The methods and key points for planting, cultivation and management of Chinese holly trees are introduced below.

Image: Chinese holly tree

I. Cultivation Methods of Chinese Holly Trees

1. Sowing:For Chinese holly trees, mature seeds can be collected from September to October. The seeds need 3 months of after-ripening before they can germinate. Store them stratified in sand and sow in March to April of the following year, with a relatively high germination rate. For varieties of Chinese holly trees with colored markings, seedlings will show atavism and the leaf color will turn green.

2. Cuttings:Chinese holly trees can be propagated by hardwood or softwood cuttings. Generally, softwood cuttings are taken during the rainy season, with a high survival rate. Cuttings are cut from plants with abundant fruit and robust growth, 12-15 cm long, inserted 8-10 cm deep, and shaded and kept moist after insertion. To promote rooting and improve the propagation effect of cuttings, certain treatments should be applied to the cuttings before insertion. If conditions permit, using ABT No. 2 rooting powder during cutting can greatly increase the rooting rate.

3. Grafting:Grafting propagation of Chinese holly trees is mainly used for propagating varieties with colored markings on the leaves. It is usually carried out before spring sprouting, using Chinese holly trees as the rootstock, with the cut grafting method or bud grafting method, and the survival rate is high.

Image: Chinese holly tree

II. Key Management Points for Chinese Holly Trees

1. Transplanting:Chinese holly trees can be transplanted in spring and autumn, with spring March to April or autumn transplanting with soil balls being better. Because Chinese holly trees have few fibrous roots, special care must be taken during operation to prevent the soil ball from breaking apart, and some branches and leaves should be pruned to reduce transpiration, otherwise it will be difficult to survive.

2. Temperature:It likes warmth, and the most suitable temperature for growth is 13-18°C. It has strong cold tolerance and can endure low temperatures of -8°C in winter. When potted, its cold resistance weakens. When the winter temperature is below 0°C, it is best to move the potted plant indoors to overwinter. It is also not adapted to high-temperature summer weather, and plant growth slows when the temperature is above 35°C.

3. Light:It likes sufficient sunlight and is also very shade-tolerant.

4. Watering:During the vigorous growth period of Chinese holly trees, frequent watering is needed. Generally, the potting soil should be kept moist but not waterlogged. In summer, water should often be sprayed on the leaves to facilitate evaporation and cooling.

5. Fertilizing:For Chinese holly trees, generally apply dilute cake fertilizer water once every 2 weeks in spring, topdress once a month in autumn, no fertilizing in summer, and fertilize once in winter.

Image: Chinese holly tree

6. Pruning:Chinese holly trees have strong sprouting ability and are very tolerant of pruning. For finished bonsai works, unnecessary water sprouts, sprouting branches and excess buds can be pruned regularly to maintain a certain tree shape. For tree material that needs processing, a certain number of branches can be retained as needed to facilitate shaping.

7. Repotting:Chinese holly tree bonsai is usually repotted once every 2-3 years, often in spring from February to March, or after autumn when the tree enters dormancy. When repotting, some old roots can be trimmed, sufficient base fertilizer applied, 1/2 of the old soil retained, and the plant repotted.

8. Pest and Disease Control:There are pests and diseases such as tar spot disease, leaf spot disease, powdery mildew and scale insects.

[Editor's Conclusion]Chinese holly likes fertile acidic soil and is not tolerant of saline-alkaline soil, which requires special attention during care. The above has introduced the methods and key points for planting, cultivation and management of Chinese holly trees for everyone, hoping it can help everyone!

Key Points for Autumn Flower Cultivation and Management

China Landscape Web, October 15 news: All flowers that have passed through the high-temperature season enter another growth peak in autumn. At this time, sunlight is sufficient and the temperature is suitable, so the supply of fertilizer and water nutrients should be increased, so that flower plants have a strong nutritional body before winter arrives.

General Care Measures

1. Strengthen Fertilizer and Water Management

Apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizer to flowers that go dormant in winter. Flowers that do not go dormant in winter can still be given nitrogen fertilizer, especially foliage plants, which should still be given fertilizer mainly based on nitrogen fertilizer. However, when applying, attention should be paid to combining it with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Reasonable application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can improve the cold resistance of flowers. Plants that bloom in winter, such as cineraria, pocketbook plant, cyclamen, poinsettia, and wintersweet, are in the vegetative growth period in early autumn and should be given fertilizer mainly based on nitrogen fertilizer. In late autumn, most are in the bud stage, and when fertilizing such flowers, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer should be the main component with nitrogen fertilizer as a supplement. Too much nitrogen fertilizer is not conducive to winter flowering. For flowers and nursery stock planted in the open field, generally do not water unless the soil is dry, and when watering, water thoroughly. Potted flowers should be watered frequently and thoroughly, and it is not advisable to water only half-way, forming wet top and dry bottom, which affects root growth; excessive watering should also be prevented to avoid root rot. After entering autumn, the supply of water should be controlled to promote the maturation of new shoots, avoiding flowers and nursery stock from sprouting new shoots in late autumn and winter, which is not conducive to overwintering. However, in early or mid-autumn, due to higher temperatures, flowers and nursery stock sprout new shoots. During this period, water should be supplied sufficiently to ensure that new shoots can grow and mature in time. In autumn, watering time should be in the morning and afternoon. The purpose is to make the water temperature close to the soil temperature, which is conducive to absorption and avoids damaging the root system.

2. Pay Attention to Flowering Period Regulation

Many flowers are arranged to bloom during New Year's Day and Spring Festival, so forced cultivation or inhibited cultivation should be carried out. For example, baby's breath is a long-day flower and is required to bloom in winter, so supplementary lighting must begin in early September, generally adding 4 hours of light from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., for 1 consecutive month. Chrysanthemum is a short-day flower, and supplementary lighting is also necessary to delay its flowering. Supplementary lighting also starts from early to mid-September and stops 50 days before the expected flowering. For some warmth-loving flowers, such as anthurium, bird of paradise, and phalaenopsis, note that heating should be added when the average daily temperature is below 15°C. For lily cultivation in autumn and winter, in addition to heating at low temperatures, supplementary lighting is also needed to prevent hidden buds.

3. Strengthen Pest and Disease Control

The main pests in autumn include: for carnation and baby's breath, prevent cabbage caterpillars; for African daisy, prevent spider mites; for chrysanthemum, prevent cabbage caterpillars and aphids; for lily, prevent aphids, etc. Main diseases: chrysanthemum leaf spot disease, rose black spot disease and powdery mildew, carnation leaf spot disease, African daisy spot disease, etc. Diseases should be mainly prevented, paying attention to ventilation, reducing air humidity in the greenhouse, increasing the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, improving plant disease resistance, and spraying chemicals for protection and control.

4. Intertillage and Weeding

Intertillage can loosen the surface soil, reduce water evaporation, increase soil moisture, promote air circulation in the soil and decomposition of nutrients, and create good conditions for flower root growth and nutrient absorption. Weeding can avoid weeds competing with flowers for soil nutrients, water and sunlight. Intertillage can weed at the same time, but weeding cannot replace intertillage. The depth of intertillage is generally 3 to 5 cm. At the same time, intertillage and weeding can also help prevent pests and diseases and reduce the probability of pest and disease occurrence in the coming year.

5. Shaping and Pruning

Autumn shaping and pruning should mainly be "light", avoiding excessive "heavy" pruning that causes weakened tree vigor and even dead seedlings. Pruning methods mainly include pinching and branch pruning. Focus on the natural form of the plant and shape it as needed. Among them, tree species mainly rely on branch pruning, highlighting the trunk, ensuring the trunk reaches a certain height before allowing it to branch; shrubs mainly rely on pinching to maintain their original shape or promote the formation of an ideal shape and expand their crown width. Shaping and pruning can improve the quality of flowers.

Management of Garden Field-Planted Flowers

1. Transplanting

For the arrangement of newly built courtyards or the renovation of old courtyards, field-planted flowers can also be transplanted provided they are with good soil balls. Transplanting requires intensive pruning, and strengthened watering and shading management, to ensure that transplanting is completely successful.

2. Pruning and Pinching

Continue to prune vigorously growing and strongly sprouting courtyard hedges and spherical ornamental plants. This is also the last pruning in the growing season for courtyard hedges and spherical plants in northern China in autumn. Courtyard hedges and color-block plants suitable for pruning mainly include: boxwood species, French holly, Photinia davidsoniae, privet, small-leaf privet, red-leaf barberry, golden-leaf privet, golden-edged Platycladus orientalis, etc. Spherical ornamental plants suitable for pruning include: dragon juniper, Sabina chinensis 'Pyramidalis', bayberry, Chinese holly, wintergreen, photinia, pittosporum, firethorn, forsythia, etc. Field-planted herbaceous flowers that can be pinched include: scarlet sage, globe amaranth, sulfur cosmos, Kochia scoparia, marigold, French marigold, etc. Pinching should be done once every 10 days to promote a full plant shape and produce more inflorescences on side shoots. Stop pinching after late September.

3. Seed Collection

The woody ornamental plants from which seeds can be collected are mainly flowering trees of the Magnoliaceae family. Magnoliaceae, as well as Taxus chinensis, horse chestnut, crabapple species, etc., after seed treatment, must be stored in wet sand until early spring of the following year, and sown after the seeds crack. Herbaceous flower seeds that can be collected include: marigold, zinnia, impatiens, four o'clock flower, cockscomb, periwinkle, strawflower, China aster, etc. After collection, thresh in time and store dry until spring of the following year for sowing.

Management of Courtyard Potted Flowers

1. Pruning

For potted chrysanthemums, continue to do a good job of bud removal and disbudding; for rose, pomegranate, Aglaia odorata, jasmine, Chloranthus spicatus, bougainvillea, Lantana camara, Pachystachys lutea, coral flower, etc., prune after each flowering; for those tree stump bonsai types that are tolerant of pruning, easy to sprout, and grow vigorously, continue to prune or pinch buds.

2. Pest and Disease Control

Pests and diseases of autumn flowers are somewhat reduced compared with summer, so pest and disease management should focus on prevention. For peach red-necked longhorn beetles appearing on potted plum, crabapple, longevity peach, ornamental peach and other plants, poison sticks can be inserted to block and kill them, or carbofuran granules can be buried for control. For Japanese wax scale, cottony cushion scale, armored scale, felt scale, etc. appearing on potted flowering plants, use 40% Supracide 1500 times solution for control.