Gardenia: Learn This One Trick and One Flower Easily Becomes Ten

Gardenia has been famous for a long time, and surely everyone has heard of its fine reputation. So, how much do you know about gardenia propagation methods?

Today, let's take a detailed look at how to propagate gardenias!

A wide-mouth bottle or a container with a fairly large opening; a foam board; clean water; one well-growing gardenia plant.

① Cut a gardenia branch about 10 cm long that is vigorous and free of pests and diseases, keeping only 2 to 3 leaves; if the branch exudes sap, it is best to place it in a cool place to dry.

② If using a wide-mouth bottle or similar container, simply insert the prepared branch into the container, with the leaves exposed outside the bottle. In addition, pay attention to the water in the bottle; it is best to change it once every 1 to 2 days, as keeping the water clean can increase the survival rate.

③ Place it in a warm spot with good light, ventilation, and no direct sunlight; the innermost part of a balcony is a very good choice.

④ After 1 to 2 months, we can see it grow 2 or 3 very long white roots. At this point, take the branch out and bury it in a flower pot, then water and fertilize it according to the normal method of growing gardenias.

⑤ If doing water rooting in a water vat, pond, or similar place, first punch small holes in the prepared foam board at a certain row spacing and plant spacing, then insert the prepared branches one by one into the holes.

At the same time, make sure the water stays clean. Once the roots reach 3 cm, they can be transplanted into a flower pot.

When water rooting, you can insert several more branches to guard against branch death, and the chance of success will be higher. In addition, water rooting is best done in spring when it is not cold.

One pot of a well-growing 3-year-old mother gardenia plant; the flower pot prepared for transplanting and fertile, loose, well-drained acidic soil.

① Select a vigorous branch, preferably one 25 to 30 cm long, for layering. If the selected branch has a three-pronged fork, you can layer at the fork, and after propagation you can get three seedlings at once.

② Bend down the lower part of the selected branch on the mother plant, then bury it in the soil with the tip exposed, and fix it with a bamboo pole so it grows upright. It usually roots in 20 to 30 days and can be separated from the mother plant in June. By the following spring, it can be divided, or it can be directly potted on its own.

① Seed selection: Choose plump, deep-red ripe fruits, dry them in the sun or in the shade together with the shell to use as seeds. Before sowing, cut open the fruit skin with scissors, dig out the seeds, rub them apart in hot water, remove floating seeds or impurities, then scoop out the sunken plump seeds, spread them on a bamboo mat, and place them in a ventilated spot to dry off excess moisture before sowing.

② Site selection: Choose deep, loose, fertile sandy loam and level it smooth.

① It is mostly done in spring, as spring is suitable for plant growth and sprouting. Alternatively, sow around the Autumn Equinox in autumn.

② Mix the prepared seeds with wood ash, then sow them evenly on the soil, cover them level with fine soil or burnt soil, and finally cover with grass and sprinkle water. During the seed growth period, keep the soil moist at all times to help seedlings emerge.

③ Gardenia seeds sprout about 20 days after sowing. After sprouting, remove the covering grass, thin the seedlings when they grow 2 to 3 true leaves, and keep the container free of weeds.

④ Apply appropriate topdressing. For autumn sowing, do it 2 to 3 times in the first year, and once each in spring, summer, and autumn of the second year; for spring sowing, do it once each in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. For autumn-sown seedlings cultivated until late autumn or early winter of the second year, they can be planted out when the seedlings are over 30 cm tall; for spring-sown ones, they can be planted out when the seedlings reach 30 cm in spring of the second year.

In the north, cuttings can be taken in a greenhouse from October to November; in the south, cuttings can be taken anytime from April to the Start of Autumn, but the survival rate is highest between summer and autumn.

① For the cuttings, choose healthy 2-year-old branches 10-12 cm long, remove the lower leaves, and cut the lower end into a 45-degree slanted face.

② Tie every 20 to 30 cuttings into small bundles, dip the slanted cut into a 0.05% rooting powder solution or 0.05% naphthaleneacetic acid solution for 15 seconds, then take them out and let the liquid dry.

③ Insert the prepared branches into sand with a row spacing of 20 to 25 cm and a plant spacing of 7 to 8 cm, inserting the slanted cut two-thirds of the way into the soil, firm it and water it, and set up a low shade shed for shading.

④ Under conditions of 80% relative humidity and a temperature of 20 to 24°C, roots can form in about 15 days.After the young seedlings have rooted, they can be transplanted into flower pots.

Gardenias often grow many suckers around the root zone, so what we need is a pot of vigorous gardenia that has already grown suckers.

① Each year in early spring or late autumn to early winter, choose a vigorously growing plant.

② Dig away the surface soil around it, carefully observe the suckers, check their direction, and following the natural spacing of the roots, separate the suckers from where they connect to the mother root with your hands or a sharp knife along the gaps, then separate them out to plant as seedlings.