Detailed Explanation of Camellia Cutting Propagation Methods and Grafting Techniques

Camellia, also known as camellia, is an evergreen shrub or small tree with a long lifespan, brilliant flower colors, and numerous varieties, making it one of the traditional precious woody flowering plants. However, its seedling cultivation is highly technical. Based on expert practice, various seedling cultivation methods are introduced below for everyone's reference.

I. Cutting Propagation

Due to different climate conditions in various regions, camellia cutting propagation also varies. When new shoots grow to semi-lignified status and buds begin to plump up, cuttings can be started. Generally, this runs from April to May and continues until the end of September. In southern Guangdong and Guangxi, it can also be done once earlier from late January to early February.

The cutting bed should be set up in a ventilated and shaded location. Typically, coarse-grained flower mud can be laid at the bottom of the bed, covered with clean fine sand. Gravel or crushed brick can also be laid at the bottom, covered with acidic red loam soil, to suit camellia's preference for slightly acidic soil. However, care should be taken to ensure both moisture retention and proper drainage.

For cuttings, select shoots with plump buds from vigorous, pest-free mother plants, cut a section about 7-8 cm long with leaves attached (generally should have more than two buds). Then remove the lower half of the leaves, keeping all the upper half leaves.

The insertion depth is generally about 4 cm, with cuttings spaced 5-6 cm apart. Strive to ensure the leaves of the cuttings do not overlap each other. After insertion, water thoroughly with clean water, then water 2-3 times daily, adjusting flexibly according to weather conditions.

II. Air Layering

Air layering, also called branch ringing, is best performed from May to late September. The air layering site on the camellia should be more than 15 cm from the shoot tip, and branches with more than 2 branchlets are even better. Air layering is best combined with shaping the mother plant, selecting prominent shoots on an uneven canopy. Camellia often sends out summer shoots around June; when air layering on such branches, it is best to choose the spring shoot portion below the junction of spring and summer shoots.

At the selected site, use a knife to make two ring cuts around the branch 2 cm apart, then remove the bark between the two rings. After the exposed xylem surface dries (often requiring more than 2 days), wrap the ring-cut area with mud strips made from rice straw mixed with clay, or with moss. After about 1 month, wrap the mud ball surface with a layer of transparent plastic film to retain moisture. New roots can emerge in about 3 months. Then cut it off from the mother plant, store it in a sand bed, and simply keep it moist with watering afterward.

III. Grafting

For camellia grafting rootstock, select 2-3 year old white-flowered oil camellia (Camellia oleifera) seedlings of the same genus.

1. Cleft grafting: Since cleft grafting requires cutting off the entire rootstock canopy, to maintain balanced growth afterward, cleft grafting should be done during the period when the rootstock grows slowly.

For cleft grafting, cut off the rootstock trunk 3-5 cm above ground level, then on a relatively flat side, make a slightly angled vertical cut about 2 cm long with a bit of wood, remove 3/4 of the cut-off portion, with the cut surface sloping inward.

Then, select camellia shoots with plump buds, cut a section about 3-4 cm long as the scion, remove the lower half leaves, then cut 2/3 off each of the upper half leaves. With a knife, at about 2 cm below the back of the scion bud, make a slightly inward-sloping downward cut, removing about 2/5 of the wood, then make a small slanted surface about 0.5 cm long below the back of the slanted cut.

Insert the prepared scion into the rootstock's cleft, aligning the cambium layers on both sides of the rootstock cut. If the rootstock cut is wider than the scion, shift the scion to one side to ensure cambium alignment on at least one side. Then bind tightly with plastic tape or other fiber tape, and seal with a layer of plastic film to prevent moisture loss.

After cleft grafting, camellia can heal in about 50 days. When new leaves emerge on the scion, cut open the top of the covering film. When 3-4 new leaves have grown, it is basically stable, and all wrapping can be removed.

2. Side grafting: Apart from the early shoot-growing period of March to April when shoots are too tender and buds are not yet solid, it can be done at other times.

The rootstock selection for side grafting is the same as for cleft grafting. First cut off side branches around the rootstock trunk that might interfere with the operation, keeping the rest of the canopy. Then at a point 4-5 cm above ground on the rootstock trunk, select a flat side, and from the surface make a downward inward slanted cut about 2.5 cm long, with the deepest point not exceeding 2/5 of the rootstock trunk diameter, then remove 3/4 of the cut-off portion, with the cut surface sloping inward.

The scion preparation and insertion methods for side grafting are roughly the same as for cleft grafting.

Check 40-50 days after side grafting. If healed, loosen the tightly sealed film but do not remove it entirely, and cut off about 2/3 of the rootstock canopy. When the scion grows 3-4 leaves and growth appears stable, cut off all the rootstock trunk above the scion, forming a new plant.

That is all for today's content. Tea farmers are welcome to refer to and learn from this based on actual conditions!

How to Propagate Fendan? A Brief Discussion of Fendan Propagation Methods and Cultivation Techniques

Fendan is one variety among many camellias, with pink flowers that are beautiful and captivating, making it a favorite among camellia enthusiasts. Below, the editor will discuss Fendan propagation methods and cultivation techniques.

I. Growth Habits

This variety is suitable for planting in well-drained, loose and fertile soil. The optimal growth temperature is 20-32°C, and it can tolerate -8°C low temperatures in winter. When summer temperatures reach 35°C, scorching may occur, so appropriate shading is needed. The growing medium is usually yellow soil, humus soil, peat, decomposed sawdust, or a mixed substrate.

II. Propagation Methods

1. Cutting time is April to May, or August to October. Select semi-lignified or lignified branches of the current year from young mother trees, about 5-8 cm long. Each cutting should retain one terminal bud and one lateral bud at the top, and 2-3 leaves, cutting off 2/3 of each leaf. Cut at a 45° angle at the lower end below the node. After insertion, cover with plastic film to maintain humidity, increase foliar misting, ventilate appropriately based on temperature and substrate moisture, spray a little chlorothalonil solution weekly to prevent cutting infection, and spray foliar fertilizer after cuttings root. To improve cutting survival rate, cuttings can be soaked in 0.1-0.5 g/L rooting agent ABT, NAA, or IBA for 2 hours. Roots can form in 30-45 days after insertion.

2. Grafting: Select vigorous seedlings or camellia varieties that root easily from cuttings as rootstock, then graft the scion. Keep 1-2 leaves on the scion, cut the lower part into a wedge shape, insert into the cleft split in the rootstock, ensuring close cambium contact, then bind tightly with plastic tape to shield from direct sunlight.

3. Bud cutting: Use each bud node as a section, keep one leaf, cut diagonally at the lower end, then insert into the medium, with depth just covering the branch. This method can fully utilize branches and is suitable for mass propagation needs.

III. Cultivation Techniques

1. Substrate selection: Slightly acidic, high in humus, loose and aerated red (yellow) loam soil, pH 5.5-6.5.

2. Light: Avoid high temperatures and direct sunlight. Shade appropriately in summer to prevent leaf scorching from direct sunlight.

3. Temperature: Growth temperature of 18-25°C is preferable. A sudden drop below 0°C in winter can cause frost damage. Therefore, when temperatures are too low, warmth-retaining measures should be taken to ensure safe overwintering.

4. Water and fertilizer: Because the plant has many leaves and large leaf area with rapid transpiration, sufficient water is needed. Water promptly, and drain any accumulated water in pots immediately to prevent root rot from soaking. Fertilizing is generally done before flowering in October to November, and after flowering in February to March. Main fertilizers used: decomposed cake fertilizer powder, organic fertilizer, compost, high-potassium low-nitrogen compound fertilizer. Following the principle of light but frequent fertilizing, prefer lighter over heavier, more for strong seedlings, less or none for weak seedlings, and never apply raw fertilizer.

5. Ventilation: An environment with moderate air circulation is beneficial for its growth, as well as for flower bud differentiation and flower bud development, and also helps prevent pests and diseases.

Camellia has always been a very popular flowering plant and an excellent landscaping seedling. When blooming, you can enjoy the flowers; when not blooming, you can enjoy the foliage. The above are cultivation techniques for the camellia Fendan. Remember to bookmark this!

A Brief Discussion of Methods for Treating Unhealed Graft Wounds on Camellia

Camellia is treasured by the world horticultural community for its graceful plant form, dark green glossy leaves, and colorful brilliant flowers. There are extremely many camellia varieties; it is a traditional Chinese ornamental flower, ranking eighth among the "Ten Famous Flowers," and is also one of the world's precious flowering trees. Camellia propagation generally uses two methods: cutting and grafting. Compared to cuttings, grafted camellias have unique advantages: vigorous growth, quick shaping, and early flowering. Many flower enthusiasts have purchased grafted camellias. Generally speaking, self-grafted camellias receive more meticulous grafting management than those from commercial nurseries, and wounds heal somewhat better, but incomplete healing still commonly occurs.

How to handle camellias with incompletely healed wounds (this is also quite common in purchased grafted camellias). Let me share my views on graft wound healing in camellias. Based on my several years of grafting experience, generally small rootstock grafts (rootstock 2 cm and below) can fully heal wounds in two years. Extra-small rootstocks (chopstick thickness) can show almost no wound in the same year. Rootstocks of 2-3 cm generally can fully heal in about three years.

Sometimes grafting results are not ideal, for example, grafting two scions but only one survives, or both survive but grow poorly and wounds cannot heal, or the rootstock is relatively thick and the cross-section is difficult to fully heal. These situations are all common. To enable the camellia to grow normally long-term, a small operation should be performed to help the wound heal better and faster.

A camellia with normally healed graft wounds

A camellia with incompletely healed graft wounds

Treat the camellia with incompletely healed graft wounds. As shown in the figure, first shave off a layer from the cross-section part where the wound cannot heal, then cut the edges of the hyperplastic tissue at the graft union with a knife, then wrap the wound with black plastic tape (wounds heal faster under black conditions). With just this simple treatment, it can generally fully heal the next year. After complete healing, remove the wrapping.

This is a case where two scions were grafted but only one survived. The non-surviving side was cut into a slanted surface and wrapped. Now it has basically fully healed, and the wrapping can be removed in early spring.

Camellia Cutting Propagation Methods:

This method is the simplest. The most suitable time for cutting is September, though spring also works. Select well-growing, semi-lignified branches, remove the basal leaves, keep the upper 3 leaves, cut at a slant with a sharp knife, immediately dip the cut end into 200-500 ppm indolebutyric acid for 5-15 minutes, dry in the sun, then insert into a sand pot or vermiculite pot. After insertion, water; wounds heal in about 40 days, and roots form in about 60 days. Hormone-treated cuttings root 2-3 months earlier than untreated ones. Using vermiculite as the cutting bed also results in much faster rooting than sand beds.

Summary: The above is an introduction to knowledge about camellia. We hope it is helpful to friends who grow camellias.