How to Buy Honeysuckle Seedlings and Growing Tips

Honeysuckle, also known as Shuanghua, Renzhonghua and so on, is a plant of the genus Lonicera in the family Caprifoliaceae and a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. Next, let us take a look at buying and planting honeysuckle seedlings.

3 Things to Note When Buying Honeysuckle Seedlings

1. Choose the right supplier. A qualified supplier should have rich growing experience, provide adequate planting, management, harvesting and drying techniques when supplying seedlings, and even offer instructions and information services for sales after harvest. I have a friend who, after buying seedlings from a supplier in Pingyi, asked about bud removal and pruning techniques and was told that there was no need to be so careful, just wait to harvest the flowers and roughly cut them with a sickle in winter. This advice caused my friend great harm; the overgrown branches not only affected yield but also made harvesting inconvenient.

2. Carefully select the tree shape. You should choose seedlings with well-developed and basically undamaged root systems, an obvious trunk and clear layers, and reject seedlings that are slender with branches and leaves lacking layers. That same friend from Honeysuckle Home bought 60,000 seedlings in two batches. Because the quantity was large, he only hurriedly counted the number and did not check the quality bundle by bundle. After planting, the survival rate was only 70%, and the surviving seedlings were not easy to prune, leaving a huge hidden danger for management in the years to come.

3. Be sure to sign a purchase and sale contract and strive for a quality guarantee deposit. A quality guarantee deposit is the best restraint on the quality of seedlings supplied by the supplier and on technical services.

Daily Management of Honeysuckle

First, loosening the soil. Although honeysuckle has very strong vitality, the soil must be loosened regularly, which is beneficial to growth.

Second, watering. Honeysuckle is drought-tolerant and waterlogging-tolerant, but if it is not watered for a long time or waterlogging is severe, the impact on honeysuckle is also great.

Third, weeding. Honeysuckle must be weeded 3-4 times a year, otherwise the weeds will take away the fertilizer meant for the honeysuckle, which is not conducive to growth.

Fourth, fertilizing. Honeysuckle must be topdressed every spring and autumn, preferably combined with weeding. Farmyard manure and chemical fertilizer are both acceptable; for example, apply 30-40 kg of urea per mu.

Fifth, pruning. Honeysuckle that has grown for 2 years must be pruned of overly long branches, diseased and weak branches, dead branches and downward-extending branches, so that the branches grow upright in clumps, the trunk is thick and strong, and the branches are evenly spaced. This is good for ventilation and growth.

Sixth, pest and disease control. The common disease of honeysuckle is powdery mildew, which can be controlled by spraying the leaves with a 1500-fold solution of triadimefon.

Cultivation Techniques

Propagation methods: Honeysuckle has seed propagation and cutting propagation methods.

(1) Seed propagation. In autumn, when the seeds are ripe, collect the ripe fruit, rub it in clean water, skim off the fruit skin and impurities, pick out the plump seeds that sink to the bottom, dry them and store them for later use. In autumn, they can be sown as soon as they are collected. If sowing in the following spring, the seeds can be treated by sand storage to overwinter, and sown after the soil thaws in spring. Open furrows on the seedbed with a row spacing of cm wide, evenly scatter the seeds into the furrows, cover with 3 cm of soil, and press firm; seedlings emerge in about 10 days. Field management should be strengthened during the seedling stage, and the seedlings can be planted out in the production field in that autumn or the following spring. The sowing rate is about 1-1.5 kg per mu.

(2) Cutting propagation. Honeysuckle can be propagated by cuttings during the vine growth season. Select vigorously growing vine branches and cut them into cuttings about 30 cm long, each with at least 3 nodes; remove the leaves, cut the lower end into a slant, tie into small bundles, soak the cut ends in the plant hormone IAA at 500 mg/kg (500 ppm), and insert them while fresh. With a plant-to-row spacing of 150 cm x 150 cm, dig holes and insert 3-5 cuttings per hole, leaving 1/3 of the stem above ground with at least one bud exposed above the soil, tread firmly, water thoroughly, and roots and sprouts will form in about 1 month. The cuttings can also be grown into seedlings first and then transplanted to the field.

The above is the complete content I have summarized for you on buying and planting honeysuckle seedlings. I hope this article can help everyone. Please also continue to follow us.