What are the home propagation methods for banana shrub? Explained in one article

The fragrance of the banana shrub flower carries the scent of ripe melon. If you place it in a pocket, warmed by body heat, the warmer it gets, the more fragrant it becomes. Hence a Song dynasty poem says: only this flower cannot be stolen, it suddenly turns fragrant where no one knows. That is why people so love to grow a few pots of banana shrub. Based on practical experience, the author introduces the propagation methods of banana shrub: banana shrub can be propagated by sowing and grafting. The commonly used methods are cuttings and layering. Although cuttings and layering are two methods, they are in fact one principle, both making use of the ability of branches to grow adventitious roots.

Cuttings are separated from the parent plant, so their reliability of survival is lower than that of layering, but they can produce a larger quantity. For home flower growing, one or two plants are enough, so the high layering method (air layering) is mostly used. Layering can be done throughout the growing season of banana shrub, generally in April. Select appropriately sized, well-developed, firm and vigorous branches, 15 cm to 20 cm long. Below the node where roots are desired, make a notch or perform ring barking. The width is half a cm to 1 cm, and the depth reaches the xylem.

Then mix fertile soil with dried moss or water moss into a moist mud ball, wrap it around the ring-barked spot, bind it on the outside with plastic film, tie the lower end tightly, and leave an opening at the upper end for watering. You can also use a split bamboo tube or a clay pot instead of plastic film, tied firmly with string. You must water frequently to ensure a certain humidity, and never let it dry out. After about 2 months, new roots form. If you want to know whether many new roots have reached the soil surface, you can open the film to observe. Wait until the new roots are fully developed, then cut the young plant away from the parent plant and plant it into a clay pot with a diameter of 20 cm.

Apart from watering thoroughly the first time, afterwards the plant should not be given too much water, and no fertiliser is needed, so as to let the new roots expand and develop. Also take care to avoid strong sunlight. As for the cutting method, spring cuttings are done in late March, and autumn cuttings in mid-September. Choose firm one- or two-year-old branches, about 10 cm long, and insert them in the open ground; they root in about a month and a half. Spring cuttings are potted in early September, and autumn cuttings are potted in mid-March of the following year.