You can easily propagate cherry laurel from cuttings you have cut yourself. Even if breeding takes some time, it is always worth it if you need a lot of plants or want offspring from a strong and particularly beautiful mother plant. Propagation through cuttings is the most uncomplicated way and is completely unproblematic with our tips.
How do you propagate cherry laurel through cuttings?
To propagate cherry laurel from cuttings, cut off shoot tips, remove lower leaves, cut off the shoot tip and shorten the remaining leaves. Then place the cuttings about five centimeters deep and ten centimeters apart in a mixture of potting soil and sand and care for them in a protected, sunny place.
Cutting offshoots
The shoot tips of the laurel cherry are cut as offshoots. Separate the cutting two or three leaf axils below the one-year-old shoot. You can recognize the two-year-old wood by the dark color of the bark.
Cuttings from demolitions
First make leaves from the lowest one or two shoots of the branches. To do this, these shoots are simply torn off the wood and the attached bark tail is separated with a clean tool. Then proceed as follows:
- Remove the bottom three to four leaves.
- Cut the top of the shoot so that two to three leaves remain on the cutting.
- Short this in half to reduce water evaporation.
Cut offshoots from the main shoots
The remaining main shoots produce further offshoots, so no plant material is wasted:
- Cut two-year-old wood diagonally about one centimeter below the one-year-old wood.
- Be sure to use a sharp knife so as not to injure the plant.
- Remove lower leaves, leaving a five centimeter long, leafless stem
- Cut the shoot tip except for two or three leaves.
- Shorten the leaves.
Insert cuttings
If you would like to grow many offshoots of the laurel cherry, you can use special cutting boxes (€11.00 at Amazon) from retailers. Alternatively, larger flower pots or plant bowls are suitable for cultivation. Since the cherry laurel is sensitive to waterlogging, you must ensure good water drainage.
- Fill the container with a mixture of potting soil and sand.
- Smooth the soil and press it lightly.
- Cut a guide line in the soil so that the cuttings can be inserted easily.
- Place cuttings about five centimeters deep into the soil with a planting distance of ten centimeters.
- Press down the soil so that the seedlings have good contact with the ground.
Be sure to place the planter with the cuttings in a sunny place so that the cuttings do not evaporate more water than they can absorb with the newly grown roots. Even though cherry laurel offshoots are not very sensitive, you should care for the young plants in a protected place until next spring.
Tips & Tricks
Alternatively, you can root shoot tips from which only the lowest leaves have been removed in a glass of water. As soon as the cherry laurel has formed roots four to five centimeters long, it is transplanted into soil.