Propagate a beautifully grown magnolia is not that easy. Classic propagation from cuttings does not work with magnolias because their cuttings are very difficult to take root. Growing a young magnolia from seeds is also a difficult undertaking. On the one hand, because magnolia seeds germinate only with difficulty and on the other hand, because the resulting trees only bloom after ten or more years. Nobody probably wants to wait that long. Instead, however, propagation using moss removal, which is particularly popular with bonsai fans - a technique not dissimilar to lowering - works particularly well.
How can I propagate a magnolia?
To propagate a magnolia, the methods of lowering and removing moss are suitable. With lowering, a still green shoot is pulled into the ground and weighed down, while with moss removal, the shoot is cut and wrapped with sphagnum moss. Both methods require patience and regular moisturizing.
Propagation via reducers
Although cuttings almost never take root in magnolias, propagation via planters usually has good results, provided you have the patience required. However, this method only works if the magnolia has not yet shot up too much and you can pull a selected shoot down to the ground. Otherwise, you should resort to moss removal. Since it takes around eight to ten months until the sinker itself has formed roots and can therefore be separated from the mother plant, an early start is essential in April at the latest. And this is how you propagate your magnolia via planters:
- Choose a shoot that is as green as possible (i.e. not yet or only slightly woody).
- Leave the leaves and remove the flowers.
- Dig a pit about 15 centimeters deep directly below the shoot.
- Score the shoot with a knife in about two to three places.
- Treat these areas with a rooting hormone.
- Pull the sinker into the pit and cover the scored areas with soil.
- The end of the sinker, on the other hand, looks out of the pit.
- Weigh down the planting site with a stone.
- Water the planting site and keep it permanently moist.
Lowering is not necessarily a quick method of propagation, but the plants grown are strong and already accustomed to the soil in which they will mature.
Propagate magnolia via moss
It is particularly easy to propagate magnolias using so-called moss removal. There are various techniques, with the following one proving particularly useful:
- Select a two-year-old shoot without branches.
- Cut this about two-thirds diagonally.
- Use a sharp and clean knife.
- Now clamp a piece of plastic into the gap so that it stays open.
- Wrap a thick layer of sphagnum moss (a peat moss) around the gap.
- Wrap the moss with a wire or something similar.
- Keep the area moist continuously.
After a few months, roots will have formed in the gap, so you can separate the sinker from the mother plant and plant it in a pot. The young magnolia should not be planted outdoors until the following spring.
Tip
Whichever method of lowering you choose, always make sure that the area to be rooted is kept moist. Only then will the roots develop.
