Your sedum is developing fewer and fewer flowers and is in danger of going bald? It's high time you rejuvenated the perennial, also known as stonecrop, by dividing it. This also makes it easy for you to propagate the plant. We'll tell you what you need to pay attention to.
How and when should you divide a sedum?
To divide a sedum, dig up the entire perennial with roots, remove diseased and dried root parts and divide the plant into pieces with at least two shoot buds. Division serves to rejuvenate and propagate the plant and should be carried out in spring.
Divide older sedums and protect them from baldness
Sedums can live for several decades, but tend to become bald as they get older. At the same time, the flowering capacity decreases, although you can counteract these signs of aging by dividing the entire plant. In addition, by dividing you kill two birds with one stone, because the measure serves both as a rejuvenation treatment and for reproduction.
The right time
The best time for this rejuvenation treatment is spring, although it is best to divide the sedum before the first shoots. Ideally, you should carry out this measure every four to five years at the latest.
Share the stonecrop: This is how it works
If you want to divide the sedum, you must first dig up the entire plant including the roots.
- Use a spade or digging fork for this purpose (€139.00 on Amazon).
- Use this to cut off the soil around the rootstock.
- Carefully move the soil back and forth to loosen the roots.
- Lift the plant and its roots out of the ground.
- Shake off the earth
- and remove diseased and dried root parts.
- Divide the plant by tearing it into several pieces with your hands
- or divide with a strong blow of a spade.
- Alternatively, you can of course also use a sharp knife.
- Make sure that the individual sections have at least two shoot buds.
The individual pieces can be immediately planted outdoors or in the pot at their predetermined location.
Tip
The root tubers of the individual plants are ideally about the size of a clenched fist - to this extent they grow faster and better than larger tubers.
