How to Grow a Magnolia Tree From a Cutting
The green leaves and pastel blossoms of a mature magnolia are one of the earliest heralds of spring, an enviable sight when seen from over the neighbor's garden fence. Growing your own magnolia from a cutting is the perfect opportunity to cultivate a new plant identical to one that you admire for a much lower cost than buying an established plant from a nursery. But, there are over 200 varieties of magnolia, many of which cannot be propagated by this method. A small investment of effort, along with careful selection of the parent plant and a reasonable amount of patience can still pay off though, with a healthy new plant that will be ready to bloom much sooner than a magnolia grown from seed. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Established Magnolia plant that you have permission to cut
- Sharp knife
- Sterile rooting medium
- Plant pot
- Clear plastic bag and flexible wire, for single cuttings OR
- Cold frame for multiple cuttings
Instructions
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Choose a parent plant. Do a little research to identify the type of plant to use. Among magnolias, the smaller sized shrub-like varieties and varieties with "soulangeana" in their Latin names can be propagated using cuttings. If you have your eye on a different type of magnolia, you might do better to buy an established plant from your local nursery or garden center, or explore "layering," another propagation technique that works with magnolias.
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Time it right. Magnolias are most often successfully cultivated using a method known as "softwood cutting." For most magnolias this means you'll be looking for a short shoot of new spring growth, just after flowers have vanished, usually in June or July.
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Prepare the rooting medium. Since the objective is to allow roots to develop and expand from the existing shoot, you don't want dense or heavy soils that will restrict growth. Diseases are the most common reason why cuttings fail to take root, so ensure that the rooting medium is sterile. A mixture of equal portions of peat moss and very coarse grained sand makes a good rooting medium. You can also use vermiculite, either on its own or mixed with an equal part coarse sand or perlite. Do not use fertilizer in the rooting medium.
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Choose a side shoot of new growth, ideally from the upper part of the plant. Select a shoot between 4 and 6 inches long that is relatively green and flexible at the top and just becoming woody at the base where it joins the main stem. Avoid using a very tender shoot or one that has particularly abundant leaves or buds.
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Use a clean, sharp knife or sterile razor to cut off the bud or leaf at the very tip, then pull downward gently at the base of the shoot, using the knife to remove a small "heel" of the woody part of the main stem along with the shoot. Remove any buds or flowers on the shoot, and use the knife to remove all of the leaves from the lower half of the shoot, exposing the leaf nodes.
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Work quickly to minimize moisture loss from the cutting. If you cannot insert the cutting into the rooting medium immediately, place it in a plastic bag or wrap it with wet newspaper. Dip the lower end of the stem into some rooting hormone powder, available at garden supply stores. Insert the cutting into the rooting medium, being sure to insert it deeply enough to cover the lowest nodes from which you removed leaves, since this is where the roots will develop.
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Care for the cutting. Without roots, your new plant requires high humidity, so it should be enclosed. For a single cutting, you can create a miniature greenhouse by bending a wire coat hanger to support a wrapper of clear plastic over the plant, completely enclosing the pot. Mist or water the plant regularly, whenever there is no condensation visible on the plastic, to keep the medium moist. Avoid allowing it to become soggy, since this will reduce the air available to the developing roots. You may want to remove the plastic for up to an hour each day to prevent mildew from developing. Keep the enclosed cutting out of direct sunlight to prevent scorching, but provide indirect sun or fluorescent lights. For larger numbers of cuttings you can consider using a cold frame instead of individual pots.
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Transplant when ready. Magnolia cuttings may take 8 weeks or more to develop roots. The roots are developed when you feel some resistance if you try to wiggle the shoot in its pot. If the cutting is not ready to transplant outdoors by the fall, you can keep it in a cold frame until spring.
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