How to Root Honeysuckle

Root honeysuckle vine to form new plants inexpensively and easily.

Plant propagation is the process of creating a new, separate plant out of an existing plant. Many gardeners call the propagation process "rooting" because this is what you are doing when you propagate a plant. Often a gardener will take inventory of the plants and flowers growing in flowerbeds and choose some favorites for rooting. One plant that is especially suitable for rooting is the honeysuckle. Not only is honeysuckle beautiful in the garden and easy to grow, it is also easy to propagate.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• Rooting compound
• Container
• Potting soil
• Spray bottle filled with water
• Plastic bag
• Rubber band
• Utility knife
• Stake
• Twine

Instructions

Stem Rooting

1. Fill a container with potting soil. Lightly spray the soil with the water to moisten it. This is where the stem will develop roots.

2. Examine the plant and find a stem that has new, tender leaves. Measure approximately 5 inches down from the tip of the stem and cut at a point where leaves intersect with the stem. Make a second cut higher on the stem between two leaf nodes so that you have a cutting with two leaves in the middle of the stem.

3. Place the end into rooting compound and immediately insert the stem into the potting soil. Push the stem into the soil up to just under the leaves.

4. Place the container in a warm, sunny place and keep the soil evenly moist. Place a clear plastic bag over the cutting and secure the bag around the container with a rubber band to help keep the cutting warm, if desired.

5. Check the cutting for roots after approximately three weeks. Pull gently on the cutting. If it resists your pull and does not slide right out of the soil, assume roots are forming. If it slides out easily, the roots have not formed sufficiently yet. Wait another week and check again.

6. Treat the honeysuckle cutting as a seedling after you determine it has rooted. Keep it in a sunny location and water it often.

7. Harden the seedling off to prepare it for planting outside when all danger of frost has passed. Plant the honeysuckle vine in the ground after hardening off.

Layering

1. Examine a healthy honeysuckle vine in your flowerbed in the spring. Find a long stem from last year's growth and bend it toward the soil and then back up again.

2. Cover the middle of the stem with soil and leave the tip of the stem above the soil level. Before covering the center portion of the stem, make a small nick in the stem with a knife to give the rooting process a head start.

3. Watch the tip of the stem to ascertain when it starts to grow new leaves and growth on the end. Insert a stake near the tip of the stem and attach the stem to the stake with twine to support it. The staked stem will be the future new honeysuckle plant.

4. Leave the stake in position to support the tip of the stem throughout the entire growing season to give the submerged portion of the stem sufficient time to root. Remove the stake in the autumn or wait to remove it until the next spring. The next spring you will have two honeysuckle plants growing near each other. Transplant the new plant, if desired.

References

• Rooting Honeysuckle