How to Start Propagating Magnolia Trees

You won't find many trees or shrubs more spectacular than a magnolia when it is in full bloom. If you are lucky enough to have a fine specimen, it is only natural to want to propagate it. Cuttings work best when the plant from which you take them is young. However, the chances are that the specimen you admire is mature---and in this case the technique called "layering" is your best option.

Things You'll Need

• Pruners
• Pruning knife
• Hormone rooting powder
• Vermiculite, sand or peat (or a mix)
• Pots or propagation trays
• Pencil
• Plastic pot or tray covers
• Sphagnum moss
• Plastic sheeting
• Waterproof adhesive tape

Instructions

Cuttings

1. Take cuttings of soft or semihard shoots in the summer. Cuttings are best taken from young plants. Cut into approximately 4-inch lengths.

2. Fill pots or trays with rooting medium such as vermiculite. Use a pencil to create a hole in the medium wide enough to accept your cuttings.

3. Dip cuttings in hormone rooting powder.

4. Place the cuttings in the holes in the rooting medium, taking care not to brush off the hormone rooting powder.

5. Keep warm and moist. Place plastic covers over the pots or trays. Rooting will typically take 6 to 12 weeks, but may take a lot longer.

6. Move to a cool place when firmly rooted. Plant out in a nursery bed in the spring.

Layering

1. Find a branch of the magnolia that can be bent down to the ground.

2. Make a slit in the underside of the branch in late winter or early spring, at the point where it comes in contact with the ground.

3. Peg the branch securely to the ground, burying the part with the slit.

4. Stake the remaining part of the branch (the part furthest from the main part of the plant) vertically so that when the roots form, it is growing in the right direction to produce a well-shaped new plant.

5. Cut the layered branch from the main plant once it is firmly rooted. This will typically be after 1 or 2 years.

Seeds

1. Take seeds from a mature magnolia fruit when it splits to expose them.

2. Soak the seeds in water for a few days to remove the pulp that surrounds them.

3. Place seeds in a refrigerator at 40 degrees F for 2 to 4 months.

4. Sow seeds in late winter/early spring in a tray filled with a seed starting mix.

5. Pot up seedlings when large enough to handle.

Tips & Warnings

• Layering can also be carried out using a process called "air layering." The principle is the same, but instead of bending the branch to the ground, wrap a ball of moist sphagnum moss around the wound, and then wrap that in plastic and tape to completely seal in moisture.

• Magnolias raised from seed will not be the same as the plant from which you take the seed.

References

• Air-Layering for Difficult-to-Root Plants
• Univ. of Florida: Magnolias