Ficus is one of the most popular evergreen houseplants. This is due not only to its decorative features, but also to the sign that if you give it to a family where there are no children, then the flower owner will soon get them. After the appearance of this plant in the house, many gardeners are immediately interested in how the ficus can be multiplied. About this and we will tell in our article.
How correctly to multiply the ficus?
First of all, you need to decide how you can do it. There are the following methods: vegetative, seed and cloning. It is best to use the first one at home, since the other two are too complicated and require special conditions. Vegetative reproduction of the ficus is possible with the use of cuttings or air ducts. We'll talk about each of them in more detail.
How to propagate ficus cuttings?
For harvesting the planting material (cuttings) it is very important to take the right tool. It must be a sharp knife or blade. With its help, it is necessary to cut off the tip of the semi-extruded branch, retreating from the end 10-15 cm. The cut must be made obliquely, under the knot. The bottom leaves are immediately removed. Then you need to act like this:
- Wash the cutoff under running water.
- Put for 1-2 hours in a clear container of water.
- Dry for 4-5 hours.
- Put in warm water, with activated carbon dissolved in it.
In order for the root to grow roots, it is necessary that the bank in which it will stand for a month is opaque, but it should be in a bright place. After the appearance of roots or young shoots, the stalk can be planted in a permanent pot. It is also possible to conduct rooting in peat, wet sand or vermiculite. Only in this case it is necessary for the cuttings to create hothouse conditions, that is, it should be covered with glass or a film and put on a battery.
These methods, how to multiply the ficus, are suitable for most of its species (lyrate, Benjamin , rubber).
It is not always possible to get a good stalk, so many growers are puzzled by the question whether it is possible to propagate the ficus leaf. From one leaf alone you can not get a new plant. It is necessary that he has at least a tiny piece of the stem, which has an undamaged knot. Therefore, if you cut a trunk of fig on small cuttings, but each of them will have a leaf and a knot, that is a chance that everyone will take root.
How to multiply the ficus with air layers?
For large tree-like ficuses, especially for those that are strongly stretched and have bare bottom, it is better to use the method of reproduction with vertical layers. They are also done as with other plants: a branch from the leaves is exposed, under the knot the cortex is removed, the "Kornevin" is applied to this place and is wound up with the moistened moss. From above, we close this structure with polyethylene and wait until the roots grow. When this happens, you can cut off the branch from below and plant it in a separate pot. This method is not used
It is recommended to propagate ground cover (dwarf, arrow-shaped) and tree species of ficuses by horizontal layers. To do this, clean the leaves of the lower branch and insert into the ground. It is necessary to do this very carefully, so as not to break it. To fix this twig in this position. After the formation of the roots, the branch from above is cut off from the mother plant.
The flower growers noticed that the plants belonging to the ampel group are much faster rooted than the tree, so the timing of the rooting of the cuttings in each species is different.