Chinese peony from seed in a home pot. Grow peony from seeds at home. Secrets of fast seed germination

Peonies are one of those early flowers that delight us with bright colors, when many plants are just waking up after winter holiday. Lush bushes with large flowers decorate any area, and cut buds in a vase refresh the interior of our homes for a long time. Today we will tell you how to grow from seeds and how to care for them.

Why is growing from seeds rarely used?

This method of growing popular flowers is used quite rarely. Even knowing how to grow peonies from seeds, most gardeners prefer to propagate plants by dividing the bush. Why? There is a simple explanation for this.

Usually gardeners, when purchasing peonies for their plot, are guided by the beauty of the flowers. Therefore, they select hybrids bred by breeders. But the latter have one significant drawback- preserving the appearance of flowers is possible only by dividing the bush.

At the same time, it must be recognized that in amateur gardening Purity of the variety is not as important as beauty. The vast majority of seedlings obtained from seeds pleases owners with very interesting results. Knowing how to grow peonies from seeds, you can propagate wild flowers. These include evasive and thin-leaved species.

It is not always possible to grow seeds for objective reasons - some varieties never bear fruit, they simply do not have seeds. These include Marchal MacMahon, Madame Forel, Celestial, Montblanc. This partly applies to milky-flowered and double varieties, which have few seeds.

You should know that if you collected the seeds, the plant you grow will only vaguely resemble the parent bush. The main varietal characteristics, especially the brightness of the flower shade and the fullness of the petals, will disappear. No one is saying that the flowers will grow ugly, they will just be different. In addition, to see and evaluate the result of your work, you will have to wait at least five years.

Propagation of peonies by seeds will require special skills from the gardener. This is a labor-intensive and rather complex procedure with many features. But according to flower growers, all the difficulties, long waits for results, and inconveniences are more than compensated for when you see flowers bred yourself.

Features of seeds

Peonies blooming is always a holiday. Bright, fragrant flowers are beautiful both on the plot and in a tabletop vase. That's why no one country cottage area can't do without these bushes. Peony seeds are characterized by low germination, which is explained by the presence of an underdeveloped embryo that poorly absorbs the microelements necessary for germination and nutrients from soil and a dense shell.

Another one characteristic feature seeds - low enzymatic activity. This means that in the first year after sowing, as a rule, very few seeds will germinate, especially if they are planted directly in open ground. The main part of them will sprout only in the second summer. can allow seeds to germinate in the third and sometimes even the fifth year.

Flower growers try to “deceive” nature by using stratification (stage-by-stage). The ability of seeds to develop slowly is transferred to seedlings. They grow very slowly, adding several leaves per year. Flowering begins in the fifth to seventh year after planting in the ground (depending on the selected variety).

Germination of seeds

Growing peonies at home from seeds is not too difficult, but this process has its own characteristics. The reason, again, is slow. But we said that flower growers have found a way to “hurry up” nature a little. What does this require? First, you should only use your own seeds, not store-bought ones. They must be immature: in the very beginning stages of ripening. During this period, they are not hard and are colored light brown with tiny yellowish spots, and the leaflets begin to crack at the seams.

It is important that the seeds do not dry out, so they are either sown immediately or stored in the refrigerator in damp sand for 1.5 months. It is better to do this from the last days of August to mid-September. If you decide to sow them right away, you need to prepare containers in which the seeds are sown to a depth of 5 cm.

Some gardeners plant seeds directly in the beds at this time. In this case, they go through two stages of stratification - both warm (+15...+30 °C) and cold, lasting about two months (+5...+10 °C). This will allow you to get seedlings from the planted seeds next summer. But you need to be prepared for the fact that a maximum of 1/3 of the total will rise. Some shoots may appear a year later.

Stratification

This procedure will help you speed up the growing of seedlings. This is thermal stratification - the effect on seeds different temperatures- about +30 °C in daytime and about +15 °C at night.

Warm phase

Seeds should be sown in a wide, shallow container in damp sand. It is placed on (a heating radiator will also do). The sand should be heated to 30 °C, after which it is cooled and warmed up again, periodically moistening it.

The procedure takes about two months until the seeds burst and roots appear. Immediately after this, they are removed from the sand, the roots are pinched and placed in a container with a soil mixture or in peat pots, lightly sprinkling them. This will significantly reduce the likelihood of injury to seedlings when planting in the soil.

Cold phase

It's time to move on to the cold phase. It is necessary for the active development of the shoot growth point. During this period, the embryo actively grows and the seeds germinate. This phase lasts about three months. Flower growers have found a way to reduce this time too. To do this, it is necessary to treat the hypocotyl (a piece of the stem located under the cotyledons) with a solution of a growth regulator. Prepare a 0.01% solution of a growth stimulator. The seeds are opened, gauze is moistened with the resulting mixture and placed on the hypocotyl. To maintain the necessary humidity, the seeds are covered with a translucent cloth. If the temperature is maintained from +5 to +10 °C, then a growth bud will form on the seedlings and leaves will appear. If after seven days the bud does not appear, the treatment must be repeated.

Seedling care

When a bud appears on the seedlings, they must be transferred to warm room(not lower than +16...+18 °C). The acceleration procedure will require patience and hard work from the gardener, but it will save a whole year.

The seedlings are transferred to the garden in early May; they grow in partial shade at a distance of about five centimeters from each other. The soil around them is leveled and mulched with sawdust, which retains moisture and does not allow weeds to develop.

Landing in a permanent place

Seedlings grow in containers until August. If weather conditions permit, peonies in the garden can be temporarily planted in a bed with loose and light soil, in a slightly shaded place. The plant must be buried two centimeters. At the same time, it is produced in open ground on permanent place. In this case, the bushes are placed at a distance of at least half a meter.

Prepare landing hole measuring 50 x 50 x 50 cm. Place drainage (expanded clay, crushed brick) on its bottom. To half the soil that you dug out of the hole, add 200 g of dolomite flour, potassium sulfate, superphosphate and mix. Pour the resulting composition into the hole. Mix the rest of the soil in equal parts with compost (humus).

Place the young plant in the hole so that the root collar is level with its surface, and fill it with soil to the brim. To stimulate the growth of the root system, you can use “Heteroauxin” or “Sodium Humate” (one ampoule or two tablets per ten liters of water).

Peonies prefer cool morning sun, but midday heat is not suitable for them. These flowers feel comfortable in the shade of a spreading tree, preferably on the eastern side of the site.

Peony pruning

In the first two years of development, peonies need to remove the buds. This seemingly “barbaric” method stimulates accelerated plant growth and contributes to obtaining abundant flowering in future.

If you want your home to be decorated with large flowers on a long stem, then pruning peonies is done as follows: remove all the buds below the top one as soon as their size reaches the size of a pea. If you need bright lush bushes for personal plot, then all the ovaries are left on the branches.

We told you how to grow peonies from seeds. As you can see, the process is not easy, quite labor-intensive, but at the same time very interesting. When the peonies bloom in the garden, you will forget about all the difficulties of growing and enjoy their beauty.

Growing peonies in open ground simple, but at the same time, once you plant a bush in a good place, you can enjoy it for many years lush flowering this plant.

If you are interested in how to grow peonies in the country, read our article. In it you will find all the necessary information about growing these flowers in open ground and in pots.

Perennial peonies with large fragrant flowers are very popular among garden floriculture lovers. But they attract people not only with their beauty, but also with their unpretentiousness and easy care.

Note: Even after flowering is complete, the bushes do not lose their decorative properties due to their lush foliage. In addition, these shrubs do not need annual replanting, and when good care They can grow well in one place for decades.

There are many varieties of both herbaceous and tree-like varieties, as well as their hybrids, which differ in the color and size of flowers, the duration of flowering, as well as the height and outline of the bush (Figure 1). This article covers the features of growing and caring for some of them.

Features of site preparation

When choosing a place to grow flowers in open ground at your summer cottage, you should remember that they root system goes almost a meter deep, so it is not recommended to plant them in lowlands, where The groundwater come close to the soil surface. In conditions of stagnant moisture, rot can form on the roots of the plant.

Figure 1. Features of growing flowers in open ground at the dacha

Give preference to an area that is well lit by the sun in the morning. In addition, the bed must be protected from drafts. The best option Loamy soil with slight acidity will serve. If the soil is too clayey, you can additionally add humus and sand to it; On the contrary, organic matter and clay should be added to sandy soil.

Rules

Garden varieties do not need frequent replanting: they take a long time to adapt to a new location. Therefore, the transplant is carried out in extreme cases, such as incorrect or shallow planting, lack of flowers or a significant reduction in their size. In addition, once a decade the bushes are planted by dividing the roots.

How to grow peonies in the country, these rules will tell you:(Figure 2):

Planting and replanting are best done from mid-August to early September.
The planting hole is prepared in advance (a week in advance) so that the soil settles a little. At the same time, its depth and width should be about 60 cm. It is imperative to have a drainage layer at the bottom of the pit, the height of which should be 20-25 cm.
The planting hole is filled with a nutrient mixture, which includes humus (compost), superphosphate (200 g), wood ash (300 g), lime (100 g), potassium sulfate (100 g). The thickness of the nutrient layer should be 20-30 cm. All remaining space is filled garden soil mixed with compost.
The rhizome of the plant is placed in the planting hole strictly in the middle, and the distance from the upper growth point to the soil surface should be no more than 5 cm.
The planted area is covered with garden soil and lightly compacted by hand.
Do not worry if the transplanted bush does not bloom in the first year; it needs time to adapt.

Figure 2. Planting technology

Subsequent care consists of regular watering and loosening of the soil, fertilizing and protection from diseases and pests, regardless of the method used to propagate the plant.

Methods

There are several ways to propagate herbaceous and tree-like varieties, but the most common methods are dividing the bush and cuttings, and much less often - propagation by layering or seeds (Figure 3). The latter method is used only in breeding farms.

Figure 3. Methods of propagation of the crop: 1 - layering, 2 - cuttings, 3 - seeds, 4 - dividing the bush

The method of propagation by layering is used for bushes that have reached 6 years of age. Work begins in April, when the buds begin to develop: the bush is covered with fertile soil, regularly watered and fed. With this care, at the end of summer, well-developed roots appear on the stems, which, together with the shoots, are separated from the mother plant and planted in a greenhouse. On the eve of winter, young plants are covered with organic material (peat, straw, spruce branches). Layers are planted in open ground after 1-2 years.

The cutting method is most often used for propagation rare varieties when there is insufficient quantity planting material they want to get a lot of seedlings. Plants 4 years of age and older are suitable for taking cuttings.

Note: Planting material is cut from late May to mid-June, then kept for 8 hours in a root formation stimulator and planted in a greenhouse.

The most effective method of propagation is called the method of dividing the bush. In addition, it is also used to rejuvenate plants that have not been replanted for more than 8 years. The most optimal period for dividing bushes is the period from August 15 to September 5. The bush is first dug up with a shovel, and then carefully removed from the ground along with the rhizome using a garden fork. The roots are cleaned of soil residues, washed under running water, and the plant is left for several hours in a dry place in partial shade. Immediately before dividing, the stems should be shortened so that their height is 10-15 cm from the ground, and the bush itself is divided into parts called divisions. Moreover, each of them must have several growth points and additional young roots, at least 8-10 cm long. The cuttings are soaked in a solution of a growth stimulator for 8 hours, after which they are planted in prepared planting holes.

The author of the video will tell you how to properly propagate and plant these flowers.

Growing tree peony from seeds

For cultivation tree variety From seeds at home, it is best to use freshly harvested planting material. After 3-4 days of drying, the seeds are sown in a box filled with damp sand to a depth of 3-4 cm, and the crops are covered for the winter. Under such conditions, seeds can germinate as next year, and on the second or third (Figure 4). Therefore, to speed up germination, scarification and stratification procedures are carried out.

Note: Scarification is the sawing off of the seed coat; stratification implies keeping seeds under conditions of variable temperature. So, in the fall the box with seeds is left in a cold room, and in the spring it is kept at a temperature of +20-25 degrees.

If the seeds were collected immature, that is, before the carpels opened, then the growing technology is somewhat different. So, the seeds are placed in moist peat and stored in a warm room at a temperature of +20+25 degrees for two and a half months. At the beginning of February, containers with seeds are transferred to a cold room (refrigerator), where they are kept until May at a temperature of +5+8 degrees. In May, seeds are sown in open ground to a depth of 4-5 cm, where they germinate in the same season.

Figure 4. Growing a tree variety from seeds

Young seedlings are watered and fed several times with a urea solution (50 g per bucket of water). For the winter, they are covered with a layer of organic mulch (peat, dry leaves, spruce branches). Overwintered young plants are planted in open ground in a permanent place in the spring, after which they bloom the next year. The rules for preparing planting holes, nutrient substrate, and care features are the same as when planting ordinary herbaceous varieties. In general, it is worth noting that growing a tree plant from seeds is rarely used, since it takes several years to obtain an adult plant. At the same time, this method is often used to propagate rare varieties.

Is it possible to grow peonies at home in a pot?

Growing peonies in the country is considered standard, but is it possible to plant these flowers in a pot? Experienced gardeners are unanimous in the opinion that growing this plant at home in a pot is quite problematic, since this perennial has a fairly powerful and branched root system.

You will need a pot to grow it. large sizes or box (Figure 5). In this regard, you should carefully consider the choice of variety and give preference to low-growing species.

Choosing a pot

Since these flowers, in principle, do not tolerate transplantation well, an ideal container for growing at home would be flower pot volume of at least 5 liters or a box. In other words, the larger the container, the more comfortable the plant will feel.

Figure 5. Features of planting and growing peonies in a pot

Also make sure that the planting container has several drainage holes in the bottom. If you are planting a plant in wooden box, pre-treat its walls with an anti-wood rotting agent.

Caring for peonies in a pot

Peonies love straight lines Sun rays, so place the container with the flower in a sunny, draft-free place. Windows on the south and west sides are best. If there is a shortage natural light use fluorescent lamps. They must be placed at a height of 15 cm above the plant and used for 12-14 hours a day, starting from sunrise.

Watering a houseplant should be done when the soil is dry to 2.5 cm. Feed with water-soluble fertilizer for indoor plants until mid-summer. WITH last weeks In summer, watering and the number of hours of additional lighting should be reduced so that the plant has the opportunity to smoothly prepare for winter. If the flower is on the balcony or terrace, leave it there until the first frost.

In the fall, when the leaves turn yellow and die, cut the stems and place the container with the plant in a cold place (cellar, basement). The overwintered plant is placed in a warm, sunny place and watered abundantly.

You will find more information about growing peonies in a pot in the video.

Milky-flowered peony Charm: growing from seeds

Milky-flowered peony Charm is a representative of large winter-hardy perennials. Grows and blooms well in northern latitudes. Unlike ordinary herbaceous varieties, the flowering period of the milky-flowering variety falls in the month of May (Figure 6).

Note: This variety is not only an ornamental plant, but also a medicinal plant.

Figure 6. Growing milky-flowering peony Charm

Like all peonies, it feels comfortable on loamy soils that are well lit by the sun. Its stems and leaves form a shrub with a height of 60 cm to 1 m, and large simple and semi-double flowers delight with a pleasant aroma. As a rule, seeds are sown in open ground in the fall to a depth of 3-4 cm. In this case, their germination occurs both the next season and the year after. If sowing is done in the spring, then the seeds must first undergo a stratification procedure.

Peony root Maryin: growing from seeds

Peony Maryin root is also known as the evading peony (Figure 7). It prefers dry soils without stagnant moisture, well warmed by the sun, although it feels good in the shade of decorative and fruit trees. Widely used not only in gardening, but also in folk medicine.

Note: Maryina root can be propagated either vegetatively or by seeds. The last method allows you to get a large number of bushes at the same time.

For rapid seed germination, they must be put through a stratification procedure, which consists of two stages. At the first (warm) stage, the seeds are kept in damp sand at a temperature of +25 degrees for 2 months. At the second (cold) stage, the planting material is kept in a moist substrate at a temperature of +5 degrees for a similar period of time.

Figure 7. Growing peony Maryin root

The prepared seeds are sown in the soil to a depth of 2-3 cm, after which they are fertilized with manganese and boron (during the active growing season), as well as mullein infusion with the addition of potassium-phosphorus fertilizer (at the stage of bud formation). in autumn aboveground part The bush should be cut off, leaving shoots 10-15 cm high above the soil surface, and the plant itself should be mulched with organic matter for the winter.

Every garden owner wants to have lush peonies, so many are interested in ways to propagate them. Having learned how peonies are bred, flower growers choose the most appropriate method.

Now the Internet is telling various tips, how to grow dozens of peonies based on one specimen. Peonies are propagated by dividing the rhizome and rooting cuttings from stems or spring shoots. The most labor-intensive method is seed propagation, which only specialists can do. Peony propagation by seeds is more often practiced by breeders.

Rhizome division

Most hobbyists get their peonies by planting cuttings from rhizomes. Reproduction of peonies by dividing the mother bush almost always guarantees good survival rate and abundant flowering after 2-3 years. Perennials often need replanting and rejuvenation if the intensity of their flowering decreases. Buds form on the rhizome in early August, which will develop the following year. By the end of September, white, rather thick roots storing nutrients will be fully formed. In the interval between these vital processes for the plant, the rhizome is divided in order to select fragments with a sufficient number of buds and developed old roots.

Peony rhizome division

For different regions dates shift, usually dividing peonies is carried out from mid-August to mid-or late September in the south. It is important that the plant has time to take root before the soil freezes. Spring division of peony tubers often ends in failure, since the bush begins to develop the above-ground part to the detriment of the rhizomes.

Algorithm of actions:

They dig up the bush with a pitchfork, stepping back from it by 35-40 cm, and remove it from the ground, clearing it of soil and cutting the stems to 9-14 cm.
Using a stream of water from a hose, wash the tubers and leave them in the shade for 1-2 days so that the fragile roots dry out and become limp.
The rhizomes, which have become more elastic, are separated with a sharp, disinfected knife.
Inspect the sections and remove rotten areas.
The sections are sprinkled wood ash.

Requirements for planting material for peonies:

strong sections of rhizomes, 8-13 cm long;
each fragment bears from 2 to 8 buds, since a larger number of stems weakens the young root system;
The rhizome has 3-4 storage roots, 8-10 mm thick and up to 7-9 cm long.

Cuttings

Important! Having studied how peonies are propagated by cuttings, flower growers enrich the garden with especially valuable specimens or sell seedlings. The method is also used when there is a need to renew a bush of a rare variety. Be patient, because flowers will appear 4-5 years after planting. It should be noted that some hybrids do not create sprout eyes on adventitious roots.

Root cuttings

Carry out at the same time as plant transplantation. The peony rhizome is either completely chopped into small fragments, 5 cm long, or the remains are picked up after selecting large pieces that remain after transplantation. The tuber pieces should have 1 bud and a storage root.

Peony cuttings

Processing root cuttings:

The material must be disinfected in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for one and a half to two hours.
Lay out to dry for 2-3 hours.
The cut areas are sprinkled with wood ash.
The cuttings are left for 16-20 hours to allow the cuts to dry.
Before planting, rhizomes are treated with a growth stimulator, following the instructions.

The cuttings are placed on a plot of the garden with loose soil, at intervals of 18-24 cm to a depth of 4-5 cm. Mulch is applied on top, which is removed in the spring and the sprouts are carefully looked after. Replant in the fall for 2-3 years of growth.

Note! Not all buds germinate, but if the rhizome is alive, a stem may appear next season.

Stem cuttings

The method of stem propagation is labor-intensive and troublesome, difficult to do at home. Interspecific hybrids cannot be bred using this method. When preparing to cut peonies, you need to be prepared for the fact that even 30% of the resulting seedlings are already a success. No more than 4-7 stems are cut from 5-year-old and older bushes only during a short period of their most powerful development: a week before flowering and 2-4 days after blooming.

The branches are cut with pruning shears so that each fragment contains 2 internodes and is at least 10 cm long.
The leaves are shortened, leaving a third of their area.
The lower sections of the cuttings are placed in a container with a growth stimulator, following the instructions.
It is better to plant it in a box in the shade. Loose soil enriched with compost will give an impetus to the formation of roots.
The cuttings themselves are planted in a 6-centimeter layer of sand on top of the substrate, deepening by 5 cm.
A mini-greenhouse is installed on top to better germinate the cuttings.

Peony stem cuttings

Important! Monitor humidity and temperature. When peonies sprout, water weak potassium permanganate. Yellow leaves signal the death of the sprout due to waterlogging or high temperature. For the winter, the box is buried in the ground and covered.

Reproduction by pruning

This method looks promising, but peony seedlings require constant care. WITH big bush can be planted in early spring and in the fall several dozen new plants. old bush restored after 2 years.

In April, after the snow melts, or in early September, the ground around the bush is cleared, exposing the root to a depth of 9-18 cm.
Using a disinfected and sharp shovel, make a horizontal cut of the rhizome, moving down 6 cm from the level of the buds.
Fragments are collected and processed for planting.

Important! Old tubers are sprinkled with wood ash and garden soil, and mulched with sawdust.

Reproduction by layering

For those gardeners who are interested in how to propagate peonies, a fairly easy method of stem layering is suitable. Work begins in May, when the peonies have formed full-fledged branches:

A shallow groove is dug near the selected stems, into which the branches are bent, leaving a few upper leaves above the ground.
The stems are sprinkled with soil and watered.
The area with layering around the mother bush is kept in order, weeds are removed and watered.
Sprouts appear after some time, in the summer. The soil near them is slightly loosened.

Reproduction by peony layering

At the end of August, the seedlings can be moved to a new location, covered with mulch for the winter.

Important! When growing young peonies, they should not be allowed to bloom in the first 2 years of growth. The buds that appear are removed, otherwise the plants will weaken.

Propagation by seeds

If a gardener is deciding how to grow peonies from seeds, you need to know what they are difficult process. Peonies are grown from seeds only for selection purposes, because the plants differ sharply from the mother bush. Seeds are produced by hybrids, planted in divisions or wild species. Grains with a hard shell sometimes germinate in 2 years, and from tree peonies - up to 5 years.

On a note. If you want to propagate peonies by seeds, the grains must be collected while still unripe, in mid-August.

The first stratification is carried out by sowing peony grains in wet sand and heating the substrate to 30 degrees. The cooled substrate is placed in the refrigerator for a day, then heated again. In moderately damp sand, by the end of 3 months, roots appear from the bursting seeds. Sprouted peony seeds are placed in a peat substrate and a temperature of 5 to 10 degrees is provided for 3 months. Or they open the seeds slightly and cover them with a cloth soaked in a growth stimulant so that it touches the germs of the sprouts. Peony seedlings are kept at temperatures up to 18 degrees Celsius before planting in May in an area that is in partial shade in the afternoon.

Propagation by seeds

A pit is prepared for sprouts, as for cuttings, enriching the soil with minerals and organic fertilizers and creating the required substrate. The neck of the seedling is arranged at ground level. The shoots are treated with a copper-based preparation, watered regularly and moderately, loosened the soil, and freed from weeds. With good care, the bushes bloom in 5 years.

Gardeners on personal experience convinced of the effectiveness of various methods for increasing the number of pions. The survival rate of the material largely depends on the correct processing of cuts or preventive spraying of seedlings. The style of the Russian garden allows you to arrange picturesque bright curtains of peonies and peony-like poppies or other bush flowers against the background of coniferous crops or high fences.

Peonies are one of those early flowers that delight us with bright colors, when many plants are just waking up after winter rest. Lush bushes with large flowers decorate any area, and cut buds in a vase refresh the interior of our homes for a long time. Today we will tell you how to grow peonies from seeds and how to care for them.

Why is growing from seeds rarely used?

Usually gardeners, when purchasing peonies for their plot, are guided by the beauty of the flowers. Therefore, they select hybrids bred by breeders. But the latter have one significant drawback - preserving the appearance of flowers is possible only by dividing the bush.

At the same time, it must be admitted that in amateur gardening, the purity of the variety is not as important as beauty. The vast majority of seedlings obtained from seeds pleases owners with very interesting results. Knowing how to grow peonies from seeds, you can propagate wild flowers. These include evasive and thin-leaved species.

Reproduction of peonies by seeds is not always possible for objective reasons - some varieties never bear fruit, they simply do not have seeds. These include Marchal MacMahon, Madame Forel, Celestial, Montblanc. This partly applies to milky-flowered and double varieties, which have few seeds.

Features of seeds

Peonies blooming is always a holiday. Bright, fragrant flowers are beautiful both on the plot and in a tabletop vase. That is why not a single summer cottage is complete without these bushes. Peony seeds are characterized by low germination, which is explained by the presence of an underdeveloped embryo, which poorly absorbs the microelements and nutrients necessary for germination from the soil and dense shell.

Another characteristic feature of seeds is low enzymatic activity. This means that in the first year after sowing, as a rule, very few seeds will germinate, especially if they are planted directly in open ground. The main part of them will sprout only in the second summer. Tree peonies can germinate seeds in the third, and sometimes even in the fifth year.

Germination of seeds

Growing peonies at home from seeds is not too difficult, but this process has its own characteristics. The reason, again, is the slow germination of seeds. But we said that flower growers have found a way to “hurry up” nature a little. What does this require? First, you should only use your own seeds, not store-bought ones. They must be immature: in the very beginning stages of ripening. During this period, they are not hard and are colored light brown with tiny yellowish spots, and the leaflets begin to crack at the seams.

Stratification

This procedure will help you speed up the growing of seedlings. This is thermal stratification - exposure of seeds to different temperatures - about +30 °C during the day and about +15 °C at night.

Warm phase

Seeds should be sown in a wide, shallow container in damp sand. It is placed on an electric heating pad (a heating radiator will also work). The sand should be heated to 30 °C, after which it is cooled and warmed up again, periodically moistening it.

Cold phase

Seedling care

When a bud appears on the seedlings, they must be moved to a warm room (not lower than +16...+18 °C). The acceleration procedure will require patience and hard work from the gardener, but it will save a whole year.

Landing in a permanent place

Seedlings grow in containers until August. If weather conditions permit, peonies in the garden can be temporarily planted in a bed with loose and light soil, in a slightly shaded place. The plant must be buried two centimeters. At the same time, the peony is planted in open ground in a permanent place. In this case, the bushes are placed at a distance of at least half a meter.

Prepare a planting hole measuring 50 x 50 x 50 cm. Place drainage (expanded clay, crushed brick) on its bottom. To half the soil that you dug out of the hole, add 200 g of dolomite flour, potassium sulfate, superphosphate and mix. Pour the resulting composition into the hole. Mix the rest of the soil in equal parts with compost (humus).

Peonies prefer cool morning sun, but midday heat is not suitable for them. These flowers feel comfortable in the shade of a spreading tree, preferably on the eastern side of the site.

Peony pruning

In the first two years of development, peonies need to remove the buds. This seemingly “barbaric” method stimulates accelerated plant growth and contributes to abundant flowering in the future.

If you want your home to be decorated with large flowers on a long stem, then pruning peonies is done as follows: remove all the buds below the top one as soon as their size reaches the size of a pea. If you need bright, lush bushes in your garden plot, then all the ovaries are left on the branches.

There are several ways to sow tree peony seeds. You just need to choose the right one, wait and... admire the result.

The fruits of the tree peony ripen in September - early October, and the seeds (large, smooth, dark-colored, shiny, up to 10 mm long) collect when the seed pods begin to open. After 3-4 days drying they can be sown immediately. Sow in loose fertile soil to a depth of 3 cm. Do this before frost and preferably in a box buried in the ground. The soil must be moist. The crops are covered for the winter.

With this sowing, the seeds can sprout next spring even without special training. But in most varieties and types of peony this happens in the second or third year. Used to speed up germination scarification– use a file to file the shell so as not to damage the cotyledons. Or stratify variable temperature. In the fall, a box (bowl) with crops is left in the cold for the winter, and in March they are brought into the house and kept at room temperature (20-25ºC). Shoots appear in spring.

There is another way of sowing. The seeds are collected immature, without waiting for the carpels to open. Place in moist peat and store for 2.5 months at a temperature of 20-25ºС. Then, in early February, they are transferred to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or to the basement, where the temperature is 5-8ºC, and kept there until May for 3-3.5 months. In May they are sown in open ground to a depth of 4-5 cm. Shoots appear immediately this season.

Over the summer, one very fragile and small leaf grows up to 4 cm high. Seedlings watered and once or twice at the end of May - June feed urea (40-50 g/10 l of water). Soil from above mulch peat. For the winter, seedlings need to be well covered with dry leaves or peat, spruce paws, and lutrasil.

Transplanted young animals to a permanent place in the spring after wintering. After transplantation, the plants bloom in the second year, but it is better to cut off the buds.

For landings choose a sunny place protected from the wind. Dig a hole 70x70 cm. Place it on the bottom drainage. Half the hole is filled with earth and 1 tbsp is added. superphosphate, potassium sulfate, dolomite flour, mix and compact. Sprinkle soil mixed halfway with compost (two or three buckets) on top and plant the peony so that the root collar is at ground level. Water and fill the soil to the top of the hole. Fertilizers applied during planting will provide the plant with nutrition for 2-3 years, so in the first year only 1-2 foliar feeding after the growth of the above-ground part (40-50 g of urea and 1 tablet of microelements / 10 l of water). It is useful to water the peony with a solution of Heteroauxin (2 tablets/10 l of water) or sodium humate (5 ml/10 l of water) to stimulate root formation.

Seedlings mainly produce plants with white and, most often, non-double flowers.

Every gardener can grow a tree peony from seeds, but you need to have knowledge and patience.
In case if tree peony grown from seeds, it will be easier to transport climatic features specific region and microclimate of your garden. And this hardy plant will not require any extraordinary efforts in preparing for winter.

I sowed the seeds of tree peonies collected after ripening immediately into open ground. And in the coming spring I saw with regret: one, maximum two plants sprouted (out of 30-40 seeds sown). The next year I found 2-3 more peony sprouts in this place - that’s all...

Then I decided to try to sow the tree peony in a different way, pre-treating the seeds before sowing.

Tree peony seed treatment

In early December, I soaked my tree peony seeds, collected in the fall.

Two weeks later, when the seeds had swelled, I scarified them. I rubbed each peony seed on sandpaper (medium grit) on both sides until a white heart appeared under the seed shell.

To the bottom of the transparent plastic container I laid sphagnum moss, which perfectly absorbs and retains moisture for a long time for the seeds placed in the moss. I closed the container with the seeds with a lid.

If there is no moss, I recommend using it to moisten the seeds. toilet paper, folding it in ten layers, and putting seeds in the middle.
You can place the seeds on prepared toilet paper; then you need to cover them on top with a thick lid of wet toilet paper.
For the experiment, I put several peony seeds between layers of toilet paper and placed them in a resealable jar.

I put the peony seeds in the refrigerator (on the bottom shelf) for 2.5 months.

In March, I took out from the refrigerator a jar of seeds and a container with tree peony seeds lying in moss. I placed the containers with the seeds in them in warm corner window sill.

I tried to open the peony seeds every day for a few seconds to ventilate in the jar where I used toilet paper to soak the seeds. If mold appeared, wash the seeds in potassium permanganate and place them on a fresh layer of paper.

Please note that in sphagnum moss, mold does not appear on stored seeds at all, and therefore you can not look into the container with moss for some time.

In the photo: tree peony seeds ripened and germinated in sphagnum

Sowing sprouted tree peony seeds

Finally, after April 20, some peony seeds began to show white roots. By the beginning of May, absolutely all the seeds had roots.
However, we must keep in mind that the peony seeds were our own, fresh, collected in the fall. But for purchased peony seeds (in a seed store, on Chinese websites, etc.), germination may be much worse.

In the spring, there is no need to delay sowing stratified tree peony seeds in open ground. After all, sprouted seeds cannot be stored for a long time. In addition, in May, hot weather may already set in in many regions. Then the sprouted peony seeds may disappear (they will bake under the lid or dry out in the open ground after sowing).

I sow sprouted tree peony seeds in the garden in a shaded place, deepening them to about 3 cm. In order not to dry out their delicate roots, after sowing, for the first time I cover the planting site with trimmed plastic bottles with an open neck.

Transplanting tree peony seedlings

When the tree peony seedlings grow up, you can start replanting them. It is best to transplant them to a permanent place after two years.

We need to think carefully favorable places in the garden for growing tree peony. Choose quiet places in partial shade, protected from the winds. Fill the planting hole with fertilizers in advance, since tree peonies are long-lived, and repeated replanting is undesirable for them.

Flowering tree peony seedlings

For a tree peony seedling grown from seeds, the first bud will open only five years after germination. In subsequent years, more and more flowers will form on the peony bush.

Tree peonies grow relatively slowly, but they live for fifty years or more. AND special care these plants do not require, giving us magnificent flowers every year in May!

Herbaceous peonies are found in all gardens, but tree-like peonies are still a rarity for Russian gardeners. Because our stores are filled with imported seedlings of tree peonies, which rarely survive in difficult weather conditions. At the same time, most lovers of tree peonies do not even suspect that those grown from seeds and our local tree peonies grow well and overwinter without requiring much trouble.

I advise you to sow prepared seeds of tree peonies in the garden and wait five years until the seedlings begin to bloom. This is better than year after year buying imported seedlings of tree peonies that do not want to grow from us, from which even in the best case you will have to wait 3-4 years to bloom.

Natalya Popova (Volgograd)
http://mysad34.ru

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Tree peony propagation is carried out different ways: dividing the bush, using air layering, cuttings, sometimes grafting. The seed version is used mainly by breeders, but we will also tell you about it.

This method is used when the plant is already 5 or 6 years old. The tree peony is carefully dug up, the roots are washed, and they are separated so that each fragment contains at least 3 shoots. It is advisable to rinse the separation areas with a solution of potassium permanganate and sprinkle with crushed wood or activated carbon. Before being buried in the soil, each separated part is dipped in a solution of water and clay for about half an hour. This process Best done in the fall. The division method is rightfully considered one of the most convenient and effective methods of propagating this type of peonies.

This process is best carried out in July - mid-summer. A healthy and strong bush is selected, semi-lignified shoots with a bud (heel) and leaves are separated from it. The leaves are cut in half, and the shoots themselves are placed in a sand-peat substrate to about 2-3 cm (by the way, vermiculite can be used for these purposes). To make the process more productive, it is better to cover the cuttings with transparent plastic glasses or cut-off plastic bottles - to create a kind of “greenhouse”. The stock of cuttings needs to be frequently ventilated and watered. After 2-3 months, the seedlings are planted in separate pots and “preserved” in such greenhouse conditions until spring arrives. Since active growth Its cuttings can be transplanted to a permanent place of residence, to a plot.

This method was briefly described just above: a shoot located at the bottom of the bush is selected, cut, pressed to the ground (for example, with a wire pin), and sprinkled with soil. It is better to do this procedure in May, and with the onset of autumn, this shoot is finally separated from the bush and planted separately. Sometimes you can find recommendations for wrapping the shoot with film or sprinkling it with moss instead of filling it with earth. If this goes well for you and you like the method itself, try it, look for an option that’s convenient for you.

The best time for this procedure is the second half of August. Caring for a tree peony with this approach is quite tedious, but, from some point of view, it can be called creative. A previously separated and processed part of the root is taken, an incision is made in the shape of the letter “V”, and a scion is inserted into this incision. The joints are tightly tied with a special garden or grafting tape (as it is called) and additionally covered generously with garden varnish. 20 days before planting in the soil, this “structure” can be placed in a container with sawdust, under the film, creating a kind of greenhouse for it. These containers should be placed in a room where there will always be partial shade. In the case of a lateral type grafting, everything happens in a similar way, only the shape of the incision differs - or rather, a diagonal cut is made at the rootstock and scion.

This is the work of breeders; this method requires strict adherence and consistency of actions. Alternating treatment with cold and heat is only a small part of all manipulations. Plus, the seeds must be the freshest, because even if not very long-term storage they still quickly lose their ability to germinate. If everything works out and this method brings a positive result, then such peonies will be able to germinate in 2 or 3 years of life, and will bloom only after 5-7 years.

From the above it follows that tree peony, reproduction of this flower, gives the best result when dividing roots. Cuttings also require skills; layering is a method quite accessible to beginners, just like division. Vaccination should also be carried out, if not by the breeder, then sufficiently experienced gardener. It will take about a couple of years for layering to produce results, one and a half to two years for grafting, heel propagation will give results much faster. Well, then the choice is yours - whoever is more comfortable, more interesting.

If you are passionate about the idea of turning this difficult idea into reality, then why not! The process will be long, but if all the nuances are followed correctly, the matter will be crowned with success. However, you need to be prepared for the fact that growing a tree peony from seeds will take a very long time.

Pod with seeds, photo:

How to grow tree peony from seeds at home:

Seeds should only be taken fresh. The best ones are those that are collected immediately after the “ripe” pods open. With the onset of autumn, in place of flowers, some varieties of peonies appear with pods containing seeds. A sign of seed maturity is the dark brown color of the pod. Once the pods reach this stage, they should be carefully opened and the black grains removed. The seeds themselves are quite large, about the size of coffee beans or black peppercorns.
The collected seed should be carefully examined; damaged or suspicious specimens are rejected immediately.
After this, we take convenient containers, fill them with vermiculite (or calcined river sand), moisten them (but not too much) and immerse the seeds in them not very deeply for 30-35 days. These containers should be located in a dry and dark room, where it is always warm. You can place them on a radiator, for example (or on an electric heating pad with temperature control). At all times, the air temperature near the containers should be approximately +30°C during the day, and at nightfall it should be reduced to +15°C. Vermiculite or sand must be constantly moistened, which can be easily maintained with a spray bottle.
When the seeds have small roots, then they should then undergo the so-called cold stratification. To do this, take other containers, fill them with an earth mixture containing peat and/or humus, and carefully transplant the hatched seeds into them along with the roots. During this period, the air temperature in the room with containers should be approximately +7..+10°C.
Now you will have to be patient and wait for the first leaves to appear, after which the air temperature should be raised to +18..+20°C. You should not forget about periodic irrigation; you can also sometimes add growth stimulants to the water. The young shoots are transferred to their permanent place of residence at the end of August.

If you purchased the seeds at a flower shop, then most likely they may be pretty dried out. The shell of such seeds hardens, pecking occurs with difficulty, and the germination rate of crops is greatly reduced. If you received just such seed, be sure to first place it in water room temperature for two days.

Young peony in a pot, photo:

There is another way to grow tree peony from seeds at home - sowing them in the soil immediately after harvesting. Winter cold will provide natural stratification seed material. Seeds planted in this way can germinate in the same autumn (at the very end), or maybe in the spring. There is nothing complicated in the sowing process itself: the seeds are buried in the soil by about 4-5 cm, the distance between the seed and the seed should be at least 3 cm. Water this area regularly, but not too much, to avoid rotting of the roots.

With the onset of the first cold weather, cover the beds with fallen leaves (mulch). When September comes to an end, watering should be stopped; you can additionally lay a layer of foliage on top. If everything was done correctly, you will see the first shoots in the spring, but remember about time - some seeds can germinate even a year later, next spring. Water young plants moderately in summer and feed them with small doses of appropriate fertilizers. With the onset of autumn, young tree-like peonies can be planted at larger distances from each other. Full foliage of such seedlings appears approximately in the 3rd year of life; at this time, the plants should receive enough sunlight to be able to develop further normally. We have already mentioned choosing a place to plant a tree peony a little higher.

When does tree peony bloom? With normal care and compliance with all landing requirements such seedlings can produce the first flowers already in the 4th year of life. Be prepared for the fact that it may take 5 or even 6 years before a tree peony grown from seeds will delight you with its first flowers. When choosing planting material, be sure to consult with more experienced gardeners or, for example, study information on the Internet. Some varieties of tree peonies (“Madame Forell”, “Mont Blanc”, “Marshal Mohon”) do not form seeds at all. But even those peonies that produce seeds can only partially retain their “maternal” qualities when growing new stock. This process is fascinating and truly creative in some way, because you always wonder what will happen next, what kind of flower will come out of a small seed grown with your own hands.

Didn’t I really scare you with the difficulties of tree peony propagation? Of course they are. This includes the waiting time for your pet to bloom after planting a cutting or after rooting a cutting, and the unpredictability of the result when planting seeds. But a gardener always believes in luck when he really wants to have plenty of flowering bush- tree peony. Reproduction using one of the methods described above (and you choose the one that interests you most) will not seem like an impossible task.

Good luck!

You've probably noticed how luxurious your garden looks when peonies bloom and how the room where the vase with peonies stands is transformed. Isn't it beautiful? Believe me, you can grow peonies yourself, and not only in the usual way (dividing the bush), but also from seeds. And it doesn’t matter at all that splitting of varietal characteristics may occur. But you can get a flower at home that no one else has and get involved in breeding work. Of course, this is a long process (peonies grown from seeds will begin to bloom only after 5-6 years), but how interesting it is to wait to see what happens and, as a result, to have a new variety.

SEED GERMINATION

This process has some peculiarities. The fact is that the germination of peony seeds occurs rather slowly. The reason lies in the structure of the embryo. Its seeds have low activity, so germination occurs only a year after they are sown, since they need two-stage stratification.

But this procedure can be accelerated. To do this, you just need to grow them from your own seeds. Seeds must be collected immature: in the initial stage of ripening. At this time, they will not be hard and will have a light brown color with yellowish spots, and the leaflets will begin to crack at the seams. To prevent the seeds from drying out, it is better to sow them immediately, or you can store them in damp sand in the refrigerator for 1.5 months.

This is done from the second ten days of August to the second ten days of September. Collected seeds Immediately sow in the garden bed to a depth of 5 cm or in prepared containers. Then they will be able to go through two stages of stratification - both warm (temperature 15-30 degrees C) and cold, which lasts about 2 months (temperature 5-10 degrees C). This ensures that the seeds will sprout next summer. But still, not all the seeds will sprout (some seedlings will appear a year later).

HOW TO GROW SEEDLINGS FASTER

There are techniques that speed up the growing of seedlings of these flowers.
First of all, this is thermal stratification. It can only be achieved by exposing the seeds to different temperatures - about 30 degrees C during the day, and about 15 degrees C at night.

WARM PHASE

Seeds are sown in wide containers in damp sand. The container is placed on an electric heating pad (in cold weather you can use a radiator).
The sand must be heated to 30 degrees C, then it is cooled, warmed up again, moistening it from time to time, and so on for two months, until the seeds have roots.

Sprouted peony seeds

After this, the seeds are immediately removed from the sand, the tips of the roots are pinched and placed in a container with soil or in peat pots, lightly sprinkling them. Containers and pots can be placed in a box, covered with earth. This reduces the likelihood of injury to young animals when planting in the ground.

COLD PHASE

Then you need to move on to the cold phase. The second (cold) phase is needed for the shoot growth point to develop. At this time, the growth of the embryo is activated and the seeds germinate. It lasts about three months.

The time for completing the second stage of stratification can be reduced by treating the hypocotyl with a solution of a growth regulator. A hypocotyl is a piece of stem located under the cotyledons. First, prepare a 0.01% growth regulator solution.

The seeds must be opened, a bandage moistened with this solution and applied to the hypocotyl. To maintain the required moisture content, the seeds must be covered with translucent material. If you maintain the temperature from +5 to +10 degrees C, then a bud of growth and the appearance of leaves may form on the seedlings. If after a week the bud does not appear, then the treatment is repeated.

SEEDLING CARE

The seedlings on which a bud has appeared must be moved to a warm place where they will grow at a temperature of 16-18 degrees C. This acceleration procedure, of course, requires hard work and patience, but it saves a lot of time - a whole year. In May, the seedlings can be transferred to the garden, where they will grow in partial shade at a distance of about 5 cm from each other. The ground around them needs to be leveled and mulched with sawdust, which will help maintain moisture and prevent weeds from developing.

They will grow in containers until August, and by the end of summer they can be transferred to the garden to a permanent place of growth, placing dwarf species from each other at a distance of at least 0.5 meters, and the distance between ordinary ones is about a meter.

During the development of seedlings, they need to be regularly watered, loosened and weeded, and also, in order to prevent them from being affected by gray rot, it is necessary to spray Bordeaux mixture every 15 - 20 days.

TREE PEONY

If you want to use tree peony seeds bought in a store, then you should know that they are most often stored for a long time and because of this, some of the moisture is lost and the seeds wrinkle, and their shell becomes hard, which makes pecking difficult and greatly impairs germination. Therefore, dry, heavily wrinkled and hardened seeds purchased in a store need to be wetted before planting in room water for two days.

If you want to start sowing seeds at the end of summer, you can do this directly into the soil. The procedure is the same as described above.

SOWING IN WINTER

Sowing seeds in winter time assumes an artificial two-stage stratification. For this you need electric heater with thermostat. This will help regulate daily temperature changes.

WARM STRATIFICATION

Appearing roots from the seeds of the Tree Peony

Tree peony seeds should be sown in damp sand, and the containers in which the sowing is made should be placed on a heating pad. Throughout the month, the temperature is maintained at +30 degrees C during the day, and +15 degrees C at night. The sand is moistened from time to time using a spray bottle. When the roots appear, you can move on to the second stage - cold stratification.

COLD STRATIFICATION

It should be noted that some varieties: Mont Blanc, Celistial, Madame Forel, Marshall Mac-Mohon do not produce seeds at all.

But even in those plants that are capable of producing seeds, the flowers have only a distant resemblance to the parent variety. Although this does not make the work any less exciting. And even the drawback that flowering in such specimens can be expected no earlier than in five years pales in comparison to the expectation of a miracle that will appear from the seeds you planted.
And so, if you have a burning desire to grow peonies from the seeds of your existing plants, and such painstaking cultivation does not scare you, then get to work and in a few years you will have new variety tree peony and more. Good luck to you!