Many think it is very difficult, but propagating a magnolia is child's play. If only because you have four options.
Magnolias delight everyone who sees them with their magnificent growth and incomparably beautiful flowers. However, you do not necessarily have to buy such a shrub, because it is quite possible to multiply a magnolia yourself. For example, you can propagate your magnolia with the help of seeds, cuttings, planters or by so-called mossing. Which of these four variants you ultimately choose is entirely up to you.
Ways of propagating a magnolia
Option 1 - Propagation by seed:
Since the seeds of a magnolia are so-called cold or frost germs, they do not need heat, but cold. Accordingly, it is recommended to put the seeds in the freezer of the refrigerator for about three to four months. If the winter is cold enough, you can also leave the seeds outside. Only when the winter is over do you sow the seeds. You can find out exactly how to do this in our article "Growing magnolias from seeds - step-by-step instructions".
Option 2 - propagation by cuttings:
You can also grow a magnolia from cuttings. However, you must note what kind of shrub it is. In the case of bushes or trees that shed their leaves, cuttings that still have green wood are taken in early summer. You can also grow semi-lignified cuttings in late summer.
For evergreen varieties you will need to take a few semi-lignified cuttings in late summer or early fall. Then put them in a flowerpot filled with a soil-sand mixture. Then place the pot in a frost-free and bright room. As soon as the rooting has taken place, you can plant the magnolia in the garden as early as next spring.
Possibility 3 - propagation by lowering:
If you have decided to propagate by planters, you must do so in Augustkick off. To do this, simply bend a long shoot of the plant to the ground and attach it there with a hook. Then loosely pile everything up with the garden soil. Then you need a little patience. Roots should have formed on the sinker by the spring after next at the latest.
Before the new shoots begin in spring, you must remove the lowering device. Then plant the new magnolia very carefully in its new destination. Pruning is not advisable as the plants rot very quickly.
Possibility 4 - propagation by removing moss:
When mossing is called, you have to choose a branch that is less than a centimeter thick. About 30 to 40 centimeters below the shoot tip you have to cut the bark diagonally with a very sharp knife. It is then important to prevent the incision from closing again immediately. You can achieve this by e.g. clamping a clean pebble or a piece of foil between them. You then have to wrap the interface thickly with moist moss so that a real "tangle" is created here. Then a plastic bag is put over it, which you have to tie at the top and bottom.
Now it's time to wait. If you always keep the moss moist, you can usually discover the first roots after two to three months. Once these have formed, you need to separate the shoot from the mother plant and plant it in the garden soil.