Bougainvillea Cutting: Step-by-Step Guide

The bougainvillea It is a beautiful perennial plant of tropical origin, very famous for the spectacular nature of its colored leaves and for its great resistance in the garden.

If you fell in love with one of them and want to get an identical plant, the bougainvillea cutting is a great way to spread it relatively easily.

In this article, we explain, step by step, how multiply a bougainvillea from the selection of a cutting from the mother plant.

Are you ready?

Contents

Propagation from bougainvillea cuttings

Bougainvillea is usually propagated by stem selection and cuttingalthough there is also the option by seeds, a little slower but manages to generate different plants from the original source.

However, the easiest option is to select the bougainvillea cutting, since this plant has good ability to generate roots of their resinous stems.

It is a part of the plant that is not new, but also not established and too woody. The secret of propagating bougainvillea is precisely this, choosing a stem that is not very new but not lignified either, since the ability to produce new roots will be reduced, this is what interests us.

Step-by-step guide to reproducing by cutting

Selection of bougainvillea stems

In the mother plant we will look for a rod length 10cm, approximately, where we see that it has several nodes (preferably 4 to 6 nodes). These knots are very important for the cut, so the more the better.

Nodes are little balls that protrude and bulge from the stem. We are looking for wood from the first year, which is not completely new or very lignified and hardened.

When cutting, we will use scissors and make a diagonal cut.

bougainvillea cutting

We remove the remaining leaves from the stem

We will leave the lower half of the stem free of leaves, keeping only some top leaves (2 to 4). This way we will only have the wood and the knots ready to put them in the water.

If you want to increase the chances of rooting and speed up the process, it’s a good idea to have a hormone-based rooting powder on hand, which you can buy online for a low price and can keep several years.

Just dip the base of the rod in the powder to keep it lightly impregnated, and you can continue with the next process. Keep in mind that this is a complementary option, and if you don’t have products on hand, you can prepare your bougainvillea cutting in the traditional way.

We put the rod in the water

We introduce the bougainvillea cuttings into running water, placing the container in an area with a little dim light, protected from drafts and at a stable temperature between 18 and 26 ºC. Always avoid direct sun, as it increases stress on the stem and dries out the plant material.

renew the water every 5 days to prevent any type of rot and provide renewed oxygen.

After 10-12 days you will notice that a sufficient volume of white roots has been generated to be transplanted into a pot.

Graft Bougainvillea

With a new root system consisting of roots longer than 2 or 3 cm, it is time to transplant into a pot. You can use a universal substrate, although if you mix it with a little coconut fiber you will improve the drainage and the air supply in the mixture.

Make a small hole in the center and gently introduce the cutting, supporting the roots without pressing. Add soil until it covers the base of the stem and is supported.

make a generous wateringhydrating the entire substrate and letting 10% of the water drain out the bottom of the pot.

Place yourself in an area with filtered light and a constant temperature until you see that the aerial part begins to move and produce new leaves. The bougainvillea cutting operation will be completed.

From now on, you can follow the advice in our Bougainvillea care article to find out all the ins and outs of this magnificent climbing plant.

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