How Can I Propagate Lilac Branches?

[LauraJean]

A house down the road from me has been vacant and for sale for a very long time. One night, as I walked down to check the mail at the end of the road, I decided there would be no harm in picking a few Lilacs that are at the edge of the road near the house.

I remembered my ex said that he was able to grow lilac bushes from cuttings. He has several full grown lilac shrubs as proof. So instead of a small bouquet, I picked off a couple of branches, about 2 - 2 1/2' in length.

My question: How do I go about doing this? Right now they're in a kitty litter bucket with water in my bathtub. What do I do with them? It imagine it will take a long time for them to grow roots. Do they need to be in a well lit area, or can I leave them in the bucket in the tub between showers? I'm not sure where to put them or what to do with them, or when to know I can plant them.

Anybody done this? Advice? Thanks!

 

[MorelCabin]

Usually you would do this by taking the 'suckers' that grow up along the base of the lilac bush. Propogating by cutting stems is quite difficult and rarely works on these shrubs

 

[grannyB]

I have successfully propagated lilacs, ginnala maple, forsythia, and willows. But you have to use "green" wood cuttings. After the shrub blooms, it grows new shoots on the ends of the branches. Cut these new shoots while they are still green and before they harden off. I put them in pots of compost and kept them saturated all summer. By fall they had roots enough to plant. If you live in a cold state like mine, they need protection over the winter.

I am going to do some this year. DD wants some ginnala maple. Mine is blooming now so will take cuttings in a few weeks.

Hope this helps. It worked for me. Good luck.

 

[patandchickens]

In principle you can do it from either softwood or hardwood cuttings. (Look up generic directions on the web or in a book).

However lilacs do not root real reliably that way; also, this is not the right time of year for hardwood cuttings, and unless you are somewhere colder than where I live, it is probably too *late* for good softwood cuttings, as they work best when you've got just 6" or so of new growth.

I mean, you can TRY rooting what you've got -- I'd suggest picking pieces that have the shortest possible am't of new growth, snap it off where it breaks naturally from the harder growth, and strip the lower leaves off GENEROUSLY and root it DEEP, following standard directions, and do a buncha them in hopes of getting one to strike.

Honestly though digging suckers is BY FAR the most reliable, easy and foolproof method. If the owner's still living there, knock on the door and ask if you might snitch a piece; or wait til the new owner moves in.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Henrietta23]

We used the sucker method to start a lilac that originated on my great grandparents' farm in NY State. My dad and his older brother's widow both have full grown bushes from the original and I got mine from Dad's. As far as we know the original is also still living, although the farm is gone.

 

[hwillm1977]

The lilac in our yard was planted the same year the house was built (1883) and we had more than 100 'suckers' growing up from the base this year... I'm hoping to turn those into a whole hedge of lilacs along the entire property... we planted 35 of them last year, but not all of them survived.

hmmm... maybe I could root and sell lilacs

I just dug the suckers out, cutting as close to the 'mother' as possible... dipped them in rooting hormone and stuck them in some nice moist potting soil... put that in a bag and kept it moist until roots appeared and then planted them in the ground.

 

[tortoise]

We hacked out a HUGE lilac that was totally overgrown by some brush. I saved a single sucker and planted it. Pretty much ignored it. It took about 3 years for it to get to the size of a lilac you would buy at a nursery, but I am still proud of it.

 

[chickenjoe]

You can try using root hormone It usually comes in a powder or gel form. Like others were saying it would work easy with new growth. You should be able to pick it up at your local nursey or garden center.

 

[savingdogs]

I'd go back for a few "suckers" and then use the rooting hormone on them. That has worked for me. Those suckers are how the plant naturally spreads. So that is the easy way.