Bougainvilleas
Episode: #16 04/08/07
Presenter: Phil Dudman
Bougainvilleas are one of the most terrific plants it really is tough and does a great job of arching over an arbor imagine how magnificent it would look if full bloom.
If you see one you like it is really quite easy to propagate yourself this is how:
Starting by finding a Bougainvillea with a nice healthy growth, you will want a stem that is nice and firm and around pencil thickness. We want to make our Bougainvillea cuttings around four nodes long a node being where the leaves join the stem.
So we make our first cut with sharp secateurs just below the bottom node. Now count four maybe five nodes above there and make your top cut around there.
Once that is done you want to remove all the leaves from the side, all the way along the cutting, except for the one at the top. The one at the top, just cut it in half, that will reduce any excess moisture from our cutting and there we go!
Now let’s have a look at our propagating mix. We want a mix that is open but that will hold a bit of moisture. Phil recommends a 50/50 mix of course river sand and some peat moss. Mix all it together and put it in the pot.
Before we put our cuttings in there is a few neat tricks to help them form lots of lovely roots. Take the secateurs and use them to injure the base of the cutting little slits or clippings at the base would be ideal. With the secateurs, scrape a little bit of the bark off from just above that bottom node. What that is going to do is stimulate the cells there to form lots of lovely roots, and that is where the roots will form.
After that, dip those areas into some Yates Plant Cutting Powder, which will bring those roots on much quicker, now simply make a hole in the mix for our cutting and place it in.
We you be lucky and get 100% strike rate, but just to be safe it is recommended that you put 10-15 cuttings in any extras well you can always give them to a friend!
Just put the cuttings in a shady spot out of the wind keep the mix moist and in a few months these cuttings will have formed roots and will be ready to be potted up into their own pots.
Before you know it you will be enjoying those lovely blooms.
Presenter: Phil Dudman
Bougainvilleas are one of the most terrific plants it really is tough and does a great job of arching over an arbor imagine how magnificent it would look if full bloom.
If you see one you like it is really quite easy to propagate yourself this is how:
Starting by finding a Bougainvillea with a nice healthy growth, you will want a stem that is nice and firm and around pencil thickness. We want to make our Bougainvillea cuttings around four nodes long a node being where the leaves join the stem.
So we make our first cut with sharp secateurs just below the bottom node. Now count four maybe five nodes above there and make your top cut around there.
Once that is done you want to remove all the leaves from the side, all the way along the cutting, except for the one at the top. The one at the top, just cut it in half, that will reduce any excess moisture from our cutting and there we go!
Now let’s have a look at our propagating mix. We want a mix that is open but that will hold a bit of moisture. Phil recommends a 50/50 mix of course river sand and some peat moss. Mix all it together and put it in the pot.
Before we put our cuttings in there is a few neat tricks to help them form lots of lovely roots. Take the secateurs and use them to injure the base of the cutting little slits or clippings at the base would be ideal. With the secateurs, scrape a little bit of the bark off from just above that bottom node. What that is going to do is stimulate the cells there to form lots of lovely roots, and that is where the roots will form.
After that, dip those areas into some Yates Plant Cutting Powder, which will bring those roots on much quicker, now simply make a hole in the mix for our cutting and place it in.
We you be lucky and get 100% strike rate, but just to be safe it is recommended that you put 10-15 cuttings in any extras well you can always give them to a friend!
Just put the cuttings in a shady spot out of the wind keep the mix moist and in a few months these cuttings will have formed roots and will be ready to be potted up into their own pots.
Before you know it you will be enjoying those lovely blooms.
AS SEEN ON 
