serpentine layering

has anyone tried serpentine layering? this is an Macropetala Markam's Pink clematis. last summer i took a long vine and inserted the vine in the soil, at leaf node points, in three places. now this spring the results are in. i have 3 nice baby plants. i will mark them, make sure they are pampered a bit and then this fall cut them free from the original vine/ mother plant. then next spring i will dig them up. actually i will probably only dig one up as i do not want a second display of this beautiful early bloomer. will let the other babies fill in and add beauty as the mother ages.


i do try and layer a lot to create little plants to fill in and protect the display, but this is the first time i have done a multiple or serpentine layering. kind of a botanical experiment.

this clem blooms so early, best to never prune.
photo not so good, but i am psyched that the multiple attempt worked so well.

this is mommy up close right now

and mommy as she will look a few weeks from now.

she is on a shorter obelisk than she could be, as it is on a retained wall, you can walk by and the blooms are at shoulder height. and she is never pruned as you can see by the looping mish mash of old wood stems. if i hard pruned it, it would take 2 years to re bloom with this vigor.

such pretty flowers!

CG -

this is what I wanted to try with my Comtesse - what did you use to hold the nodes down or did you just bury them with dirt?

Thanks

carolyn, i used rocks. i am going to use landscape pins this year for all my layering.

this morning after spin class, as i was top dressing and cleaning up some clems, i tried what is known as "forking". i read about forking in some older UK clem books. you take a fork or small spade to a really big mature clem and fork off root mass from the side of the crown. i did this on a big betty corning. immediately planted it out where i wanted it. we shall see if it takes. i feel the root mass i got was too small, and i was timid to go wider.

will keep you posted as to results.

A number of my clematis did this on their own when a lower vine or two spilled over onto the ground and rooted there. Sometimes it pays to be a bit messy. A few that have done this include: Blue light, Sunset, Sugar Candy, Bees Jubilee, and Duchess of Edinburg. Sometimes I look for new homes for the youngsters. Other times I leave them to grow alongside the parent. Humidity is near 100% here in summer, so that may aid this automatic reproduction process in my garden.

Very lovely blooms. I would love to see the parent in full regalia.

A couple of mine did this without any help from me.

Just wanted to add that after seeing my unruly clematis show the way, I figured I would use this same method should I ever need or want to make extras of any of my clematis. It seems like the easiest and safest method of reproduction.

I've done layering, but haven't tried the serpentine method. I'll have to give it a try this year!

i decided i am leaving all three of the babies where they are in front of the wall. after blooming period i may prune my big macropetala down. risk will be mitigated by the new plants and if i mess up the next year of heavy blooms that is ok.
when i look at the pics of the winding thick stem of the macropetala m pink, and next to her an alpina ordorato, which also basically has never been pruned...they bloom on oldest wood vs old wood...they look such a mess i think i am going to go for it this year, get them out of their structure, hard prune and set them up for more organized growth. i have another macropetala coming in and need to straighten out the whole area.
the macropetala markhams pink and the alpina odorato are 8 years old. grown in pots for first year to 18 months, then planted out where they are now.
big itch to straighten them out and rethink the support.

Serpentine layering is probably one of the best ways to propagate vines! It's so easy and works so well. I've read that the best time to do this type of layering is in the Spring when there is a lot of new growth. You can hold the mother vine down with rocks as C.G. stated. Also, bricks or gardening staples can be used too. Mound some soil over the mother vine so that it has good contact with the ground. Once you see baby vines sprouting you can seperate them from the mother plant by cutting the vine, move them to another part of your garden or trade them with friends.

Just a side note, my climbing Hydrangea propagates itself in the soil via serpentine layering. I just dig up the babies, pot them up and give them to friends.

love that shirley! i should propagate some of the moonlight hydrangea and move it to different places in my gardens!

this year for ayering i am going to insert a pot in the ground al the way and use a landscape mat pin or two, maybe on e on each side of the nodal area, so when i cut it free i can remove the pot and not have to sweat digging it out and worrying about hurting the baby root. i have heard not to cut from mother for a year. not sure , maybe it can be much earlier????

i have some other ayered plants i am digging up this year and am worried about injury but will just go for it. will find out i guess!

I've not had a problem cutting the baby plant from the mother if it is well rooted. Your layered plants should have a very well developed root system after one year. Go for it!

Great job!!

I tack mine down with old fashioned hair pins. Or rocks, if they are handier, lol...

I'm hesitant about the forking thing...I've tried separated roots, and while they lived for several years, they never produced any growth, so finally tossed them.

I hope you have better luck with the "forking"

Congrats on your babies!

will for sure let everyone know how the forking works out. i do not think i got enough. too timid. but betty corning is so vigorous, i know i picked a good one to test.

if it does not work,i will try again. barry fretwell book highly recommended it. love those old clem books. so much info.

happy layering all!

Layering is the easiest and surest way to propagate clematis..I just take one LONG vine and weave it in and out of soil so the leaf axil is under the soil..make sure and take a razor blade and gently slit the bottom a bit..stay vigilent about keeping those soil areas moist and check in 3 months and you'll probably have roots you can then divide and pot up..Jeanne

in the northern zone best to wait longer than the 3 months. i think things can be faster in your zone jeanne. what survival rate do you have unleashing at 3 months?

we need to wait a full annual cycle before digging a cultivar. species type root systems can be faster.

it is a good idea to wound the stem a bit as you bury it. some folks also dab on rooting hormone as they layer it.

Yes Guru..I use rooting hormones on my new babies as well..I pot up in a half gallon pot and sink them in the soil for over the winter..in an area where my sprinkler system hits..I have mild winters and they will go dormant but the roots still grow and come the following Spring..BOOM..I pull the pots out of the soil and have gorgeous roots...as you said you must adjust your time for shorter growing seasons but I've found sinking the pots in the soil have worked as well for a friend of mine in Ohio..snow and all..she was pleasantly surprised when she pulled her pots up last year and had nice roots and they flourished just beautifully for her in their new home...Jeanne

Jeanne-
great tip about burying a pot. That would certainly keep down transplant/root stress.
thanks for the tip

OMG this is too technical for me......wowzers!!! I am lost LOL

dawn, KEEP IT SIMPLE
a. lay a clem vine in the earth ,still attached to the plant. do this in mid june to july so the vine is not too green, not too woody (thinking of your late season here) pinch off the leaves from a nodal point on the vine
b. step on it lightly to bruise it, but do not break it
c.lay a rock on either side of leaf node
d. throw some good soil on it
e. water it as you water your clems.
f. by fall you should have a baby clem plant sprouting up
g. give it some winter protection with rocks circled around the baby plant, or other such envelopment
h. in the spring, (next june? hahaha only kidding on when your spring comes) you should see the baby plant re emerge
i. if so, next august, cut it free from mommy and dig it up and pot it, or let it stay there and flourish with mommy.

GREAT thread! I look forward to trying this in the coming seasons for plants to bring to future RU's. Ev =)

This is great. I would like to see how well this works and then maybe even try to get a nice trade going of rooted clems - your thoughts? Granted it would be in a year or so we would actually do the trading........

This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 5:53 AM

Great idea and will definitely try it! Thanks..

hey, got back last night, missed all the cold weather here. anyway, the betty corning i forked off the main betty corning 2 weeks ago looks like it is alive. i will wait a few days and take a pic and post if it still looks alive. it has been so wet that it might just be like a stem in a vase of water, but it looks like a new shoot and that it is growing.
i was sure the piece was too small and i am so excited it might have worked. those old clem books from the UK sure have a lot of good ideas!
gotta be careful of typos with the word forking. and i usually do not proof my posts...will have to if forking is going to be successful!

CG - that is great.

(about the typos - you are too funny!)

CG, in my mild climate. In late Feb. I trimmed back some weak growth on Dr. Ruppel. It's almost a habit; I stucks some of the nodal cuttings back into a nearby pot. Guess what? It's taking roots I think. So yes, it's slow to take root, but cuttings can be done.
Though, serpentine layering seems to be most effective in my 'guestimation'. ^_^

cool. you may have hit the time of year, woodiness of the piece you inserted etc at exactly the right time. next time dip in rooting hormone too.
i would keep nipping the plant down if it does grow, so it does not put out too much plant for the root to take care of.
if my betty corning forking is growing i plan to do that at least twice, but i had a piece of root in what i transplanted. so i def would make them progress slowly.

very cool.
i have done paul farges cuttings in soil and had some of them stick. but that is a super vigorous, species type clem. if you like SAC, paul farges is a must.

guess what? i know this is a layering thread, but we are going down the forking path too, because my betty corning forked piece is ALIVE. one of the stems was broken a few days ago (i suspect a passing bunny) and on a hotter day the whole piece looked blah..but i can say now that there is regrowth and response to the weather cooling off.
i am 90% sure the forked piece is busy rooting.
lucky for me, bunnies do not like clems, or i would be in big trouble.

really excited to have read about forking and been able to try it. the keys i believe
1. mature plant
2. time of year, as soon as dormancy hits, the plant is pruned off and you see action.
3. luck!

if this piece becomes vigorous, i will def be forking a lot next spring!

CG, what does it mean by 'folking'?
As far as 'serpentine layering' but not clematis. I've a wonderful clethra that made seeds by a gazillions but I did never find one single seedling. So while working in the garden yesterday, I decided I'm going to do one layering of the lower branch that almost touch the ground. :-) It should work! I'm excited about the idea though. Hope the plant isn't patented! LOL.

sorry it is FORKING. i read about it in some older clematis books from the UK/
forking is where you take a garden fork, and pull off root material from the side of a mature cultivar. kind of like dividing a regular perennial, but without disturbing the main plant. so i "forked" off a bit of betty corning a couple of weeks ago, planted it immediately. it is alive. i am surprised, as i did not get as much root material as i thought i needed, due to fear of disturbing my main plant.
however, it is looking good today, i think it is growing. and it has even been thru a broken steam.

got to be careful with my careless dyslexia , cause typos with forking could be bad.

have fun with your layer. i have many clems that are now very thick displays as there are many layered plants within the group that i will never move.
just like when you buy one perennial plant of any type and it looks soso, but if you buy 3 or 5, it looks better. clems look better in a group but most people do not install them that way. so layering is the way to protect yourself in case the main one dies and t have it look better.

use a semi woody vine a fresh green one is not the best choice you want a vine with some wood on it. so best to layer a littel layer in the summer, vs right now.

CG - did the book give any indication on how long the whole forking process takes? I am wondering if I do that in the spring, if the part I forked off will be rooted enough to support the plant by fall - Your thoughts?

i forked mine just weeks ago and put it directly in the ground. it is in an area i can keep an eye on it and monitor frequently as it a garden with at least 40 clems in it.
if i potted a forked piece i would wait until the roots were showing at the bottom on the pot, preferable a # 1 size pot, not a tiny liner size.