How to propagate Cotinus coggygria bonsai by cuttings

1. Cutting season

The best time to propagate Cotinus coggygria by cuttings is early summer.

If you choose to take cuttings of Cotinus coggygria in spring, you need to use hard branch cuttings and build a plastic arch shed to keep warm and moist.

2. Cutting temperature

When taking cuttings, select strong and hard branches from the whole plant, keep the length of the cuttings at about 10-15 cm, and insert them into the prepared potting soil after the juice from the cut branches has dried slightly. Maintain a reasonable temperature and humidity in the potting soil, generally at an ambient temperature of 22-25 degrees Celsius, and roots will grow in 15-20 days.

When the roots grow to a certain length, they can be planted in pots.

3. Promote rooting

After cuttings, the cuttings need to be kept moist, so they need to be sprayed with water continuously. At the same time, the cut ends should be treated with growth-promoting hormones. Roots will grow in about a month. After roots grow, stop spraying water.

In order to ensure survival, you must wait until fibrous roots grow out before transplanting them into pots.

4. Cultivation and Management

The fibrous roots of Cotinus coggygria are sparse, so when transplanting, its branches should be pruned to reduce water consumption, which is beneficial to the survival of the Cotinus coggygria. After transplanting, be sure to water thoroughly, loosen the soil frequently, pull out weeds, and apply organic fertilizer 2-3 times during the growing season to promote the healthy growth of the cuttings.

5. Maintenance and management

During the growing season, the Cotinus coggygria bonsai should be placed in a sunny and ventilated place. In summer, it should be placed where there is no sunlight. It should be kept indoors in winter.

When watering the Cotinus coggygria bonsai, water it when the soil is dry and then water it when it is wet. There should be no stagnant water in the pot. There is no need to water it as long as the soil is moist. In hot weather, water should be sprinkled on the ground near the bonsai to maintain a certain humidity around the bonsai.

If too much fertilizer is applied to Cotinus coggygria, the branches will grow lushly due to apical dominance, and the leaves will be too fertile, affecting its ornamental value. In addition to fertilizing during planting, it is only necessary to fertilize once a year before the end of spring and autumn.