Hydrangeas - Part Three, Page 2
Propagation
Seed
| Note for new seed growers: Prechilling (cold stratification) means sowing the seed, either in pots or plastic baggies of damp seeding compost - or even in layers of damp paper towel - and subjecting it to the required temperature. This can be done in the refrigerator or by leaving the sown seed outside if the outdoor temperatures are right. Simply putting dry seed in the fridge doesn't constitute stratification...that's the best way to store seed. No pretreatment means that the seed should germinate readily in warm temperatures. |
Hydrangeas can be grown from seed. I've not tried this method, nor have I ever found any self-sown seedlings.
As far as I've been able to ascertain, most all hydrangeas are capable of setting viable seed.
Remember that cultivars seldom, if ever, seed true, since they are hybrids.
Species can also show variation, since sexual reproduction combines the genes of the parents in new and different ways.
Following are germination requirements for several species. If yours isn't among them, try various methods to see which one works.
H. anomala - Prechill at 39ºF (3.8ºC) for one to two months then move it to 70ºF (21ºC) for germination. Dirr says no pretreatment is needed and seed can be directly sown, but that cold stratification will hasten and unify germination.
H. arborescens - No pretreatment is necessary. Seeds are very small and should be sown in pots or flats. Seedlings will be tiny and delicate and probably should be watered from below by soaking the pots or flats in trays of water until the surface of the media is damp, rather than watering overhead.
H. macrophylla - Requires cold stratification, same as H. anomala.
H. paniculata - No pretreatment is necessary.
H. quercifolia - Easily germinated from fresh seed at 70ºF (21ºC) - complete germination should occur in two weeks; resulting seedlings should grow on quickly.
Cuttings, etc.
Most hydrangeas (not all) are easily propagated from stem cuttings. Some can be divided and those that sucker can have the suckers lifted in very early spring and planted out or potted up.
It's easy to steal bits from those species who spread outward into ever enlarging clumps, H. arborescens, for instance. Simply take a sharp spade and sever one of the outer sections in very early spring, just as the buds start swelling. Fill in the hole and the mother plant will never know what's happened. Carry your stolen bit to its new home and plant it right away, water it well and it will never know it's been moved.
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