How to maintain honeysuckle in potted plants

Digging honeysuckle in the wild

During the dormant period in autumn and winter, if you look for it in wasteland or along roadsides, you can often find some old honeysuckle stumps left over from felling.

When digging, according to the natural shape of the tree and future shaping requirements, most of the branches should be cut off, retaining the main trunk and necessary main branches; cut off the main root, and retain as many lateral roots and fibrous roots as possible.

After digging out, the roots should be immediately covered with soil, taken back and planted in a medium-sized clay pot with good air permeability, and carefully maintained to ensure survival.

Selection of soil for honeysuckle potting

The preparation of soil for cultivation is the key. The cultivation soil should be nutrient-rich, loose and have strong water-retaining capacity, preferably acidic or slightly acidic soil.

Generally, a mixture of river sand and pine needle leaf mold can be used as culture soil. After sieving, it is divided into three types of culture soil: coarse, medium and fine, for use later.

When adding soil, you should first use 2 pieces of broken tiles to overlap and cover the water hole at the bottom of the pot, then put coarser culture soil on the bottom layer, and put decomposed manure as a long-term fertilizer; then cover the fertilizer with medium-grained culture soil, then plant the plants, and finally cover it with fine-grained culture soil.

The soil in a newly potted plant is very loose. You can press it lightly with your hands and then water it slowly to prevent the topsoil from being washed into big holes. After the first watering, water it again until a small amount of water flows out from the holes at the bottom of the pot.

Processing shape

Rough processing: After a period of cultivation, the honeysuckle grows well. When the trunk reaches a certain thickness, it can be dug out for preliminary processing.

First, cut off the main root and cut off the upper part of the trunk to control a certain height, and then prune away unnecessary side branches.

The honeysuckle after rough processing needs to be cultivated for another year before the next step can be carried out.

Plastic pruning

Shaping and pruning are the main processing methods for potted honeysuckle.

Because honeysuckle has a strong germination ability, it is suitable for a variety of bonsai shapes.

Honeysuckle should be pruned in time during the dormant period.

When pruning, leave only one main trunk with a height of 10 to 20 cm, 3 to 5 main branches on the main trunk, and 3 to 5 side branches on each main branch, so that the whole plant appears to be in a "flowering shape". After the spring, all the buds growing on the main trunk should be removed, and the tops of the main branches should be removed before flowering to encourage the plant to produce more flowering branches.

After flowering, it is necessary to repeat pruning, shorten the upper part of the branches that have finished flowering, leaving only 3 to 5 nodes, and cut off some new branches and weak branches depending on the specific situation.

Through pruning, the entire plant shape and branches are coordinated and clearly layered.

Honeysuckle fertilizer and water management

Although the management of honeysuckle cultivation is extensive, watering should still be done "when wet and when dry", that is, water until water comes out from the bottom of the pot, and then water again when the soil in the pot has lost water and is dry.

It is best to use river water, rain water or ditch water. City tap water contains more chlorine, so it can be stored and dried in advance and then used after the chlorine has completely evaporated. The water temperature for watering flowers in winter should be close to room temperature. The amount of watering is highest in summer, followed by spring and autumn, and least in winter.

During the flowering period, watering should be minimized to extend the flowering period.

Fertilization should be carried out during the season when honeysuckle is growing vigorously and from the stage of flower bud differentiation to the stage of bud formation.

Generally, top dressing should be done once every 1 to 2 weeks after spring and before flowering. Commonly used fertilizer is bean cake, water and superphosphate mixed in a ratio of 1:5:5. The decomposed original solution should be diluted 20 to 30 times before application. Fertilization should be carried out in the evening on a sunny day. Loosen the soil first to facilitate the infiltration of liquid fertilizer. In the dog days of summer and winter, because honeysuckle is in a semi-dormant state, top dressing must be stopped, otherwise it will cause root rot.

Repotting and changing the soil of honeysuckle

Due to the limitation of the flower pot, potted honeysuckle has a small soil capacity. After 2 to 3 years, the nutrients in the soil gradually become lacking and the soil becomes stiff. The roots that have grown over the years cover the entire pot, making it difficult for water to penetrate and fertilizer to be absorbed. Therefore, it is necessary to repot and change the soil in time.

The time for repotting and changing the soil should be set during the slow growth period of honeysuckle.

When repotting, you can use both hands to turn the flower pot diagonally, and gently knock one side of the pot on the ground several times to turn out the soil ball and remove the old soil. If necessary, you can use a sharp knife to cut off 1/3 of the soil ball, but the protective soil in the center of the root must be retained, otherwise it will cause death.

After repotting and changing the soil, water it in time, just like when it was first planted, to make sure the soil at the bottom of the pot is completely wet, and provide appropriate shade. It can only be placed in ventilated sunlight after half a month.