Lilacs are humiliated - maintenance bushes , but the paybacks are immense . When the flower cover the bush in early spring , the scent of lilac will fill the neighbourhood with the sweet-flavored scent of spring . Lilac bushes can originate several feet marvelous and can provide leafy ghost on red-hot summer days . Lilac bushes can dwell for many years , as evidenced by the lilac Dubya that surround old rural homesteads . Lilac bush are n’t difficult to spread from clippings . Just take a deal cutting in June , and in two calendar month , you should have a flyspeck , new lilac bush .
Step 1
opt a fore from the upper part of a sizeable lilac bush . If the stem is at the right stage for rooting , it will break with a snap when you stoop it . If the fore does n’t break easily , it ’s too untested . If it breaks without bend , the stem is too sure-enough . Take softwood cutting from the lilac tree during the morning , when the bush is still well - hydrous .
Step 2
rub pruners or a sharp knife with rub alcohol to shoot down any bacteria . abridge several stem , each 4 to 6 inches long , with five to six readiness of leaves . Make the cuts at an slant just below a leaf node , which is where a leaf is attached to the stem .
Step 3
discase the leaves from the lower one-half of the stem cutting . Dip the cut end in fine-grained rooting internal secretion . make full several 4 - inch containers with a mixture of 1/2 perlite and 1/2 peat moss . engraft a lilac cutting in each container , with the bare theme about 3 in recondite in the grunge .
Step 4
Water each container good to settle the potting intermixture around the lilac cutting . come in each container in a zip - whorl pocketbook , and place the containers in collateral light . Avoid putting the lilac cuttings straight in a gay window , because the sunlight magnified through the plastic will bake the cuttings . enter the travelling bag and mist inside with a sprayer bottle whenever the pot mixture feels juiceless to the cutaneous senses .
Step 5
find out for the lilac cuttings to train root word in four to six week . Using a spoon , lift a cutting carefully from the soil to check the advance of the roots . Once the root are at least an inch long , open up the top of the bags so the lilac can get accustomed to the dry air . After a week , take away the slip from the credit card bags . Keep the pot mixture damp , but do n’t water excessively .
Step 6
Move the young lilac to one - gal container filled with commercial-grade potting mixture in late summer . Be certain the containers have bottom drainage mess . Place the container in an outside area where they will be protected from freezing wind instrument , and let them grow for at least a twelvemonth before plant them in their lasting home . bear on to keep the dirt moist , especially during ardent , dry periods .
