How to grow hawthorn? A small guide to planting, pruning and taking care of this plant both on the terrace and buried in the garden
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himHow to grow hawthorn? A small guide to planting, pruning and taking care of this plant both on the terrace and buried in the garden
Il hawthorn it is a plant rich in properties and particularly beautiful as well as suitable for growing on your terrace or garden. Let's find out how to best take care of this shrub with its characteristic white flowers and edible red berries.
Crataegus monogyna, botanical name of the most common species of hawthorn, is a plant of the Rosaceae family which, once its growth is complete, can reach even 6 meters in height (usually, however, it is around 3-5 meters) . It is characterized by having a stem with many branches with thorns but we can all easily distinguish it for its beautiful white flowers or (at other times of the year) for the characteristic red berries.
In addition to the decorative beauty of the plant, the advantage of growing hawthorn is to have berries and flowers available with which to make culinary but also natural health recipes (for example the hawthorn berry jam or the hawthorn tea).
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How to sow or propagate hawthorn
The hawthorn can be sown or reproduced by cuttings. Let's see how to do it in both situations:
By seed
The ideal would be to get fresh hawthorn berries from which to extract the seed. This, to understand if it is suitable for sowing, must be immersed in a basin of water. If it sinks, then it is perfect to be used for this purpose, if instead it floats it is likely that the plant that will be born will be more fragile and grow very slowly.
The seed, covered with earth and sand, should be placed in a vase with a diameter of 40 cm. On the bottom, take care to put gravel (a layer of about 3 centimeters) and fertilizer. The soil suitable for hawthorn is calcareous. Then proceed with a light watering.
Once you have planted the seed, you will need to have a little patience. Even if it is healthy, it will grow slowly. Do you think that hawthorn takes about 20 years to reach its maximum extension.
By cuttings
The birth of a new hawthorn by cuttings is possible but certainly the undertaking is not very simple, the possibility of failure is in fact high even after several attempts. Unfortunately, the plant is unlikely to take root in this way.
If you want to try it anyway, the cuttings must be cut and planted at the first signs of spring. The branches should be chosen preferring the parts with green shoots of the plant slightly less than 1 cm thick, obviously they must not be damaged, frozen or particularly woody.
It is advisable to choose the lateral branches of medium height and not those at the top, cutting diagonally in such a way as to leave a length of 10-15 cm. Finally, it is better to choose branches that are at least two years old.
Given the difficulty of this type of plant to reproduce by cuttings, there are those who use special products to promote rooting in which the freshly cut cuttings are placed for about an hour before being actually planted.
You need a mixture of earth, peat or sand to be used in equal parts or an ordinary soil in which, however, the earth must necessarily be well fertilized.
Some recommend placing the branch end in a potato tuber before planting it in the ground. It is believed that with this method the stem obtains the maximum amount of nutrients useful for its growth.
The cuttings should be planted in a checkered pattern, leaving a distance of at least 40 centimeters between the rows and 20 centimeters between the plants in the row.
A fundamental thing is that, in order to germinate, the hawthorn cuttings need a very high humidity (80%) and must therefore be periodically nebulized.
Hawthorn, care
Hawthorn is a particularly resistant plant, able to adapt to different climates, even very harsh ones. In winter, however, if you live in a cold area, it is best to cover it with dry leaves and keep it in a sheltered spot on your terrace or garden.
The best position for the plant is the sunny or semi-shaded one, the important thing is that the hawthorn is reached by the sun for a few hours every day.
With regard to watering, these must be guaranteed to the plant twice a month in winter and twice a week in summer. However, it is absolutely not necessary to overdo it with water as it is a plant that suffers from any stagnation. If it is kept outside, and is reached by sufficient rainwater, watering of the hawthorn can also be avoided.
In general, however, hawthorn is a plant that does not require great maintenance, especially if it is already at least 3 or 4 years old.
If you take good care of this shrub, in autumn you will find red berries available while in spring you will see white flowers appear.
Hawthorn pruning
Hawthorn tends to form a rounded crown and in some cases there is a need to retouch it. Pruning the plant, to clean and strengthen it, is however always recommended. In this way, even the branches most damaged by wind, rain, cold or snow are removed.
It is recommended to carry out the hawthorn pruning once a year, at the end of summer by cutting the lower side branches. If you intend to fix the foliage, however, it can also be pruned in autumn-winter.
The only precaution to have is never to prune the plant during the frosts.
Read also:
- Hawthorn: phytotherapeutic properties, all uses and CONTRAINDICATIONS
- The hawthorn: an ally for our heart between history and legend
