How to Propagate Lantana: Best Practices

Learning how to propagate lantana and grow them successfully in your garden or hobby greenhouse isn’t as difficult as you thought it would be. Lantanas show off their large, beautifully clustered flowers in a wide range of colors during the peak of summer. In the early stages, the lantana flowers may only appear as one color, but as it continues to grow, the flowers may change into different colors, thus, giving the cluster a rich and vibrant hue.

Lantana plants are widely used as house plants or garden plants because they’re extremely easy to maintain. You’ll have no trouble growing this plant from seeds or cuttings. However, if you want it to be just like its parent plant, you’d want to propagate them from cuttings.

How to Propagate Lantana: Best Practices

 

Best Way to Propagate Lantana Plants: Cuttings

The lantanas that you see in gardens are often already hybrids. That is why when you have lantana that’s growing well in the garden, and you want to replicate that one, then you’ll be better off by propagating them from cuttings. This way, with the right type of care, you can expect that to produce lantana that looks exactly like the parent plant.

Before propagation, you should make sure of taking the cutting at the right time. It’s one of the best techniques in making sure that your lantana survives the propagation. Gardeners usually consider spring as the best time to take a softwood cutting from your parent lantana plant.

Here are a few steps you can follow to propagate your lantana from cuttings successfully:

 

Step 1. Prepare the container for your cutting

You can use any container to propagate your lantana cutting. However, make sure that the containers are should not only have proper drainage holes, but they should also be big enough to accommodate an 8-inch (or longer) cuttings.

 

Step 2. Find the right soil/sand for propagation

What gardeners find most challenging in propagating lantana is finding the right sand. While they can be easy to take care of, they need to be propagated in the right type of conditions –full sun, right moisture, and right soil. Lantanas need a moist and well-draining sandy soil to survive.

 

Step 3. Take the lantana cuttings

Take the softwood from the parent plant (about 4 to 6 inches below the bud), preferably during spring or summer, using a sharp knife. Be sure to cut diagonally and keep the blade clean and disinfected to avoid harmful bacteria from infecting the plants’ tender structure. Then, remove the leaves and flowers in your cutting, except two or three leaves on the top.

 

Step 4. Stick the cuttings in water or sandy soil

There are two ways to propagate your lantana cuttings: placing it in water or sticking it into the soil. If you plant to grow roots in water, be sure to replenish the water as needed. The roots should start to grow in about three to four weeks.

You can also plant the cutting directly into the sandy soil, but before that, dip the cutting into a rooting hormone to make sure that the soil establishes successfully. Once you’ve planted the cutting in the soil, be sure to keep the soil moist. Your cutting should grow roots in about four weeks.

Don’t forget to place the cutting on an area where it receives full sun until it’s ready to be transplanted outdoors. Check the cutting now and then to make sure that the soil is not dry. If it is, pour a bit of water in it to keep it moist.

 

Growing Your Lantana in a Hobby Greenhouse

Lantana plants are easy to take care of, and they usually grow in many types of soil. The process of growing them in a hobby greenhouse is incredibly easy. With proper care, you can enjoy its colorful flowers when they bloom.

Check out the benefits of growing these plants in a greenhouse:

 

Benefit #1. You can set up the perfect temperature

In a greenhouse, you can have full control over the environmental conditions. Lantanas grow best in warm temperatures and full sun, and when the weather gets too cold for them outside, they can wilt and die. In a hobby greenhouse, however, you can make sure that the environment remains warm and ensure the plant’s survival.

 

Benefit #2. You can keep them away from pests

Although they don’t suffer pest infestations as often as other types of plants, this doesn’t mean that your lantana plants are immune to the attacks of destructive insects and animals. Since a hobby greenhouse can keep these pests out, you can be sure that your tender plants will be protected.

 

Benefit #3. Protection against harsh weather conditions

Exposure to harsh weather conditions can cause considerable damage to your plants. However, with a hobby greenhouse in place, your plants can enjoy an extra layer of protection against strong winds, heavy rains, sleet, snow, blizzards, or hail.

 

Learn How to Propagate Lantana Successfully

Lantanas can be a great addition to your garden with their beautiful and colorful foliage. When you have the perfect lantana growing, you’ll probably want to replicate them.

With that, you need to learn how to propagate lantana successfully. Be sure to follow the instructions above, and by summer, you’ll see beautiful flowers blooming and adding life to your garden.

 

1 thought on “How to Propagate Lantana: Best Practices”

  1. If I cut pieces off an existing lantana trailing plant, can the cuttings be put in water until roots grow? I do not have ‘woody’ branches to cut. I would like to start new plants for two neighbors who have recently been great help to me in a long term disability time frame.

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