Hydrangea is one of the most popular ornamental shrubs. Several popular species are grown in Russian gardens, differing not only in size and color of inflorescences, but also in care requirements. To get a beautiful plant, it is important for the owner to choose the right period when to transplant hydrangea to a new place.
Can hydrangea be transplanted
This shrub transfers the transplant without any problems, but only if the transplant is done competently and accurately, taking into account the plant's requirements for location, the need for water and light. When digging an adult bush, if possible, try to save the soil lump in which the roots are. Hydrangea, formerly grown in a pot, is best accustomed to a new place, since its root system is not worried.
When is the best time to transplant hydrangea to another place
Carrying out the procedure, you need to remember that climatic conditions differ from each other in different geographical latitudes. As a result, the time of work will be shifted in one direction or another. Hydrangea planting dates in Central Russia are hardly suitable for Ural parks. The reason is the difference in temperature between different seasons of the year, as well as their duration. For example, the Siberian spring is fast, hot and fast, and in the suburbs it is leisurely, smooth, lasting from 2 to 3 months.
Did you know? Huge hydrangea inflorescences are located at the tips of the shoots and consist of several hundred small flowers having 4–5 petals.
In outskirts of Moscow
Quite often, winters in the Moscow Region are very severe when the air temperature drops to -15 ...- 20 ° С. But this is offset by long periods of spring and autumn, as well as summers with moderate heat and heavy rainfall. Thanks to such climatic conditions, gardeners can transplant any variety of hydrangea both at the beginning and at the end of the warm season. It is advisable to build a winter shelter over a transplanted plant in late November or early December.
When a hydrangea cultivar, which cannot be cut in the current period, was transplanted, it is recommended to warm its aerial parts for the winter. If this is not done, fruit buds may suffer from low temperatures, as a result of which the bush will bloom only after a year. DTo protect against the cold, you can use white lutrasil, spanbond or other non-woven material. When buying, it is recommended to choose a thick agrofiber, with a fiber density of at least 30.0 g / 1 m².
Did you know? To give the snow-white inflorescences of garden hydrangeas a blue or blue color, it is worth adding acid to the soil. To do this, the earth in the near-stem circle is watered with water with the addition of ammonium sulfate or potassium sulfate.
In the Urals and Siberia
In cold areas of the country, hydrangea is recommended to be transplanted at the beginning of the warm season. After that, in the Siberian or Ural region, the shrub will have time to grow new roots in about 4-6 months. The gardener should take into account that the colds in this area come early, and the first night frosts may come in late August or early September. So, work on transplanting a thermophilic culture must be carried out no later than the first decade of May. It is optimal if at that moment the soil thaws two shovels in depth into two bayonets.
In the Far East
In this region, the climate is much milder than in northern Siberia, but winters are as long and frosty, and spring is stormy and short, quickly turning into summer. Spring transplantation is also preferable here, allowing hydrangeas to adapt and grow in the winter. If, nevertheless, there is a need to complete this work later, then for this it is better to choose the end of summer: the second half of August or the first decade of September.
In this case, it is recommended to make a strong pruning at ground level, despite the variety of hydrangea, and to warmly cover the surface of the soil, under which there is a root lump. Warming is carried out with the onset of stable subzero temperatures. In the Far East, this period falls around the beginning or middle of October.
Important! A gardener should not cover hydrangeas too early for the winter, as this can lead to the formation of fungus and mold on the aerial part, as well as rotting of the roots. It is best to carry out insulation work when the average daily temperature drops below -10 ° C.
When is it better to transplant hydrangea: in spring or autumn, is it possible in summer
Hydrangeas are quite demanding, therefore, when transplanting them to another site, you should adhere to agronomic recommendations so that the bushes are well-received and bloom profusely in the future. The best time of year to plant this perennial culture is early spring. (from March to April inclusive), since long summer and autumn are ahead, which means that before the cold weather comes, the plants will have time to acclimatize after the procedure.
It is also permissible to plant shrubs in the fall (from the second half of September to the end of October), but in this case the gardener needs to protect them well from the cold, since even frost-resistant species may not survive the first winter.
When can an adult hydrangea be transplanted
In the summer, it is recommended not to transplant plants, because hot weather, together with the shock from disturbed roots, often lead to wilting and bush disease. Subsequently, hydrangea can go on growing, but this will be preceded by a long illness and adaptation. That is why the most successful period for such work is spring and autumn. These are the seasons when the air temperature remains moderate for a long time and rises or falls gradually.
Did you know? Even the ancient Greeks noticed a huge need for hydrangea in moisture. This feature is reflected in the botanical name of the culture - hydrangea (hydrangea), consisting of the words "water" and "vessel".
How to transplant hydrangea to a new place
Gardeners have a rule: in spring, a plant with an open root system is recommended to be moved to another place before the buds swell and bloom. If the moment is missed - the transplant is postponed until the fall.
Before landing, you need to choose a suitable location, it must be protected from the north wind and be in partial shade. There are also requirements for the substrate in which the roots will be: the soil must be fertile, humus, loose, permeable to water and oxygen, slightly moist, with a slightly acidic pH.
Important! If, after removing the bush from the pot, it turned out that the root ball is tightly compacted, then before planting the gardener should carefully knead it with his hands, which will help the plant to form new roots soon.
Hydrangea planting:
- In a chosen place, dig a hole in the soil. Its size should be twice as voluminous as the root of the seedling.
- A mixture of soil with acid peat (15-30 cm) is placed at the bottom of the depression, after which the plant is placed on top of the plant to a depth corresponding to the one at which it has grown so far.
- If the bush is moving to a new place, already growing in open space, it should be carefully dug up so that as many roots as possible are preserved. This will reduce the shock associated with moving. An adult plant is more convenient to carry together, so for this work you will need two people.
- In the case when a part of the old bush is transplanted (during rejuvenation), then after removing it from the soil, it is necessary to carefully examine the root system and remove the oldest, thickest or dead parts by secateurs.
- Then the landing pit is filled up to half with prepared soil, well-packed and watered abundantly. After moisture is absorbed into the soil, the recess is filled with soil to the surface level.
- After planting, the earth around the bush should be carefully compacted, creating a small depression to hold water during irrigation in the root zone.
- Next, the trunk circle is mulched, using crushed pine bark or large sawdust for this.
Fall
Shrubs should be transplanted as early as possible during this season. A signal that a suitable time has come for such events is a decrease in average daily temperatures to +15 ... + 18 ° C. Hydrangeas planted in autumn are usually not pruned so as not to weaken the shrub before a long winter.
Video: Hydrangea transplant in autumn
In order for disturbed plants to survive long cold periods without loss, it is advisable to insulate them. For this, a thick layer of mulch is laid in the near-trunk zone, which will protect the roots from freezing, and the shoots are wrapped in 2-3 layers of agrofibre.
In the spring
Bushes that underwent transplanting in early spring (from March to April) must necessarily be removed from the aboveground part. Mowing should be adapted to the requirements of the species, because the plants form buds in different ways, and with the help of incorrect pruning, the gardener may lose flowering in the next season.
How to prune hydrangeas of different types:
- On last year's shoots, inflorescences form garden, large-leaved, paniculate, tree-like and weaving hydrangeas, so in spring you can spend a very delicate cut of the last developed pair of buds, as well as remove the affected and damaged branches. If you cut the plant harder, for example, in order to give it a more compact shape, flowering this season will not take place.
- Bunchy and shrub species form fruit buds on the branches of the current year, so after spring planting they can be pruned greatly. Such a procedure will favorably affect the overall development of the seedling, it forms many young shoots and will bloom profusely in the summer.
In summer
Sometimes in the summer, it is urgent to transplant hydrangea from a pot. It happens that its volume became small for the root system or the bush began to hurt. This can well be done if the transshipment method is used, during which not a single root will be affected.
Important! To carry out hydrangea transplantation by the method of transshipment, a rainy or cloudy day is chosen. After the procedure, the plant is shaded with a spunbond or lutrasil by 7–10 days.
Potted hydrangea transplant in summer:
- They dig a wide and deep hole, and pour loose friable soil to the bottom.
- The plant is by no means watered.
- The walls of the container are tapped with the handle of a knife in order to separate the soil lump, after which it is carefully removed and installed in the prepared soil recess.
- Further, the side voids are covered with earth, the bush is watered using at least 5 liters of water, wait until the moisture is absorbed, and, if necessary, they add the substrate.
- Be sure to lay the mulching layer.
- The roots of the plant, moved to another place in the summer, must be constantly moist, so it should be often watered, pouring 1.5–2 liters of water at least twice a week.
How often can I transplant
It is not recommended to disturb the bush too often, because even after a very successful and seemingly painless transplant, the plant experiences stress. This condition leads to prolonged adaptation, during which it is sick and cannot normally develop the aboveground and underground parts. In the most unsuccessful cases, this ends with the death of hydrangea.
Given the negative consequences, a transplant is recommended only if necessary. For example, next to a flower bed, a tall tree has grown and shades everything around, or the old bush is overly thickened with shoots, and it must be rejuvenated by the separation method.Is it possible to transplant blooming hydrangea
Experienced gardeners do not recommend disturbing the root system of a flowering shrub. Stress will necessarily lead to the withering of inflorescences and the fall of blooming buds. This applies equally to both indoor and outdoor hydrangeas of any variety. It is worth waiting for not only the end of flowering, but also the onset of a suitable period of the year.
Transplanting a shrub is not too difficult for an experienced gardener. But it is worth considering that hydrangea is a very demanding plant, and you need to transplant only in the season suitable for this, choosing the desired phase of culture development.