Dividing Agapanthus
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 เม.ย. 2014
- How to divide Agapanthus africanus. Shows a proven, successful technique to propagate this plant. The video gives a beginner an idea of the force needed to separate divisions of this common temperate climate garden plant. www.thomasfarleyblog.com
Text of the video:
These are plants that we will be dividing; agapanthus africanus, Lily of the Nile, although it is not a true Nile resident, it actually belongs to South Africa and it's not a true lily.
Nevertheless we'll be able to get four or five divisions out of it. It's a wonderful blue and white flowering plant. So let us put it on the concrete and divide it.
This is what a single flower cluster looks like. This one is a little too blue, probably Photoshopped. This is more the standard look, which is a pale violet. They all look good in the afternoon shade.
Here’s the white one; these are standard agapanthus and not dwarfs.
Here are some tools you might need. You don't need them all.
A saw is really helpful. A loppers is a good tool, especially if you have to cut the can to get the plant out.
A pulaski is good for taking plants out the ground and dividing the agapanthus.
A knife is sometimes helpful but be very careful.
Gloves allow you to handle the plant more aggressively.
Pruners or hand shears of course.
A pick is very helpful.
Well, we come to a problem right away and that is I can't get the plant out of the can. This is good, really; it means the agapanthus is root-bound. This shows that there's going to be quite a few roots for our divisions.
Try to pull the plant out. But if you start to stretch or pull the plant apart then back off.
There is a plan 'B' that we will turn to right now.
We're going to turn the plant upside down to hit the lip of the pot against the lip of this bench. That should do it.
Okay, we're going to hit the lip of the pot against the lip of the bench or board. The plant should fall out in one motion.
We got a little lucky but this trick works often and well. It should work no matter how congested or root bound your plants are. How you start is up to you but remember agapanthus that are well rooted are very tough so feel free to get tough with them.
You have a difficult job here, in getting everything separated. Remember,as you loosen up the soil you loosen up the roots.
Once you loosen up the roots you can begin to think about separating and making your divisions.
The hand pick is really helpful here.
You don't need to hurry the work. You can come back to it
in a few hours if you want to take a break. The plant will not dry out.
I'm hitting the center here to loosen up the mass. I will then lay the whole thing flat.
We now come back to the work.
What we'll find is that most everything is loosened up. This first division comes apart easily -- just pulls apart.
The second time, however, I accidentally break a division where I hadn't meant to. I call this a snap, where you accidentally snap or break apart a division where you didn't mean to.
There's plenty of roots on either side this division so we're still okay.
You'd rather have a point where you actually wanted too separate the plant. Speaking of which, there's no logical point to separate these two parts but there's plenty of roots on either side.
Just take the saw and cut it in half. Notice how this produces a large wound on either side of the cut.
This wound is okay but you do need them to callous over overnight. Give them 24 hours before you put them back in the ground.
If you put a division with a large wound like this into the ground
without allowing it to callous overnight, well, it will turn to mush
and the plant will eventually collapse and be very sickly.
I have made hundreds of Agapanthus divisions. Always allow to callus over. Make sure to let your separated plants heal overnight before putting them in soil.
Hello and welcome back. It is the day the day after and the Agapanthus have healed up. When you plant you want to bury them at about this level. (Right below the crown.)
Agapanthus bloom best when crowded, so you don't really divide them unless you want more divisions, more plants to give away. If you plant them in a container you need something the size of a five gallon bucket. Don't put a standard agapanthus in a small container.
Try to visit my website, thomasfarleyblog.com, especially if you have any questions.
My e-mail is thomasfarley@yahoo.com. Thanks. Tom Farley
www.thomasfarleyblog.com
Very Helpful. Thank you very much - Jan from the UK
thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly Tom. I'll keep the leaves on then and water often directly after replanting, then weekly until I need to replant once again. have a great day. Kandis
Thank you Tom, very informative and really well explained.
Thank you very much for your very helpful information. Greetings from Bavaria, Germany,
Christian
Oh this was a good vide. Thanks Mr. Guy.
Short & thorough, tyvm!
Hi Tom, thank you for this video, it has very useful information especially the need to let it sit outside the soil overnight to heal over.
Thanks for the compliment. I may next try to produce a video showing how to dig up and divide a large clump of agapanthus growing in the ground.
Did you ever make this video? I have loads of overgrown agapanthas in 2 beds that I would like to separate and spread out to other areas in my yard. They seem very rooty looking - though they do bloom nicely but it seems like I will need a different technique then the potted video. Thanks-
thank you very much
I live in South France where it can get to -15 C some winters...I hope they will survive...However my question is when and do I need to cut the leaves of my Agapanthus Africanus? I used to leave in NZ and I don't remember ever pruning them...Thank you fofr your help
Preciosos pero traduzcan al español,gracias.
Está muy interesante la explicación
Se separan muy facil estos lirios del rio nilo. Después de que los separo, el dice que se deben de dejar secar 24 horas antes de sembrarse para que no se pudran. Suerte, ;--) Maria
Hi Tom, thanks for your video, very helpful. didn't know to set them overnight - I did it though as I had so many and couldn't plant them in time. I am renovating my house in Cape Town and have heaps in the front garden. I have to move them to the back yard garden with not very much sun - for 6 months or so. we are coming into summer in Cape Town. should I cut the leaves off when I replant them the second time to help them to recover from the double move? or cut off the leaves in the first move to help them to get stronger for the second move?
regards
kandis
+Kandis Stevens No need to cut off their leaves. If you want to make them look uniform, I suppose you could cut the leaves in half, in a fan shape, the way some people do with Iris when those are dug out of the ground. But keeping the leaves on allows the plant to continue to photosynthesize.
Some people think that leaving the leaves on lets the plants dry out. Keep the plants watered every week or so and they will be fine. Granted, they will look like they are in a state of collapse for a while but be patient.
The plants probably won't do much growing in six months. They'll be fine for an additional move at that time.
Loop
I've seen a lot of Agapanthus during our vacation in San diego, California. Will they thrive here in Texas considering our temps varying from hot summer to freezing winter?
+Van Gogh They will get damaged at 25 degrees. Consider them as a potted plant you can move under shelter in winter. Or try covering them and hope. BTW, they really like high afternoon shade. In direct sun in a very hot climate the leaves will looked bleached. They can also sunburn, which is indicated by damage to the center of their leaves.
Don't cut the leaves unless they are damaged by frost, and only then in late spring. Wait for new leaves to appear first, then cut the leaves.
can i leave it in the pot and plant to pot in to the ground?
Can you plant the pot in the ground? Yes. But the agapanthus will become root bound after a while.
Thank you for the quick reply
4:58 Now you tell us! 😉
En espanol