To understand better the culture of holly trees, one finds it helpful to learn the means of propagating it.

It is easy to grow holly from seeds, but time and patience are required. Assuming it is possible to gather some red holly berries late this year or early in 1958, the first step is to place them in a jar of water for two or three weeks to hasten their decomposition.

The next step is to mash the berries and place them in a bucket of water filled to overflowing. The seeds will sink but water running into the bucket will float the pulp over the side. The water is drained, the seeds caught in a sieve and spread on paper to dry. They are then sown in rows in a box or flat, covered with half an inch of a light soil mixture and protected from mice and squirrels with wire netting tacked over the flat. The box should be placed outdoors in a cold frame and left there until March or April of 1959 when germination will take place.

When the seedlings are an inch or two high they should be transplanted to other flats and left to grow another year before being potted individually. They may, however, be grown separately from the start.

The entire operation of growing holly from seeds can be carried on without the aid of a greenhouse. Holly seeds take their time to germinate and an attempt to simulate the freezing and thawing action of winter in the refrigerator does not shorten the dormant period. Fifteen months is the approximate time from gathering the seeds to germination.

In mid-May male and female flowers occur on separate plants. They are cream-white, three-sixteenths of an inch across, and appear at the base of the new growth. The male flowers occur in clusters, each having four prominent stamens. The female flowers are on separate stalks, have rudimentary stamens and a central column which eventually develops into the berry.

Although this is an interesting and fascinating way to raise holly, it will be ten or more years before you can tell the sexes apart.

Holly from Cuttings

Twenty years ago holly cuttings were difficult to root, but when the growth-inducing substances or hormone powders were introduced, the process was simplified.

Now it is possible to root holly cuttings from mid-summer to the following February, the fall and winter months being the preferred time, if greenhouse facilities are available.

A good rooting medium consists of two-thirds sand and one-third peat, thoroughly mixed. Another good potting medium consists of equal parts of sand, soil and peat moss. It should be moist and firmed down in the pot or box in which the cuttings are to be rooted. The ideal place to root holly is in a propagating bench in the greenhouse where the bottom heat can be maintained at 65 to 70 degrees.

Tip cuttings of current season’s growth, five to six inches long, are gathered and prepared for insertion in the rooting medium. Several of the lower leaves are removed. The base of the cutting is moistened and dipped in hormone powder. Each cutting is inserted into a hole punched in the rooting mixture, and the mixture is tamped down around it.

Plastic bags and polyethylene sheeting are a boon to the gardener who longs to own a greenhouse, but cannot afford one. The plastic makes it possible to duplicate greenhouse conditions of light and humidity right in the home just like phalaenopsis light requirements. In fact, humidity remains constant under plastic even more than it does in a ventilated glass house.

As an experiment, five holly cuttings were inserted in a six-inch pan of peat and sand in February, given one good watering, covered with a plastic bag, and placed on a west kitchen windowsill. Only the afternoon sun reached the cuttings for about an hour as the distance between houses is 12 feet. The pot was turned every few days, but was never again watered until the cuttings were potted in sphagnum moss in May.

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