Thursday, October 29, 2015

2015 Peony Experiments - Planting Adventitious Roots


Adventitious Roots of Peony 'Grace Root'

This experiment practically created itself. While I was digging a piece of my Peony 'Grace Root' as a donation for the 2015 APS Fall Auction Dig & Ship Peony 'Grace Root', I accidentally severed a few pieces of the roots. Since Peony 'Grace Root' is supposed to have adventitious roots, meaning foliage can develop from blind root pieces, I decided to plant these severed roots to see if any of them would sprout next spring.

Peony 'Grace Root' Roots in the Planting Hole

So I dug a hole for them and planted them a few inches apart. I'm not sure if any of these root pieces are large enough, have enough stored energy, or have the correct piece of root needed to sprout. Actually I'm not sure what the requirements are to get them to sprout, or if there are any requirements. I guess we'll find out next spring.

Peony 'Grace Root' Roots Being Covered with Soil

I covered them with a few inches of soil, watered them in, and put a label in the soil. That way I can find where I planted them - whether they sprout next spring or not. I'm guessing some or all of them could take more than one year to sprout, but I'm not sure. I guess we'll find that out too! Let's hope some of these Peony 'Grace Root' roots sprout! :-)

Peony 'Grace Root' Roots Garden Label

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hello,

      Thank you for the prompting! I did post an update on this experiment this year. Unfortunately I did not have luck with these roots. It seems like if you "accidentally" sever roots in place (like when dividing an adventitious peony), they seem to have a better chance of coming up. So maybe if the severed roots are not disturbed, and are left in place to grow (instead of digging them and replanting them), you will have a better chance of success. Maybe that will be my next experiment... ;-)

      Here's the update on this experiment...

      http://www.southernpeony.com/2020/03/2020-peony-experiments-adventitious-roots-results-peony-grace-root.html

      Also here's my full Experiments page if you'd like to browse others...

      http://www.southernpeony.com/p/peony-experiments.html

      Adriana

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  2. I just received some nice peony roots with red buds from a neighbor. They were good ones to plant. But... in the bottom of the bag were some root pieces with no eyes, cut/broken on both ends.

    Is it worth trying to plant these. Shall I lay across in a trench like yours or upright? Thank you. Christine

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    Replies
    1. Hello Christine,

      Without being able to know what kind of peonies these are, I think my default answer would be no, as most peonies are not adventitious. There are only a few select varieties that have this capability.

      When I get broken peices with my peony roots, I typically discard them. The only way it might grow is if it is a very large peice broken from the crown, usually having at least 1 red "eye" on it. If you don't see this, I would just throw them out.

      Hope that helps!

      Adriana

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