Campsis

Planting and care

Keeping in open ground

Campsis is thermophilic and warm and well-lit areas are suitable for its placement. The liana prefers to be located on the south, southeast or southwest side of houses and fences, and the plant should not be planted close to any structures.

Warmed up by the sun's rays during the day, the walls and fences will give off heat at night.

This powerful flower has very tenacious aerial roots, with the help of which it climbs any support and can harm even a brick or stone wall.

The liana should be provided with a separate strong trellis made of wooden crossbars or plastic mesh. 

An area with nutritious and loose substrate is suitable for planting. You should not plant Campsis in places near which groundwater flows.

Before planting, soils poor in nutrients should be thoroughly enriched with organic matter in the form of well-rotted manure or humus. Heavy loams are made more moisture permeable by adding coarse river sand.

The area suitable for planting must be protected from strong gusts of wind.

Seedlings are planted in the second half of May, when the threat of return frosts that can harm young plants has passed.

The area for planting is dug up and planting holes 30-40 cm deep are prepared, at the bottom of which you should put nutritious soil with a large amount of manure or humus. It would also be a good idea to arrange a drainage layer at the bottom of the planting hole in the form of fine expanded clay, river pebbles or a layer of sand.

A large amount of superphosphate is added to the soil.

The size of the planting hole should be 2 times larger than the size of the root ball.

The plant is placed in the center of the hole and the root system is straightened. Next, the bush is sprinkled with earth, which is thoroughly compacted to remove air pockets.

Planted vines are watered generously.

The base of the bushes is mulched with sawdust, straw or cut grass. Mulch will help retain moisture in the soil and prevent weeds from appearing.

A support in the form of a trellis is installed immediately upon planting.

Since over time, Campsis grows strongly and fills any free areas of the garden, when planting around the root system, it is advisable to place a limiter - a sheet of iron or slate, digging it to a depth of about 80 cm. This measure will not allow the plants to spread underground with the help of roots.

Further care of the planted plants will consist of timely weeding and loosening of the soil, as well as watering and fertilizing. 

The first real test for young plants will be wintering. In regions with slight frosts and snowy winters, the plant can even be left open, but in the more harmful zone, the vines are removed from the trellises in the fall, long shoots are laid on the ground and covered on top with a layer of fallen leaves, spruce branches or straw.

To prevent the stems from drying out, they are covered with additional polyethylene on top and sprinkled with fallen snow.

If in the winter months frosts do not exceed 20 ° C, then the campsis can be covered   with non-woven material directly on the support without removing it from it. The root system is hilled up, covered with an additional layer of soil and additionally sprinkled with leaf litter or straw.

Remove the shelter as soon as the snow melts from the area.

Young specimens aged 2–3 years in regions with harsh winters are transplanted into pots in the fall and sent indoors for the winter.

Reproduction, growing from seeds 

Campsis is propagated by half-ripe stem cuttings, layering, and root cuttings in the spring; you can also grow сampsis from seeds.

1. Cuttings are taken from annual, non-flowering shoots in the spring, at a time when aerial roots do not yet show signs of development.
2. For cuttings, use the middle of the shoots - segments about 30 cm long, the lower cut is made oblique.
3. It would be most preferable to take a cutting from a profusely flowering vine.
4. The lower leaves are removed from the cuttings, and the upper 2 - 3 leaf plates are shortened by 1/3 of the length, thereby reducing unwanted moisture loss during rooting.
5. The bases of the cuttings can be powdered with growth hormones, but this is not necessary.
6. Root stem cuttings in a mixture of peat and sand in a warm place, inaccessible to direct sunlight.
7.  The cuttings are placed at an angle - at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the surface of the earth.
8. The soil is kept evenly moist at all times.

 The successful completion of the rooting process will be indicated by the appearance of the first young leaves and shoots, which usually occurs within 2 weeks.

If all the above rules are followed, the survival rate of cuttings reaches 90%, and the plants obtained as a result of this method of propagation will completely copy the appearance of the mother vine.

Campsis can also be propagated by rooting fully mature cuttings, but the rooting time should be moved to a later date - to the second half of July.

Sowing of seeds is carried out in the spring.

For propagation, you can use your own collected seeds. To form seeds, it is sometimes necessary to place 2 plants in one room.

In order for planting material to have good germination, the seeds must fully ripen on the plant and are collected only in late autumn.  The seed pods are picked from the flower when they begin to dry out.

Since the seeds are large, they can be sown immediately in separate small pots to avoid diving. The seeds do not require pre-planting preparation in the form of stratification, scarification or pre- soaking. 

1. Sowing is carried out in moist, loose and nutritious soil based on peat. 
2. The top of the crops is covered with a layer of soil about 5 mm thick. 
3. Seedlings are kept in a warm place (at a temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius) with bright lighting, but without access to direct sunlight.
4. The substrate is moistened using a fine spray bottle, since watering from a watering can can erode the soil and the planting material will end up on the surface of the ground.
5. The top of the pot with seedlings can be covered with transparent plastic or glass to create a greenhouse effect and maintain high air humidity.
6. The shelter is raised daily for a few minutes, condensation is removed from it, and the seedlings are ventilated.

The first sprouts can be noticed within 3 - 4 weeks; as soon as they appear, the cover is removed.

Plants are transplanted into permanent containers when each bush has 5-6 true leaves.

Those vines that have 3 - 4 pairs of true leaves are planted in open ground.

Remember that not always plants obtained from seeds can inherit the varietal attractiveness of the parent plants. 

When propagated vegetatively, campsis bloom at the age of 2 - 3 years, and when propagated by seeds - only after 5 - 8 years.

Root shoots are separated from the mother plant bushes in spring and in the first half of autumn, after the leaves have fallen. Sometimes such plants appear several meters from the mother plant when grown in the garden.

The abundant formation of root shoots will be facilitated by damage to the root system of the main plant.

Basal shoots - bushes are planted in a separate hole and immediately begin to care for them as for adult vines. In the first weeks after planting, young bushes should be watered especially carefully, constantly maintaining uniform soil moisture.

Campsis is easily propagated by air layering in the spring.

1. Shallow grooves are made in the soil on the side of the plants.
2. The side shoots are simply bent to the surface of the earth and placed in these grooves, pinned on top with small brackets.
3. The shoots are sprinkled on top with a small layer of soil, which is kept evenly moist throughout. The top of the stem should be above the ground.
4. After some time, new growth appears at the leaf nodes.
5. Such cuttings should be completely separated from the mother plant only after a year.

The advantage of this method of propagation is that from each such layering you can get several small vines at once, which quickly develop and bloom after 2-3 years. 

When it blooms

July - October.  Flowering is very abundant with proper care, and the flowering period takes a long period of time. 

Care and pruning of campsis

The liana is unpretentious and does not require special conditions for growing, but care for it must be accompanied by compliance with certain agricultural practices.

The stems of young plants need support.

If the campsis becomes too large, it is cut at the end of winter or at the beginning of spring. Pruning the side branches after the leaves have fallen stimulates abundant flowering.

With proper formation over several years, you will get a flowering vine with very thick stems that do not need support.

When grown in open ground, the plant is not disturbed for the first year after planting, allowing it to develop arbitrarily, but a year after planting, a vine begins to form - only 4 - 5 of the strongest branches are left for each plant, and the rest are removed.

The remaining shoots are tied to a support with twine or wire, or simply directed along the trellis so that the plant can grab onto it with its aerial roots.

If any of the main shoots is damaged, I simply remove it completely.

A replacement shoot is left next to the cut branch, which will completely replace the removed stem within 1-2 years.

Adult plants will acquire an attractive and fully formed appearance when the length of powerful, abundantly flowering shoots reaches 4 m - at the age of 2 - 3 years.

When pruning, all old shoots damaged by disease or frost are also removed. 

In mature specimens, trim the tops of all stems to a height of 10–15 cm to control the size.

In the autumn months, pruning can be used to remove stems that are too long. Pruning is done with a sharp, sterile pruning shears or knife.

Since the campsis becomes too large with age, bushes aged 5–6 years and older must be subjected to radical pruning - their shoots are removed almost to the base, leaving only 30 cm of growth from the soil surface.

Such rejuvenating procedures are carried out every 5 years in early spring, before the first leaves appear.

Campsis easily tolerates even radical pruning.

You can form a campsis in the form of a standard tree - for this, even in young plants, only 1 stem is left, which must be attached to the trellis so that it develops evenly.

Every spring, all side shoots are removed and only 1 trunk is left at the base.

At 3 - 4 years of life, the stem becomes strong and can already do without support. At this time, the crown of the plant begins to form.

Pinch out fading buds in a timely manner to stimulate the plant to form new flowers and thereby extend the total flowering time.

After flowering, the branches are shortened by 3-4 leaf nodes. 

In the warm season, take indoor plants to fresh air, using a location where the flower will be protected from direct sunlight at midday, sheltered from heavy rain and wind.

Bring the bushes indoors before the onset of autumn frosts.

How to transplant

Campsis is replanted annually in the spring, as the vine develops very quickly.

Young plants need annual replanting to increase the volume of the pot. Sometimes such specimens have to be handled even 2-3 times a year, depending on the growth rate.

The need for another transplant will be indicated by the tips of the roots that appear in the drainage holes of the pot.

Instead of replanting, it is advisable to use gentle transfer, transferring the plants to a new pot along with the old lump of earth, without destroying it. 

1. For planting, select a pot with large drainage holes.
2. First of all, a drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the pot in the form of pre-purchased expanded clay, broken bricks, and fragments of clay pots. You can also use river pebbles as a drainage layer. 
3. The flower is simply placed in the center of the new container and sprinkled around the perimeter with new soil.
4. When replanting, it is necessary to observe the depth - place the plants at the same depth at which they were in the old pot.
5. After transshipment or transplantation, the soil around the vine is compacted and then watered generously.
6. The soil level is poured so that it is 2 - 3 cm below the walls of the pot.
7. If after transplanting and watering the substrate has subsided greatly, then add a small amount of earthen mixture.
8. Transplanted flowers should not be exposed to direct sunlight for 7 to 10 days.

The first feeding is carried out after 2-3 weeks. Fresh soil contains enough nutrients, and adding mineral fertilizers to the root system damaged by transplantation will only add stress to the plants.

Since replanting large tub plants will be difficult, instead, you can annually change the top layer of soil 5-7 cm thick with a fresh mixture in the spring.

Soil 

Campsis is grown in moist but well-drained soil, with a neutral or slightly alkaline pH in the range of 5.5 - 7.5.

 The soil should contain a large amount of organic matter in the form of humus and humus; light turf or leaf soil and garden soil should be added to it.

To improve drainage, coarse river sand, perlite or vermiculite are added to the soil.

For additional nutrition and loosening of the soil, you can use small pieces of charcoal added to the substrate.

When grown in nutrient-poor soils, plants slow down their development and bloom less readily.

Pests and diseases

• If there is too much moisture and insufficient air movement, powdery mildew may occur.
• The root system rots with excessive watering or insufficient drainage.  Rotten plants are replanted with a complete change of soil and the roots are carefully inspected during replanting.  If necessary, rotten and old roots are cut with sterile pruning shears and the cut areas are sprinkled with crushed charcoal powder. Planting of such vines is carried out only in fresh soil, since pathogens could remain in the old substrate. Watering the transplanted plants is suspended for several days, drying out the wet roots.
• Campsis does not bloom in low light.
• The onset of flowering when grown in the garden can be prevented by spring frosts, which damage the established buds.
• Too much deepening during planting leads to a lack of flowering and the appearance of rot. 

The most common insects that appear are aphids and spider mites. 

Fertilizer 

Feed the plant 2 times a month with liquid fertilizers during the period of active growth and budding.

Mineral fertilizers can be diluted to half the recommended dose. During the flowering period, campsis will need fertilizing containing nitrogen and phosphorus.

In the fall, the frequency of fertilizing and the content of nutrients in it should be reduced, and in the winter months, fertilizing should be completely abandoned. They begin to feed the flower only in the spring, with the first signs of new growth.

Apply mineral fertilizers only to a moist substrate, after abundant watering. Contact of an overly concentrated solution on the root system in dry soil can cause a chemical burn.

The liana reacts positively to both mineral and organic fertilizers in the form of well-rotted cow or horse manure, humus, and a weak solution of chicken manure.

Growing conditions - temperature

In spring and summer, the usual room temperature; during the winter dormant period, a room with a temperature of 5 - 10 ° C is suitable.  Campsis is thermophilic and will develop well only at temperatures above 18 - 20 ° C.

A cool winter allows the plant to rest and accumulate energy for subsequent flowering. In addition, lower temperatures will slow down the development of the vine, and in low light conditions, the new growth that appears may be weak and look sickly.

When grown in open ground, the vine can tolerate short frosts down to -20 ° C.