Dividing Agapanthus
Tips, Tricks
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. http://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 http://www.thomasfarleyblog.com
Comments
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En espanol
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all the leaves have died. and white stuff comming out of the blues. it smells like they are rotten
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hi I brought mine in pots last year lots of flowers on them great on my patio. but now they have gone to nothing will they grow again
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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?
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Short & thorough, tyvm!
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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.
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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
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thank you very much
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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
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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 -
Thank you very much for your very helpful information. Greetings from Bavaria, Germany,
Christian -
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.
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