Pralinage is practiced just before replanting a bare root plant. This natural technique promotes recovery and protects the life cycle of the plant. Trees, shrubs, roses and many plants in the vegetable garden take full advantage of the benefits of praline, which you can easily prepare yourself. Let’s see what is the principle of praline as well as its many advantages. Let’s also take stock of the method of preparing a homemade praline intended for plants whose roots are weakened and what is the application process.
Pralination: principle
Pralinage is none other than the fact ofto coat the roots of a plant in a praline extracted from its growing medium to be replanted in another place. In this time interval, the bare roots are very exposed to the risk of drying out, which is not the case for plants in containers or buckets. To prevent them from suffering from the loss of nutrients due to their deterioration, it is therefore necessary to take care of the roots in order to allow the plant to flourish in its new environment.
To do this, just before getting down to planting, it is necessary to wrap the roots of the plant with pralinea kind of clay paste.
Pralination: advantages
The praline is unavoidable before planting a plant whose roots are damaged or have been cut. Their fragility is such that without this natural process the plant has no chance to grow and reach its full potential. The advantages of pralination are therefore indisputable since it comes to the aid of roots that have seriously suffered from not being covered by a substrate, even for a few days. The beneficial effects of praline are the following :
- Accelerates the healing of the root system,
- Stops root drying out until planting,
- Ensures a very good contact between the roots and the soil of the garden,
- Promotes the rapid development of new roots and rootlets since they can immediately feed on the mineral and organic matter offered by the praline,
- Allows better absorption of water by the rootlets,
- Ensures the recovery of plants including, for example, that of an old tree that has been transplanted,
- Allows the bacterial flora essential to plants to develop.
The protection ensured by pralination is fast and of high quality.
Pralination: process
The preparation of a praline does not pose any particular difficulty. True, it is possible to buy ready-made praline, but many gardeners even without much experience prefer to make it themselves.
Preparation of a homemade praline
- Take some fresh earth (ideally clayey) in the garden and place it in a large container such as a bucket, a basin, a wheelbarrow
- Gradually poureau on earth until you get a thick mud but not too compact because it must remain fluid,
- Incorporate into the muddy mixture:
- from cow dung preferably or, failing that, either mature compost or composted manure,
- from dolomite at the rate of a good tablespoon per liter of praline,
- of the mycorrhizal fungi (sold in garden centers and large DIY stores), particularly recommended if the soil in the garden is poor,
- Leave the praline to rest for 10 minutes environ.
Of course, there are different “recipes” possible. But you should know that the praline must always be a minima composed of a clay material (molehill earth is suitable), water and an organic fertilizer. Although cow dung has a good press, many gardeners resistant to its unpleasant smell prefer to opt for manure or compost.
Praline method
After this pause time, the praline thickened and began to dry out. It may therefore be necessary to make it more fluid just enough with a little water. Make sure there is enough covering. Then proceed immediately to pralination by operating as follows:
- Install the plant in the container that contains the praline so that the material includes all the bare roots,
- Brush the roots by hand if necessary so that the praline fits into each interstice,
- Check that this muddy mixture adheres perfectly to the root system,
- Cover to prevent drying out
- Wait at least 8 hours, knowing that a break time of 24 hours is ideal.
At the end of this soaking period, one proceeds without waiting for the planting in the ground. It is in fact strongly advised not to wait more than 3 days after purchase to replant a bare-rooted tree, shrub or rosebush. Finally, let’s note that the pralination must be carried out just after theroot dressing.