Blue spruce - coniferous tree with a noble color. The plant is mandatory planted in European squares and near private cottages. They plant "noble" ate near our administrative buildings.
Not every person can afford to buy a ready sapling - this species of coniferous tree belongs to fading mind. The price for a meter specimen ranges from 4 to 7 thousand rubles, two-meter costs four times more expensive. Skillful summer residents manage to grow blue spruce from seeds from mature cones found in the park at the end of winter.
Important! The shade of seeded fir trees ranges from bright blue to bluish green and green. It takes a lot of effort to grow a real blue Christmas tree. 2/3 seedlings instead of noble blue color get green.
Brief description of the plant
Blue spruce is rightly called the most prominent species of the conifer family. In the field of gardening and landscape design is enormously popular. Slow-growing tree with bluish color of spiny needles has its own characteristics.
In our area, the "noble" conifer reaches a maximum height of 15 m.. The thickness of the fir-tree crown is from 6 to 8 m. On the ancestral home of coniferous breed, these figures are twice as large. Crown conical or cylindrical.
Depending on the variety and temperature conditions in the location, the needles of the branches vary in color from a rich blue to a grayish-green scale. Cones of a young tree shimmer in red or purple, mature - light brown.
Representatives of the elite breed have a high level of resistance to a strong frosty wind, arid soil. This allows you to grow varieties in different climate zones of our edges. The index of frost resistance is up to -30 ° C.
Evergreens are very popular in landscape design. In addition, boxwood, juniper, fir, yew and thuja also have healing properties.
Coniferous branches do not suffer from smog megalopolises. On the needles, an exquisite silvery plaque is clearly visible. In addition to its decorative qualities, it retains moisture and provides barrier protection against the ingress of dirty air. Therefore, it is possible to grow spruce from seeds at home for gardening a backyard plot in the city.
How often breed blue spruce
There are two ways of breeding blue spruce: sowing seeds with cones or grafting. Grow the breed of "noble" needles with blue color in the first way is difficult. Both blue and green plantings grow from cone seeds of the same tree.
Important! To determine the color of a young spruce is possible only in the second year of life. Blue grows only 30% of trees from seeds.
In the future, the seeds are planted in the soil greenhouses. There sprouts spend the first year of life. In the second year, in the middle of the spring season after the end of frost, seedlings are planted in open ground.
Before storage, all seeds are recommended to soak in a solution of potassium permanganate. The substance disinfects planting material from fungal bacteria and protects against pests. The period of soaking lasts no more than 30 minutes.
The elite spruce, grown by grafting, retains the full range of characteristics of the mother tree. Select side shoots up to 10 cm in length, together with the heel, as a cutting. They are cut during the April sap flow in conifers.
Features of growing
Observance of the dormant period in chilled conditions for planting seeds creates analog conditions to the natural environment. Observing all the recommendations you can grow a beautiful formed spruce sprout. The first 3-4 years, spruce shoots need individual supervision.
Landing time
Before planting blue spruce from seeds, they are pre-cooked, then planted in April. As the planting soil using the prepared substrate. Its key components: peat and sod land. Before direct planting, soil and cone seeds are treated with fungicides. The optimum seeding depth for spruce seeds is from 1 to 2 cm.
Important! Experienced gardeners choose sour soil to accelerate the cultivation of blue spruce under greenhouse conditions. You can purchase for this purpose packaged land for trees and shrubs.After 2-3 weeks, the first shoots of seedlings appear. Saplings thinned, getting rid of the weakest instances. The distance between them is approximately 7 cm. Shoots are protected from frost and direct sunlight. The optimum temperature index for the germination procedure is + 15 ° С. Young trees are moistened by spraying, instead of direct watering with water at the base of the trunk. At first, the procedure is repeated twice a day.
Growth Conditions
Sprout increases to 3-4 cm in the first month of growth. It is important to monitor the level of soil moisture. Staying coniferous seedlings in a well-lit area will provide intensive growth of sprouts. Young seedlings do not recommend often transplanting from container to container. Conifers do not tolerate frequent transplantation. This offers a significant obstacle to the growth and development of the crown and stem of the plant.
The procedure for transplanting to another container is done exclusively in spring time. When changing the pot, the roots protect from exposure, keeping the soil clod. In the first year of life, the seedling reaches a height of 15 to 25 cm.
In winter time shoots moisturize according to this scheme:
- 1 time per month at zero air temperature in the greenhouse;
- 1 time in 2-3 weeks at a positive air temperature;
- during wintering in the house spruce sprayed.
How to choose planting material
Fir cones are harvested in February for further placement in a linen bag. Over time, after drying in apartment conditions, the cones will open slightly for the smooth extraction of seeds with transparent wings. To remove the wings, seeds are ground, then removed from debris and essential oil.
After the final stage of drying, the material for sowing is placed for two months under a layer of snow at the dacha. A similar reception for apartment storage is to be placed in a fridge for better hardening until mid-March. In the gardening shops you can purchase seeds that have been processed and selected for planting. It is advisable to give preference to a good manufacturer.
Did you know? Blue needles, planted in our parks, belong to different species brought from North America - prickly American, Canadian and to Engelmann's variety.
Seeding technology
The quality of seedling seedlings depends largely on the choice of location. For planting choose a well-lit place. Adult blue spruce grows on any kind of soil and undemanding to moisture. Seedlings of blue spruce bred half a year in greenhouse conditions. In the apartment tree can be planted in a special container.
Seed preparation
To grow blue spruce from the cones, planting seeds strengthened by placing under the snow. They are kept in a humid environment at zero temperature for about two months. The easiest way is to bury future material for sprouts in a deep snowdrift.
A similar effect can be achieved by soaking in a one percent solution of potassium permanganate for 24 hours. The proportion of the liquid solution is 10 g of potassium permanganate per 1 liter of water. With proper preparation for planting seeds, the first seedlings will sprout in the soil for 15 days.
Sowing scheme
The best soil for sowing conifers is taken away from the lawn. It can be mixed with fertilized soil, taken under adult coniferous plantations. With particular accuracy, approach the date of sowing cone seeds. After changing the temperature, the cooled seeds lose their soy properties after 50 hours.
Important! Do not recommend sowing blue hvoyniki in the greenhouse near the beds with potatoes, tomatoes, corn and other vegetable crops. Under these conditions, shoots sprout wither.The soil in the greenhouse is well moistened before starting work. In pots, seeds are buried up to 1.5 cm, covered with film on top. Blue needles are not sown in open soil, for a start it is carefully rammed. The material is laid on top for future sprouts and is covered with a peat-filler mixture of 1 cm thick. The optimal distance between the individual seeds is about 3-5 cm.
Further care
The first shoots appear in 10-15 days. When detecting a frequent arrangement of seedlings, it is desirable to thin the plants. Leave only strong copies. The ideal distance between them is 6-7 cm.
The prevention and protection of spruce from diseases and pests is also very important in the care.
Seedlings care
In the first two or three weeks it is important to ensure optimal conditions of detention:
- do not water the sprouts, just spray the seedlings twice a day;
- pots with seedlings are kept in a temperature range from + 13̊ С to +15 С °;
- seedlings shoots need pritenyat, in the open sun they will burn.
After a month, blue needles saplings reach a height of 3-4 cm. To prevent the formation of root rot, the soil is treated with a fungicide. The plant itself is treated with an insecticide solution.
How to care for shoots
In hot, dry weather, the trees are watered once a week (a bucket of water for one plant). The roots of young plants (up to 3 years) are very close to the surface of the earth. During the drought period require increased moisture.
When harvesting weeds and loosening the soil, they do not go deeper into 7 cm. Some summer residents believe that in the first years of life it is better not to disturb the spruce tree planted in the soil. Allow it to grow in the grass, water and mulch the soil with humus. Adult conifers do not need fertilizer for the soil, young seedlings are fed fertilizers with mineral composition.
Did you know? Life expectancy of conifer needles is about 7 years. The needles on the branches are replaced gradually. With the onset of the next autumn season, 1/7 of the modified dry leaves of the tree fall.Spruce trees planted as hedges are periodically cut. The procedure for the formation of the correct crown is carried out after the end of the natural growth of ornamental plantings, when the needles are completely straightened. The shoots protruding beyond the edge of the form, with special care, “twist” to obtain the correct form of spruce.
In the winter, there are two threats to the young spruce:
- bummering branches under the weight of snow;
- burns from UV rays followed by shedding needles.
Transplanting plants to a permanent place
When choosing ready seedlings for planting, pay attention to the color of an annual plant. In greenhouse conditions, the blue tree will outgrow the meter barrier. A place for constant planting is cleared from weeds. Then dig a planting hole of a larger size than the volume of the roots of the tree. Watch for the softness of the soil - young roots are hard to break down. Plants remain at risk of death if the soil is not treated before planting. For protection against the black leg 14 days before planting, the soil is treated with "Trichodermine".
The tree is dug from the greenhouse area or container. A little "native" soil poured to the bottom of the prepared pit. If possible, add a little bit of soil from under the ripe needles to the recess. The seedling is placed in the pit so that the ground levels on the trunk coincide. Planting too deep will damage the rhizome.
The remaining space around the spruce trunk covered with soil, well tamped to avoid drying of the roots. Then the coniferous plant is well watered, so that the roots straighten faster and penetrate into the surrounding soil. Although this type of coniferous tree is attributed to a group of shade-tolerant trees, it is still planted in the sun. In the shadow of the crown acquire friability, loses color saturation.
Did you know? After 10-15 years, the main root of a coniferous tree dies off. Its functions are assumed by an extensive system of many smaller roots. In the event of the final death of the plant from the rhizome can grow spruce-clone. Swedish scientists have observed a similar phenomenon. In one of the urban parks of the country growing needles, which turned out more than 9.5 thousand years. It is the oldest plant organism in the whole world.In the middle climate zone, blue spruce seeds are propagated by seeds in two terms - at the end of April and in the last days of June. In the south, do not recommend planting in the summer. Shoots burn from heat and heat.
Under natural conditions, the noble variety of spruce develops much more slowly. The tree loves moisture. Growth in the forest temporarily stops during the summer drought. With sufficient watering, coniferous country plantations grow intensively.
