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How to grow blue spruces at home? How to plant blue spruce in autumn

How to plant a spruce in autumn?

Spruce, like other trees, is planted in spring or autumn. If you decide to decorate your garden with a new “resident” in the saddest time of the year, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the rules on how to plant a spruce on the site.

How to plant a spruce at home: the choice of time, seedling and place

Before you plant a spruce in the fall, decide on the optimal time for this action. Spruces tolerate planting best of all in late autumn, when frosts already appear in the morning. We recommend buying a seedling in a horticultural farm: the trees from there adapt well to new conditions. For planting spruce, give preference to a two-year-old seedling with evenly distributed branches, a well-developed root system (the ends of the roots should be white) and a large earthy clod.

In how to properly plant a spruce, it is important to choose the right soil. The tree prefers acidic soil. If there is none on your site, just try to bring the earth from the spruce forest. In addition, you should not plant spruce in the garden, a place in the garden is suitable for it, it can be close to a birch or other spruce.

How to plant a spruce in the fall?

A deep pit is prepared for the seedling - with a diameter of 1 m and a depth of 0.7-1 m. A drainage layer of sand and stones 15 cm high is placed at the bottom of the pit. Then a layer of a mixture of turf and leaf soil and sand is placed along with humus or inorganic fertilizers ( 120 g of nitroammophoska). Place a seedling in the hole, gently straighten the roots and cover with earth, periodically tamping it. Pay attention to the fact that the root neck of the trunk is at ground level. At the end, water the Christmas tree with a bucket of warm water and mulch the near-stem circle with peat.

If we talk about how to plant a spruce from the forest, then choose a small tree with a good crown in the spruce forest. After digging up the tree, carefully place its roots on a natural fabric cover. Tie the ends of the blanket around the bottom of the trunk, completely covering the roots. Spruce is planted together with the fabric, without removing.

As for how to plant spruce from seeds, this procedure is not performed in the fall. Seedlings are grown during spring and summer.

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HOW TO PLANT A BLUE SPRUCE IN AUTUMN FROM A POT INTO THE GROUND

A site about a garden, a summer residence and house plants.

Planting and growing vegetables and fruits, caring for the garden, building and repairing cottages - all with your own hands.

Choosing and buying a Christmas tree in a pot - care and subsequent transplanting into the ground

How to choose a live spruce for the New Year and then transplant it into open ground

SPRUCE IN A POT IS COZY AND ORIGINAL, ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY AND FASHIONABLE, RATIONAL AND AESTHETIC. IT IS PLEASANT TO REALIZE THAT ON HOLIDAYS THE HOUSE IS DECORATED BY A LIVING AND NOT A CUT TREE. ANOTHER DEFINITE ADVANTAGE WHICH THE SELLERS OF THE GOODS TALK ABOUT IS THE POSSIBILITY TO PLANT IT IN THE GARDEN OR KEEP IT ON THE BALCONY. BUT HERE THE DIFFICULTIES BEGIN

It turns out that not every plant sold under the guise of a "Christmas tree" is able to grow in the garden, and even more so on the balcony in a limited amount of soil and without snow cover. We still need to contrive to keep it until landing in the garden.

Before you go shopping, you should decide how you want to use the plant after the holiday. The answer to this question will help determine not only the type of conifer, but also its size, crown habit and the size of the pot in which the plant is planted.

If after a holiday you are going to plant a plant in the garden, you should study the issue of winter hardiness of the selected species and variety (shape), find out the size of an adult plant (whether it will be a large tree about 20 m tall or a dwarf not exceeding 1 m) and its location preferences in order to roughly know where and with which neighbors you can place a purchase.

So, among conifers there are no shade-loving ones, but common spruce, fir and arborvitae are able to put up with a little shading, and forms with colored needles are more light-loving. Pine is more drought-resistant compared to arborvitae, spruces and firs. For all of them, well-drained soil of medium mechanical composition (loam) is necessary, since they cannot stand stagnant water.

It should be noted that Canadian spruce and western thuja can turn brown (burn) in late winter - early spring. Resistant in central Russia, Norway spruce, e. prickly, e. Canadian, Scots pine, p. cedar, s. Weymutov, balsam fir, white-bark fir, one-color fir, subalpine fir, Korean fir and western thuja.

But from the acquisition of the so-called "Danish firs" (Nordmann fir, or p. Caucasian), black pine, p. small-flowered "Negishi", c. Geldreich "Compact Gem" and "Malinki" is better to refuse. They are not suitable for our climate.

If your balcony is insulated and the temperature on it does not fall below -5 ... -7 ° C, you can buy ordinary conifers that are stable in the middle lane. If the temperature on the balcony and on the street does not differ much, pay attention to more winter-hardy species and forms (Scotch pine "Watereri", "Nana", "Compressa", "Beuvronensis"), since on the balcony even when covered with kraft paper and non-woven fabric conditions are tougher than in the open field.

The entire assortment of conifers offered for the role of New Year's deren can be conditionally divided according to two decorative features: the shape of the crown and the color of the needles.

The pyramidal shape of the crown is characteristic of most firs (including Korean fir varieties "Silberlocke" and "Samling"), spruce ordinary "Columnaris", e. prickly "Iseli Fastigiate", e. Serbian, e. Canadian "Conica", thuja western "Smaragd" and "Brabant", Scotch pine Fastigiata, and a species plant, p. European cedar and s. Korean.

Blue needles are characteristic of prickly spruce varieties "Hoopsii", "Glauca", "Fat Albert", Scotch pine "Glauca", p. cedar dwarf 'Glauca', p. Weymouth "Ammerland".

If you grow a tree on a balcony, pay attention to the slow-growing forms of Canadian spruce "Nana", "Conica", "Echiniformis", e. ordinary "Nidiformis" and "Little Gem", e. Serbian "Nana", thuja western "Tiny Tim".

The western thuja "Yellow Ribbon", "Smaragd Witbonf", "Wagneri", "Woodwardii" has a conical or ovoid crown shape.

In order to prevent an unfortunate mistake when buying and not to acquire a plant that was originally doomed to death, you need to know a few simple rules.

Spruce information is welcome

See if there are labels on the plants: this is not only a significant “plus” for the manufacturer and confirmation of the quality of the product, but also brief, concise information for the buyer about the preferences of a particular crop (light / shade, dry / wet), its growth pattern and winter hardiness. All this is important to know when purchasing a plant for a more or less long period.

The root system of conifers is very fragile and vulnerable. If the plant was hastily dug out of the ground before the holiday and squeezed into a pot, then it is practically doomed to death. Therefore, you should not make a purchase in dubious stores, on the roadsides and places of spontaneous trade. If you really intend to keep a new pet, then give preference to a local nursery that is professionally breeding conifers. As a last resort, you can purchase a Christmas tree from a trusted garden center. By the way, conifers in pots stored in the winter on the street must be covered with sawdust or snow.

No need to break!

You should definitely refrain from buying if the needles are showered from the plant. Signs that the tree is no longer a tenant are as follows: the branches are brittle (in a living plant they are flexible and the roots look lifeless (healthy roots are juicy, have yellow or white tips).

Until you see...

If possible, you should carefully remove the tree with roots from the pot, for which the container is first lightly squeezed with your hands and tapped. Ideally, the root system should completely braid the entire lump. If the soil immediately crumbles, and the roots stick out in different directions, then it is better to refrain from buying.

Be sure to pay attention to the moisture content of the substrate in the pot. Dry soil not only indicates a low quality of plant care, it is also an extremely negative factor for the tree itself. It has been noticed that coniferous crops, the roots of which were overdried, almost completely die.

Pay attention to the color of the needles. The presence of brown, brown or yellow shoots should alert you. This is a clear sign of disease or death of the plant. However, green needles

(blue, silver in some forms) is not a 100% guarantee of health. A coniferous plant can stand green all winter, and with the onset of spring heat, quickly crumble.

A big pot for a big Christmas tree!

A knowledgeable buyer will immediately pay attention to the proportionality of the container and the tree. It is unlikely that a beautiful lush plant could be grown in a too small pot. This means that it is very likely that the root system was heavily pruned before planting in a new, cramped container, which will have an extremely negative effect on the further viability of the plant.

Christmas tree in a bag

Manufacturers can offer conifers not only in containers, but also with an earthen clod wrapped in burlap. After purchase, such a plant should be removed from the wrapper and planted in a container of a suitable size (preferably 3-5 cm in diameter and deeper than the existing lump). It is undesirable to purchase plants with an open root system. Even in regions with a cool, not cold winter, even such conifers dug out in a special area take root worse than plants with a closed root system grown in compliance with agricultural technology.

How to care for a Christmas tree in a pot

Immediately after the purchase, you can not bring the plant into a warm room (room), as well as after the holidays - take it out into the street. Large temperature fluctuations - too much stress, which can lead to death. If you live in a private house, you should think about whether to dress up the purchased plant in front of the windows of the living room or nursery on the street? At the same time, it is not necessary to plant it immediately - you can simply dig the pot deep into the snow.

After all, they sang the plant was purchased specifically for the room, you should put the coniferous on the balcony, terrace for several days in order to ensure the smoothest possible temperature transition. During severe frosts and on the balcony, and even more so on the terrace, the temperature is negative, so you should cover the pot with an unnecessary blanket or non-woven material. Having placed the plant in this way, a weak polyp should be produced.

After 5-7 days (or later, if time permits), the plant can be brought into the room. The optimum temperature of its content in the room is + 16 ... + 19 ° С, which, of course, is uncomfortable for a person. Therefore, conifers usually have to put up with the usual + 22 ... + 24 ° С.

In an apartment or house, conifers need abundant watering and high air humidity is desirable, for which the container can be placed on a wide fit with expanded clay poured on it. Water must be added regularly. And you can also put pieces of ice or snow in the pot - this is not only an additional source of moisture, but also a great way to cool the soil and air around the plant. The coniferous reacts to the lack of watering by dropping the needles and drying out of the twigs. Overwatering is also harmful: it causes root rot. Top dressing is not needed, as they stimulate the growth of shoots, and our task is not to awaken the plant, but to keep it as safe and sound as possible. Young, weak, unimaginable growth will certainly die when the plant returns to the terrace or balcony after the holidays.

When placing a spruce in a room, you should not choose a place near a heat source (radiator, stove). No matter how romantic the picture with a spruce by the fireplace is, there will be no trace of the beauty of the plant next to the heat of the fire.

After buying from a plant, you should wash the needles, as the dust accumulated on it clogs the stomata and disrupts breathing and metabolic processes. You can wash it with a shower, after wrapping the pot with the substrate with polyethylene, so as not to overmoisten the lump.

What to do with live spruce after the New Year?

So, the holiday died down, you admired the New Year tree, the children played enough and danced round dances around it ...

What's next for the plant?

As mentioned above, temperature drops are highly undesirable, especially now, after the plant has "woken up" in a warm room. Veli allows the size of the pot and the area of \u200b\u200bthe window sill, it is advisable to place the container by the window, where it is slightly cooler than in the room itself. So you need to keep the plant until planting in the garden, providing it with timely watering. If the "spruce" began to grow, you can additionally illuminate it so that the growth is decorative and healthy.

When the plant is too large and the window sill is narrow, you can put it on an insulated balcony. But at a negative temperature, the tree must be insulated, and not only wrap the container well and put a layer of cardboard or insulation under it, but also throw 1-2 layers of non-woven material on the crown. In the future, it is necessary to ensure that the spring sun does not touch the rays of the New Year's tree, otherwise it may be under cover as if in a greenhouse: the shoots will start to grow, and then, with daily temperature drops, they will freeze.

In addition to harsh winters, another nuisance awaits a coniferous plant on the balcony - a small amount of substrate. No matter how slow the growth rate of a plant, its roots need to develop, so annual transshipment of conifers into a new container is desirable. It should be 3-5 cm wider than the previous one.

After a few years, when the root system reaches a significant size, and the container is too large, the plant will have to be planted in the garden. Conifers grown in a container need systematic top dressing with complex mineral fertilizer. Top dressing is carried out from April-May to the end of July. Starting in August, fertilizers containing nitrogen are excluded.

If you plan to keep your coniferous plant on the balcony all year round, it should be noted that only a glazed space is suitable for this purpose, where the temperature drops below -10 ... - 12 ° С. And in order for the tree to survive the harsher cold conditions, you will need to provide thorough shelter, especially for the container. After all, coniferous shoots painlessly endure severe frosts, which cannot be said about their root system.

If you don’t have the opportunity to even overexposure a coniferous plant on the balcony, you can take it to the dacha. A pot with a green pet should be placed in a place as protected from the wind as possible and the tree should be covered with snow to the very top.

Transplanting spruce from a pot into open ground

Before the spring planting of the plant in the garden, which is preferably carried out from the end of March to April, a planting pit should be prepared. Its diameter should be approximately 20 - 30 cm larger than the diameter of the container. At the bottom it is necessary to pour drainage. The soil mixture for backfilling the pit should contain soddy soil, peat and sand (2: 1: 1).

When planting a plant, try not to disturb the earthen ball and not damage the roots. You can shed or soak an earthen ball in a growth stimulator solution - this will help the plant adapt to new conditions and take root better. When planting, the root neck of conifers should not be raised or buried, it should be at the level of the soil - as soon as the soil sags after planting, the plant should be placed on a mound about 5-7 cm high.

If you want to decorate the same coniferous plant in the house for more than one year, then it will be most convenient to transplant it into a larger container, which you then dig in the garden, and with the onset of winter, remove it from the ground and transport it to an apartment or balcony.

Finally, the second half of May has arrived. And if you notice that buds have swollen on the New Year's tree, you can be congratulated: attention and care helped the plant stay alive and healthy.

Caring for a Potted Christmas Tree - Questions and Answers, Reader Tips

Recently, trade before the New Year began to offer small live Christmas trees in containers. This makes it possible to save the life of the tree by planting it in the country or in the city near the house. But how to make such a Christmas tree take root? Advise!

Alexander Danilovich STARIKOV, Moscow Region, Zelenograd

Indeed, there is a certain danger that during the New Year and Christmas holidays, living trees located in an environment that is unusual for them (residential premises) may not withstand such conditions. However, if you follow certain rules, it is quite possible to hold a Christmas tree alive through all the ups and downs of the festivities. However, a New Year's tree can be a pine, a thuja, and a juniper.

tree selection

It is worth noting that there are two options for selling Christmas trees - grown in containers and dug out of the ground. The former, of course, will be more enduring and, most likely, will tolerate a forced stay indoors well. If the plants were dug up and planted in pots shortly before sale, damage to the root system is quite possible, which calls into question their adaptation after transplanting into the pound.

In the dug out trees, most likely, the root system will separate from the coma of the earth, since it did not have time to “grow into it. It is best to refuse to buy such plants.

"Health status" check

While the tree "gets" from the place of cultivation to the counter, a certain time usually passes. Yes, and in the store itself, it could be relatively long. And it is quite possible that the plant did not receive proper care. To find out if the seedling received watering, you should knock on the container: the more dull the sound, the more dry the soil lump. You can also stick your index finger into the soil, thus controlling the humidity. Overdried plants should also be discarded, it is quite possible that they are already dead. After all, the needles on the conifers do not fall immediately after the death of the plants.

But even if everything is in order with humidity, inspect the plant and touch the needles. Damage to the bark, dried twigs, yellowed and dry needles can alert. It should be green and elastic.

Rules for green "guests"

Since the home environment is unfavorable for conifers, we must try to keep their stay indoors as short as possible. It is not worth keeping the plants warm for at least two weeks.

For the same reason, it is best to place green "guests" away from heating radiators and other heat sources, and ventilate the room from time to time. You should also try to increase the humidity of the air with the help of special humidifiers. You can periodically spray water from a spray bottle.

The soil in which the tree grows must be watered daily. At the slightest yellowing of the crown, the plant should be taken out first to a cooler room, where it should be for a day or two, and then to the street. In the same way - with a gradual adaptation to the cold - you need to do it when the time comes to plant the plant in open ground. With a clod of earth, this can also be done in winter - the landing pit must be covered with a mixture of earth and peat. The agronomist answered the question of the reader

Can the same expanded clay be used as drainage for a long time? If there is no coarse river sand, will fine one do?

Expanded clay is a building material. It is advantageous to offer it as a drainage, but is it really necessary for plants and does it have all the necessary qualities in order to use it? Experienced flower growers decided this issue a long time ago: they do not use expanded clay if they plant plants for growing on the windowsill. Here, when planting large-sized plants in the winter garden, in tubs in the courtyard, it is convenient.

It is preferable to use foam plastic, from which packaging elements for various household appliances are made. It is necessary to break the foam into pieces, creating a drainage layer of the required height, and put a paper towel “screen” on top, which will not allow the earth to wake up down.

- bacteria and fungi do not settle in it;

- does not accumulate salt;

- breaks easily if the root has passed through;

- unlike expanded clay, foam plastic can be used repeatedly.

If you use sand in the preparation of the soil mixture to reduce its moisture capacity, then fine sand will do. If the plants need to ensure good breathing of the roots (prepare a loose and rough substrate), fine sand is not suitable. It is better to replace coarse sand with fine gravel.

Will spruce grow in the shade?

Sovereignty can answer - will be. I have a plot on the edge of the forest, self-sowing Christmas trees and mountain ash grow near the northern wall of the house. The sun is there only in the morning and after 16 hours, but this is enough for them. I don’t feed or water the trees with anything - they take care of themselves. The only thing is that I cut the top of the mountain ash and regulate the growth of Christmas trees: in May or early June, I unscrew their green growth on the tops.

Never cut these turntables, otherwise they will begin to double or even triple.

And if, however, you also unscrew the growths on the side branches, you can form a magnificent beautiful Christmas tree in the shape of a ball. All acquaintances will ask what kind of outlandish variety this is, and no one will recognize her as a forest prude ...

Also on your "dark side" you can break the so-called mixborder of shade-tolerant plants: ferns, bergenia and host. The leathery leaves of the first plant will accentuate the graceful fronds of the ferns, while the light touches on the leaves of the hosta will add light to a dark corner of the garden. You can “knock out” the mikborder with forest plants: strawberries, lilies of the valley, hoof and periwinkle. In spring, the mixborder will be decorated with crocuses. All these plants are unpretentious and do not need special care. And if you feed them, green pets will gratefully respond to your care.

By the way, sorrel grows well in the shade. Plant once and provide yourself with an excellent basis for green cabbage soup for years!

Friends say to me: “What is it? Christmas tree - she is a Christmas tree. But in fact, they are so different! Take, for example, Korean fir. From afar, it really looks like a medium-sized, very slender Christmas tree.

But if you look closely, there are so many interesting things in it!

The needles of the Korean fir are two-colored: on the front side the needles are dark green, on the wrong side they are bluish-silver. Each needle is curved like a claw. Only these "claws" are not at all scary, but soft and tender to the touch. Spruce cones hang down from the paws.

And in Korean fir, they provocatively stick up, like candles in candelabra. Young cones are purple, turning brown as they mature. Korean fir grows very slowly, so even full-sized forms can be planted in front gardens. At the same time, it is not capricious, it takes root well on poor, acidic, clayey, stony soils. Fir does not like only close groundwater, since its roots are long.

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When is the best time to plant a spruce and how to properly care for a tree?

When landscaping a site, it is difficult to do without coniferous plants. Spruce is one of the most popular. But this is not always the usual 30-meter beauty. Some grow only up to 20 cm in their entire lives.

Features of the structure of spruce

About fifty species of this plant are now known. They combine 150 forms, each of which has several varieties. Homeland ate China and North America. About a hundred forms are grown on our territory. Most species of spruce have straight trunks covered with brown bark. With age, it becomes rough. The branches are arranged in tiers.

The main difference between spruces and other evergreens is the appearance and location of the needles.

It can be flat or square. The needles are arranged spirally on the shoots. The color varies from yellow-green to gray-green, which is called blue.

Flowers are divided into male and female. Men's are smaller in size, grow from the sinuses of the upper needles. Women's are formed at the ends of old branches. Cones are formed from them. At first they are green, reddish or with a purple tint. After maturation, the scales of the cones acquire a brown or grayish color. Ripe for winter. They do not stay on the branches, they fall off.

Reproduction methods

Spruces are grown:

From seed.
cuttings.

How to grow if from seeds:

When growing from seeds, only cones of this year are used. You can extend the germination period by hiding the seeds in an airtight container. If stored at a temperature of 0 to 5 degrees, they can be used for reproduction for up to 15 years. Seeds are germinated in several ways.
They are sown before winter to a depth of 2 cm, mulched on top with a layer of peat 1.5 cm high. In spring, dense shoots dive to a new place. Some seedlings can be left without transplanting. Transplanted to a permanent place in the fall or next spring. You can sow in special boxes, then take them out into the snow. There the seeds will be stratified.
This process can be carried out in a refrigerator or basement. Seeds are mixed with washed sand and kept at a temperature of about 4 ° C for 1-3 months. Then sown and set in a warm place. If it is possible to place dishes with seeds in a cold place, they are sown immediately in small containers.
Seedlings are kept in a bright place, but not under hot sunlight. Thickened plantings are thinned out by diving seedlings into a separate bowl.

The disadvantage of this method of reproduction is that maternal properties are poorly transmitted. Only a small amount retains the characteristic features. When growing blue spruces, a large number of seedlings are planted. In a few years it will become clear which of them has the blue color of the needles.

Cuttings make it easier to propagate young varietal spruce trees.

Good results are obtained by growing Canadian or black spruce in this way. For cultivation, choose the type of branches that corresponds to the type of tree. In columnar cuttings, vertical cuttings are cut, in drooping - inclined. For reproduction of spherical take any branches.

Installed in a light substrate with an admixture of vermiculite, sphagnum moss, sand. Maintained at a temperature of 18°C. After germination, raise to 25°C. Maintain high humidity. Spruce can be grown from horizontal cuttings, but the crown of a new tree usually comes out crooked. You can use this method to grow varieties with a drooping crown. But buried branches grow from 2 to 5 years.

The best spruce varieties for growing

Ordinary 50 meters high prefers slightly acidic sandy loam. Dislikes stagnant water. Her decorative forms:

Compact with a rounded shape 2 meters high.
Echiniformis 20 cm high can have needles of various colors, from yellowish to gray.
Nidiformis with a nest-like crown.
Acrocona with red cones. Frost resistant variety. Tolerates shade. Dies from stagnant water.
Inversa is a very beautiful tree with a drooping crown.
Maxwellii pillow-shaped. Height about a meter. Needles with a yellow tint.

Prickly spruce grows up to 45 m in 100 years, up to 20 m in urban conditions. The needles are prickly, the color can be from green to silver. Growing in the city, it needs to be washed three times during the summer with water, washing away dust and dirt. Forms:

Argenta with yellow needles. Tolerates drought and frost.
Glauca with blue needles with a gray sheen. Winter hardy, drought tolerant. Likes bright areas.
Hoopsii is the bluest of the firs. It grows up to 10 m. The branches are strong. Likes sunny areas.

Canadian spruce is distinguished by light needles. The bark is grey. The crown has the form of a cone, the height is 25 m. It lives up to 500 years. Young branches grow up, old branches down. Forms:

Konika up to 1.5 m high.
Albert Blue.
Echiniformis 50 cm high.

Serbian spruce with a narrow pyramidal crown. Branches grow upward. The needles are dark on top, white stripes are visible on the bottom of each needle. Spruce is decorated with dark purple cones. Does not tolerate stagnant moisture in the soil. Frost-resistant. Varieties:

Minima height 30 cm, width half a meter. The needles are hard, the top is green, the bottom is blue. Likes light soils.
Nana is a popular variety with a rounded crown. It grows by 2 cm per year. It tolerates frost well.
Pendula with a columnar crown, branches hanging down. Bicolor needles.

Eastern spruce can reach a height of 60 meters. The trunk is powerful, up to 2 m. The needles are short, up to 8 mm, flattened, tetrahedral. The needles are yellow at first. They darken with age. Tolerates shade. Doesn't like frost. Varieties:

Aureospicata with asymmetrical branches drooping down. Needles 8 mm long. First golden, then darker. The cones are cylindrical, up to 8 cm long. The color is purple. It must be planted in a place sheltered from the northern winds. The crown can be formed by pruning.
Bergman Gem up to half a meter high. First, the crown is elongated, then it becomes round. Tolerates darkness.
Skylands grows up to 11 m. Golden needles.

Ayan spruce - low, up to 9 m, tree. The needles are flat, 1.2 to 2 cm long and 1.2 mm thick, keeled. The branches have a tousled appearance. The top of the needle is dark, the bottom has light stripes, due to which the tree acquires a silvery hue. Cones are loose, red or green before ripening. Differs in high frost resistance. Popular varieties:

Nana Kalous (Marianske Lazne) is a small plant with a rounded crown. The needles are silvery. Differs in high frost resistance.
Mariana (black). The buds are dark purple, turning brown when mature.

Planting and caring for a tree

With all the variety of species and varieties of spruce, there are general requirements for growing conditions. Choose a place that corresponds to this species. Most often it should be sunny and protected from the north winds. Spruce root is located in the surface layers of the soil. Therefore, he is not able to hold tall trees under the influence of strong gusts of wind.

The amount of sunlight usually affects the color of the needles. If it is not enough, blue needles turn green, and the crown takes on a shape that is not characteristic of the variety. The soil on the site should be light and fertile. This does not apply to dwarf forms, which, under the influence of a large amount of nutrients, can change the shape of the crown. Acidity pH 4.5-5.

Young spruces are planted in early spring, before bud break, or in autumn.

During the growing season, trees are taken poorly. Do not allow the root system to be in the air for more than 10 minutes. It is advisable not to allow deepening of the root collar. This can lead to decay. If it is too high, the tree will dry out. Most varieties of spruce tolerate drought well, but varietal plants need to be watered to prevent any soil from drying out. Shade the trees for the first months. Loosen the soil around the trunk to a depth of 5 cm. Young spruce growths can freeze in winter. But over the summer they grow back. So that the plant does not lose its crown shape under the snow, plants with several trunks are pulled together with twine and fixed to a support.

It is more difficult to protect creeping varieties of spruce from wetting. During the thaw, the snow melts and moisture collects under the bush. So that the branches do not disappear, at the beginning of winter they are laid on special lattices. An adult spruce does not need top dressing. Under young trees in the spring, immediately after the snow cover melts, complex mineral fertilizers for conifers are applied. Fresh manure must not be introduced.

Spruces can be transplanted to a new place. Do this in early spring or autumn. Young trees tolerate the procedure more easily. It is only necessary to regularly water the plants and spray them until the time when it takes root. One-year-old seedlings need watering up to 7 times a day. Older ones water 2 times a day. Mature trees are moistened once a week, bringing in a bucket of warm water. Before transplanting large trees for a year or six months, they begin to prepare its root system. To do this, dig around the tree several times, cutting the roots. Gradually narrow the diameter of the circle. As a result, a lump of earth in the root area becomes dense and will not fall apart during transplantation.

Potential Growing Problems

Spruces can be affected by fungal diseases:

Schutte is manifested by redness of the needles. It darkens after a while.
Tracheomycosis wilt is a viral disease that affects the root system. The needles turn red and crumble.
Rust of needles and cones. They have yellow bubbles.
Necrosis of the cortex leads to the formation of growths. Leads to the death of spruce.
Ulcerative cancer leads to the formation of resinous wounds.

You need to fight by cleaning and removing damaged areas. Treat wounds with garden pitch. In the spring, for the prevention of diseases, they are treated with preparations containing copper.

The main pests of spruce:

Weevil, bud sawfly, spider mite damage needles.
Zlatka, driller, bark beetle, grinder strikes the bark.
Leafworm, gall midge, seed-eater spoils cones.

Treated 3 times with insecticides.

The use of spruce in landscape design

Spruce is often used to create a variety of compositions. It is decorative all year round, and the use of varieties with different needle colors and crown shapes allows you to create beautiful and original compositions. Common spruce and prickly spruce are preferred because they are resistant to frost and weather conditions. Various ornamental species of Norway spruce are planted in northern gardens and parks. Prickly planted near public buildings.

Alleys are created from trees with a pyramidal crown, several are planted to separate park areas.

Compositions of firs with variegated bushes, perennial ornamental plants look good. Spruces are suitable for creating hedges. They can be trimmed, giving the trees a variety of shapes. To do this, use varieties of gray spruce Fat Albert or Hoopsii. Of these, it is easy to create a beautiful hedge with little pruning. But these ate are expensive. Therefore, you can use Norway spruce, which also tolerates pruning well.

To form a hedge, young vertical shoots are cut in early June by a third of the length, and the side branches are shortened by half or two thirds of the length. As a result, the branches grow thicker, the bush becomes denser. Such operations are carried out for 4 years. Then the bushes close up. Further pruning is carried out in early March, and young growths are sheared in late May-early June.

Low forms, spherical, dwarf pyramidal are planted in rock gardens, rockeries, mixborders. They give the areas an elegant look all year round. Use them to create bonsai. Creeping varieties are grafted onto stems. You can change the shape of the crown by pinching in the fall and shortening the central buds of the side shoots in the summer.

More information can be found in the video:

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How to plant a blue spruce? | Plants

Another method is much more effective - cuttings, but it is too laborious and time consuming, so summer residents prefer to buy ready-made seedlings grown in nurseries.
Photo: Depositphotos

When planting a blue spruce, it is very important to choose the right place for it. It should be borne in mind that this tree is light-loving, in addition, it will grow strongly. In the first years after planting, spruce grows slowly, but then it picks up pace and annually grows up by at least a meter. You can stop the growth of spruce by regularly breaking off the top, however, allocating space for a blue spruce, consider its size.

Before you plant a blue spruce, you need to prepare the site. Since the root system of this plant has the peculiarity of "spreading" over the site, it is advisable to immediately limit its area. Ideally, something like a strip foundation is poured, then the roots of the blue spruce will not be able to go beyond the allotted territory. In the center of this "box" they dig a hole with a volume of 1 cubic meter. Spruce does not need very fertile land, so you can fill the seedling with the soil that you have chosen from the planting hole. Blue spruce seedlings are planted in spring, as autumn plantings often die.
Photo: Depositphotos

Probably, many met the so-called bush spruce. Want to grow this unfortunately short-lived beauty yourself? In the spring, bury a whole cone to a depth of about 10 centimeters, the seeds will sprout thickly, and here you will have a “spruce spruce”. And if someone begins to convince you that this is such a variety, do not believe it, spray fir trees do not exist!

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The days when the dacha was associated only with endless digging of beds, fussing with seedlings, top dressing and seasonal harvesting have practically gone.

Life in the metropolis leaves its mark in the form of badly passing fatigue and the desire to finally go somewhere far away from dirty air, endless traffic jams, noisy neighbors and street bustle.

And at the dacha you want not only solitude, which, by the way, is not always possible because not everyone has plots of several hectares, but also beauty.

The blue spruce can turn out to be such a pleasing plant.

There are several ways to plant blue spruce. Blue spruce can be grown from seed, but this is not the most reliable option, as it takes a long time and there is no guarantee that blue spruce will grow from a planted seed, and not green.

Cuttings can be another way, but we will not consider this method because of its difficulty for an unprepared gardener or owner of suburban real estate.

The easiest and fastest way is to buy a finished plant in a nursery. Try to choose a healthy tree, with evenly spaced branches, without bark damage and broken branches.

Blue spruce is a light-loving plant and quite fast-growing. It grows slowly in the first few years, but as it grows, the annual increase in height can be up to one meter.

Plant seedlings at a distance of at least one and a half meters from each other. You should not try to plant blue spruces along the border of a small plot (for example, six acres), because as the blue spruces grow, they will begin to obscure not only your site (maybe you need this), but also the neighbors' plot, which, quite likely, can lead to conflicts with them and even litigation.

To limit the spread of blue spruce roots, it is better to provide a strip concrete foundation around the planting perimeter. At the spruce planting site, we select the soil depending on the size of the root system of the tree you purchased. We fill the hole with the extracted soil, since the blue spruce is quite unpretentious to the soil.

Planting blue spruce is best done in spring, as trees planted in autumn often die.

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How to plant a blue spruce in summer

How to plant a blue spruce in summer?

Blue spruce is an evergreen coniferous plant. Picea pungens (blue spruce) grows near rivers, in mountain valleys and on elevations, where there is an increased level of humidity in the air and soil, due to heavy rainfall, the proximity of water bodies or the occurrence of groundwater.

You can plant blue spruce seeds in a germination container or in open ground. Blue spruce seeds germinate if harvested from a tree older than 20 years. Young trees and their seeds are completely unsuitable for planting.

It is possible to plant an adult tree if it was germinated in greenhouse conditions. In order to properly plant blue spruce in the summer, planting techniques must be followed.

Soil mixture for blue spruce in summer:

Drained and fertile.
The acidity of the soil mixture is from 5.5 to 7.8 pH.
Compost (fertilizer) is added to the bottom of the pit.

Parameters for planting blue spruce in the ground in summer:

The planting hole is 3 times the volume of the root system.
The plant is planted in the center of the hole.
The bottom roots of the blue spruce should touch the bottom.

How to care for blue spruce?

Care for blue spruce should be focused on the conditions of the coniferous tree. Blue spruce is a moisture-loving plant, so it needs to be watered often. In order for moisture to leave the soil mixture more slowly, it is necessary to make a bypass ring around the hole. You will need the following materials:

garden hose
hammer
iron bypass

What should be done? Connect the hose in a circle, secure with an iron bypass. With the help of improvised means, the root system of the blue spruce will be protected.

In the process of constant watering, the blue spruce may begin to lean to some side. This is caused by the subsidence of an earthen coma. If the roots make their way to the surface, most likely, the plant will quickly die. The support is built either on an iron bypass, or a second tree nearby is planted to strengthen it. After several irrigation procedures, it will be possible to remove the artificial support.

The nuances of caring for blue spruce in the ground

Blue spruce, being a moisture-loving plant, does not like stagnant water in the soil. Regular watering, alternating with a dormant period, will give time for recovery. The resistance of this coniferous tree to drought or drying out of the soil is defined as medium.

There is no need to trim the decorative blue spruce. The procedure is needed only in the case of growing blue spruce for sale or in order for the coniferous tree to grow.

In spring and autumn, blue spruce is fed. Feeding begins only 3-4 years after planting. Blue spruce is considered a hardy and unpretentious tree. As it develops, it gives shade and protection from the wind. by planting several blue spruces side by side, you can create the illusion of a coniferous hedge, and enjoy the decorative effect of a tree with a distant resemblance to a coniferous forest.

Blue spruce rarely gets sick, but can be affected by fungal diseases that appear first in the lower parts of the crown. Unsuitable weather conditions or violations in care (drying of the root system, stagnation of moisture in the lower part of the roots, temperature fluctuations) can provoke the onset of the disease.

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Blue spruce in your home. Growing blue beauty spruce.

Hello dear readers!

And now the long-awaited event has happened. A blue spruce has appeared on your site! I share your joy, because at one time I squealed with pleasure when this miracle settled in our yard on the lawn. And let's dig a little deeper and find out what kind of animal this "blue spruce" is and what it is eaten with.

Blue spruce: tree description

Spruce blue, or rather prickly spruce variety "blue" - an evergreen tree. In the wild, it grows in the northern part of America, usually closer to streams and mountain rivers. At the same time, the soil is rocky and not very fertile. Already by these facts one can judge her unpretentiousness. By the way, the blue spruce is a symbol of the US states of Colorado and Utah.

It is frost-resistant, wind-resistant, shade-tolerant. Due to the silvery coating on the needles, it is he who gives a beautiful color, is resistant to polluted air, the same coating helps to preserve valuable moisture. In nature, blue spruce reaches a height of 35 meters, sometimes lives more than 600 years. The trunk is up to 1.5 meters wide.

The blue spruce is a slow growing tree. But, despite this, landscape designers adore this tree and always try to include it in their compositions. She is a real queen. And rightfully take its place in any area.

I think it was for your stature, slender pyramidal shape and rich prickly fur coat that you fell in love with her. It is impossible not to love her, because, in the end, she sunk into the soul of everyone as a symbol of the holiday as a child. Remember: “a little Christmas tree is cold in winter ...”, “a Christmas tree was born in the forest ...”, a cheerful round dance, snowflakes, gifts, the smell of tangerines and pine needles. This special tart smell of spruce needles that fills the whole room, the smell of serenity, the smell of childhood ...

By the way, blue spruce is a symbol of well-being, success and prosperity. This is probably also why you decided to get a Christmas tree. Well, in the meantime, the forest beauty has already taken its rightful place on your site. And despite the fact that this conifer is an unpretentious tree, at a young age it will still require some attention and care.

In my article, I will not address the issue of reproduction of the blue beauty. Whether it is a seed method or a method of cuttings. Because this process, although interesting, is very troublesome. And not always the result justifies the invested effort. Well, unless of course you decide to do it professionally, for example, for sale.

And therefore, suppose that you bought it. Like my husband and I at one time, we bought it in a nursery, already rooted with a huge clod of earth, about 30 centimeters tall. They drove home without breathing and planted them with bated breath, sincerely wishing that she would take root and give growth next year. Ugh, ugh, ugh, that's what happened. For two years in a row, she delighted us with her young shoots of 10 centimeters in length. We rejoiced like children, stroking the delicate light green needles.

And in the third year, like a bolt from the blue, a terrible thing happened: the growth point on the central shoot did not give a new growth. How is it that our blue spruce will turn into a small dwarf? We were in shock for several days, and then climbed into the Internet. But apparently from great excitement or for a banal reason, incorrectly asked queries did not find an answer. In fact, everything turned out to be simple, and it was not worth worrying about it at all. I'll talk about how to be in such a situation a little lower. In the meantime, let's deal with the issue of caring for the Christmas tree.

Features of growing and caring for blue spruce

Soil for blue beauty

First, you cannot plant blue spruce where potatoes or corn have grown before. There is a high risk of fungal infection. And also on calcareous soils. The tree prefers light loamy soil with a slightly acidic environment. To acidify the soil, use ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, or ammonium chloride. It will be good if, when planting, you add land from under a coniferous tree. For example, from the forest. And some sand. If your soil is heavy, add humus or peat. All of these recommendations are acceptable if you want to grow quickly. But if you plant a blue spruce in your area and want it to please you with its beauty for as long as possible, any soil, even the most meager one, will do. Believe me, it will grow, only more slowly, as we need. After all, you have not forgotten that in nature it grows almost on rocks.

Landing

If you plan to plant more than one Christmas tree, then keep a distance of at least 2 meters between trees. The optimal planting depth is 50-60 cm. If you plant a conifer already with a lump of its native land, then after digging a hole for a lump, loosen its walls 10 cm deep. It is advisable to arrange a drainage cushion. Throw some rubble, small stone or, alternatively, broken bricks at the bottom of the pit. Although the blue spruce is a shade-tolerant tree, it still prefers sunny places. And who doesn't love the sun? It is thanks to him that the spruce retains its silver color. If you need to transplant spruce, do it in early spring, while the tree has not yet begun to grow, and the ground has already thawed enough to be able to dig a lump. Usually it is March, April. Dormant plants tolerate transplanting more painlessly. If it didn’t work out in the spring, then at least try to do it not in hot weather. In autumn, it is generally not recommended to replant coniferous trees. Many of them die. As a consequence, while the tree takes root and takes root, it is advisable not to actively stomp, and even more so not to dig the ground within a radius of 50 cm. Since the roots are close to the surface of the earth.

Watering

Let me remind you, dear readers, of the agreement that our blue spruce is already at least three, four years old. Growth of centimeters 25-30. And we will water it. Because with one-year-old or even younger seedlings, a completely different story. You need to water such trees very often up to 6-7 times a day, especially in the hot summer period, periodically spray the needles and carefully monitor the soil so that it does not dry out. The roots of young seedlings are very tender and are located close to the surface of the earth.

Older trees, like ours, do not need such frequent watering. It is enough to water 1-2 times a day. Nevertheless, blue spruce is a moisture-loving crop. If the summer turned out to be hot, it is advisable to control the soil and prevent severe drying. My husband and I planted our beauty on the lawn and with its daily watering, of course, we also water the Christmas tree. In addition, the grass very well saves the earth from rapid drying. And be sure to pamper your pet with rain. She will love it. Water the needles from a watering can, spray from a hose, just remember that the water should not be very cold.

Preparing for winter

Mature, large blue trees do not need any additional protection. But small ones, half a meter tall, are perhaps worth protecting. The bottom line is to protect it from breakage of branches during heavy snow, especially when it gets wet, and bright sunlight. Banal tying of branches saves from heavy snow. Raising the branches to the trunk from the bottom up, tie with a rope. Or pull the net. A simple bow net will do.

In winter, the sun's rays are reflected off the snow, and burns can occur. And in the spring, with the rising sun and the snow that has not yet melted, the situation becomes dangerous. On the south side, the spruce can get a severe burn. The needles will turn yellow and crumble. To avoid such trouble, cover your tree. Both plain cotton fabric and non-woven fabric are acceptable.

"Yolkino misfortune": the problem of lack of growth

Yes, that's what we thought, "yolka's misfortune" when we faced the problem of the lack of growth on the top shoot. That is, the upper kidney, the so-called "growth point", did not give the same increase. This could happen due to mechanical damage or the kidney simply froze in winter. In principle, the spruce could be left in this state and see how it would behave the next year. It happens that the kidney is restored and gives a stronger increase. But if this does not happen, the spruce itself will replace the missing central shoot with one of the side shoots. At the same time, not one, but two or three can become such an escape. And then you will no longer have to rely on a slender beauty. The shape of such a tree will be very bizarre. Therefore, if the same thing happened to you as it happened to us and in the first years of growth you ate want to preserve its natural harmony, you can correct the situation as follows:

while the new shoots are still young, gently light green in color, with soft needles, carry out the following procedure:

Step. 1 From the formed umbrella of young shoots, below the point of growth, select the most visually strong shoot.

Step. 2 Carefully from top to bottom, along the spruce trunk, lower a wooden stick and stick it into the ground, shallow. This will be our support. We used a piece of simple rebar. The end of the stick should rise above the crown of the spruce by 15-20 cm.

Step. 3 Gently pull the selected shoot to the stick and fix it with a string, you can in several places.

Step. 4 Remove the remaining shoots of the umbrella by unscrewing them completely at the very base. We did this to avoid creating competition for our new crown. But you can leave. Just make sure that the rest of the remaining shoots develop to the sides as lateral ones.

Step. 5 It will be possible to remove the ropes and remove the stick when our new central shoot becomes stiff. It will show in color. It will acquire a characteristic stem, brown color.

If everything is done correctly, at the end of our operation, the spruce will look like this.

In such a not tricky way, we managed to reanimate the spruce. Create a new central escape. Yes, in the first couple of three years, a distant layer will be noticeable. But over time, the spruce will grow and hide the flaws.

Subsequently, when the spruce reaches a height of 1.5 meters, we will begin the planned annual pruning and pinching. This helps to restrain the growth of spruce and will allow you to admire it for a long time. The pinching procedure does not cause any harm to the tree. But the spruce will become more fluffy.

Be sure to plant a blue beauty in your area or next to it. This is both beauty and healing coniferous smell!!!

If you liked my article or found inaccuracies in it, or fundamentally disagree with something, be sure to write it in your comment!!! Let's talk and fix it!

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Sincerely,

Ponomareva Evgenia.

Planting coniferous trees in the garden is now very fashionable, so many summer residents are interested in how to plant blue spruce, whether pine will be accepted, and how suitable the climate, for example, the Moscow region, will be for growing cedar. The most decorative of all the listed coniferous trees is blue spruce, which is why it is most often planted on plots.

Theoretically, blue spruce can be grown from seed, but there is a very high probability of obtaining plants not with blue, but with ordinary green needles. Nevertheless, some part of the seedlings will inherit the characteristics of the mother plant. If you are unable to purchase a seedling, try growing a tree from a seed. To do this, sow seeds taken from ripe cones in a box of sand. When they sprout, you can select seedlings with blue spruce traits. They will be visible as soon as the first needles appear.

Another method is much more effective - cuttings, but it is too laborious and time consuming, so summer residents prefer to buy ready-made seedlings grown in nurseries. When planting a blue spruce, it is very important to choose the right place for it. It should be borne in mind that this tree is light-loving, in addition, it will grow strongly. In the first years after planting, spruce grows slowly, but then it picks up pace and annually grows up by at least a meter. You can stop the growth of spruce by regularly breaking off the top, however, allocating space for a blue spruce, consider its size.

Hedges made of blue spruces look very impressive. Both in summer and in winter, they will reliably cover your site from the views of passers-by. They will keep dust from the road and become a real decoration of the site. When planting spruces in a row, a distance of at least one and a half meters is left between plants. You should not fence off your neighbors with a hedge of fir trees, as mature trees will give a dense shadow, which can prevent the owners of a nearby site from realizing their plans for using the land.

Planting a blue spruce and caring for a tree

Planting a blue spruce near a country house will immediately turn a nondescript building into a beautiful fairy-tale tower. In summer, the site is buried in greenery and flowers, and in the cold season, little is pleasing to the eye. In winter, lush snowdrifts, bizarre patterns of branches covered with hoarfrost can add charm to the territory. But in early spring and late autumn, empty flower beds are a pitiful sight. Enliven the landscape with evergreen plantings, a fluffy Christmas tree with silver needles, grown from seeds or cuttings, can become the center of the composition. Proper care will help grow a tree in the shape of an even cone.

How to get planting material

Centers for the sale of planting material of any plants can be found in each region. Residents of deaf remote villages can order seed packages remotely and grow any of the rarest crops on their land correctly. Buying blue spruce seedlings is not difficult, many nurseries are ready to sell you young coniferous trees. If you want to buy Christmas trees, find the nearest supplier to your place of residence, then the plants will not need to adapt to climate change. Be sure to ask about the variety of spruce, its height, color and shape, and tree care depend on it.

Waldbrun is a dwarf tree, less than a meter high. With age, the crown acquires a spherical shape.
Bialobok is a variety that reaches a height of 2 m. It is valued for its unusual golden hue in young shoots. The branches are unevenly spaced, this feature makes it difficult to form an even crown.
Blue Diamonds is a tall tree reaching 7 m. It grows very slowly, 15 cm per year.
Bonfire - spruce with branches pointing upwards. The height reaches 10 m, and the span of the branches is 3 m. On young shoots, bright orange bark shines through the bluish needles.
Montgomery is a slow growing variety, not exceeding 1.8 m. The needles on young Christmas trees are pale blue, and on mature trees they are blue.

If you want to grow your own tree, you can prepare seedlings from seeds. They ripen by November, at this time, and collect material from the plant you like. Disinfect the grains in potassium permanganate and sow in the soil for coniferous crops to a depth of 1.5 cm. Under natural conditions, the seeds hibernate under snow, and germinate in spring. Put the seed container in the refrigerator and keep it there for 3 months, so you can "trick" the embryos and make them wake up. When 3 months have passed, put the seed crops in a warm place. Care and cultivation is to keep the soil constantly slightly moist. Do not allow water to stagnate, make sure that the drainage holes work well. With the onset of heat, relocate the seedlings to the site. So that they do not suffer from the cold, cover them with a film at night. Protect young plants from bright sunlight, lightly shade them. Christmas trees are planted in a permanent place at the age of 3 years.

You can grow Christmas trees not only from seeds, but also from cuttings. Spruce, from which branches are taken, must be at least 5 years old. In the spring, take a sharp knife and cut shoots about 20 cm long from the upper branches. Prepare a planting hole, choose its dimensions with the expectation that the distance between the seedlings will be at least 10 cm. The depth should be 20 cm, fill the entire volume with layers:

Small stones, crushed stone for drainage - 5 cm.
Soil - 10 cm.
Sand - 5 cm.

Dip the cut sections of the branches in a disinfectant, then in a root formation stimulator and stick the cuttings into the ground to a depth of 5 cm at an angle of 30⁰. Until August, it will be correct to shade the seedlings from direct sunlight.

Planting spruce in open ground

How to plant a blue spruce from seeds or seedlings so that the evergreen beauty shows you all her charm? Place it in a sunny place, provide proper care, then the trunk will be vertical, evenly covered with branches, the crown will grow even, resembling a cone in shape. Only low trees have such outlines, if you plant a Christmas tree in rich fertile black soil, it will stretch out and lose its decorative effect. The earth should have a neutral or slightly acidic reaction, if the site is located on limestone, spill the soil with an acidified composition.

To plant seedlings, dig holes with a depth and a diameter of 0.6 m at a distance of at least 2 m from each other. Be sure to fill the bottom with stone for drainage: spruce grown from seeds or seedlings cannot live on soils where water stagnates. If cultivation takes place on poor soils, add peat or compost to the soil dug out of the hole; mix heavy clay with sand. The roots of the Christmas tree will be located shallow, the composition of the surface layer of the soil is very important for them.

The best time to plant is early spring. Try to make a hole: if the soil has already thawed, it's time to plant. The herringbone will spread the roots in the topsoil, so as not to disturb them by loosening, after planting, mulch the near-trunk circle. If you add hydrogel to the soil, the plant will not suffer from a lack or excess of moisture.

Coniferous tree care

Good garden soil does not require blue spruce top dressing. If the cultivation takes place on too poor soil, for the first 5 years in early spring, apply a little mineral fertilizer under the young Christmas trees. Avoid formulations with a high nitrogen content, and fresh manure is completely contraindicated for plants. With an excess of nutrients, the trunk will quickly stretch, the branches will become woody, they will begin to actively produce new shoots, and the crown diameter will become too large.

Advice. If you want to arrange a corner of a wild coniferous forest on the site, plant blue spruces in fertile soil and fertilize them well. With such care, the trees will grow tall, with a wide range of branches. If you use fast-growing tall varieties, in a few years the site will have a real thicket covered with a silver haze.

Caring for blue spruce includes loosening the soil. In these trees, the roots are located under the very surface of the earth and cannot get moisture from the deep layers. Overdrying the soil threatens plants with death. Seedlings need to be watered several times a day little by little. For mature trees, one watering per day is enough, but the portion should be at least a bucket for each plant. Mulching or hydrogel will help slow down the drying of the soil.

In order for the crown to have the shape of an even cone, it is necessary to carry out formative pruning of branches. In the spring, inspect the tree, remove all deformed, diseased and dried shoots. After that, cut healthy branches to give the crown the correct shape. This procedure is carried out only on young Christmas trees, after 8 years it is not recommended to cut off healthy shoots.

Blue spruce, grown from seeds or seedlings, is adapted to frosty winters and does not need protection from the cold. In young plants, a heavy layer of snow can break off branches. Until the trees get stronger, bend the shoots to the trunk in the fall and secure in this position with a net or a strong rope. In summer, Christmas trees feel good in the sun, and in the snowy season, bright rays can cause them to burn. In the cold season, on the south side, it is better to curtain the coniferous tree with a cloth.

Diseases and pests

Coniferous trees rarely get sick, and they have few pests. Often problems with blue spruce occur due to improper care or unsuitable conditions. If one half of the branches looks fine, but the other half dries and crumbles, the plant is not getting enough light, you may have planted it too close to buildings or solid fences. In a damp and dark place, the needles may become covered with yellowish stripes or turn completely yellow. Treat the tree with an antifungal drug, but if it remains in the same conditions, the disease will recur.

Hermes larvae can settle on the branches. If you notice incomprehensible thickenings, remove the damaged shoots and spray the Christmas trees with an insecticide. If depressions appeared on the trunk, from which resin is released, the spruce sawfly attacked the plant. It is necessary to treat spruce with preparations for pest control.

When the trees begin to wither, the needles acquire a brownish tint, the young shoots wither - the plant is affected by a fungal infection. It would be correct to completely remove the Christmas tree from the site and burn it to protect other specimens from infection. If you do not want to part with blue spruce, treat both it and the soil with antifungal drugs.

So, buying a blue spruce seedling is an expensive pleasure, and caring for a tree requires time and effort. The soil surface should be loose and the roots shallow. If you do not mulch the soil, you will have to loosen it as carefully as a sapper or archaeologist works. Daily watering in dry weather is also very tiring, here drip irrigation systems can come to the rescue.

If you do not want a dense forest to grow near the house instead of decorative Christmas trees, do not overfeed the plantings. Grow from seed or choose a seedling variety that best suits your site design in terms of height, crown shape, and color. Growing and caring for a silver spruce will take time and effort, but isn't a fabulous, as if shrouded in bluish mist, Christmas tree worth it?

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If you feel frequent ailments, you just need to cleanse the body. How to do it

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How to grow blue spruce at home: from seeds, seedlings

Other conifers

Blue spruces are popular with many gardeners. Their homeland is the northern regions of America. These trees are considered symbols of the states of Utah and Colorado.

In the wild, blue spruces are found near mountain rivers, on rocks. The tree symbolizes prosperity and well-being and can decorate any yard. An adult thorny plant is unpretentious, but young Christmas trees need more care. They can suffer in winter from the load of snow cover and bright sunlight.

Description and varieties

Blue spruce is an evergreen coniferous crop that grows quite slowly. There are many types of fir trees with blue needles. They have different sizes and shapes. In most cases, according to the description, blue spruce is understood as a prickly variety that can grow up to 30 m in the wild, and when cultivated it reaches only 15 m. Its crown is 6-7 m in diameter. The color of the needles varies from gray-green to bright blue - it depends on the variety. Usually the young buds are purple or reddish, then become pale brown.

Trees are resistant to frost, drought, winds. They can be grown even in areas where the temperature reaches -30 0 C in winter. Since exhaust gases and dust do not adversely affect these trees, they can be used for landscaping in urban areas.

There are approximately 70 varieties of blue spruce. All the original ones, which were formed without the participation of breeders, are united under the name Glauka. They, like hybrid varieties, are low, medium and tall.

The most common are:

1. Iseli Fastigiata. The crown is narrow, has the shape of a cone. Branches are arranged vertically. Compared to other species, these trees grow faster. For 10 years, the height will be approximately 10 m. The variety is drought-resistant.
2. Hoopsii. This is a medium-sized spruce, reaching a height of 11 m, a crown in diameter of 3 m. The needles are quite fluffy, have a rich blue color that persists throughout the year. The needles are slightly wrapped, resembling the shape of a saber.
3. Bialobok. A small spruce up to 2 m high. The crown is uneven. The peculiarity is that the young shoots are not blue, but golden. Such trees must be planted in a well-lit place, otherwise the color will not be so prominent and intense in the shade.
4. Coster. The variety is quite original due to the presence of weeping branches. The top of the trunk is sometimes exposed. The maximum height is 10-15 m. The crown can be up to 5 m wide.

Glauka Pendula, Misty Blue are also popular. In height, they reach 6-7 m 15 years after planting. Filip's Blue Compact variety has shiny needles.

Among the dwarf varieties are:

1. Glauca Globosa. In height, the plant is usually up to 1 m, and the crown in diameter is up to 1.5 m, and is quite dense. The needles are short - up to 10 mm, has the shape of a sickle. During the year, the tree grows up to 1 cm maximum - this applies to both the width and the height of the crown.
2. Glauca Procumbens. This bush has an uneven crown, the branches stick out in different directions.
3. Glauca prostrata. In height, the plant reaches only 40 cm, but the maximum diameter is 2 m, so that such a spruce looks like a blue thick pillow on the ground.
4 Frieda. This tree also has a crown diameter much larger than its height.
5. Hermann Naue. This variety is a slow growing variety. The crown has the shape of a flattened dense ball, but then it turns into a cone with a wide base. 10 years after planting, the height of the tree will be only 0.6 m, and the width of the crown will be from 0.8 to 1.5 m.
6. Blue Perl. Also a miniature spruce: 10 years after planting, it will be from 40 to 60 cm in height. The crown is quite dense, has a rounded shape.

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Planting and reproduction

To plant a blue spruce, you need to choose a suitable place with sufficient lighting and area. The plant is undemanding to moisture and can grow on any soil. For planting, you need to choose those seedlings that have grown at home for the last 6 months in a container: they adapt faster. It is best to choose a plant that is 3-5 years old.

Landing is carried out as follows:

1. You need to remove the weeds and dig up the soil.
2. Design a landing hole. Its dimensions should be slightly larger than the volume of the root system of the seedling.
3. Water the soil to make the earth soft.
4. Tap on the walls of the blue spruce pot and carefully remove it.
5. Pour some soil from the container into the bottom of the hole.
6. Place the seedling, spread the roots and sprinkle with soil.
7. Water generously.

You can grow blue spruce at home from seeds. Planting seedlings is the best option for this, but it is quite complicated. Collect seeds in February. They, along with the cones, are left in cloth bags and dried in a warm room. When the cone opens, you can get seeds with wings out of it. To remove the latter, the planting material is ground. Then the seeds are spilled, dried and placed in the refrigerator for 2 months.

They are supposed to be planted in April. To do this, mix equal proportions of soddy soil and peat. Seeds are buried only 1 cm. Weak shoots will appear only after 3 weeks. They are supposed to be thinned out, leaving the most healthy and strong. The first year of the plant should be kept in the house or greenhouse. Landing in open ground is carried out only in the second year.

You can also get a tree from a cutting. This method is the most common, as species features are preserved. Cuttings in April are cut from one-year-old shoots. The length of the planting material should be 10 cm. The lower needles are supposed to be cut off. The cuttings are stuck into a moist substrate and covered with plastic bottles. They are removed only when the plant takes root.

Care rules

Blue spruce seedlings are unpretentious, so their care is quite simple. In order for the tree to develop properly, you need to perform the following activities:

1. Watering. If the summer is hot, then it is necessary to irrigate the soil around the young tree once a week. Each plant requires 1 bucket of water. If the spruce is still very young, then its root system is located close to the surface of the earth, so you need to water it more often. Also, trees love spraying with water from a spray bottle. It is best to use settled liquid at room temperature.
2. Soil care. You need to loosen it regularly so that the root system has access to oxygen. This is best done the day after watering. In parallel, it is supposed to remove weeds. When loosening, you can not go deeper than 5-6 cm, so as not to damage the roots. Some gardeners advise not to touch the plant in the first year after planting, giving it the opportunity to grow in the grass - you only need to water the soil and use humus for mulching. Mature trees do not require top dressing, but young trees will need nutrients. It is best to use complex mineral fertilizers.
3. Trimming and pinching. A planted spruce will grow chaotically if you do not take care of its crown. Often trees are used as hedges, so periodic pruning will be necessary to keep the plant looking neat. This must be done when the annual growth stops, and all the needles on the new shoots have already straightened. If the branches are too long and protrude beyond the edges of the desired crown shape, then they must be carefully pinched and twisted. Next year, such shoots will no longer grow, but lateral processes will appear on them. The shape of the spruce becomes correct, lush. Pruning must also be carried out in order to form a beautiful top of the tree. In spruce, 2-3 pieces are formed. You don’t need to touch the main one, but it’s better to pinch the rest.
4. Wintering. In winter, there are 2 threats to young trees. The first concerns direct sunlight, due to which burns remain. The second is the weight of the snow, as a result of which fragile branches break off. To save them, it is necessary to cover the tree with a special agrofiber or cotton fabric in the fall. Before that, all branches must be pulled up to the trunk and fixed with a net or rope. In the spring, the protection is removed. Mature plants do not require such measures.

Caring for blue spruce also involves protecting the tree from diseases and pests. Insects that feed on bark, wood and needles can be fought with drugs such as Rogor and Karbofos.

Diseases usually affect young or weakened trees. At risk are those plants that are too close to each other, experiencing a lack of water and light. To strengthen their immunity, you need to use preparations with copper and complex fertilizers. They are recommended to be applied in spring and autumn.

As for fungal diseases, spruce usually suffers from:

tracheomycosis wilt;
rust;
necrosis;
ulcerative cancer.

It is necessary to remove all damaged parts from the infected tree, treat the places of cuts with garden pitch, and pour the tree itself with a fungicidal agent under the root.

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