Thuja is one of the most beloved trees of designers and owners of suburban households. They willingly plant it both in the streets and in parks. This is understandable: related to conifers of the cypress family, this tree (or shrub) has its advantages over other varieties. The evergreen crown can be shaped as you like, creating real masterpieces of landscape design. However, culture requires a special attitude and special growing conditions. How to care for her, what kind of lighting she needs, how to cover thuja for the winter - this is described in the article.
Green but not forever
Forgive the author for the pun, but the evergreen thuja sometimes changes the color of the branches to yellowish and brown. This may be the natural seasonal color of needles in some varieties of wood. Adult plants can respond to low temperatures by darkening the ends of the branches, but in the spring they will turn green again. However, such a reaction may be to too much light and direct sunlight in the summer or to severe frost in the winter. It is worth telling more about how to cover thuja for the winter. Some make a big mistake by covering the tree or bush with plastic wrap. You can’t do this in any case - the plant can simply freeze from condensation and freeze in severe frosts.
How to cover thuja correctly
Many probably in winter pay attention to decorative trees and shrubs wrapped with insulation. Most often, they try to protect floral perennials and thuja from colds. By the way, the latter come from the eastern regions of North America, and in their warm homeland they can reach 50-60 meters in height. It turns out that in the latitudes of Russia, the thuja is a guest, which must be treated accordingly. Of course, it is not adult and tall trees and strong bushes that need to be protected from the cold, but young plants with delicate branches and needles of the first year of growth.
The covering material should be white. This is necessary so that it reflects bright sunlight and at the same time does not greatly obscure the plant. This should be a special non-woven material such as spunbond or lutrasil. Many gardeners and designers who know firsthand how to cover the thaw in the winter prefer to use thick brown paper. She will protect from frost, and lets air through. Nevertheless, it is better to use a modern covering material from which you can build a bag and put it on the plant from above, then fix it with twine. Thus, the snow will not linger on the branches and injure them, and the cold of the thuja will endure easily. You can not forcefully tighten and tightly bandage the plant. The bag or wrapping material should be spacious so that air passes between the branches. It is necessary to ensure that snow does not accumulate on the covered thuja and does not push the top.
Protect the root system
How to cover the arborvitae for the winter with the help of wraps is understandable. But we must not forget about the roots. A typical mistake is to rake all the snow from the garden paths under the arborvitae. Snow, of course, warms in the winter, but in the spring at the foot of the tree there will be stagnation of meltwater, which will still freeze at night. It is best since autumn to cover the roots of a tree or bush with fallen leaves mixed with earth. By spring, it will also be additional fertilizer. It's about how to cover thuja from the tops to the roots for the winter. One more tip: you do not need to release the plant from the covering material with the first spring rays, since the needles can quickly burn in a bright light. It is better to do this gradually, and even better to pritenit trees for the first time.