Do you know which tree is fir? This is an evergreen monoecious plant with a deep root system. It has a wide conical shape with open branches. The tree grows slowly, annual growth is from 3 to 5 centimeters. At 30, the size of a fir tree reaches two to three meters in height, and in general, some species of this plant can grow up to sixty meters.
This tree prefers open sunny places and partial shade in nature. Fir needles can be either gray-blue or dark green. She has stiff and relatively thick shoots. He likes fresh, deep, slightly acidic soil. It can grow even on sandy, dry ground. The best time for planting fir is from March to November. This plant looks great both in landscape compositions and in a single planting. Flowering fir (photo of a tree is presented in this article) is beautiful.
The tree lives 300-400 years, fir-old-timers, who were more than 700 years old, are known in history.
The name of the plant comes from the German Fichte, which means “spruce”.
How to distinguish fir from spruce?
The fir tree (the description will be presented to your attention below) looks like a spruce, and an inexperienced person can easily make a mistake. However, the differences between the two plants are significant.
What does a fir tree look like? He has a crown located at the base of the trunk, unlike spruce and pine. The needles are very soft, with long and flat needles. Spruce needles are stiff, short and prickly. Each fir needle on the underside has two white stripes. Needles are slightly sharp, located on reproductive shoots, or rounded to the end (such needles grow on vegetative branches).
Needles on fir branches grow only on two sides, so the shoots themselves look "flat." At the spruce, the needles are arranged circularly on the shoot.
Fir cones come in two forms - men’s rather resemble catkins of small “flowers”. Female cones are large, cylindrical or egg-shaped, growing upward, as if “sitting” on a branch. In spruce cones usually hang down.
In winter, fir needles remain bright, unlike other conifers, whose needles slightly fade in the cold season. If you cut a fir branch and bring it home, then the needles will not dry out and will not fall off, unlike Christmas needles. Therefore, fir is more often used in decorating a house for the New Year holidays, they create beautiful compositions from twigs that can look good for a very long time.
Types of Fir
In total there are about 50 species of fir, some of which are quite low, only 30 cm in height and are more like shrubs. Mighty trees are also found, up to 80 m high. Some varieties grow in southern countries, for example, in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico. But fir is most common in the forests of Europe and Russia, from the Southern Urals to the Arctic Ocean. Accordingly, the frost resistance of a fir depends on its type.
Siberian fir
The Siberian fir tree species is a frost-resistant plant, which is common in the taiga northern forests of Russia. Usually he chooses to grow places closer to the water, for example, in river valleys and highlands. Siberian fir (photo of the tree is given below) has a conical and rather narrow crown. The needles are dark green in color with soft, shiny and narrow needles. The needles are three centimeters long. Traditionally, two white stripes on the underside of each needle. The size of the adult Siberian fir trees is quite impressive. They reach a height of 30 meters.
The trunk of the plant is gray, the bark is smooth, thin at the top and on the branches, and below is thick and cracked.
Cones are light brown in color, grow strictly up on the branch.
There are several varieties of Siberian fir - blue, motley, elegant.
Siberian fir is a valuable plant and is protected by the state.
Nordman Fir (Caucasian)
This is an endemic plant, found only in the Caucasus, therefore, is listed as a protected plant. Lives in nature for 500 years.
Caucasian fir - a tall, powerful tree, grows up to sixty meters in height. In this case, the thickness of the barrel can reach even two meters. The crown of this tree is lowered low, the shape is conical, the apex is narrow.
Dark green needles, with slightly pointed, long four-centimeter needles. There are two white stripes on the underside of each needle.
The bark on the trunk is smooth and shiny, even in its lower part. Only when the tree is eighty years old can cracks appear on the trunk below.
Cones are ovoid, large. Usually there are twenty centimeters in length, and five in diameter. Young cones have a dark green color, and when ripe, they turn brown.
Nordman fir has its own varieties - golden, bluish, weeping, erect.
Korean fir
The birthplace of this plant is the mountains of the southern part of the peninsula of Korea. This plant tolerates high altitude conditions, including winter frost, as it grows at an altitude of 1800 meters above sea level. The peculiarity of this type of fir is that it grows very slowly at a young age. However, after several years, its growth is greatly accelerated. This is a relatively low fifteen-meter tree, with a fairly thin trunk up to eighty centimeters. Crohn's traditional conical shape.
The peculiarity of this species is the color of the bark. Young trees have a thin smooth bark of ash color. With age, this color changes to purple or dark brown with a chestnut tint. At the bottom of the trunk of trees that have lived for several decades, the bark is covered with cracks.
The needles of Korean fir are very beautiful, dense and lush. However, the needles are harsh and slightly bent upward, have a saber shape. From below, each needle is ash-silver in color, which extends along two stomatal bands.
The cones of this species of fir are very beautiful, cylindrical in shape, of an unusual lilac color. However, the size of the cones is small, reaching only three centimeters in diameter, and only seven centimeters in length.
This very beautiful tree is very popular in landscape design, since its varieties are very different from each other. For example, the “Blue Standard” has bright purple cones, and the “Piccolo” reaches a height of only 30 centimeters.
Balsam fir
This type of fir (photo of a tree and cones is presented in this article) was brought into Eurasia from across the ocean, since it is common in nature in the USA and Canada. Balsam fir grows in latitudes with a rather harsh climate, up to the tundra. It is also found in the highlands, at an altitude of up to two thousand meters above sea level. The peculiarity of this plant is that it is not long-lived, like other types of fir, its limit is 200 years.
Balsam fir is not very tall - up to twenty-five meters. The thickness of the barrel in this case can reach seventy centimeters.
The bark is ash-colored and smooth in young trees. Brown trunks with a reddish tint are found in old plants.
Needles of balsamic fir up to three centimeters in length. The needles are not sharp, dark green, soft. If you rub a few needles in the palms, you can feel a pleasant characteristic smell. The peculiarity of the needles of this tree is that its needles are “long-playing”, they do not fall for seven years.
This fir has very beautiful, interesting cones in shape, up to ten centimeters long, but at the same time narrow - only a little more than two centimeters in diameter. Young cones are very beautiful, they have a dark purple color. When they ripen, they change color and become brown and tarry.
Varieties of balsamic fir are interesting. "Hudson" is a dwarf tree with dense branches and a wide crown and variegated needles. "Nana" is also a low plant, similar to a bush, only 50 centimeters in height. The color of the needles is unusual, it has a yellow-green hue.
How to plant fir?
Like all conifers, fir tree (a photo and description of which became the subject of our review) is an unpretentious plant. However, certain features and rules when planting and caring for this tree must be known.
When planting, it is better to take a container culture, since such plants can be planted almost all year round. They take root well in spring and summer, and even in autumn. The only thing when it is not recommended to plant plants is during severe frosts in frozen ground.
What is the advantage of container crops?
Lump with roots is preserved in its entirety. For conifers it is extremely important. The fact is that on the roots of all conifers, including fir, there lives a special microorganism - mycorrhiza, which helps plants absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil. When dried, this microorganism dies. If you are offered to buy a seedling of coniferous species with an open root system, then in no case should you buy it. Most likely, such a tree will not take root.
Coniferous fir is a record holder for endurance, and can withstand drought. Nevertheless, it must be planted correctly so that it subsequently grows well, looks beautiful, fluffy. One of the first conditions for the proper planting of fir is the choice of location. It should be well-lit, sunny or, in extreme cases, light partial shade. The second condition is to dig a hole in which you need to plant fir.
How to dig a hole when landing?
It is necessary to dig a hole for the future plant, about 20 centimeters wider and 30 centimeters deeper than a lump of earth that protects the roots of a seedling. How to determine the depth of a dug hole? This is easy to do - put the shovel stalk across the pit. It will serve as a determining level. Put the seedling with a clod of earth in the pit and look at the level of how deep the plant will be planted.
In no case can you deepen the root neck, from there the first root of the seedling will grow after planting. This place needs only to be lightly sprinkled with earth. Therefore, if you deepened the hole too much, then you must definitely pour the earth or make a drainage layer. You can use broken brick as drainage. Fir does not like moisture to stagnate in the roots.
Work with the drainage layer and plant nutrition
The drainage layer is lightly sprinkled with earth. Then you should again measure the depth of the pit, whether it is suitable for the seedling or not, not forgetting to use the shovel stalk. If everything is in order, then a little mineral fertilizer can be applied to the layer of earth covering the drainage, one hundred grams will be enough. After this, be sure to mix the soil so that there is no direct contact of the fertilizer with the roots of the plant.
We place the sapling in the hole and fill up the open space around the roots. It’s good if you use a special mixture:
- Sod land - 3 parts.
- Sand - 1 part.
- Peat - 1 part.
Proper planting of fir and watering
Try to plant the plant strictly upright. The soil around the trunk of the seedling should be tamped a little with your hands to precipitate all the voids that may have formed during planting. It is possible to form a rim around the plant from the ground so that water does not flow during irrigation. Immediately need to water the plant well. This should be done from a watering can or hose, substituting a hand under a stream of water so that the soil does not erode.
You can pour water directly to the top of the fir, on branches - conifers love this very much. Water the sapling should be three times, allowing the water to soak into the soil each time. Just need to pour about a bucket of water.
The first watering is very important for the survival of the plant, which must be nourished with moisture. In addition, all the voids that still remained in the pit are gradually filled with heavy, moist soil.
Mulching
After the moisture has been absorbed, it is advisable to mulch the plant. You can do this with peat or coniferous chips, the thuja spruce is also suitable. Carefully cover the near- stem circle on the ground with this material, and you do not need to remove it during subsequent watering. It will perfectly pass moisture and prevent it from evaporating unnecessarily.
Fir Care
After planting, conifers are watered quite often. Once a week, pour a bucket of water under the tree. Minerals that were introduced into the root system during planting will last for about 2-3 years. All this period of time the plant does not need fertilizing with fertilizers.
Sunburn
Young conifer fir is afraid of sunburn. In spring and summer, when the sun begins to strongly bake, fir needles can burn, turn yellow and then crumble. This can be avoided by lightly shading the plant with straw, lapnik or kraft paper, burlap, leaving slots for diffuse lighting. It is necessary to protect the seedling from the wind. To do this, it should be tied to a peg.
When and how to use fertilizers?
After the plant is well rooted, and this will happen in 2-3 years, you can begin to fertilize it. Fir is an evergreen plant; it does not require quick replenishment of nutrients as for deciduous trees. Therefore, it does not need a lot of fertilizer.
The best fertilizer for conifers (including fir) is the introduction of good humus or compost into the trunk circle. How to do it? Loosen the soil a little, apply fertilizer and mix it with the ground. Just need to be careful when doing this, since the root system of the fir is shallow, so fertilizer should be added only on the surface of the soil.
The following mineral fertilizers are suitable for fir: 30-40 grams of nitroammophoska per square meter of the trunk circle. Top dressing is applied once a year, in the spring or at the very beginning of autumn. In no case should you fertilize the soil for fir in late autumn. This can provoke the growth of new shoots, which do not have time to mature and suffer in the winter, are frozen.
Pruning
Nature endowed the fir with a very beautiful crown; as a rule, this plant does not need pruning. Unless in the spring you will notice a broken twig or dried up after the winter as a result of some physical impact. For example, there was too much snow, and the branches of a young tree could not bear the load.
If the fir grows and develops in conditions suitable for it, then the plant's immunity will be strong. The tree does not suffer from diseases or pests. However, if the plant experienced stress, for example, during the hot dry summer there was little watering and the twigs dried up, the needles began to fall, - such a plant can be affected by diseases.
Fir usually suffers from fungal diseases. A wet, warm winter is especially favorable for the appearance of the fungus. You can fight this, use special drugs.
Phytotherapy
Of all the species of this plant, Siberian fir is mainly used for medical purposes (photos of the tree and leaves, more precisely the needles were filed above). Many different drugs are made from its resin.
Resin in fir is formed in special formations, nodules, on the trunk of a plant. It contains 30% of essential oil and 70% of vegetable resins. Turpentine, which is widely used, is produced from fir resin. For example, for turpentine baths according to the prescription of Dr. Zalmanov.
Fir essential oils (photo of a tree and leaves above) are remarkable in that they have a calming effect on the human nervous system, relieve migraines. They can be used for baths and massage, adding to the base oil. Fir essential oil is also used for cosmetics, in particular, for very effective hair masks. There are no contraindications to the use of this natural remedy, except for individual intolerance, allergies.
Since ancient times, not only resin or gum has been used for medicinal purposes. Needles, bark and even wood can also help get rid of many diseases. Fir needles contain a large amount of vitamins, especially vitamin C. Its content is especially increased in the winter, it helps trees and animals that eat needles to survive the cold.
In summer, the content of essential oils in fir needles increases. In addition to vitamin C, needles contain vitamins A and E. Preparations from fir needles and decoctions have a diuretic property and help strengthen the walls of blood vessels. Needles can help a person with heart diseases, colds, broncho-pulmonary, rheumatic. The range of application of fir needles is quite wide. The successful use of drugs from fir needles in post-stroke manifestations is known.
Vitamin infusions are prepared from paws and needles. , . .
Fir branches are also used for bathing procedures. This is especially useful in winter - add a fresh, small foot of fir to a birch broom for a steam room. This will enhance a healing massage. Under the influence of boiling water, the needles will begin to release beneficial essential oils that smell pleasantly and have a good effect on the skin and respiratory organs.
It must be remembered that resin and pine needles should be collected only outside the cities, in ecologically clean areas - in the forest, taiga, and away from industrial enterprises.
Long walks in a fir forest are very useful. Here the air is always clean and saturated with phytoncides that perfectly affect the respiratory system. It strengthens the immune system and helps asthmatics.
Musical plant
Fir is used not only for healing, but also for the manufacture of musical instruments. This tree has very good properties for creating excellent sound resonance. When the tree dries, empty resin passages are formed inside the trunk and bark, which have a remarkable resonant effect.