Thuja - an evergreen coniferous plant, belongs to the cypress family. This is a bright representative of her kind. Thuja can grow a large tree or a small shrub. It depends on the variety and care of the plant. Her homeland is North America. Here it is called the "tree of life." Thuja is appreciated for its decorative qualities. She is able to decorate a garden plot or park with her beauty. Thuja is used to create hedges and landscape compositions.
With good care, this plant can live more than a hundred years. Thuja has been known as a cultivated plant for a long time. The first mention dates back to 1893, when a man drew attention to its decorative properties and wanted to grow a tree in his garden.
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Thuja won the love of gardeners and the popularity of exotic lovers for its decorative qualities. The crown of the tree can be conical, pyramidal or spherical in shape. It is easy to shape, for which it is enough to cut the tree at its discretion. The needles of different types of arborvitae have various shades: from dark green to emerald. Young trees are distinguished by soft leaves that look like needles. And in adults, they are scaly and resemble oblong cones, consisting of paired scales. How to propagate conifers by cuttings and seeds, you will learn further.
Thuja seeds are flat in shape, have two wings. They ripen in the fall, and in the spring they give good germination if they are placed in the natural cold for stratification. Thuja propagation by cuttings in the autumn strengthens the plant, due to which it tolerates frosts and can easily cope with gas contamination and air pollution. This tree is a natural air purifier and fragrance.
Propagation by cuttings
Thuja propagation by cuttings in autumn takes less time. You can take a lignified shank 30-40 cm long from a healthy tree at the age of 2-3 years. A semi-lignified shoot 10-20 cm long, cut off at the end of June, is also suitable. The stalk is necessarily cut with a small piece of wood. It needs to be processed. The cutlery is placed in a solution of "Heteroauxin" for 3 hours.
Propagation by cuttings of thuja is a simple matter. While the shoot is being processed, you can prepare the land. Mix turf land, river sand and peat in a one-to-one ratio . This mixture is preferably treated with a weak solution of manganese.
The cultivation of thuja from cuttings is carried out at a depth of 2-3 cm in the prepared soil. Instead of watering, it is recommended to apply spraying. At the end of November, it is necessary to cover the ground near the roots of the cuttings. It can be leaves, spruce branches, sawdust. And the tree itself should be wrapped in film. So frost will not damage it, and in the spring the thuja will quickly begin to grow.
Seed propagation
Thuja propagation by cuttings and seeds is not always equally successful. The seed propagation method is not welcomed by gardeners. It is more suitable for experimenters who are not sorry to spend several years to grow thuja. For sowing, only fresh seeds that have been stratified, that is, overwintered under snow, are used.
With the onset of spring, when the snow melts, the seeds are sown on the beds to a depth of half a centimeter. Sprinkle with sawdust on top. Only after 3-4 years, the seedling is transplanted to a permanent place of growth. Do not forget to protect the sprouts from the sun, covering them with shields. The earth around the roots needs to be loosened and moistened. With good care, the seedling will get stronger faster.
Thuja is propagated by cuttings and seeds. The home way is simple and reliable. To do this, the seeds are extracted from the cones, dried and sieved. Then they are wrapped in gauze and determined on a dry place before the onset of winter. With the first frost they are buried under the snow. In the spring, successfully wintered seeds are sown in the ground. The plant will grow for at least five years. This process is very laborious and not the best. Thuja propagation by cuttings in autumn is more preferable.
Landing
Before you plant a thuja on your site, you need to choose a place for it. She prefers the sun, but not direct sunlight. Therefore, the best place for its growth will be partial shade, where there are no drafts and the cold wind does not blow. Thuja is unpretentious to the soil. The main thing is that it passes air well. Dense or clay soil before planting is drained to a depth of 15-20 cm. If this is not done, the needles will turn yellow and dry. With a swampy upper layer, pipes are laid in trenches to drain water from the site. The propagation of thuja by cuttings in the fall of a young tree will tolerate better than an adult.
When planting, you must observe the distance between the trees. If you plan to create a hedge in one row, 1 meter is enough; in two rows - 2 meters. Moreover, the plants of the first and second rows are placed in a checkerboard pattern. And if the thuja will be further used in the malls, the distance should be greater - 4 meters. After marking, 70 cm deep holes are dug. To make the tree take root faster, the holes are filled with half of the nutrient mixture, which consists of 2 parts of sod land, 1 part of sand and peat, half a kilogram of nitroammophos.
Growing thuja from cuttings involves not deepening the root neck. After planting, the plant is abundantly watered and mulched to preserve moisture. As mulch, humus, compost or peat is used. In winter, the crown of an adult tree is tied with twine, and a young tree is covered with fir branches, burlap or spatbond.
Watering
Within two months after planting, you need to water the thuja well: every week a bucket of water under each tree. In dry weather - twice a week and two buckets of water. Watering is carried out in the morning or in the evening, so that before the appearance of the sun, the needles dry out, and the roots are saturated with moisture. Thuya loves spraying, and not by chance. This procedure strengthens the plant, washes off dust and dirt, it is easier to breathe. All this enhances decorativeness in general. Therefore, if you have time, you can spray daily.
Top dressing
Propagation by coniferous cuttings increases frost resistance of thuja. But not only that. Good and timely top dressing strengthens the plant and it is able to tolerate severe frosts, while maintaining a rich color of needles. With the onset of spring, the soil around the trunk is dug along with humus or peat. You can use potash or nitrogen fertilizers. They are bred and watered the soil after digging. Thuja reacts positively to them, but does not like top dressing from phosphate fertilizers.
Pruning
In early summer, after the development of new shoots and buds, trimming of thuja begins. It is made to form the crown of a tree to give it a decorative effect. Re-pruning is done at the end of summer. The main thing is to do it regularly, and it will not take much time and effort. When the branches grow large and begin to bend under their own weight, then you will have to work hard to give the plant at least some form.
If for some reason the crown has already acquired a neglected appearance, and trimming the ends of the branches can not be avoided, then trimming can form spaces, which is very undesirable. It spoils the decoration. Trim branches only with a clean and sharp garden tool. With this approach, the tree will suffer less, and the cuts will quickly tighten. Before the formation of the crown, it is carefully studied. This is necessary in order to determine where there is already a circuit, and where it needs to be re-formed.
Diseases and Pests
The most common thuja disease is fungus. It can be identified by brown shoots, shrunken branches and decaying needles. The disease develops gradually. First, the scales begin to turn yellow. After a while, shoots turn brown and die. Fungal disease can be prevented if the plant is treated with Fundozol twice a month, starting from the first month of summer until the end of October.
Propagation by coniferous cuttings allows you to grow a tree more healthy, immune to damage by diseases and pests. If, nevertheless, the thuja was attacked by a false shield and aphids, the tree must be urgently treated with karbofos.