Kokhiya is a wonderful decoration of the local area, garden, cottage, park. This shrub refers to deciduous plants with high decorativeness. After a haircut, it quickly builds up green mass and becomes even more beautiful. Read about how to grow cohia from seeds in the article.
Plant description
Kokhiya is a fluffy annual shrub with a dense branching crown, reaching a height of one meter. Decorativeness to the plant is not due to flowering, but to the beauty of foliage. Inflorescences are small and inconspicuous. Attractive is narrow oblong foliage. It is bright green or light green in color, and in the fall - raspberry or burgundy.
Due to the peculiarity, changing shades of foliage during the growth process, the shrub always stands out among other vegetation of the garden. Leaflets are very similar to needles and seem prickly to the touch. But in fact, the shoots are very tender and soft, for which the plant is popularly called a broom grass. From its rods make brooms for a bath. In addition, there is another popular name: cypress summer, and in science - bassia.
This plant from the haze family has 80 species, one of which is the cochia broom Green Forest. Growing from seeds is carried out both in the open ground and at home. This species of cohia is characterized by a bright color of the leaves of a juicy green gamut throughout the growing season, which gives the shrub a special decorative effect. Hence the name, which is translated from English as “green forest”. There is no particular difference in the care of the varieties. However, when gardening garden plots, hairy cohia and child's cohia are more often used.
Cypress comes from an ancient country of the East - China. It was here that many varieties of this culture were bred, which was later brought to Europe by Koch, a professor from Germany, which determined the name of the plant. Thanks to its excellent decorative qualities, it began to be cultivated in various parts of the planet. Cochia is very similar to a cypress crown, which has the shape of a pyramid.
Seedling cultivation
With this method, healthy seedlings are guaranteed to be obtained. To grow kokhii (summer cypress) from seeds, you first need to sow them and get seedlings. This time falls on the spring period, or rather - at the end of March. Seeds are sown in small containers. Before this, the containers are washed with hot soapy water, and then processed with potassium permanganate.
Soil is also disinfected. First you need to steam it, and then it is good to spill it with the same solution in hot form. Soil should be loose and fine-grained. It is important that it is new and that it passes air and water well. It can be prepared independently, for which peat should be mixed with sand or perlite in equal proportions.
Seed sowing technology
If done correctly, planting material will sprout quickly. Growing cochia from seeds will not cause difficulties. The seeding procedure is as follows:
- The soil must first be compacted, and the seeds evenly distributed over the entire surface.
- Sprinkle them on top with soil mixed with sand, or one sand.
- Water the soil using a spray gun. If necessary, hydration is carried out daily. The main thing is to prevent the topsoil from drying out.
- Cover the landing.
- Put the container so that it does not rearrange later. In one and a half weeks shoots will appear.
- After 14 days, their height will reach five to seven centimeters. It's time to start picking seedlings, it is better in pots of peat along with a lump of land, so as not to damage the roots.
- At this time, plants need regular watering and fertilizing with fertilizers containing nitrogen.
- As soon as return frosts pass and the seedlings reach a height of 15-20 cm, it is planted on flower beds in the garden, observing the distance between the bushes of 25-30 cm. If kokhiya is used to create live borders, then plants are planted after 10-15 cm.
Sowing in soil
Kokhiya is a decorative inhabitant of the open ground, although the plant is grown at home. Since cypress is an annual crop, it can be grown by sowing seeds immediately to a constant place of growth. But experts do not recommend using this method. It is better to grow strong seedlings in the room and plant it on a plot in the garden, where there will be a lot of light and no draft.
When growing kohii Summer Cyprus from seeds, it should be borne in mind that this plant does not tolerate acidic soils. Therefore, before sowing, the soil must be deoxidized. To do this, sprinkle ash on its surface or add neutral soil to the landing site or directly to the hole. Sowing seeds can be carried out using soil fertilized with decayed manure. Kokhiya prefers to grow in a humid environment, but does not tolerate stagnation of water. In this case, the plants are susceptible to a disease such as a black leg. Therefore, it is important that the soil is well-drained.
When to plant kohiya?
Growing from seeds begins with their sowing in open ground in the spring, at the end of the season. It is important that there is no freezing frost. In regions with a warm climate, sowing of seeds begins in May, at the very beginning of the month. The optimum temperature for their germination is 16-18 ° C heat. It doesn’t matter if, for some reason, in May it was not possible to do planting work. Sowing continues until the middle of the first summer month. The emergence of seedlings will have to wait a long time, about two weeks.
To speed up this process, you should provide the seedlings with a lot of sunlight. To do this, scattering seeds on the surface of the soil, you should not cover them with a thick layer of earth. Seeds are enough to push a little into moist soil. To prevent young plants from being damaged by low night temperatures, at this time of day they are covered with spanbond or other material.
"Summer cypress" immediately after planting is not fast growing, it seems to be a stunted and unsightly plant. This is because the seeds give almost 100% germination, the plants are too crowded. Therefore, seedlings should be thinned out, leaving a distance of at least 35 cm between them.
Watering
The cultivation of cohia from seeds in the open ground is carried out using a number of agrotechnical measures, one of which is watering. Cypress is considered an unpretentious plant, so often it is not necessary to water it; it satisfies the need for hydration due to precipitation from the atmosphere. But in a dry summer, watering is necessary, they are carried out every week once. To preserve moisture in the soil, it is mulched. To do this, use small gravel or bark, as well as decorative stone.
Top dressing
Cypress grows surprisingly fast and grows green after the next haircut. Therefore, in order to maintain its magnificent appearance, the plant should be fed. Approximate schedule of procedures:
- If the seeds are sown immediately in open ground, then two weeks after the emergence of seedlings, full mineral fertilizers should be introduced into the soil, since at this time cochia needs trace elements.
- After a month and a half, top dressing is repeated, but with nitrogen fertilizers.
- After using a haircut to form a bush, the plant should again be fed with nitrogen to quickly grow the leaves.
How to grow kohiya at home?
For this, containers for seedlings, fertile soil and seeds are needed. Growing cochia from seeds at home is not difficult. In the garden earth you need to add a little humus, peat or sand. Since the seeds of the plant are small, special preparation for them is not required. It is enough to treat them with a growth-stimulating solution: Epin, for example, or Energen.
The soil needs to be calcined for 25 minutes at a temperature of 110 ° C. After that, it must be treated, for this you can use a solution of potassium permanganate. You need to sow the seeds in moist soil, on the surface of which grooves of small depth are made. The seeds are evenly poured into them and watered. Planting material is not sprinkled with earth, but is pressed lightly against it. Boxes with landings should be covered with film or glass and put in a well-lit place, but away from heating appliances.
When growing cohia from seeds at home, the temperature should be maintained at 18-20 ° C. Water daily in the morning or evening. After a week, the seeds will germinate. When three leaves appear, the seedlings dive into cups, preferably peat. They are planted in the future together with plants. This is an additional power source.
What is the advantage of kohii?
Despite the fact that you need to start growing cohia from seeds every year, gardeners plant shrubs in their areas due to several advantages:
- Emerald green is a great addition to any composition in the garden.
- Cochia looks advantageous on the rocks in the rockery, and is also an adornment of the alpine hills.
- Shrub borders are very neat and elegant.
- Mowing the plant lends itself willingly. Krone can give any form even a novice designer.