Thuja is a coniferous plant with an evergreen crown. It is for this reason that quite often landscape designers use it as a decorative element of the site. Thuja is an unpretentious plant that does not require much time and effort from the gardener. Pyramidal trees are often planted in park areas to not only please the eye, but also to purify the air. Despite the unpretentiousness of the plant, in order to properly grow thuja from seeds, you need to know some rules and features, which we will try to understand in this article.
How to grow a thuja tree
Growing thuja from seeds at home is quite possible, despite the difficulties that may arise during the planting process. This method is very convenient in that you can simultaneously plant the required number of seedlings that will grow evenly, have approximately the same size and shape. Using seed reproduction, you can equip your site with beautiful and neat plants. The only drawback when growing thuja from seeds is that it takes five years to plant a plant in a permanent place.
Today, thuja is often grown at home. The plant not only has a pleasant coniferous aroma, but also cleans the air from the room from pathogenic bacteria. Thuja oriental "harmony" when grown from seeds in a pot, has an elegant appearance. It can complement the interior of the house, and thanks to its unpretentiousness, there will be no problems with it. However, before the plant can grow, it will have to tinker with it. Only in this case, you can get a good germination of shoots.
To plant thuja seeds, you must:
- Harvest the seeds.
- Prepare the soil composition and capacity for seedlings.
- Prepared seeds are planted in a box.
- In the third year of life, seedlings are planted in the ground.
Adhering to the technology of planting thuja seeds, you can independently create an interesting landscape design or just enjoy the beauty of a beautiful plant.
Preparing seeds and soil for planting
If you decide to purchase a plant, you must first know how to plant a thaw from the seeds and then prepare for planting. If the gardener does not plan to buy seeds in the store, then they need to be collected on a tree. In the beginning of autumn, when a dark bump appears on the branches of an adult thuja, they need to be collected and dried in heat for at least a couple of days. The dried-up cone opens with a light tapping, so you can extract the seeds. When the seeds are harvested, stratification is necessary.
Seeds are placed in tissue and instilled into the ground near an adult tree. Top need to fill with fallen leaves and leave for the winter. After the seeds have been wintered, they are taken out of the storage place and sown in a box or a pot of sand. Seeds in the container are put for another two months in a home refrigerator.
Planting a thuja from seeds will take a lot of time and effort. However, in the end, the gardener will receive a beautiful plant decorating his site. Thuja, despite its unpretentiousness, prefers to grow in a special nutrient medium, which must include: turf land, peat additives and sand. Properly proportioned mixtures can guarantee good seed growth.
Thuja seed sowing
You need to take a container or a wooden box in which drainage is laid on the bottom, the prepared soil is poured. Next, you need to make grooves for thuja seeds. Planting and caring for the plant is simple, but only an amateur gardener is ready for such a long wait. It should be noted that the width between the seed rows should be at least six centimeters. Seeds are evenly sown in the prepared grooves, then they are covered with soil. After spraying, the box is covered with a film or a glass lid. Seeds do not open until seedlings appear. Thuja sprouts in forty days. In appearance, its stems resemble dill. So that the seeds are not washed out of the soil, they must be watered carefully.
Until the shoots appear, the box with future plants should be in a warm place. Then the container with the sprouts can be transferred to a cooler place with good lighting. For plant growth, a room with young seedlings should be well ventilated. Spoiled sprouts should be monitored. At the first manifestations of the disease, they must be removed so as not to harm the remaining plants. After forty days of care, you can get good and healthy plants. Of course, growing thuja from seeds is a laborious work and requires patience, but there is a simpler way.
To simplify the procedure for preparing seeds and planting, you need to collect seeds at the end of autumn and sow the soil uncultivated. The main condition for preparation is warming. For this, you can use the leaves of various plants or sawdust. In the spring, small stems will appear, which over time will grow and will captivate with a pleasant coniferous aroma and evergreen foliage.
In vivo
In spring, when nature wakes up from wintering, it will be possible to see how plants have grown. In one winter, the growth of a tree can change by several centimeters. Natural growth allows the thuja to prepare more carefully for further planting in the ground. Growing thuja from seeds under natural conditions makes the roots and the plant itself healthy. If after the sprouts emerge the distance between the stems is not too close, then in the first year they should not be planted.
Transplanting in pots
Already in the second spring thuja seedlings are planted in separate pots so that the plants do not compete with each other and develop well. Containers with seedlings should be placed on the street in a cool place. It is undesirable for direct sunlight to fall on a young plant. Watering thuja is necessary in moderation, without over-moistening the soil. Abundant watering can adversely affect the root system of the future ornamental bush.
Landing
When a plant in a pot grows for the third year, then in the spring it is time to transplant it to a permanent place in the garden. After the thuja has taken root in the ground, it is not afraid of cold or sunlight, and caring for the plant will not take much time and effort.
Advice! In order for the thuja to have the correct shape, the plant must be periodically trimmed, forming a crown and adjusting the height.
The temperature regime for the plant
Thuja does not need high temperatures or bright sunlight. It’s quite scattered. While the plants are in one box, the room temperature should be maintained up to 23 degrees Celsius in the summer, and at +18 in the winter.
When growing seedlings in pots for the winter, they are brought into a cool room. Despite the fact that thuja is considered a cold-resistant plant, it is important to adhere to the temperature regime in the early stages of life. Only in this case the root system and the crown will be in perfect order.
Sun for the plant
The thuja sown does not need direct sunlight, therefore, in order to create optimal conditions for growth, a box with seedlings must be taken out to the north or north-west side of the yard or house. Under such conditions, crops will receive the necessary diffused light for good growth.
When and how to transplant thuja seedlings
Thuja seedlings can be transplanted into the soil around the third year of life. If the planting is carried out earlier, then due to the weak root system the plant may die.
Important is the preparation of the soil for planting. The distance between the plants should not be less than 30 centimeters, just so much space is necessary for proper growth. When the thuja is planted in the soil, there are no problems with caring for it. It will be necessary to water young plants and, if necessary, to weed out the weeds around the plantings.
Despite the fact that the process of growing thuja from seeds is long and troublesome, a lot of gardeners and plant lovers do this for their pleasure or use in landscape design.
Quite often today, a small thuja in a pot is presented to the master gardener as a gift if guests are going to. A neat plant will fit perfectly into any style design of the garden and help to complement it with extraordinary beauty. When the height of the plant is one meter, it can be transplanted to a permanent place in the infield.
After studying the material, we conclude that you can grow thuja from seeds at home or in the yard. A beautiful and unpretentious plant can not only bring joy, but also purify the air. The real gardener is not afraid of difficulties and difficulties, so today many grow pyramidal or spherical arborvitae in their summer cottages and in their own yards.