How to grow blue spruce: an overview of the technology of growing from seeds and cuttings

The contents

Prepare planting material

Harvesting seeds

Growing any eating, not just blue, starts from the procurement of seeds. In late summer look in advance and buy a blue spruce, the color and shape which you like the most. Check whether a tree shaped nugs. If they are – wait until the November cold snap in the first week of the month Narva as many of the cones with the selected plants. The more seeds you have, the higher the probability to grow blue instance.

Only 30-40% of young Christmas trees that were grown from the same tree, will have exactly the same color as their «ancestor». The rest can be blue-green, it is green, like a normal spruce. This is a problem of seed reproduction in which characteristics of the mother plant inherited much less than the propagation by cuttings.

The blue spruce seeds are translucent impeller which helps them continue to fly but when landing at home it can be removed, clean off hands

You can collect and February, if the fall is late. But then it is necessary to plant is in late June. This option is only suitable for areas with cool summers. In the heat of the seeds burn temperature.

The most difficult climb on the tree because the cones growing in the upper part of the crown. Tear only a dense, fully closed bumps. Of course, you can look under the trees, but to find an unopened copy will be difficult.

Of germinated seeds at home will grow more than 30 percent of seedlings blue color, so to select the most beautiful you will only be able in a year

Styling for disclosure scales

The collected material wear in a warm room where bigwigs will have to Mature, to open up and release their seeds. In nurseries disclosure of cones occurs in a couple of days, as they are placed in the hopper with temperature 40-42 degrees and kept there until the scales is revealed. But in an apartment to recreate a similar climate is difficult, and not necessary. Enough to lay the cones in a narrow cardboard box and put it on the radiator.

Anyone have a battery – put on a heated floor or kitchen and hide at the top of the highest cupboard. The ceiling temperature is always higher, so the ripening process will go faster. During drying you will hear the crackle of scales. When the lump is fully revealed, shake the seeds, tapping «spout» on a hard surface.

In the open or half-open cone seeds almost never will, since they will have time to sleep on the ground, so look for the cones with tightly closed scales

And, you can not collect the seeds and to purchase in the nursery. But choose a proven company, as the seeds can be stale, stored in warehouses for many years, and the percentage of germination will be poor. The best option is 1-2 year old seeds.

Stratification, it is also quenching

In natural conditions the cones on spruce revealed by January. Seeds scattered to the winds, to put down roots in new places. Until April they are covered with snow and undergo the hardening process, called stratification. In the home you will have to provide the seeds of such hardening, the plants germinate together and had a good immune system.

If the winter was snowless, then collected the seeds, divide into 2 parts and one of them immediately visate in the open ground. They primorosa snow, and the hardening process will take place naturally. For snow cover the tree did not sow. The second part proustite home, and then compare which inputs are more friendly.

How to stratify seeds at home:

Make a 1% solution of potassium permanganate (100 ml of water – 1 oz. of potassium permanganate).
Soak it and disinfect the seeds for 2-3 hours.
Place seeds on a towel or paper and dry.
Pour into a linen bag.
Stick the bag in a glass jar, close and place on the coldest shelf in the refrigerator
In this form, if the future sleeping trees until the spring (and in the February collection – up to 20-th of June).

Options for planting the seed of a blue tree

After hibernation the seeds need to Wake up. For this they are immersed overnight in a solution of water and minerals (stimulator of root formation + fungicide preparation fundazol). Humid environment will restore the structure of cells and speed up the germination.

In the morning you begin planting. For this purpose different ways. You can choose the one most convenient, but it is better to divide the seeds into equal parts and to test each option. So you will see clearly which way is most effective for your specific case and for plants in your area.

Method #1 — in the open ground

If spring frosts by April passed – sow trees directly into the ground. To do this, bring down the greenhouse and fill it in lowland peat mixed with coarse sand and soil of coniferous forests. You can immediately make a complete fertilizer for conifers or to feed later, when the shoots emerge from the ground.

Land of forests is a necessary component for good growth of spruce, as it is the mycelium of fungi. The mycelium in real conditions helps the root system of conifers to obtain moisture and food, takes away harmful substances from the soil. The symbiosis of fungi and trees is so close that without mycorrhizal fungi increase blue spruce root system sluggish and often die.

When planting blue spruce trees in the open ground seeds are often diffuse, because the germination rate usually does not exceed 50 percent, but then the weak shoots pinch out

Order of works:

Tamp the soil tightly.
Lay the seeds on top, at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other.
Mix the peat with pine sawdust in equal proportions and sprinkle this mixture the seeds with a layer of half an inch.
Land sprayed.
Close the greenhouse film.
Periodically check the humidity and, if necessary, ventilate the greenhouse.
Seedlings appear after 3 weeks. They were thinned, leaving the strong plants at a distance of 6 cm.
Every morning spray, but without fanaticism, as excessive moisture will lead to the development «black leg» — a viral infection which is able to destroy all the material.

In this form of Christmas trees grow year, until next spring. In the summer protect from the sun and the dryness of the soil.

Method #2 — in plastic containers

To grow Christmas trees can be home. For this it is necessary to prepare a wide plastic containers with lids (from the store-bought salads, cookies, etc.) or planting pots.

Disposable plastic food containers are inexpensive, but they are convenient to germinate seeds of spruce as a container tightly closed by a lid

The procedure works like this:

Fill tank to 2-3 volume of potting mix: 3 parts dry sand + 1 part peat moss.
Carefully sprayed the earth.
Scatter seeds on top of dampened earth.
Lightly stir the soil with your hand or a fork to bury the seeds.
The lid is closed, and if not, cover the pot with foil and put the containers in a warm place, where not exposed to direct rays of the sun.
As the drying of the soil are sprayed.
When the sprouts will hatch and become visible capacity reveal that the plants are properly ventilated.
In summer, the pots stand in the fresh air, under the shade of large trees, and in winter returned to the room with a temperature of 10-15 degrees.

To plant the young plants need the following spring, in may when the soil warms up.

Hatched shoots blue spruce afraid of high humidity, as it leads to various fungal infections and destroys all the plant material

Method #3 — cigarettes

Very unusual, but convenient method of seed germination is considered to be landing in cigarettes. This option is good for those gardeners who do not have large window sills, so the containers with seedlings no place to store.

Cigarettes is a long ribbon, consisting of several layers (roll).

The outer layer is a soft substrate under laminate flooring or other construction materials (length not limited, width – 10-15 cm).
Another layer of toilet paper or napkins.
The third fertile ground.

The technology that seeds prepare the landing pad of the above components:

roll on the substrate table, sliced in long ribbons;
on top of a stack of toilet paper, filling the entire area of the substrate;
the paper is moistened with water from a spray bottle to absorb humidity;
on the edge of the paper spread the seeds were eaten through 2 cm so that lionfish were a little beyond the boundaries of the coil and lay the seeds on wet paper (seeds should stick to the wet basis);
on top pour a layer of fertile soil;
gently twist the tape into a roll, tightening the rubber band, so as not unwound;
put the coil upright on the cardboard or platter, seeds up;
sprayed on top of the resulting joint;
cover with a film, thus creating a greenhouse effect, and put in a warm non-solar place.
after prokleivanija seed film is removed, and the seedlings looked after, periodically wetting the top of the cigarettes.
in this form of the tree sit until next spring.

Clearly technology can be seen in the video:

How to plant spruce from cuttings?

Professional gardeners prefer to plant ornamental coniferous plants by way of grafting in order to fully preserve the varietal characteristics. Blue spruce can also be grafted. Do it in the spring, in early may, when the tree begins active SAP flow.

For grafting blue spruce select young side shoots, which are arranged on a horizontal lignified branches. Them carefully rip against the growth of escape

Harvesting regulations twigs

For cuttings use twigs from trees, aged from four to ten years. Of these trees the maximum percentage survival rate of cuttings. To prepare planting material, need to find branches with side shoots and carefully tear off 2-3 cuttings with a length of 6-10 cm.

It is necessary to tear so that at the end of each handle keep «heels» — thickening of the rest of the older wood. It prevents the selection of a resin capable of clogging the bottom the cells of the seedling and to block access of moisture to the inside of the tree. That is why conifers not ceramcoat knife, i.e. not srezhut and tear.

The thickening at the end of the stalk is eaten, called the promenade, accelerates the process of root formation, as moisture freely flows into the seedling

Harvested material on a cloudy day or early morning. Broken branches immediately Packed in a plastic bag so they don’t dry out, and the same day planted.

If before planting the cuttings to hold 2 hours of the stimulator of rooting, the tree will grow roots for 1.5 months. Without stimulants this process will last for 3 months or more.

Cuttings at home

All of the above ways of planting blue spruce seeds are suitable for cuttings. So here we will focus on the other interesting options.

Absolute blue color remains only in the trees obtained by grafting, so it is better to search the city, find a tree and strip him of the right number of legs

There are 2 options — germination in the refrigerator or in cigarettes.

Let’s start with the refrigerator. If you managed to accidentally pick decorative fir trees, and for planting in the ground nothing is ready – use the cunning of an experienced gardener. Have all the cuttings immersed for an hour in water and then planted in wet sand, buried at 2 cm. Sand is poured into a plastic bag, there is – and branches. Package tie – in refrigerator. Need a temperature of 3 degrees. And forget about them for 2 weeks. Hereinafter, a conventional landing in a greenhouse. With such a technique, planting roots will appear at the end of the second month. When sprouting in the fridge do not handle cuttings stimulants as the degree of survival will decrease.

Propagation by cuttings in cigarettes, the principle is the same as when seed reproduction: pad + wipes + ground. Just notice that the part of the tree, which will be on toilet paper, should be cleared from the needles, and the spacing between plants of 5 cm.

Winter cuttings

It happens that the desired plant you saw is not in season, and the cuttings you want to dial. Pick a pair and try them «to tame» the house in the following way:

clean the half of each branch from the needles;
dip the base in kornevin (powder);
place tree in prepared «roll»: roll a paper towel on it place a layer of moss, moisten it and put twigs so that the moss was exposed the lower part;
twist all in the roll, pull the elastic band;
put vertically in the package;
tie the package tightly and hang on the window.

During the winter half of the cuttings will take root, and in may you get them planted in the greenhouse.

Some gardeners are used for the outer layer of normal dense film, but it has no insulating properties, so the seedlings grow slower

Video theme:

The nuances of planting in the ground

When planting in the greenhouse without pre-germination you need to remember:

Optimum temperature — not less than 13 degrees air and 10 degrees soil.
To prevent rotting of the roots at the bottom of the greenhouse to create drainage with a thickness of 5 cm of gravel and small pebbles.
Blue spruce love the light soil.
The distance from the film or glass that covers the greenhouse, before seedlings – not less than 20 cm.
Cuttings are planted at an angle of 30 degrees.
Bury into the soil 1-2 cm.
Humidity check «the ceiling» large drops hanging should not only fine mesh dust.
It is necessary to ventilate daily.

It is also important to notice that for the first month greenhouse pritenyayut, throwing it on top of burlap or spunbond to make the sun less aggressive.

Roots to branches will appear after two months, but to transplant them very carefully, as when transplanting into the ground they often break off

All the methods described in the article, suitable for reproduction of any conifers. So, starting with the blue spruces, then you will be able to raise their hands in a garden of evergreen beauties. The main thing – to find a good sprouting. And this is a matter of practice.

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