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Replant a Christmas tree from the forest. Transplanting spruce from the forest to the site. Serious mistakes gardeners make when planting and replanting spruce

In this article we will look at how to properly plant or replant a spruce on a site. Let's find out which place to choose for landing. Let's look at the step-by-step instructions.

Many summer residents successfully grow not only garden crops on their plots, but also ornamental trees. Particularly popular conifers, they are not only beautiful at any time of the year, but also useful, thanks to phytoncides. Traditional “Christmas trees” are universally loved, as “Spruce” is affectionately called.

For trees that have taken root in the package, replanting to a new location occurs with minimal stress, since the roots are surrounded by the soil in which they were planted. This allows you to plant plants at any time of the year.

Tip #1. Spruce trees with a lump are planted from 0.5 m to 3 m in size. Trees with bare roots, it is better to take smaller ones; the younger it is, the better it takes root. If you plan to move the plant by hand, it should not exceed 1 m in height.

Choosing the optimal place on the site for spruce


For spruce with a bare root system, planting time is limited; they can be planted (or replanted) only in a dormant state, in early spring or early autumn. After winter, while the plant has not yet “woke up”, it will more easily endure the “relocation”. At the end of summer, the growth of ground organs stops, and all nutrition is directed to the roots. This promotes the survival rate of spruce.

To correctly determine where it is best to plant a spruce, you need to know exactly its final dimensions. For example, the “ordinary” and “spiny” species grow up to 40 m. This must be taken into account when digging a “small Christmas tree” in the forest. She will definitely grow to that height someday.

Selected varieties are more suitable for small plots different sizes and coloring. Among them you can choose real little ones 30–50 cm in adulthood, and medium-sized trees 3–8 m.

The following forms are popular on sale:

Name Tree size Peculiarities
"Glauca globosa" h = 2 m A low-growing variety of spruce, popularly called “blue”.
"Akrokona" h = 2 – 4 m, d = 2 m Weeping crown shape
"Aurea" h = 8 -10 m, d = 5 m Golden needles
"Microphylla" h = 10, d = 3-5 m Dense conical crown
"Clanbrassiliana" d =1.5 – 2 m spherical crown shape
"Echiniformis" d = 20 cm Dwarf spherical variety
"Little Jam" d = 80 – 100 cm Nest-shaped crown.
"Maxwelly" d = 60 cm Cushion-shaped spreading crown

In addition to the size of the spruce, it is important to consider the environmental conditions for its successful growth:

  • Needs to good lighting, but cannot stand the scorching sun. Prefers light shade, especially in the afternoon. Varieties with a traditional dark green color are classified as shade-tolerant plants. Forms with “colored” needles require more light;
  • Wind-resistant, but suffers from drafts; do not plant in the path of the prevailing wind;
  • Does not tolerate gas pollution and smoke.

Based on this, a place for spruce is chosen in light partial shade, away from the road and open fire, protected from strong winds.

Optimization of natural soil and preparation of soil mixture


Spruce is sensitive to winter and spring burns, so it requires shelter in the cold season.

In nature, spruce trees create an acidic soil reaction, pH – 5 – 6.5, from moderately acidic to close to neutral. Varietal forms grow at a pH of 6.5. Soil structure – light or medium loam, high fertility. Spruce does not tolerate flooding, so it goes to the bottom landing pit Place drainage made of crushed stone or broken brick.

If the natural soil on the site is sandy or clayey, it is better to prepare a special mixture that is optimal for spruce. It consists:

  • Turf land;
  • Leaf soil (preferably rotted pine needles);
  • Sand;
  • Lowland peat. The components are mixed in a ratio of 2:2:1:1.

For seedlings small size prepare a landing pit 0.5 x 0.5 m. Larger specimens will need 1 x 1 m. For larger specimens, prepare a landing site with a volume 2 times larger than the size of the coma.

Step-by-step plan for planting spruce

The table describes the work for planting spruce:

Job title Features of the event
Step 1. Preparing the planting hole. When completely replacing the soil, the side walls are fenced with material that allows water and air to pass through, but does not allow the fertile soil to mix with the surrounding poor soil. The design resembles a large one flower pot. Often the insulation is made of pine or spruce slab.
Step 2. Preparation of soil mixture. You can mix the necessary components yourself, but if this is problematic, it is better to use purchased soil intended for coniferous plants.
Step 3. Filling the hole with a fertile mixture Optimized soil is placed in the prepared hole. It is ideal when it is possible to leave it for compaction for 2 weeks.
Step 4 Root treatment. Open root system soak in the rooting agent solution for 24 hours. Apply: Succinic acid, Heteroauxin, Kornevin, Radifarm and other similar products.
Step 5. Planting spruce The tree is placed in the center of the hole so that the root collar is flush with the edge of the hole. After this, the roots (or lump) are evenly covered with earth.
Step 6. Formation trunk circle. A roller of earth is placed and compacted around the crown to form a depression around the trunk. It retains water during irrigation.
Step 7 Watering For a small spruce you will need 2 - 3 buckets, for large trees you need 4 - 5 buckets.

Tip #2. Note! Spruce trees from 1.5 m in height require strengthening, best support consists of three stretch marks at an angle of 120 0.

  1. When choosing a spruce in the forest, you should not try on big trees. It is better to focus on specimens up to 1 m in height;
  2. Carefully inspect the crown and trunk of the tree for damage by diseases and pests. Plants with cracks in the trunk or mechanical damage are not suitable;
  3. The crown is carefully tied with a cord. It looks as if a tree is being moved from the Christmas tree market for the New Year's holiday;
  4. They retreat 20–25 cm from the trunk, dig in, forming a lump. Roots that protrude beyond its limits must be carefully trimmed with pruning shears;
  5. Whom is wrapped in durable fabric, for example, in burlap, tightly tied with a cord and raised to the surface;
  6. Moved manually or on a trolley to the landing site;
  7. By this time, the landing pit should be ready;
  8. The lump is placed in the hole so that the root collar is flush with the edge of the hole. It is advisable to turn the tree to the cardinal directions the way it grew in the forest, otherwise survival will be problematic and may even lead to death;
  9. After this, the fabric around the lump is untied, but not removed. Over time, the fabric will rot, and at first it will help retain water when watering. This will not affect root regrowth;
  10. The lump is covered with earth, a circle around the trunk is formed, and watered.

Differences between planting in spring, summer, autumn, winter

Bare-root spruce trees are strictly limited in terms of planting time. They can be moved from place to place only in early spring, or at the end of August, beginning of September. At other times, you don’t have to worry, the tree is unlikely to take root. This recommendation also applies to plants brought from the forest.

The exception is spruce grown in nurseries. Such trees have undergone adaptation within the coma, that is, they have grown new roots and survived at least one winter in the package. This technology allows plants to tolerate transplantation with minimal stress.

Trees with a lump can be planted even in winter. This is especially true for larger sizes than older plant, the better it takes root if it is transferred to a new place in a state of “hibernation”.

Caring for the spruce after planting

Once the tree is planted and watered, it is best to mulch it. A layer of 8–10 cm of dry pine needles, bark, wood chips, and sawdust is poured into the tree trunk hole. It is important to make sure that the material does not have mold or other damage. One of the common types of spruce trees found in landscape design is the Konika spruce (see →). In the future, the planted (transplanted) spruce trees are cared for as follows:

1. Watering Spruce trees do not like drought and cannot tolerate waterlogging. Therefore, they should not be planted in full sun or on a lawn that is watered daily.
It is advisable to keep the soil moist, avoiding changes from one extreme to another. It is better to water less often, but more abundantly.
For young tree, 0.5 m high, you need 2 buckets of water once every 7 – 10 days, depending on the temperature.
2. Feeding If the nutrient mixture is prepared correctly, then in the first year there is no need to add fertilizing. If survival is slow and unsuccessful, that is, the condition of the tree is unsatisfactory, it is better to support it with stimulants. Apply:

* “Epin – extra”,

* "Kendal"

* Succinic acid,

* EM – drugs.

Mineral fertilizers containing nitrogen are applied only after complete survival at spring planting. For the winter, it is better to support the fragile plant with superphosphate and potassium salt to strengthen the root system.

3. Shelter for the winter Spruce trees are susceptible to winter and early spring burns. In this regard, they are covered with spruce branches or spunbond white . The protection is lifted in April.

To cover the roots, lay thick layer mulch 10 - 15 cm.

How to properly plant or replant a spruce on a site: Questions and answers


There are over 50 species around the world, but in our geographical conditions, Norway spruce (European spruce) and prickly spruce are most often grown.

Question No. 1. How to plant a spruce on a plot with high occurrence groundwater?

Answer: Spruce trees do not tolerate flooding, so you need to take care of water drainage in advance. There are two ways out of the problem situation:

  1. Construction drainage system on the site where it is planned to plant the spruce. We are talking about large varieties, over 2 m tall. When planting dwarf forms, drainage from crushed stone or expanded clay is needed at the bottom of each planting hole;
  2. Construction retaining wall , 0.5 - 1 m high, for bulk soil.

Question No. 2. What vegetables can be planted next to the spruce?

Answer: Spruce waste products acidify the soil. Garden crops a neutral environment is needed. Spruce trees do not like the sun, which is needed to ripen vegetables. The spruce tree and the vegetable garden do not have common “points of contact”, so it is better to plant them separately. The exception is dwarf forms spruce trees, which are planted in landscape design not only in flower beds, but also in ornamental vegetable gardens.

Question No. 3. Which fruit trees place it next to a spruce tree?

Answer: Fruit trees require a lot of nutrition and lighting. They grow in rich, slightly acidic and neutral soil and in a well-lit place. Such conditions are radically different from the “wishes” of spruce, which grows in acidic soil and requires light shading. This is why fruit trees and berry bushes It is better not to plant next to spruce trees.

Serious mistakes gardeners make when planting and replanting spruce

  1. The location of the spruce tree is close to buildings and structures.

It is important to consider how large the spruce grows. This is especially true for trees brought from the forest. Often when planting a “small Christmas tree,” they forget that it can reach 30–40 m in height and 5–8 m in diameter.


Spruce is a real decoration personal plot. After all, this is a piece of a real forest - mysterious, enigmatic and powerful, not like weak and capricious pears or plums. Squirrels or forest birds can live on the tree, and New Year it can be decorated with a garland, and then the estate will turn into a place for a fairy tale.

We choose and plant

In order to plant a Christmas tree on your own plot, it is not at all necessary to buy an expensive seedling from a nursery. You can find a small young tree in the forest, dig it up and bring it home. It is better to do this in early spring or autumn.

A place for a forest guest must be chosen and prepared in advance. Over time, it will grow up to 10 meters, the crown diameter will be 5 meters or more, so plant it next to fruit trees or buildings should not. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that its roots lie shallow, but spread over a vast area, much larger than the crown area. They can cause damage to buildings and other plantings, depleting the soil. It is best to plant the tree at a distance of at least 15 meters from the house and other buildings.

From time to time, needles will fall off the tree, which oxidize the soil. They will need to be collected with a rake and removed from the site, or simply planted nearby with plants that tolerate acidic soil well.

It is also necessary to take into account the presence of communications on the site - electrical wiring or gas pipe, spruce should not be planted next to them.

Dig a hole measuring 70x70x70 cm, make drainage layer at the bottom, pour a little water so that the ground is soaked, and the seedling immediately finds itself in soft, moist soil.

Now you can go into the forest to get a seedling. Find a small tree no taller than 1 meter, with proportionally spaced branches. Examine it to see if there are any serious injuries or birth defects. Determine which branches of the spruce tree face the south and which ones face the north, mark them with tape or another method, so that you can plant it on your site in the same way, focusing on the cardinal points.

Carefully dig up the Christmas tree from all sides at a distance of 30-40 cm from the trunk, remove it from the ground, as far as possible, along with the soil. Wrap the roots in a piece of cotton cloth and take the spoils home.

Fill a bucket or bag with the soil in which the Christmas tree grew. Shoot upper layer- it is more fertile. Thus, the seedling in a new place will find itself in its usual soil and will take root more easily.

At home, install the spruce in a hole, taking into account the cardinal directions, and cover it with earth. You don’t have to remove the fabric, but simply untie it. Water and mulch the circle with pine needles or sawdust.

At first, the seedling is watered frequently, preventing the soil from drying out. It can be shaded from strong sun with an awning or shield. With age, the spruce will get stronger and will easily tolerate both sun and cold, but at a young age, and immediately after transplantation, it must be protected from direct and bright sunlight.

If you want to plant a whole group of Christmas trees, leave a distance of about three meters between them, because over time, small seedlings will turn into tall and spreading trees.

Care

Caring for a spruce tree is not difficult; just loosen the soil around the trunk, water it and feed it. At the same time, they dig up the ground shallowly, trying not to touch the roots.

Only young plants need to be fed with compost or peat. If they are older than five years old, they can do just fine without fertilizers, extracting nutrients roots from the top layer of humus. To make this task easier for them, the soil needs to be moistened 1-2 times a week.

Broken or damaged branches are cut off in the spring, or as needed. When pruning, improperly growing branches, if any, are also removed.

A tree can be prepared for winter by insulating a circle around the trunk, sprinkling it with spruce branches or dry leaves. If sprinkled with peat, it can be left in the spring as fertilizer; the leaves and spruce branches are removed in the spring.


Unlike deciduous trees, appearance conifers remain attractive at any time of the year, so many owners strive to decorate their site with this Christmas attribute. But before planting a spruce on the site, you should decide on the type of tree, choose the optimal location and properly prepare the soil at the dacha for planting the plant.

Choosing a Christmas tree variety

The main criterion when choosing a type coniferous tree is the shape of the crown and the height of the adult plant.

Upon registration summer cottage Three types of spruce are predominantly used.

  • Common spruce is a type of plant 1.2-3 meters high. The shade of the needles ranges from golden to bright green. This species can most often be found in the country.
  • Gray spruce - got its name due to the grayish color of the tree bark and the gray-blue or ashy shade of the needles. Tall varieties of spruce have a cone-shaped crown, and dwarf plants the top looks like a nest or ball.
  • Prickly spruce is a tree with a decorative cone-shaped crown, sometimes reaching a height of 40 meters. Less common dwarf trees up to 2 m. The needles of such spruce trees are very prickly and have a color from whitish blue or silver to turquoise.

Choosing a spruce for small dacha, you should stop at a plant of medium or dwarf height, and tall ones are suitable for country house with a plot large area. When decorating garden plots, medium-sized or dwarf species are especially popular.


Purchasing or searching for a seedling

You can have a Christmas tree different ways. You can choose it from a nursery, bring it from the forest, or grow it yourself in a container.

  • Nurseries sell mature trees, digging them up in the presence of the buyer, or offer spruce trees in containers. Trees whose root system is exposed may not survive until they are planted in the ground. Therefore, it is very important to choose a spruce with intact roots and a clod of earth that protects them from exposure external environment. It will be much easier to grow such a tree, since the tree will tolerate replanting well, will suffer less pain and adapt faster.
  • If the type of tree does not matter, then you can bring a Christmas tree from the forest, choosing a tree from 1 to 2 meters. The tree should be dug up from all sides to remove it with a large lump of earth. Small trees can be transported from the forest with their roots exposed, but during transportation, cover them with tarpaulin material, and upon arrival immediately plant them in a prepared hole.
  • To grow a seedling from a seed, you need to bring open cones from the forest in winter and collect the seeds. Add soil taken from the forest to the container for planting, or add soil mixture for coniferous plants. The seeds are planted in the ground to a depth of 5 mm and placed in a cool place.

During the warm season, the tree should be regularly moistened, and in cool times, reduce watering to twice every 30 days. To ensure periods of rest, the plant should be periodically placed on the balcony or in the yard. In one year, a spruce can grow up to 25 cm in height.


Selecting a location

Since spruce can reach a height of 10 m and a width of 5 m, you must carefully choose a planting site. Under natural conditions, the plant feels good near the river, where its root system can receive enough moisture. But the tree does not like wetlands, so caring for it involves arranging drainage.

Spruce greatly depletes the soil, so it cannot be planted next to fruit-bearing crops. In addition, it should be borne in mind that in adulthood, spruce is a fairly large tree. Therefore, plant it under electrical wires undesirable.

Fir trees feel great surrounded by birch trees. They are not afraid of the shade that birch trees provide; on the contrary, it is even useful to them. Spruce is one of the rare trees that retains its beauty in the shade.


In the forest you can find and dig up small one-year-old fir trees. To carefully replant a tree, you should first dig around it. The circumference of the pit should be equal to the diameter of the lower branches, and the depth should be at least 0.5 m.

The roots of the plant must be carefully removed from the ground without shaking them off. Then place the spruce on a thick cloth and carefully pack it, marking the cardinal directions with colored tape. Load the tree and a bag of forest soil into a vehicle and transport it to the planting site, being careful not to damage the branches and root system during transportation.

The soil in the forest is different from that in the garden. Therefore, you need to take soil from the forest from the place where you dug up the Christmas tree.

All varieties of spruce love light soil. They grow poorly on heavy types of soil. Before planting the plant in poor soil, it is necessary to add mineral fertilizer(about 100 grams).


Planting a tree

The best time to plant spruce is spring or early autumn. At this time, the plant has already passed or has not yet entered the phase active growth. Coniferous trees grown in a container can be planted later, since their roots are not affected.

The size of the hole for planting the plant must match the volume of the earthen ball. For small plants 2–3 years old, a hole of 60 by 80 cm is sufficient, and if it is necessary to plant a large tree, the hole should be slightly larger than a ball of earth. The distance between the recesses for large plants should be three meters, for medium-sized ones - 3-5 m, and for dwarf plants from 0.5 to 1 m is sufficient.

Sequence of actions when landing

  1. Brick fragments are placed at the bottom of the dug hole to ensure drainage. Soil is poured on top. Forest soil mixed with humus is suitable for this purpose.
  2. The plant is placed in a hole along with a lump of earth. Under no circumstances should the root collar be buried in the soil; it should be correctly positioned flush with the surface of the earth.
  3. Carefully cover the roots with soil and compact lightly. It is important to maintain the original position of the tree relative to the cardinal directions when replanting. To do this, you need to make a mark on one of the sides of the tree, so that you can then navigate by this sign.
  4. The tree must be secured by tying it to two stakes, and an earthen roller must be made around the tree to retain irrigation water and form a tree trunk circle for laying mulch from chips and sawdust to protect it from frost, drying out and rodents.
  5. During the first time after planting, the seedling needs regular watering and care. In summer, the soil under the tree needs to be watered, but in winter there is no need to do this.

Enter mineral fertilizing need it next spring. If the spruce planting is done correctly and proper care is provided, it will adapt fairly quickly.


Plant care conditions

They love spruces sunlight, but young seedlings need additional care and shading. They may suffer from the spring sun, which can cause them to lose their needles and lose their decorative properties. It is better to plant them near walls and fences, which will initially give them the necessary shade.

It should be taken into account that the root system takes up a lot of space around the spruce and can eventually run into communications and the foundation of the house. It is located shallow and does not like compaction of the soil, so it is undesirable to trample the surface of the earth near the tree. Young seedlings should be covered with spruce branches for the winter, which should be removed after termination. spring frosts. Adult spruce trees are quite frost-resistant and do not need insulation.

During prolonged drought, the plant needs additional care in the form of watering. It is necessary to carefully monitor the level of soil moisture. When watering, water should not be poured under the trunk, but in a circle within a radius of 30 cm from the tree trunk. The amount of water to moisten the soil in hot weather should be from 10 to 12 liters per plant when watered once every 7 days.

Blue spruce is a rather demanding plant, the care of which consists of pruning dry and diseased branches. This event should be held in spring and autumn. When in decorative purposes it is necessary to provide them with appropriate care, which consists in the formation of the tree crown. The first time pruning should be done in the year of planting, and then every 2-3 years, cutting off branches by 10-15 cm.

By observing these simple rules, you can create a picturesque corner at your dacha, and a healthy and well-groomed plant will fit favorably into the landscape of the site. Spruces have a lot decorative varieties and shades of pine needles, so a suitable specimen can be selected for almost any style direction.

Spruce care consists of: correct landing, shading, fertilizing, pruning and infrequent watering. Coniferous trees planted on the border of a summer cottage or on the sides of the road look very decorative. It is quite difficult for the plant to adapt and take root, but if the result is achieved, the spruce will delight the eye with its lush needles all year round.

When gardeners or mansion owners decide to plant a spruce tree on their plot, they wonder how to transplant it from the forest to their plot. Is it possible to do this?

In the article we will answer all the exciting questions about choosing a place for replanting, how to properly dig up a spruce tree in the forest, and its further planting in a new place.

Selecting a place for transplantation

Since spruce can grow up to 10 meters in height, and the crown span can reach 5 meters, you should choose a planting site very carefully. A good option There will be an area where there will be no other fruit-bearing trees nearby.

Also, before choosing a planting site, keep in mind that spruce tall tree, no wires or cables should pass over it. The landing site should not be closer than 15 meters from buildings and structures.

It is also important to consider the soil in which the spruce grew. In the forest it is different from the one on the site, even if you have a forest behind the site. For a successful transplant, it is better to grab several buckets of earth from the place where you dug up the spruce.

Note: When digging up spruce in the forest, it is important to remember and somehow mark the south side of the trunk.

Please note that the spruce will take root better in a new place if it is planted in exactly the same direction as before. If you neglect this feature, the tree can often get sick and eventually die.

Digging up a spruce in the forest

The recommendations are as follows:

  • the best period for replanting spruce is early spring and late summer;
  • First, we choose the spruce we like in the forest. It is better if it is about a meter, no more. Such a seedling tolerates transplantation better. Carefully inspect the spruce, it should be healthy, without visible damage;
  • dig up the spruce around the perimeter of the crown, carefully, without injuring the roots. Then wrap the roots in cotton cloth and deliver to the planting site.

Landing at a new place

Procedure for transplantation:

  1. Dig a hole of the required size in the area.
  2. Place the spruce in it. Do not remove the fabric, but simply untie it so that it covers the bottom of the hole and retains moisture for the roots. Don't forget about the south side of the trunk.
  3. Fill the hole with soil you took from the forest.
  4. Water generously. Carefully monitor the soil, it should not dry out.

Care

Don't forget to take care of your Christmas tree. Usually mature spruce loves illuminated areas, but a young seedling will feel better in shaded areas. If there is no such place, think about a canopy.

Spruce trees can be planted either one at a time or in groups; the main distance between them should not be less than 3 meters.

Things to remember: The root system of spruce is located superficially and can cover large areas around the tree. Over time, this can lead to a collision of roots with the foundation of the house or communications, which in turn can harm both the tree itself and the buildings.

Due to its shallow root system, spruce does not like soil to settle and become churned. To do this, you should not forget about loosening the soil around the tree. For the winter, in the first few years, it is recommended to mulch the ground under the spruce with sawdust or, and cover it with spruce branches.

With the onset of spring, the spruce branches are removed. It is not necessary to cover adult plants for the winter: due to their frost resistance, they tolerate cold well. And blue spruce generally tolerates even the most severe frosts.

It is necessary to water the spruce in cases where there has been no rain for a long time. A must during drought. No feeding is required for the tree.

The main thing is to monitor soil moisture. To do this, squeeze a handful of earth in your hand - if the lump sticks together, then the earth is sufficiently moistened. If the soil crumbles, it means watering is necessary.

If the soil comes out like mud between your fingers, it means it is waterlogged. Usually water the tree once a week, with several buckets of water for each.

It is also necessary to care for the crowns of the tree; for this, in spring and autumn, diseased, dried and broken branches are removed.


Coniferous plants will truly decorate any garden. But at the same time, in a dozen or two years they can easily displace their owners from own plot, because, growing slowly in the first years, in the future they will begin to grow 1 m per year, growing in all directions. So keep that in mind.

The first question asked by gardeners who are thinking of planting a spruce tree on their property is: where will it be most suitable? the best place? You can plant spruce trees along the fence as a green fence. It will hide you from the eyes of people who drive or walk along the streets of your garden. Spruce trees should not be planted on the south side, as they will provide a lot of shade, although, in principle, this can also be done if you regularly shorten their tops, not allowing them to reach too far. high altitude. But it is better to plant them outside the site, on the north side, behind a ditch at the very edge of the road that passes by your site. In addition, such a living fence will perfectly protect your garden from the north wind.

On a note

If you plant spruce trees as a green fence, then they need to be planted at a distance of 1.5 m from each other.

Spruce has one peculiarity: if it is allowed to grow upward freely, it will begin to shed needles from the lower tiers if it does not have sufficient space for development. If you want your spruce to be lush from top to bottom, then you must cut off the top of the spruce at some point. Let's say you let it grow to a height of 2.5 m. In the spring a young and green shoot will appear, the top begins to grow further, and you simply twist this shoot out; While the needles on it are still very soft, this is very easy to do. For spruce this operation is quite harmless. You break it off no matter how high it grows. Once you destroy apical point growth, the nearest dormant buds at the base of the broken sprout will immediately begin to grow. One of these shoots will try to replace the top and begin to grow vertically, and you will break it off again. You will stop all attempts by the spruce tree to grow a new top every spring. If you constantly break off the young and green shoot at the top of the spruce tree, then it will become thicker, the branches will become very fluffy and green, the needles will not fall off from the lower branches, and they will not dry out. But you should not trim the ends of the branches, since, as a rule, this leads to drying out of the entire branch.

Spruce trees should not be planted along the border with neighbors. Trees will provide shade to neighbors and interfere with neighboring plants.

In general, it is not recommended to plant spruce on the site, because its root system is superficial and therefore very extensive, and it will spread in breadth and interfere with your garden plants, which will be located even 10-15 m from the spruce.

Spruce has a very interesting feature: it does not like the proximity of other plants and will try to survive them from the adjacent territory. You can, of course, plant a spruce on the site, but then you must definitely limit its root system. You can mark out some area and every year chop off its roots with a shovel, trying to go beyond the designated boundaries. Since spruce has a shallow root system, you don’t have to dig deep, but it’s still tedious work, and you can skip a couple of times, but it will very quickly extend its tentacles-roots to all your plants. It's easier to do this: if you have an old concrete ring, for some reason not used in creating the well, you can bury it to 90-100 cm. If there is no ring, then you can dig a hole, make formwork and pour a concrete square box without a bottom. You can also bury the slate, but the spruce roots will gradually destroy it. If you try to bury iron, it will rot in 8-10 years, and the roots will stretch further.

The planting hole should be square, approximately 1 x 1 m. You can add back the soil that you dug, you do not need particularly fertile soil, you need the spruce to grow slowly, in poor soil. And it will grow, don't worry. Spruce is very hardy and also shade-tolerant. Therefore, if you have 4 apple trees, then you can only plant a spruce in the center to a limited extent. With its rather pungent smell, it will successfully protect your apple trees from flying pests of apple trees, since the spruce smell will disorient them: they seem to be flying towards the smell of their nurse - the apple tree, but then some other suspicious smell is mixed in. Fearing to leave their offspring on such an apple tree, pests, as a rule, fly past.

But if you want to plant a blue spruce on your site, then it will need a sunny place. Blue spruce grows much slower than ordinary spruce, but its root system will have to be limited or planted in a place where it will not interfere with the rest of the inhabitants of your garden. By the way, you should not pluck out the top of a blue spruce, since its lower branches do not dry out.

Spruce trees cannot be planted in the fall, as they usually die.

You can propagate spruce from seeds. To do this, you need to collect cones that have not yet opened in the fall. At home, you need to put them on a sheet of paper; they will dry out quite quickly, open up, and seeds will spill out of them. Spruce seeds are small, but with an impeller. You will plant these seeds before winter. You need to find a special place for planting and be sure to check that there are no weeds, and for this you need to prepare the soil specially.

Mix a bucket of peat and half a bucket of sand, add a liter jar of ash. Mix all this, pour the mixture completely into the prepared hole, moisten the seeds, add a layer of regular soil on top, about 1 cm of pine cones - and that’s it. These seeds will undergo natural winter stratification and will sprout in the spring. True, it happens that they don’t sprout in the first year, don’t worry - they will sprout in a year.

First, one small, thin needle emerges; it is very clearly visible, as it is different from anything else. You can’t touch it, wait a year or two: the tree must grow. When the tree has a small stem with three or five needles, you can replant it in the spring. That is, it will be in two years. But you shouldn’t keep it for more than two years; you need to replant it. You can use the bayonet of a shovel to pry the plant and replant it. The main thing is that you carefully plant the stems; you need to plant them at the level of the root collar.

But simple Christmas trees should not be planted using seeds this way. It’s easier to dig up a very small Christmas tree in the forest. You take a lump of earth on the bayonet of a shovel, take out the tree along with the soil, put it on a cloth and transport it.

And also remember this point: when the tree is small, there is no need to orient it according to the sun. If you dig big spruce, about 1.5 m or more, then when transplanting you need to maintain the orientation towards the sun, because such a Christmas tree has already adapted to a certain location. From the south, its needle is more resistant to falling off from sunburn, the trunk already has annual rings - narrower from the north, and wider from the south. Do the following: just tie a cloth on the south side, and when you plant it in place, leave the cloth on the south side so that it is oriented to the south.

By using seed propagation Blue or silver spruces are most often grown because of their high cost. Blue spruces are very capricious. In St. Petersburg in Primorsky Park there is an alley blue spruce trees, you can look for a Christmas tree there, take its cone and try to grow it from seeds. But keep in mind that blue spruce has a peculiarity: its seeds can produce some blue spruces, and some ordinary ones. They will be visible immediately; already the first needle of the sprout that appears will be blue, silver or ordinary green. Therefore, you can immediately reject them and throw away the unnecessary ones.

Regular Christmas trees grow very quickly. The first two or three years they are small, and then they begin to grow out very quickly. You let them grow to whatever height you want. Christmas trees can be shaped in very funny ways, they can be made almost round, for this you need every time in the spring goes green, a young shoot, break it out both at the top and at the ends of the branches. Then the tree will fluff up and turn into a ball.

There is one more interesting way landings. In the spring, you bury the entire cone to a depth of 5-7 cm. In the fall, a lot of shoots will come out of it, and they will immediately form a very funny hedgehog. Sometimes they are sold as bush spruce - this is nonsense, there are no bush spruce trees. Spruces grown from cones do not last long, as they begin to crowd each other, and after three to four years they begin to die. But they look very beautiful on a rocky hill or in a group of coniferous plants.

You should know that many spruces (except blue and common) can get very burnt in the sun. So I don’t advise you to have any exotic spruce brought from somewhere. These are very expensive plants, there is a lot of fuss with them, and, to be honest, they are special decorative properties they don't have. They are usually less decorative than regular trees from the forest. Just exotic - and nothing more.

So don't aim for that dear planting material. If, of course, you have enough money, then please, you can purchase this expensive exotic with the help of a gardener or own strength babysit her. It is your right. When in February-March, after a long winter, a very bright sun suddenly appears and there is still snow, a needle burn occurs. The needles turn yellow and sometimes die completely. Koniks are the most susceptible to spring sunburn. By the way, not only spruce trees get burns, but also other coniferous plants, such as junipers. To protect conifers from burns, you can cover them with sheets or old dressing gowns (transparent lutrasil or spunbond are not suitable for this) and you will “admire” this for almost two months.

Against sunburn plants there is one interesting homeopathic preparation, it is called “Ecoberine”. In the very early spring, shake two grains of the drug until completely dissolved in 100 g of water, add water to 1 liter, stir well and spray the plant from the south side.

Spruce, like all conifers, is best replanted in early spring, somewhere from late April to mid-May. However, conifers can be replanted at any time if you transship them. This is done as follows: they dug up the spruce, laid it on its side, laid an old sheet under the root system, threw it with a lump of earth onto this sheet, tied the ends crosswise in a knot and transported it to the site. You plant the plant in a pre-prepared hole without untying the knot, and cover it all with soil.

The most important thing is watering. Christmas trees are very moisture-loving crops. True, you can protect your life if you add hydrogel under the root system of the tree. You need to add a lot of it, at least 1 liter. You dissolve it in water, you get something similar to jelly or jelly. Then this will protect you: the roots will have moisture, and the tree will take root very well, no matter which one, from the forest or bought somewhere.

Any plant will take root even better if you water it after replanting with Kornevin and plant it with Aquadon. Thus, any plant, including spruce, can be replanted at any time of the year, but spruce tolerates replanting most easily in early spring, as soon as the soil thaws.