How to grow spruce from seed at home?

Spruce is a coniferous plant that serves as a classic decoration of the territory. The blue spruce is one of the endangered species, therefore it is listed in the Red Book. This factor affects the cost of pine needles seedlings. But why spend money on buying young trees if you can grow them yourself? We will try to understand together how to grow a spruce from seeds, because in addition to saving finances, the gardener gets a healthy plant adapted to the environment.

Owners of country estates massively purchase cuttings of blue spruce for further cultivation, even despite the high cost. This is because not everyone has an idea of how to grow a spruce from seeds, but you will know for sure.

Features of blue needles

The main difference between conifers of this species is the color of the needles. When growing spruce at home from seeds, it is possible to obtain a tree with 30% of thorns, painted in noble blue, the rest acquire a classic green hue. Therefore, many are interested in the question: "How to grow a spruce from seeds at home and get a high-quality seedling?"

How to get a quality seedling when grown at home?

There are three ways to reproduce spruce trees:

vaccination;
by cuttings;
growing from seeds.

Cutting method: features

This is the easiest way to grow a new coniferous tree. Planting material is rooted in a greenhouse, since open ground has a negative effect on still immature conifers. So, planting a spruce begins with the selection of cuttings. Winter cuttings work best and produce results up to 4 times faster. The most favorable period for rooting is considered the moment of swelling of the kidneys. The main thing when breeding spruce is not to forget about maintaining the temperature regime and the required level of moisture.

Blue spruce, grown in this way, reaches 1 meter in height after 5 years. At this point, the tree can be replanted to a permanent place of growth.

Growing needles from seeds

How to grow spruce from seeds? This process is painstaking and lengthy, and the result depends on the selection of the material and how high-quality it was.

Seed collection

To grow any plant with your own hands, you need selected planting material, which is better not to buy, but to get it yourself. For growing spruce seedlings, seeds obtained from the fruits of a coniferous plant - cones are used. The collection of cones is carried out in mid-February. This is the perfect time to harvest complete spruce seeds. The cones are placed in a cloth bag and placed next to a heater or fireplace, which facilitates quick opening and free access to the grains. After a few weeks, you should be able to reach the seeds without damaging them. After the cones open, the spruce seeds in the bag are rubbed together to cleanse the lionfish. Rinsing under running water will get rid of the greasy film formed due to the release of essential oils.At the final stage of preparation, the planting material is well dried.

To ensure complete protection of seeds from bacteria, they are washed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, after which they are wiped with a cloth. The prepared seeds are placed in a glass jar, which, tightly closed, is placed in the refrigerator. The conditions in the freezer are as close to natural as possible (in the cold season), where the seeds are kept until mid-March.

How to grow a spruce from seeds yourself? It is very important to get good planting material, which, however, can be purchased on the market if necessary. The main thing is to know a good manufacturer.

Preparing the soil

In order for the blue spruce from seeds to grow healthy at home, it is recommended to prepare the site before sowing the specimens.

Important! Do not sow blue spruce seeds in places where you grow vegetables - they do not take root in the beds and quickly die.

The optimal growing medium is lawn soil mixed with soil taken from a coniferous tree. Growing in greenhouses involves two planting techniques:

directly into the ground;
into an additional container.

When planting seeds in pots, do not forget to prepare a peat mixture with the addition of limestone flour and ammophos in a ratio of 6: 0.035: 0.020 kg. The mixture is scattered into containers in which the spruce is planted. The pots themselves are buried deep into the earthen embankment in the greenhouse.

Important! Choosing the first method of planting, an additional top layer is poured over the soil layer - from sawdust and peat.

We plant seeds

First, determine the most favorable date for planting the spruce. The seedling will feel comfortable in nature if the ambient temperature is around + 19 ° C (+ -1-2 ° C).

Important! After changing the temperature regime (i.e. after the refrigerator), they can only be stored for 50 hours.

Before landing, the planting material is treated with a foundationol solution: 20 g per 10 liters of water.

Spruce is planted in well-moistened soil. If the spruce is grown in greenhouse conditions, then the containers are deepened into the ground by 1.5 cm, and a film is pulled from above. If on the open ground, first they tamp the earth in the hole, after which they put the seeds, covering them on top with a peat mixture and a thin layer of sawdust (about 1 cm).

Important! The distance between individual seeds should be at least 3.5-6 cm.

Seed germination

The first shoots can be observed in 10-14 days. If spruce seedlings are placed close to each other, there is a need to thin them out. Of the entire row of plants, only the strongest specimens are left, keeping the distance between them up to 7.5 cm.

When immature seedlings move to the active growth phase, it is necessary to maintain optimal conditions for growing needles, which are as follows:

cancel watering and put into practice light spraying of seedlings with water - 2 times a day;
maintain the temperature regime: the minimum temperature is + 13 ° C, the maximum is + 15 ° C.

Important! Remember that night frosts and direct sunlight during the day have a detrimental effect on immature young needles.

A month later, the seedling of a young blue spruce reaches a height of 3-4 cm. Experts note that indirect diffused sunlight has a good effect on the growth rates of specimens. Since small needles are not resistant to diseases affecting plants, namely to root rot, there is a need for special protection: first, the application of a fungicide will be required, after - treatment with an insecticide solution.

Plant transplant

You already know how to grow spruce seedlings from seeds, but it is impossible to do it qualitatively without transplanting annual plants. The procedure is carried out in early spring. After the seedlings reach the required level, it is important to plant the specimens you have bred so as not to lose the plants.

Before transplanting, pits are prepared, which are tamped and sprinkled with a layer of earthen mixture from under a coniferous plant.

How to carry out a transplant correctly?

Small Christmas trees are dug out of the ground, separating the interwoven roots of individual specimens. It is necessary to carry out this work quickly, but carefully so as not to damage the root system and not let it dry out.

Blue spruce, grown from seeds at home, requires special care. These are often standard rules.

Interesting! By the third year of growth, less than half of the seedlings survive.

Three years after the sowing of the seeds, the plants are re-transplanted. This is done to provide sufficient space for the roots of the spruce. During this period, the Christmas trees are planted at a distance of 1 m from each other.

Are you wondering how much spruce grows from seed? And we have an answer to this question. After 5 years, you will have a full-fledged spruce that exceeds 1 meter in height.

Such a bluish-green beauty will become a real decoration of the garden or will successfully complement the landscape composition. It is quite difficult to grow plants with your own hands, but due to the entertaining process and in case of a positive result, when it turns out that the efforts were not in vain, you will certainly be proud of your herringbone tree.

Foreword

Lovers of coniferous trees at least once in their lives thought about how to grow a spruce from seeds. Many people think that it is difficult to do it yourself and it is easier to acquire adult seedlings in the nursery. Perhaps your opinion will change today. You will learn how to collect planting material and prepare it for spring planting.

Why does spruce change color?

A spruce seedling that you have not always grown and planted will have exactly the same color as its progenitor. For example, if you have collected the cones of a blue spruce and planted its seeds in the ground, there is a good chance that your tree will not have the same bluish color. This can also happen when growing ordinary spruce. It is possible to understand what final color your spruce will have only 3-4 years after its transplantation to a permanent place of growth. That is why many people prefer to grow spruce from cuttings.

Ate on the site

If a spruce grows surrounded by one species, then the possibility of cross-pollination is minimal, which means that the chance to get a seedling from its seeds that is as close as possible to the original increases by several tens of times. If you want to grow a spruce on your site, you should decide in advance which tree you want to get - varietal or artificially bred hybrid. If you settled on the second option, then keep in mind that hybrids do not retain their parental forms during reproduction.

Seed harvesting - how to choose and prepare for stratification?

You can buy seeds for ordinary spruce, as well as other conifers, in a specialized store, but many prefer a simpler and more economical option - collecting fallen cones. You can collect them in a park, forest, or even from a neighbor in the country. The most favorable periods for harvesting cones are November and December. There is one important point. The cones should ripen and fall to the ground, but not have time to open, otherwise all the seeds will flutter in the wind, and you will have nothing to grow spruce from. Try to collect planting material from trees 7-8 years old, it is from such spruce that the percentage of seed germination is quite high.

Young spruce seedlings

We leave the collected cones for a couple of days (in some cases it may take a week) near the heater for them to open. When this happens, shake the bump well. Seeds with scales should pour out of the opened sinuses, which must be removed. To do this, rub the seeds between your palms, placing them first in a gauze or canvas bag. After that, we wash the cleaned seeds under running water, disinfect them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate and let dry.

The next stage is the stratification of spruce seeds. This is the immersion of seeds in a cold space, simulating natural growth conditions. This method will improve the germination of the crop and prepare the seeds for germination in the soil.Similar conditions can be created under snow, but given the variability of the weather in winter, it is better to use a refrigerator for stratification. Prepare a container, add wet peat to it or place peat tablets after soaking them in water and squeezing out excess moisture. Put the seeds on top and sprinkle them with a thin layer of peat, cover the container with a transparent lid or film and send it to the refrigerator. The seeds will stay in this state until spring, after which you can start planting in the ground.

Planting in a container and greenhouse - what kind of soil is needed?

Stratification is the initial step in growing spruce from seed. With the onset of warm spring days, think about the next important question - how to plant seeds in the ground. There are several options. You can plant seeds in a pot or greenhouse. Whichever method you choose, we first prepare the soil for planting. For 6 kg of peat, add 35 g of limestone flour and 20 g of ammophos. To make the soil even looser, you can add sand or vermiculite, focusing on the density of the mixture. If you do not want to prepare the planting soil yourself, purchase a ready-made mixture for conifers at the store.

Spruce

After preparation, pour the soil mixture into a pot or container. A day before planting the seeds, they must be "woken up" by immersing them in warm water and then dried. The seeds do not need to be buried deep, place them at a comfortable distance from each other on the surface of the soil and sprinkle them on top with earth no more than 1 cm thick.Otherwise, the sprouts will not be able to break through the thickness of the earth. If the spruce is grown in a pot, cover it with a transparent lid, and if in a greenhouse - with a film. This will prevent direct sunlight and create the right microclimate for active growth. Until the emergence of young shoots, maintain a moderate level of humidity, do not allow the soil to dry out, and also remove excess condensation with a dry cloth from the protective film or cover.

How quickly does a seedling develop and what does it need to grow?

If the level of humidity and light is normal, then after the first month of growth the spruce seedling will grow up to 3-4 cm. During this period, it is especially important to provide the young seedling with a long daylight hours using special LED lamps. When the spruce grows up and it becomes cramped in the container, you can make a transplant, performing it very carefully. At the same time, it is impossible to expose the root system of the plant; transplant into a new pot along with an earthen lump. Depending on the care and variety in the first year of growth, the height of the seedling may vary. As a rule, it is 15-25 cm.

Growing spruce

To accelerate the growth of the spruce, add biostimulants, and also feed it with a mullein solution in a 1: 5 ratio with water.

In winter, spruce watering should be adjusted depending on the temperature in the greenhouse or other room where it is grown. At 0 ° C we water no more than once a month, at higher rates - once every 2-3 weeks. In room conditions, we recommend to additionally spray the spruce from a spray bottle. If the needles turn yellow and fall off, it means that the temperature regime has been violated or there has been a sharp temperature drop. In this case, create comfortable conditions for the plant. The soil temperature should be about 23-24 ° С, and the air temperature should be 18-20 ° С. And in order to increase the immunity of ate, spray it with a biostimulant Zircon or Bona Forte.

Loss of the luster of the needles may indicate a weak acidity of the soil. To raise the pH, add some granular hydrangea soil to the topsoil. These flowers also love acidic soil, so this fertilizer is also suitable for spruce trees, so you create the right acid balance. If your future tree grows in a greenhouse, do not forget to cover it with protective material for the winter, mulch the soil with peat, and protect it from frost.

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You can decorate your yard with a small coniferous tree if you grow a spruce from seeds. It is cheaper than buying a seedling. Planting and care will not cause difficulties if you follow them according to the rules and take into account the characteristics of the plant.

Growing spruce at home from seeds

At first glance, planting a seedling is faster and more convenient. If you want to save money, dig a small tree in the forest and bury it on the site. But this operation is not entirely legal, forest spruces are protected by the state, and transplanting can be fatal to the plant.

It's easier to grow spruce from seeds harvested from nearby trees

But no one bothers to take cones from the trees you like, even those listed in the Red Book.

Landing should be done in the following sequence:

Collect planting material. In winter, take unopened cones from different, preferably not very young, trees, put them in a dry, warm place and wait until they open and the seeds fall out.
Prepare your seeds. Remove the lionfish from them, rinse under running water and treat with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, then dry. Place in a sterile jar and refrigerate for 2 months. This procedure, stratification, will strengthen the plant's immunity and stimulate germination. If the seeds were harvested at the end of February, you can skip it.
Prepare the soil. It can be collected where the cones were collected, calcined, sprinkled with a solution of potassium permanganate and mixed with peat, or you can buy ready-made soil for conifers.
Soak the seeds. In March, fill the spruce nuts with warm water, add a root formation stimulator if desired.
Plant the seeds. Place a layer of drainage in a large pot and cover with soil. Spread the grains over the surface, sprinkle with a thin layer of earth, pour from a spray bottle and cover with foil. Place on a windowsill next to the battery.

The germination time can range from 2 weeks to several months.

Caring for seed-grown spruce

Spray the emerged seedlings with water so that the soil does not dry out, but also not wet. The optimum temperature for them is about +15 ° C. Delicate plants do not like direct sunlight and frost. When they stretch out a little, thin them out, leaving the stronger ones.

With warming, take seedlings to fresh air. Water regularly, mulch, fertilize 1-2 times a month. They grow slowly, gradually becoming stronger. The next spring, plant them in the ground at a distance of 20 cm, adding a little needles to the holes.

For blue spruce, it is considered normal when half of the seedlings disappear in the third year.

Transplant three-year-old trees, increasing the distance between them to 1 m. Now it is enough to water them occasionally and feed them twice a year. In a few years, another transplant will be required - to a place where the spruce will grow constantly.

The seeds produce strong, hardened, frost-resistant trees. It will take time to grow them, but the resulting beauty will revive the site, create coziness, and become a decoration for the New Year's holiday.

Is it possible to grow a Christmas tree from seeds?

Experts say that growing spruce from seeds is a very real goal.Not every seed will grow into a green beauty: most of the cones from the forest end up in the house with immature seeds. The main thing is to adhere to some rules and recommendations.

Spruce variety selection

The origin of seeds, their germination and the choice of soil depend on the choice. For lovers of ate there are varieties with different needles, its shape and color. If the Christmas tree remains in the apartment, then you can choose dwarf varieties, ordinary and common spruce can grow from collected cones or seeds from the store. Not all purchased seeds germinate, therefore, if it is decided to grow ordinary spruce or blue (they also grow on the street, that is, cones are freely available), then the seeds can be collected independently.

When growing blue spruce from seeds, the result may not meet expectations: decorative forms of blue spruces, when propagated by seeds, rarely retain their decorative effect. In addition, the plant acquires a pronounced color at 4-5 years of life, but with proper agricultural technology at home, the color will appear in the third year, but not guaranteed.

How and when to collect seeds

To collect seeds, it is better to take an unopened cone in early December. The best option is to collect the cones in the city park, as they are better adapted after the winter snow melts. You need to know that young spruce trees may have empty cones and experts recommend collecting several cones from different trees.

If the cones got into the house before December, then you must wait for them to open. You can speed up the process by putting the cones on a battery in some kind of container so that the seeds do not crumble. To combat diseases, seeds brought from the street are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Purchased seeds also need to be treated with potassium permanganate.

In addition to disinfection, this procedure will strengthen the immunity of the future tree. Wet seeds must be thoroughly dried, and then sent for stratification, that is, to create a winter effect for successful germination. Experts advise different ways of stratification

Bring snow into containers, put seeds in it and send everything together in the freezer for a month
Ignite the sand as a disinfection, pour it into the box with a layer of 2-3 cm and put, more precisely, plant the seeds. Put the box on the refrigerator door.

In any case, stratification can be stopped already in February-March - it is at this time that the snow begins to melt, the soil is very wet and daylight hours increase. Seeds from cones brought in at the beginning of February do not need stratification - they passed it naturally, but processing with potassium permanganate is required.

How to plant seeds

Soil preparation

Seeds from the refrigerator can be planted in the same soil in which grown adults ate, having previously calcined it in the oven for disinfection. Before planting, spill with a weak solution of potassium permanganate for the same purpose and only then plant the seeds. To increase the nutritional value, you can add a little peat to the soil or buy a special soil for conifers. The most profitable option is to buy a ready-to-use mixture, but pouring it with potassium permanganate solution will still not be superfluous.

Seed preparation

Before planting, the seeds are soaked for three days in warm water until they swell (you can add a root formation stimulator according to the instructions). The pot must be chosen immediately large - the roots need freedom and moisture in the soil will last longer. This is very important: after all, in nature in spring, snow melts, and the earth is saturated with moisture.

It is imperative to put drainage on the bottom of the pot, and the prepared soil is poured on top and watered with a solution of potassium permanganate. Then seeds are laid out on the surface and sprinkled with a thin layer of soil. In order not to blur the sowing, it is convenient to irrigate the surface with a warm solution of potassium permanganate or water from a spray bottle. The sowing pot is covered with foil, and it is better to put it on the windowsill: the battery is nearby, and the sun.

If after two weeks nothing has sprung up, do not be upset: the seeds sprout for a very long time, you need to be patient. Sometimes two weeks are enough, sometimes months pass. If the spruce is planted in open ground, then the seeds should be planted at intervals of one and a half to two meters in February.

They are also stratified, soaked for swelling and then sown to the surface. The fallen snow does not need to be removed. You can sow seeds in a very large and deep container (barrel or tub) and leave them outside, burying them in the ground to the brim.

Seedling care

The first sprouts were eaten very tender. And they are easily exposed to the disease "black leg" - it is well known to both gardeners and lovers of indoor floriculture. Therefore, after the appearance of the entrances, watering stops, it will be enough to periodically spray from a spray bottle with lukewarm water. Temperature drops during the cold season will be beneficial for seedlings; direct sunlight should be avoided.

A healthy spruce seed is characterized by a straight white stem and a seed coat from which it appears on the surface. Then the stem changes color depending on the illumination of the location of the pot: to green with a raspberry tint in good light or to pale green with a brown tint in poor lighting. Among all the seedlings, it is advisable to immediately get rid of the weak, with a twisted stem and other defects.

After the appearance of the first leaves-needles, young shoots can be fertilized with special fertilizers for conifers.

Young spruce sprouts do not react well to the dry and warm air of apartments, therefore, after the onset of heat, it is better to take them out to the loggia or a warm balcony, in case of frost, bring them into the house. The best temperature for them is 15 degrees above zero. We must not forget that direct sunlight has a detrimental effect on the branches. Deforming them, and can lead to the death of the plant. When growing spruce in the open field, it must be remembered that the tree grows extremely slowly in the first years.

In the warm season, it must be regularly watered and mulched. In the first and second winter after germination, young trees are insulated by sprinkling a layer of peat on the trunk circle. Older trees do not require insulation. Growing spruce from seeds is troublesome, but rewarding. And it brings a result that is pleasant in all respects.

Video about the correct planting of spruce:

Date of publication:Growing at home