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24 12 2010 admin 21 comments
Spruce (Picea)
Family - pine (Pinaceae).
Origin - North America, Northern Europe, Northeast and Central Asia, Western and Central China.
Growing a Christmas tree at home is not at all easy, but today many are following this path, trying to protect millions of young trees from the ruthless custom. Someone brings home a Christmas tree in a container, bought in a nearby greenhouse, someone is trying to grow a fir tree from seeds.
When growing spruce at home, the most difficult thing is to provide the tree with a period of winter dormancy. This requires a cold, bright and well-ventilated room, which is difficult to find in a heated apartment. In the warmth, the Christmas tree cannot "fall asleep", its natural cycle is disrupted, which leads to the appearance of uncharacteristic painful shoots or drying out.
Also, do not forget that in nature, spruce is a large, powerful tree that cannot be locked in a pot forever. A two-three-year-old tree must be transplanted into its natural habitat, no matter how sorry it is to part with a pet.
Types of spruce
For those who decide to grow a Christmas tree at home, it is better to pay attention to such unpretentious and inexpensive species as common spruce or prickly spruce. Serbian spruce is very hardy, its dark green needles are highlighted with silver from below.
When you click on the picture, it will increase!
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Norway spruce |
Spruce prickly |
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Serbian spruce |
Serbian spruce |
There are dwarf types of spruce: Canadian spruce Conica (ten-year-old plant height about 50 cm) or common spruce Nidiformis (30 cm), which can fit in an apartment, but their appearance is somewhat different from the traditional one.
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Canadian spruce Conica |
Norway spruce Nidiformis |
Spruce care at home
Lighting... Spruce prefers bright diffused light. Young trees should be grown in a well-lit area out of direct sunlight. Spring sunburn is especially dangerous.
Temperature regime... Moderate, requires coolness in winter. The optimum winter temperature is +6 - + 10 ° С. Spruce can easily withstand a drop in temperature to negative marks (at night on a loggia), but at the same time you need to make sure that the clod of earth does not freeze. Ventilation is necessary in summer.
Watering... Regular abundant watering from spring to autumn. The clod of earth must be constantly and evenly moistened. Drying out or waterlogging is unacceptable. During the rest period, watering is reduced to once every 2-3 weeks (if the room temperature is +5 - + 10 ° C). If the temperature is about 0 ° C, then watering is reduced to once a month.
Periodic spraying from a fine spray is necessary, especially in winter in a heated room.
Fertilizers... Top dressing with universal fertilizers for growth.
Earth mixture... In order to grow spruce from seed, you need acidic soil. You can buy a special soil for conifers, or prepare it yourself by mixing in equal parts a universal soil mixture and earth from a coniferous forest.
Transfer... The transplant is extremely difficult to tolerate with spruce. It is necessary to preserve the integrity of the earth clod and prevent exposing the roots. The transplant is carried out every two years at the end of spring.
Reproduction... In order to successfully grow a spruce from seed, it is necessary to collect seeds from the opened cones collected between November and February. You need to sow seeds to a depth of no more than 0.5 cm.Before the emergence of shoots, the pot should be in a cool ventilated room (in nature, spruce grows in early spring under the snow).
One-year-old seedlings usually reach a height of 15-25 cm, depending on the variety and growing conditions.
Possible problems when growing spruce at home
Needles turn yellow and fall... Usually this is a consequence of mistakes in care (temperature regime, improper watering, sunburn). Affected branches are not restored. You can change the conditions of detention and spray with bio-regulators (drugs that increase the immunity of plants are sold in specialized stores).
The needles have lost their shine and wrinkled. The soil mixture is insufficiently oxidized. It is necessary to add soil from under conifers to the topsoil. You need to be very careful: firstly, do not expose the roots of the plant, and secondly, prevent changes in ground level, that is, do not plant the tree deeper than it was before.
Irina Surdu specially for the site All about flowers
The forest beauty is an indispensable guest of the New Year holidays, but she can please the eye at any other time of the year. To do this, you just need to purchase not a cut tree, but in a pot or tub. You can buy a Christmas tree of this kind on the Internet without any problems.
But in order for it to take root, it will take a little effort and use the tips that are given in this article. They will help you grow a real stately beauty from a small Christmas tree.
Council number 1. To grow a Christmas tree in a pot, it is best to buy an ordinary or prickly spruce. These types are the least whimsical, so there is a high probability of achieving a positive result. And given that in nature, spruce is a tall, powerful tree, dwarf species are most suitable for growing at home. The specialists of the Internet bazaar "New Yolki" will surely tell you about such subtleties, if you call (495) 798-77-67, (916) 508-36-11). The assortment includes potted Christmas trees that can be grown at home.
Council number 2. Create favorable conditions for the plant. This applies to aspects such as lighting and temperature control. The spruce should be protected from direct sunlight, although there should be enough light. In the spring, there is a possibility of getting burned, which is very harmful to the seedlings. The optimum temperature in the cold season is + 6 ... + 10, so it is best to keep the container with the plant in a glazed loggia. Do not forget to ventilate it in the summer. In no case should the earth freeze or dry out, otherwise the tree will die.
Council number 3. Proper watering and feeding. Three seasons - from spring to autumn - abundant watering is recommended. It is very important to monitor the uniformity of soil moisture. Both drying out and waterlogging will be harmful. The frequency of watering depends on the temperature: at + 5 ... + 10 - once every 2-3 weeks, at 0 degrees - once a month. It is also required to moisten the crown of the seedling. It is especially important to do this if live trees are in a heated room during the cold season. For feeding, the usual means used for plant growth are suitable.
Council number 4. The soil for planting must be acidic. In stores, you can find specifically designed for planting conifers. If you decide to mix it yourself, then use in equal proportions the universal mixture and the earth from the coniferous forest.
Council number 5. When planning to transplant a tree, be very careful with the root system. Bare roots and a violation of the integrity of the earth clod will lead to the fact that the tree will not take root. The most favorable time for "moving" is the end of spring. Frequency - every two years.
If you have already decided to buy a Christmas tree on the Internet, then the New Yolki online store is ready to help you make this wish come true. Above are the phones where you can call and place an order, and you can get acquainted with the assortment in advance by looking at the website of our Internet bazaar at And let the forest beauty make you happy 365 days a year.
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Spruce is the most beautiful and capricious tree that you can try to grow at home. After all, she requires special care. In natural conditions, the coniferous beauty is resistant to frost and does not tolerate the warm air of home conditions at all.
In order not to buy a barbarously felled tree on New Year's Eve, you can grow it yourself.It is known that under natural conditions a tree can live for 200 years. Spruce grown at home after three years should still be transplanted into open ground. But until that time comes, you can enjoy your personal coniferous masterpiece.
In order for a tree to grow, it is necessary:
- Landing
- Watering and feeding
- Temperature regime
- Correct care
- Lighting
As a rule, many people dream of growing a spruce on their own, but before starting this difficult business, you need to be confident in your abilities. Painstaking work and proper care will provide you with two or three years of observing the growth of the forest beauty.
There are three ways to grow a coniferous beauty at home:
- seeds
- cuttings
- saplings
Breeding spruce from seed
Under natural conditions, seeds fall out of the fruit of the tree, cones, which fall to the ground in autumn. Then all winter they are under a layer of snow and only by the end of February, at the beginning of May they begin to germinate.
At home, you can speed up this process, due to the fact that there is no snow at home, the seeds are sown in a container, at a distance of 5 - 6 cm. The sand should be wet, but the water should not stagnate, otherwise the seeds may rot. This container is placed in the refrigerator on the door or in a box for vegetables. It can be kept for a month, but best of all until the onset of spring.
When the daylight becomes longer and will last up to about 17 hours, the container with seeds must be taken out and placed on the windowsill by the battery. This will bring the crops closer to natural conditions. During this period, the seeds need abundant watering, since in nature the snow begins to melt and the soil is rather wet. Those who germinate seeds for the first time need to be patient, because after 12 - 16 days there will be shoots on the window.
Young shoots should be watered so that the ground is moist. During this period, irrigation with fertilizers can be introduced. In natural conditions, the fertilizer is the humus of needles and cones.
As soon as the young seedlings get stronger, they must be transplanted into separate pots. It is best to dig up the land in a coniferous forest, if there is no such in the vicinity, a soil substrate is acquired for growing coniferous plants.
As soon as the young shoots began to grow together, put them on the window and make sure that there is enough lighting. It is necessary to darken only when the direct rays of the sun hit the plants. They can cause burns in young growth.
Direct sunlight deforms branches and can lead to plant death
As soon as the cold weather has passed, and a stable heat comes, as a rule, in May, small spruces can be taken out into the open air: a balcony, terrace or loggia. At the first frost, bring the trees into the house, and in winter, make sure that the plant is in a bright room with a maximum temperature of 15 degrees.
Breeding spruce cuttings 
Before planting cuttings, you need to prepare a nutritious soil. The stalk is best cut from a tree that is 6 to 9 years old. It is necessary to take a one-year-old twig from above. Clean the tip of the needles, put it in a weak growth stimulator for 5-10 minutes and then transplant it into the soil at an angle of 30 degrees. Cover the planting immediately with foil. Cuttings are planted only in spring or autumn. Watering the seedlings should be carried out as the soil dries up. We must not forget about fertilizers.
Trees grown from cuttings take root much faster, but at home they will not last long, and after that they will have to say goodbye to homemade spruce, since for its normal existence it is necessary to plant it on the site.
Planting coniferous seedlings
Saplings are purchased from shops or greenhouses. It is best to buy them during the spring or fall time. You will not have any worries about growing, the finished tree will delight you for two to three years.
“After purchasing the seedlings, they need to be transplanted into another pot, while making sure that the roots of the plant are not exposed and that the clod of earth is intact.It is necessary to transplant to the same depth as before. "
Watering and feeding
Spruce is a capricious tree, so care for it must be correct, and especially watering. The earth ball must be constantly moist. Waterlogging or dryness can lead to the death of the plant. It is necessary to water the plant with the addition of mineral fertilizer from May to September. Fertilize twice a month. When the dormant period from November to March comes, completely cancel the fertilization.
In the winter period of rest, there should be special care for the spruce, if it is at home, it is imperative to spray on the needles from a fine spray, if there are heating devices in the room.
Watering is reduced to 2 times a month, if the regime is observed from 5 to 15 degrees. If the spruce is in a cool room, in which the temperature is about 0 degrees, watering once a month will be enough.
Temperature for normal growth of spruce
"Spruce loves coolness and does not tolerate warm air in winter"
In summer, the temperature can be different, a young tree will endure everything, but if there is stagnation of air, it will start to hurt. In summer, the room where the spruce grows must be ventilated.
In winter, it is necessary to give the coniferous plant a rest period, otherwise it will be depleted and will quickly die. The optimum temperature for keeping in winter is 5-15 degrees. Although a tree can easily tolerate a drop in the thermometer to zero and below, the main thing is to make sure that the earthen lump does not freeze.
Correct care
By observing all the necessary requirements for keeping spruce at home, you can enjoy the smell of pine needles. But those who like the forest beauty can grow it every year, and when the tree reaches maturity, plant it in open ground. This is necessary since the spruce root has a wedge-shaped shape for the first 15 years, and only then it dries up, leaving behind lateral branches. The deeper the root goes into the ground, the longer the spruce will grow. Unfortunately, at home, we are not able to provide sufficient depth for the root.
Do not be sad, because new shoots are sprouting on the window, and the three-year-old beauties will decorate the backyard, and will become a wonderful memory to your heirs.
Lighting
Spruce is a light-loving plant, but young seedlings do not tolerate direct sunlight on the needles. But mature trees love the sun and are drawn to it. In winter, young trees must also be provided with lighting, since if it is not enough, the tree will die. During the dormant period, the spruce undergoes photosynthesis processes, but at a slower pace.
If you care for the spruce with love, then the spruce will answer you with its love and beauty.
On the eve of the New Year, the question of the Christmas tree as the main symbol of the holiday is becoming more acute. Opponents of the plastic tree in the apartment understand that a spruce felled in the forest is not an option, because it costs a lot, but it will begin to crumble pretty soon. The most logical decision seems to be to grow and decorate a plant in a pot for the holiday - minimum costs, no cleaning, and not a single Christmas tree will suffer due to traditions.
Can you grow your own spruce?
As a New Year's, in principle, any plant can become, at least from a distance resembling a coniferous tree, for example, cypress or boxwood. For those who are not looking for easy ways and strive to achieve perfection in everything, it's time to study the question of how to grow a Christmas tree at home, because this is more than real!
The biggest difficulty in growing a Christmas tree at home is the limited ability of a city apartment to provide a so-called dormant period for the spruce. If you pay attention to the life cycle of an ordinary forest tree, it is not difficult to notice that during the year the temperature regime that it has to endure varies from +30 heat in the summer to frost - 30 in the winter months. Fir-trees easily tolerate such temperature changes throughout the year, moreover, these conifers are perfectly adapted to them, and violation of the temperature regime only leads to diseases of the firs.
That is why it is better to start growing a Christmas tree in an apartment if there is a loggia or other cold and cool place. You should also be prepared that in two or three years the tree will have to be transplanted into the natural conditions of the forest, because in nature spruce trees reach a height of several tens of meters, and for a tree of such dimensions, of course, neither a pot of earth, nor even the largest size is enough rooms.
On average, spruce lives for about 300 years, but sometimes its age can be up to 600 years. The oldest Christmas tree on Earth is now almost a thousand years old, and it grows in Sweden. "Old Tikko" - that is the name of the tree - lives and lives in Fulufjellet National Park and is revered as the oldest arboreal organism on the planet.
How to grow a spruce
You can grow a Christmas tree at home in several simple and affordable ways for everyone.
- From a seed.
By growing your own tree from a seed, you are guaranteed not to break the law (after all, in some regions of the country it is forbidden to dig trees in the forest) and you will get a Christmas tree, almost from birth adapted to a new place of residence in your house.
What you need to do to grow a tree from scratch:
- Collect some mature buds of the desired type of spruce that have opened in natural conditions.
In autumn, somewhere in October, you need to go to the nearest park or forest and look for open cones with seeds in them under the trees. If you bring a closed cone home, it will also open, but the seeds in it may not be fully ripe.
Fir-trees belong to gymnosperms and they arose much earlier than angiosperms (flowering) plants. Due to their characteristics, gymnosperms often displace other plants from the growing territory. The most striking example of such a neighborhood is Christmas trees and birches. At first, small spruces, loving moisture and shade, grow under the crowns of birches, then they become taller than them, later they shade deciduous trees and acidify the soil, thereby finally destroying trees of other species.
- Plant the seeds in a pot and place in a cool place (preferably a refrigerator) for a couple of months.
Generally trees grow and adapt to absolutely any land from swamps to rocky soil, from sand to clay, but best of all, the spruce, of course, will grow on fertile black soil. It will also be important to add a little soil to the pot from under the spruce, under which you found a cone with seeds.
- After two months, when the seeds are ready to germinate, you should put the pot on a windowsill, on which it is not very hot and not too dark.
By spring, your Christmas tree will be about 5 cm in size, and after two or three years it will reach a height of half a meter and will ask to be transplanted into the garden.
- From a seedling.
If you do not have the opportunity, desire or time to grow a Christmas tree from a seed, then you can immediately purchase a spruce seedling. It will certainly be a plant in a pot with a closed root system at the age of just two to three years, that is, ready for transplanting into open ground.
In recent years, it has become popular to acquire a spruce seedling just before the New Year in order to celebrate cheerfully, smelling the needles of a real live Christmas tree, and in the spring to transplant it into a park or forest.
Among the ancient peoples, the spruce was considered a sacred tree, they worshiped it, looked after and decorated it in every possible way. Having become Christians, the Europeans, nevertheless, preserved a number of pagan traditions, including decorating the Christmas tree, only now at Christmas. And Peter I, wanting that his state fully comply with European canons, introduced this tradition on the territory of Russia.
By choosing this way to celebrate the New Year, indeed, you can kill at least two birds with one stone: do not harm the environment, condoning the felling of trees for the sake of traditions, and contribute to the normalization of the ecological situation by planting a new tree in the spring.
In order for the seedling to take root and feel good in the open field, you need to study the features of its existence until the moment it is in your hands. That is, it is better to select a tree for which you already have suitable conditions. In other words, if, for example, you want to have a Christmas tree in your yard, then the seedling should be chosen according to the conditions of your yard, and not hope that a two or three year old tree will be able to adapt to the changed conditions... This is extremely unlikely, and most likely, if the light and heat conditions and the nature of the soil are too different, the Christmas tree will begin to hurt and may even die.
If the conditions for the "birth" of the tree and those in which you transplant it almost completely coincide, then all that remains is to immerse the tree in the hole exactly to the depth at which it was in the pot, and water in the event of a dry summer (about 10 liters of water in week during extreme heat).
- From a twig.
Another popular way, due to its effectiveness, to grow a Christmas tree yourself - from a twig or a cutting, as professional gardeners call it.
A twig about 20 cm long must be cut in spring or autumn from the top of a beautiful and healthy spruce, which is at least 5 years old, slightly cleaned of needles at the base and planted in the ground - in a pot at home or in a greenhouse on the street. In order for the stalk to be guaranteed to take root, you can soak its end for half an hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and only then plant it in the ground. After planting, it is better to cover the stalk with a film and maintain the soil temperature at 21-26 degrees Celsius, and keep the air temperature at least 4-7 degrees. The first days before the roots appear, you need to water the newly-made seedlings several times a day, and then reduce the amount of water as they take root and take root in the soil. It is important to remember that Christmas trees do not like heat and direct sunlight, but they also cannot stand complete darkness.
How to transplant a spruce from the forest
If you have a house on your own land, and you want to start admiring an adult Christmas tree as soon as possible and lead round dances around it for the New Year, you can transplant the tree directly from the forest... The most important thing here is not to damage the root system of a sufficiently mature tree and, when planting, mix the soil from your site with the one from which the tree was taken.
It is best to replant the tree in the fall or spring, giving it abundant watering and protecting it at first and, if necessary, from the scorching rays of the sun and other extreme weather events that can adversely affect an already stressed tree.
In general, conifers do not like frequent changes of their place of residence, so you should not rely on the idea that a Christmas tree can be kept in an apartment for a while, then planted in open ground, and do this several times with the same tree. Sooner or later, you will have to part with your favorite in favor of more natural conditions for her.
But there is also an option when not an ordinary forest Christmas tree grows at home, but a specially bred species. You can watch the video below about growing such specimens.
How to grow a spruce at home (video)
