Thuja is deservedly considered one of the most popular conifers in landscaping home gardens, so it is not surprising that the issue of planting and further productive care of it is of interest to many gardeners, and not always just for beginners. So when it is better to plant a tree, how not to make a mistake with the choice of its location, and what you should know about the rules for growing a culture - this will be discussed in this article.

When to plant

In terms of a specific planting time, thuja can be attributed to universal plants, since it takes root equally well on a site during both spring and autumn planting, the main thing in both cases is to comply with certain process requirements. The advantage of planting seedlings in the spring is considered to be a greater amount of time before the onset of winter frosts, which means that young immature plants will have time to well develop their root system and calmly transfer the winter.

For faster adaptation of the plant to a new place, during spring planting, about 50 g of nitroammophoska should be added to the soil of the planting pit.

Of course, for this to happen in this way, you should not plant arborvitae too early, even though young specimens usually adapt well in a new place. When moving a seedling to a new growth site, the earth lump should be preserved so as not to break off the small root processes located in it.

Important! The dosage of fertilizer per plant should be calculated taking into account the number of thuja planted on the site: the more neighbors a particular specimen has, the more nutrients it will need for normal growth and development.

If desired, you can drop the thaw in the autumn, the main thing: do not delay this process until the onset of frost. The optimal time for autumn planting is the beginning of September-mid-October, since the second half of the season in almost all regions of the Russian Federation is characterized by a sharp cooling, possibly with a significant decrease in temperature.

After planting the plant, the soil in its near-stem circle needs to be insulated with fallen leaves or lay out a layer of compost there, then regularly removing snow drifts from fragile tree branches (they often break under the weight of adhering snow).

Video: Features of landing thuja during the seasons

The influence of the region on landing dates

Adult thuja trees are frost-resistant crops that easily tolerate winters in the middle regions of Russia. However, in the case of young seedlings, everything is not so clear, therefore, before performing planting activities, you should choose the best time for this, especially focusing on the climatic characteristics of a particular region of residence.

Examples for the most common areas are given in the table:

If for some reason you do not have time to complete all the work on time, try to do it at least a month before the onset of the expected frost.

Seedling Selection

To get only a high-quality and beautiful adult thuja plant, it is worth paying increased attention to the issue of choosing a young seedling, which is desirable to buy only in specialized nurseries. Firstly, in such places there are much more chances to get a specific variety of interest, and SecondlyIf in the future there will be any problems in the process of growing crops, you can always contact the seller and clarify the points of interest to you.

Important! To find out about the true state of the selected thuja seedling, some gardeners resort to a little trick. Try to gently squeeze the needles in your hand for a couple of seconds, and then let go: if they quickly return to their original state - you can buy such a plant, everything is in order with it.

Today on sale there are young seedlings of two main types, each of which will have its own characteristic external features that are worth paying attention to when buying them. Plants with a closed rhizome are always sold in a container (pot or some other capacity) and are considered a more rational solution because of the increased protection of the root system during cultivation and transportation to the point of sale.

Moreover, such arborvitae are much easier to transplant to a permanent place of growth (by transshipment method), the main thing is to remove the rhizome with an earthen lump immediately before planting in the chosen place: if you leave the open rhizome longer than 10 minutes, the roots will begin to dry out, which is negative in the future will affect the viability of a young seedling.

Did you know? In Latin, the word "Thuja" has an ancient Greek root, which allows you to interpret the word as "incense". This is not surprising, because in ancient times, tree branches were actually used for bonfires in sacrificial rituals.

Open root rhizomes are usually sold in bags and without an earthen coma. Of course, their cost is much lower than the previous option, but when planting there will be more trouble, especially if the plant is bought in advance and it still needs to be stored somewhere.

However, no matter what option you like, it is important to remember some general rules for choosing a quality thuja seedling:

1. It is good if it is a plant 3-4 years old (such instances take root faster).
2. All parts of the arborvitae should have their natural color, without yellowness, too dry, or, conversely, too soft patches, both on the shoots and on the trunk itself.
3. It is desirable that the crown of the plant has a regular, symmetrical shape, then it will be magnificent and beautiful in an adult thuja.
4. Plants with an open rhizome should have elastic and elastic roots, without traces of mold, rotting or the development of diseases (you can even smell the roots to make sure there is no putrid smell or aroma of dampness). To assess the state of the rhizome in a closed seedling, look at the drainage holes located in the lower part of the tank: the rhizome should not stick out from them, otherwise it can be assumed that the thuja was in the container for a very long time and could not fully develop due to crowding. The natural color of healthy roots is white and pink, but the brown shade should alert.
5. The needles of a thuja seedling suitable for planting normally have a rich green color, and exceptions can be made only with varieties with golden or yellow needles, which is laid at their genetic level. Brown color indicates poor care of the young plant, especially if the needles crumble.

Landing instruction

Before planting a selected thuja seedling, it is worth paying attention to several basic aspects of the process, because, in addition to following the sequence of all the actions performed, it is important to choose the right place for planting and prepare the landing hole. Of course, each of them has its own characteristics.

Did you know? Residents of Canada often use fresh branches of thuja as brooms for cleaning or simply decorating housing, because in addition to a pleasant coniferous aroma, they also have useful volatile compounds that cleanse the air.

Seat selection

When choosing a site for planting a coniferous representative, always take into account the characteristics of the purchased thuja variety, because for large specimens you will need much more space than for dwarf varieties. However, in both cases, the selected area should be well lit by sunlight.

Plants can grow in shady areas, but their decorative qualities and splendor of the crown will suffer: insufficient lighting makes needles and shoots rare and not so attractive.

The soil composition at the cultivation site can be any, but it is better if it turns out to be fertile and moisture-permeable substrates. Without enough moisture in the soil, the plant will very quickly begin to turn yellow and crumble.

With the right choice of territory and compliance with all the requirements for the implementation of the planting measures themselves, further care for the arborvitae will not be difficult, and it will always delight the eye with its rich green color.

Pit preparation

They begin to prepare the planting hole a few days before the planting itself, choosing the size of the pit, taking into account the parameters of the earthen coma of the seedling. On average, the diameter of such a hole is about 1 m, with a depth of 70–90 cm (about 2 bayonet shovels). The upper layer of land should be thrown aside, then mixed with fertilizer and returned to the hole during planting.

Drainage

Good drainage is an important condition when growing thuja, because despite its love for moist soil, stagnation of water near the root system of the plant is better to avoid. The optimal thickness of the drainage layer is 10-15 cm, and broken brick, expanded clay and other similar rocky rocks are ideal for the role of material.

We fill the hole with a substrate

On top of the laid out drainage, you need to pour a layer of peat-sand mixture, if necessary, adding substances useful in strengthening thuja rhizomes to it (sold in many gardening stores). On top of the drainage, you can first lay a layer of turf shredded by a shovel (grass down), then fill in a layer of leaves (3-5 cm thick), and then add a little clean earth and tamp.

Repeating this procedure several times, you fill the pit up to about the middle, after which it remains only to place the seedling in the center and fill it with the remaining soil.

Planting a seedling

In general, the technology of planting a thuja is not much different from a similar process with other trees, however, in order for a young plant to quickly take root on the site and grow, its root neck should remain at ground level, not deeper and not higher than it.

Having sprinkled the growth point with the earth, the coniferous plant will begin to decay, and if it remains above the surface of the earth, the plant can quickly dry up and die. It is not difficult to determine the root neck on the seedling: in this place, the roots pass into the stem part of the plant and the surface color changes from light brown to green.

A step-by-step description of the landing activities will consist of the following steps:

1. Placing the seedling in the center of the prepared hole.
2. Its filling with soil mixture, with soil compaction throughout the volume.
3. Watering and mulching the earth.

Prepared potash or phosphorus mineral compounds in the amount of 50–100 g per plant can be added to the soil as nutrients during planting. In the future, top dressing is repeated no more than once or twice a year, and if the plant looks healthy without them and is highly decorative, then you can increase the interval between procedures up to 1 time in 2 years.

Video: Planting thuja seedlings

Plant care

After landing of a thuja, all actions during its further cultivation are reduced to several main aspects: regular watering, periodic top dressing, seasonal pruning and proper preparation of young, immature seedlings for winter frosts. When performing each of these actions, certain requirements must be observed.

Watering and feeding

All arborvitae love moisture, but they should not be overmoistened. Watering once every 7 days, with a flow rate of 15-20 liters of water for each adult plant, will be quite enough. In a dry period, the frequency of humidification can be increased up to two times a week, and if the groundwater level is close to the surface, on the contrary, it can be reduced to a minimum. If the thuja does not have enough moisture, this is manifested in the yellowing of the apical part or even shedding needles.

In addition to basal wetting, weekly sprinkling from a hose, during which all dust and dirt is washed off from the plant, will be no less useful. If it is very hot outside, this procedure must be performed twice a day: morning and evening.

Fertilize the culture begin not earlier than a year after planting, using mostly complex mineral compositions for this. The first time they are planted in the soil in early spring (until the end of March), and as for the dosage, then it is worth considering the manufacturer's recommendations indicated on the package (compositions like “AGRECOL” or “VILA SPRINT” will be relevant in this case).

If necessary, the gardener can carry out a second autumn top dressing, especially if the thuja has recently been transplanted or has been planted on depleted soils. In this case, the safe way to fertilize is to add the plant with substances such as peat, ash, compost or bone meal, which you just need to close up in the ground of the trunk circle of the arborvitae.

Cropping and shaping

In most cases, a coniferous plant is cut several times a year (in early spring, in June and August), starting from the third year after planting on the site. When forming pruning, it is recommended to cut no more than 1/3 of the length of each shoot, be sure to cover the places of cuts with garden varieties. After spring pruning, throughout the summer, corrective pruning is possible, which is important for those cases when already cut branches began to grow in the wrong direction.

If for decorative purposes you need to create a small and compact tree, then it is better to pinch the top of the arborvitae, thereby stimulating the growth of its lateral shoots and limiting the height. Sanitary removal of shoots is carried out mainly in the spring, but if, in preparing the coniferous representative for winter, the gardener notices broken or damaged branches of the disease, they should also be cut, treating the wounds with garden varnish or special garden paint.

Diseases and Pests

The main pests of thuja are usually mottled moth, due to which the apical shoots of the culture die off, false shields (feeds on the juice of young shoots, because of which the latter die), the beetle-nutcracker (damages the rhizome of the plant). In addition, aphids are often found on plants, although, in comparison with previous insects, it becomes a problem much less often.

In any case, so that the coniferous plant grows and develops well, it is advisable to rid it of insects the first time they are discovered by spraying the trees with a solution of an insecticidal preparation (for example, “Karbofos” or “Aktellik”). The norms of use and the method of preparation of the ready-to-use mixture are always indicated by the manufacturer on the packaging with the substance.

As for the common diseases of thuja, more often than others, you can find signs of late blight on it (destroys the root of the culture and leads to softening of the stem), fusarium and browning shoots, with yellowing of individual flakes of needles.

To prevent the development of these ailments, the drug "Fundazole" is often used, although Horus and Topsin-M can help in the treatment of ailments. Spraying plantations with any of them should be performed only in dry and calm weather, preferably at least 2-3 days before the expected rainfall.

How to prepare a tree for winter

Adult thuja plants calmly tolerate winter temperature drops in almost any region of Russia, but it’s better to cover young, recently planted seedlings in the first few years of cultivation with burlap, which should protect them from cold and sunburn.

As a covering material, it is desirable to use only textile products, since polymer or synthetic variants will not be able to reliably protect plants from freezing.It is not worth it to tighten the material strongly on the crown of the thuja, because without a good air circulation during thaws, the plant can lock up.

To help the culture survive the winter temperature drops, it will be useful to feed the trees before hibernation, choosing the nutrient composition correctly and trying not to overdo it with the amount of it (incorporating peat or compost into the ground is not bad for these purposes).

The root system of young plants can be additionally covered with fallen leaves, sprinkled with soil on top. Such a layer will not only create heat in the thickness of the soil, but will also retain moisture well, while improving the composition of the earth during rotting.

In general, subject to all recommendations for planting and further care for the arborvitae on the site, no difficulties of cultivation should arise. If the plant is comfortable in the selected place, and from the soil it can receive a sufficient amount of moisture and nutrients, it will be able to delight the eye with its splendor and rich green color of needles year round. It is these qualities that landscape designers and gardeners value most in this culture.