Thuja is a coniferous plant with an evergreen crown. It is for this reason that quite often landscape designers use it as a decorative element of the site. Thuja is an unpretentious plant that does not require a lot of time and effort from the gardener. Pyramidal trees are often planted in park areas to not only please the eye, but also purify the air. Despite the unpretentiousness of the plant, in order to properly grow thuja from seeds, you need to know some rules and features, which we will try to understand in this article.
How to grow a thuyu tree
Growing thuja from seeds at home is quite possible, despite the difficulties that may arise during the planting process. This method is very convenient in that you can simultaneously plant the required number of seedlings, which will grow evenly, have approximately the same size and shape. Using seed propagation, you can improve your site with beautiful and neatplants. The only drawback when growing thuja from seeds is that it takes five years to plant a plant in a permanent place.
Today, thuja is quite often grown at home. The plant not only has a pleasant coniferous aroma, but also cleans the indoor air from pathogenic bacteria. Thuja oriental "harmony" when grown from seeds in a pot, has an elegant appearance. It can complement the interior in the house, and thanks to its unpretentiousness, there will be no problems with it. However, before the plant can grow, it will have to be tinkered with. Only in this case, you can get good germination of shoots.
For planting thuja seeds you need:
- Prepare seeds.
- Prepare soil composition and seedling container.
- Prepared seeds to plant in a box.
- In the third year of life, seedlings are planted in the ground.
Adhering to the technology of planting thuja seeds, you can create your own landscape design of interest or just enjoy the beauty of a beautiful plant.
Preparation of seeds and soil for planting
If you decide to purchase a plant, you need to initially know how to plant thuja from seeds and then prepare for planting. If the gardener does not plan to buy seeds in the store, then they need to be collected on a tree. In early autumn, when a dark-colored cone appears on the branches of an adult thuja, they need to be collected and dried in warmth for at least a couple of days. The dried cone opens with a light tap, so you can extract the seeds. Whenseeds are collected, it is necessary to carry out stratification.
Seeds are placed in a cloth and dropped into the ground near a mature tree. From above you need to fall asleep with fallen leaves and leave for the winter. After the seeds have overwintered, they are taken out of storage and sown in a box or pot of sand. Seeds in a container are placed for another two months in a home refrigerator.
Planting thuja from seeds will take a lot of time and effort. However, in the end, the gardener will receive a beautiful plant that adorns his site. Thuja, despite its unpretentiousness, prefers to grow in a special nutrient medium, which must necessarily include: turf soil, peat additives and sand. The right proportion of mixtures can guarantee good plant growth from seed.
Sowing thuja seeds
You need to take a container or a wooden box in which drainage is laid on the bottom, prepared soil is poured. Next, you need to make grooves for thuja seeds. Planting and caring for the plant is simple, but only an amateur gardener is ready for such a long wait. It is worth noting that the width between the sowing rows should be at least six centimeters. Seeds are evenly sown in the prepared grooves, then they are covered with soil. After spraying, the box is covered with a film or glass lid. Seeds do not open until seedlings appear. Thuja sprouts in forty days. In appearance, its stems resemble dill. To prevent the seeds from being washed out of the soil, they must be watered carefully.
Before the shoots appear,a box with future plants should be in a warm place. Then the container with sprouts can be moved to a cooler place with good lighting. For plant growth, the room with young seedlings must be well ventilated. Spoiled sprouts should also be monitored. At the first manifestations of the disease, they must be removed so as not to harm the remaining plants. After forty days of care, you can get good and he althy plants. Of course, growing thuja from seeds is laborious and requires patience, but there is an easier way.
To simplify the procedure for preparing seeds and planting, you need to collect seeds at the end of autumn and sow untreated into the soil. The main condition for preparation is warming. To do this, you can use the leaves of various plants or sawdust. Already in spring, small stems will appear, which will eventually grow and will enchant with a pleasant coniferous aroma and evergreen foliage.
In vivo
In the spring, when nature wakes up from wintering, you can see how much the plants have grown. In one winter, the growth of a tree can change by several centimeters. Natural growth allows the thuja to be more thoroughly prepared for further planting in the ground. Growing thuja from seeds in natural conditions makes the roots and the plant itself he althy. If after the emergence of sprouts the distance between the stems is not too close, then in the first year they should not be planted.
Potting
Already for the second spring, thuja seedlings are planted in separate pots so that the plants do notcompeted with each other and developed well. Containers with seedlings should be placed outside in a cool place. It is undesirable that direct sunlight falls on a young plant. It is necessary to water thuja moderately, without waterlogging the soil. Abundant watering can adversely affect the root system of the future ornamental bush.
Ground landing
When a plant in a pot grows for the third year, then in the spring it's time to transplant it to a permanent place in the garden. After the thuja takes root in the ground, it is not afraid of cold or sunlight, and caring for the plant will not take much time and effort.
Advice! In order for the thuja to have the correct shape, the plant must be periodically cut, forming a crown and adjusting the height.
Temperature conditions for plants
Thuja does not need high temperatures or bright sunlight. Scattered enough. While the plants are in the same box, the room temperature should be maintained at 23 degrees Celsius in summer, and at +18 in winter.
When growing seedlings in pots for the winter, they are brought into a cool room. Despite the fact that thuja is considered a cold-resistant plant, it is important to adhere to the temperature regime in the early stages of life. Only in this case the root system and the crown will be in perfect order.
Sun for plants
The sown thuja does not need direct sunlight, therefore, in order to create optimal conditions for growth, the box with seedlings must be taken out onnorth or northwest side of the yard or house. Under such conditions, crops will receive the necessary diffused light for good growth.
When and how to transplant thuja seedlings
You can transplant thuja seedlings into the soil around the third year of life. If the landing is carried out earlier, then due to the weak root system, the plant may die.
It is important to prepare the soil for planting. The distance between plants should not be less than 30 centimeters, that is how much space is needed for proper growth. When the thuja is planted in the soil, there are no problems with caring for it. It will be necessary to water young plants and, if necessary, pull out weeds around plantings.
Despite the fact that the process of growing arborvitae from seeds is long and troublesome, a lot of gardeners and plant lovers do it for their own pleasure or use in landscape design.
Quite often today, a small thuja in a pot is presented to the owner-gardener as a gift if guests gather. A neat plant will perfectly fit into any garden style and help to complement it with extraordinary beauty. When the height of the plant is one meter, it can be transplanted to a permanent place in the garden.
Having studied the material, we conclude that it is possible to grow thuja from seeds at home or in the yard. A beautiful and unpretentious plant can not only bring joy, but also purify the air. A real gardener is not afraid of difficulties and difficulties, so today many grow pyramidal orspherical arborvitae in their summer cottages and in their own yards.
