2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The world of conifers is amazing. One can understand evergreen trees growing in a humid and warm natural environment. But how do the plants manage to stay green in severe frosts, when a good owner even leaves a dog near the fireplace? Among the conifers there is a gentle beauty Tuya, resistant to both high and low marks of a street thermometer. She will discard the tender twigs that have outlived their time together with the leaves and immediately release fresh shoots so that life continues. It is not for nothing that it is called the “Tree of Life”
Rod Tui
The genus Thuja is not numerous in nature, the fingers of one hand are enough to count its representatives. But man decided to diversify the genus and created many new forms, among which now are not only shrubs and evergreen tall trees, but also pretty dwarf trees; creeping, like lianas, plants; as well as root suckers, giving new shoots from the adventitious buds on the roots.
Habit
Green pyramids or cones from a dense crown distinguish thuja from coniferous counterparts. Strong and flexible, thin shoots with scaly leaves are not bare, since they fall off along with the leaves, giving way to new shoots. Unlike the usual for us conifers, covered with needle-like needles, thuja leaves are woven from small scales, sitting four pieces in whorls. Conical single cones are also covered with thin scales.
Varieties
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Thuja western (Thuja occidentalis) - horizontal shoots of western thuja hang down slightly, forming a broad-ovate or narrow-pyramidal crown. Needle leaves are green or dull on the upper side, but yellowish-green on the back. Yellow bumps are erect at an early age. As they grow, they acquire a brownish color and droop.
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Arbor vitae (Thuja orientalis) - small leaves of an oriental thuja, ovoid or diamond-shaped. Cones eventually turn light chestnut, with curved ends of the scales.
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Thuja giant or folded (Thuja gigantea or Thuja plicata) - due to its rapid growth, thuja is popular for landscaping urban gardens and parks. Its conical or pyramidal dense crown can be found today in industrial smoky cities, where it actively helps purify the air. The plant is shade-tolerant. Bright green glossy scaly needles on the reverse side are covered with white small stripes. Brown-yellow cones covered with sparse scales can be seen only on mature trees.
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Decorative forms - from all the above types of thuja, many different decorative forms have been obtained. They are characterized by their small size, crown density, variety of leaf colors, and bushes.
Growing
Thuja is grown outdoors and as a pot culture. They make forest shelter belts from it; hedges, planting plants at a distance of 70 cm from each other; used in single landings.
For thuja, a humid and cool climate is preferable. Landing in a permanent place is carried out in March or November. Soils for it need deep, moist, but without stagnant water. When grown in pots, a mixture is made from fertile soil, peat and organic fertilizers, making liquid mineral dressings from the second year after planting.
Thuja is a sun-loving plant, but it will also endure partial shade. It grows in both hot and cold climates.
Young plantings require watering. Regular, but moderate, watering is needed for thuja growing in a pot.
Reproduction and transplantation
The most popular breeding method is sowing seeds, which is carried out in containers in February, and in open ground in March.
When grown in containers, the latter are kept in an unheated indoor area. When the seedlings grow up, each is entitled to a separate pot. After a couple of years, you can plant seedlings in open spaces.
The decorative forms of thuja bred by humans are propagated by autumn cuttings, placing the cuttings in a mixture of peat and sand, taken in a 1: 1 ratio.
Species producing root suckers are propagated by separating them from the mother plant.
Potted specimens are transplanted in the spring if the roots are cramped in their previous pot. Otherwise, they simply add fresh soil or replace the surface layer.
Diseases and pests
The delicate thuja has many enemies. Its scaly leaves are threatened by fungi, aphids, worms, woodworm beetle, miner fly.
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