Thuja enjoys special love among summer residents. Thuja living fences make the plot very beautiful. But for such work dozens of seedlings are needed. Therefore, the question of how to breed thuja is very relevant for summer residents and owners of suburban areas. Unpretentious frost-resistant thuja is often used to design summer cottages, house adjoining territories. Reproduction of this coniferous tree implies three methods: seed, cuttings, by the sprouted trees (finished seedlings). Consider all three.
Thuja seed propagation
The seed variant is very long, laborious, since at least 5 years will pass by the time the bush is planted in the ground. In addition, the thuja can lose its varietal characteristics during the development, and the only advantage of this situation will be the adaptation of the plant to the local climate. However, if you are interested in the process itself, then you will need a soil mixture (sand, coniferous, deciduous land), high-quality seeds. It is important that the seed material first undergo stratification - overwinter under a layer of snow.
With the advent of spring, thuja seeds are placed in containers with nutrient soil, and on top they are covered with earth mixed with sawdust of coniferous crops. Thuja propagation by seeds at home entails traditional concerns: fencing seedlings from the scorching rays of the sun, timely watering, getting rid of weeds, top dressing. After 5 or even 6 years, young arborvitae can be landed on the site.
Thuja propagation by cuttings
Shank propagation is the most convenient, effective way. A big plus of this method is the preservation of the varietal qualities of the tree, as well as the ability to get full-fledged small trees in two or three years. Of the minuses, it is worth noting the reduced endurance and a small percentage of survival of the bushes. For this situation, this is normal, if you do everything according to the rules, then a positive result will not be long in coming.
Consider the reproduction of thuja at home by cuttings. What season to choose for this - spring or autumn?
Thuja propagation by cuttings in spring
Most often, beginning gardeners are concerned about the question - the reproduction of thuja in the spring, how best to do it. With spring rooting, all processes are faster, since the movement of juices in the shoots is activated. The procurement of planting material is practically no different from the above method. For the selection of cuttings, healthy branches from the top of the arborvitae, which are no more than 3 years old, are also used.
Thuja propagation in the spring is best done in April, with manual separation of the twig, the “heel” should be preserved. If for some reason you missed April, then you can catch a repeated period of shoot growth - this is June. It should be borne in mind that the June cuttings "oversleep" summer, autumn, winter, and take root only in the spring.
The best way for spring propagation is the substrate method and active moisturizing. Water or diaper method is not suitable here due to insufficient moisture for the period of activation of the root system. The process itself is very similar to autumn cuttings, but sometimes the soil mixture is replaced with clean sand.
Thuja - propagation by cuttings in the spring, stages:
- We put the selected shoots into the water with Kornevin for 24 hours.
- We take boxes or other containers with a large number of holes at the bottom, lay a layer of medium-sized crushed stone.
- Pour clean sand from above, which can be calcined or doused with steep boiling water. You can also use the soil mixture mentioned above.
- We spill sand with a solution of potassium permanganate, it should be pink, but not too dark.
- When the sand or substrate has cooled, we immerse the thuja branches there to a depth of 1-1.5 cm, slightly trample it with your hands.
- Since the spring is still cool, containers with cuttings should be put where the conditions will be similar to greenhouse ones. At the same time, the air temperature should not be lower than + 17ºС, higher than + 23ºС.
This place should be shaded, seedlings need to be irrigated daily from the spray gun. If the spring turned out to be hot, then spraying should be carried out twice a day. At the same time, make sure that moisture does not get on the green leaf plates - the process of decay may begin. After two months, it will become clear which cuttings have taken root, by this time the risk of drying of the planting material is significantly reduced.
Thuja - propagation by cuttings in the fall
But there is also an opinion that it is the autumn harvesting of twigs for planting that is more suitable, since the sap flow slows in the fall, and accordingly, the number of seedlings dying from a lack of moisture is reduced. It should be borne in mind that the rooting process will take more time. Slightly consider the reproduction of thuja in spring
To collect the branches, it is better to choose a sunny day in October, when the leaves have already fallen from the trees (in the Kuban this may be the beginning of November). It is best to pinch off the shoots from the top, to choose best those branches that are already 3 or 4 years old.
Select exclusively lignified branches that do not exceed 50 cm in length. At the “correct” shoot at the end, a tree “heel” should be preserved - part of the bark, due to which new roots will develop. The longer this “heel” is, the better the rooting process will go. Remove approximately 3-4 cm of leaf blades from the end of the shoot and proceed to the next step.
Thuja propagation by cuttings in a jar of water
Water is the easiest, most affordable way to activate thuja roots. To do this, take a small container, fill it with water, set the branches so that the water covers the ends by about 2 cm. Do not put more than 3 or 5 cuttings. Make sure that the green parts of the shoots do not come into contact with water - this contributes to further decay of the planting material. After that, choose a bright, slightly cool place for the container.
Caring for seedlings is a timely replacement of water (when it becomes cloudy). At this time, the cuttings are removed from the jar, the roots are wrapped with a clean, damp cloth. New water should be disinfected with a pair of potassium permanganate crystals.
Rooting of thuja cuttings in a substrate, sphagnum
Thuja propagation by cuttings in autumn is possible in different ways, for example, using a substrate. This method is more advantageous than the option with water, which does not contain any nutrients, but with the substrate the rooting process will be much more productive.
To seedlings were more healthy, hardy, prepare:
- Drawers or other forms with holes (for aeration of the soil). Lay small gravel (drainage) at the bottom, mix equal parts of deciduous humus, sand, peat.
- Anneal the resulting soil mixture in the oven. If you have potassium permanganate at home, make a dark solution and additionally spill the soil for reliability.
- Place the cuttings for 10-12 hours in water with the previously diluted biostimulating drug "Kornevin."
- Fill the containers with the substrate, make recesses for the cuttings. Deepen the seedlings by 1.5-2 cm, sprinkle sand on top (which can also be preliminarily calcined), lightly compact.
- Next, the drawer should be covered with plastic wrap, set in a bright place, while the air temperature should be + 18..22ºС. When condensation appears on the walls of the mini-greenhouse, open the film on one side (for ventilation).
With substrate rooting, it is important not to overdo it with watering and to prevent the soil from drying out. It is better to carry out humidification by spray irrigation, as the weight of water can take the soil, expose the heel.
There is another interesting way in which the autumn reproduction of thuja is carried out using sphagnum (peat moss). This method implies, as it were, swaddling the shoots with a kind of cocoon, this method is called rooting of thuja cuttings in diapers.
In addition to sphagnum, you will need a plastic film, a clean cloth, as well as the Kornevin preparation.
Process:
- As described above, we place thuja shoots in water with a root formation stimulator (for 10-12 hours).
- Fill the sphagnum with boiled water for about 3 hours, so that it swells and is saturated with moisture.
- We spread a wide strip of fabric on the table, visually divide its width in half, along the entire length of the upper strip we evenly spread wet sphagnum. The lower free part of the diaper width will be needed in order to cover the cuttings and moss, and then gently roll this strip into a roll.
- At a short distance from each other, we lay the branches of thuja, surrounding the "heels" with sphagnum.
- We cover the cuttings with the bottom of the strip, so that the green tops are free, we roll the roll.
- The resulting cul is placed inside a plastic bag, suspended in a well-lit place (but not in direct sunlight).
Such propagation of thuja by cuttings is considered the easiest, thanks to moss, the required moisture level is maintained for a long time. The lack of moisture can be determined by the absence of condensation on the inner walls of the bag - if it is dry, then moisten the diaper with a spray gun.
Thuja growing
Cuttings of spring or autumn harvesting require growing. For this, special beds are formed, which are called a school. They will be there for 2 or 3 years, after which they will be transferred to a permanent place of residence. Autumn cuttings are planted in the school the next year, and spring already in September of this year.
The place for young thuja must be green, the soil - peat (you can add 1 bucket per 1 m²), cuttings are planted at a distance of 25-30 cm from each other, watered. At this stage, the seedlings are already gaining strength, you just have to take care of them properly - water and destroy weeds in a timely manner.
Thuja reproduction is an interesting, productive process, as you can get dozens of “children” from one tree. After 2-3 years, these will be full-fledged small trees, with the help of which you can green your plot, give it personality.