Today there is a wide variety of compact forms of fir trees that are suitable for growing in small areas. The features of the cultivation of one of them - Picea pungens Glauca Compacta - will be discussed in the article.
Botanical tree description
Spruce Glauca Compacta (Glauka Kompakta) belongs to a prickly or blue species, named so because of the characteristic features of needles. It is small in size: the height of the trunk can reach 3 m, the shape of the crown is wide-pyramidal - 2.5–3 m. Shoots grow horizontally relative to the surface of the earth. The needles of this variety of spruce are long, reach 2-3 cm, dense, prickly, grows in different directions, is arranged in a spiral. It is bluish in color.
Cones are formed 5–10 cm long and 2–3 cm wide. During the formation, they are green-yellow, after full maturation they are light brown.Did you know? The oldest spruce named Old Tikko belongs to the European species. She grows up in the Fulufjallet National Park (Sweden) and is 9,550 years old.
Spruce Glauka Compact is distinguished by the following characteristics:
- high level of frost resistance - up to -29 ° С;
- beautiful appearance throughout the year;
- endurance of sudden changes in temperature;
- resistance to city conditions;
- slow growth - at the age of 10 years, the crown and trunk reach 1 m.
Landing
For the successful cultivation of spruce, it is necessary to observe several rules:
- Choose a site, taking into account the preferences of the tree.
- Land at the recommended time.
- Properly prepare the soil to fill the landing pit.
- Get a healthy, strong seedling.
- Observe planting technology.
Important! Planting spruce in the shade leads to the fact that the tree slowly develops and grows. The decorativeness of such plants is much worse than that of growing in sunny areas.
To the place where the spruce will grow, several requirements are put forward. It should be well lit by sunlight, be sheltered from drafts, sufficiently free, without the presence of other plants nearby. Since the root system of the described culture does not grow in depth, but in breadth, to buildings and other trees, shrubs, a minimum distance of 2.5 m must be observed.
Fir-trees grow in well-drained, fertile, loamy and loamy soils. They can also grow in soils rich in peat, sand and rocky areas. Fir trees are recommended to be planted in 2 terms: in spring - in April and in autumn - in September. For seedlings, it is very important that the weather is warm. If there is a risk of frost, then it is better to postpone the landing.
The tree will grow and develop correctly only if, when planting, the root neck is placed at ground level.
The seedling must be chosen healthy. Better to purchase instances with a secure root system. They quickly adapt to open ground conditions and start growing. When planting, you do not need to expose the roots. If this happens, then open areas should be treated with a rooting agent, for example, “Kornevin” or “Heteroauxin”.
When landing, the following steps should be taken:
- 2-3 weeks before planting, you need to start digging a planting hole and preparing the soil. The pit should be 50–70 cm deep or 1.5–2 times larger than the container.
- To fill it, you need to prepare a soil mixture consisting of the following components: turf (2 parts), leafy earth (2), peat (1), sand (1).
- Cover the bottom of the pit with a drainage layer of 15 cm from broken brick, coarse sand. If the site has a close occurrence of groundwater, then it must be increased to 20 cm.
- A day before planting in the soil, the soil in the container is well moistened. This will make it easy to remove the seedling.
- Take out the plant without destroying the earthen lump.
- Put it in the center of the pit.
- Fill the hole with a pre-prepared soil mixture.
- Make a shallow groove along the entire diameter of the trunk circle, retreating 20–25 cm from the trunk.
- Pour a bucket of water into it.
- Mulch the soil with pine bark or peat.
Spruce care
Caring for the described culture is not difficult, even for a person who planted a tree for the first time in his life. Younger plants will require more attention, because they still have a weak root system, unable to independently extract water and nutrients. Mature trees may well do without watering and fertilizing. It is only important to carry out activities in a timely manner that avoid infection with diseases and harmful insects.
Important! If the tree grows in a city, you need to spray it at least five times a month. This procedure will wash away dust and pollution from the needles.
Watering and feeding
In the first years after planting, a young tree requires frequent watering - at least once a week. For one plant, 5-12 liters of water are required. As the tree grows, the amount of irrigation should be reduced. An adult plant can only be watered during prolonged droughts. If rainfall occurs regularly, you can do without watering.
It is advisable to irrigate the crown of the conifer with a diffused stream.
As for top dressing, there is no mandatory requirement to make fertilizers for conifers. The owner of the site can determine for himself whether to carry out such a procedure or not. Be sure to feed the plants should, if they begin to lose their decorativeness, needles fall off from them, growth is greatly slowed down. Feeding should begin no earlier than when the tree is in the open ground for 2 years. You can use universal fertilizers, for example, "Kemiru-Universal" or specially designed for coniferous crops: "Uniflor", Agrecol, etc. Organics for feeding firs are not suitable.
Loosening and mulching
Each time after watering or rain, the soil under the spruce must be loosened. This procedure will prevent the formation of a dense crust on the surface and allow moisture and air to easily enter the root system. Loosening should be carried out carefully so as not to damage the roots located in the upper soil layer. The maximum depth to which you can loosen is 5–7 cm.
Once or twice a year, and immediately after planting, the ground in the near-stem zone should be covered with mulch from sawdust, pine bark, wood chips, peat. The required layer height is 5–9 cm, before winter - 10–15 cm. Mulch is needed to maintain the optimum level of moisture in the soil, to reduce the amount of watering, cultivation, and weeding.
Pruning
Spruce Glauka Kompakta tolerates pruning well. Forming haircut can be carried out only if necessary. She must be moderate. In the spring, it is worth carrying out sanitary pruning. During it, it is necessary to remove all old, sick, yellowed, improperly growing, damaged branches.
Cut the trees with a pre-sanitized garden tool. For several fir trees, the same devices cannot be used. After each plant, they must be disinfected with an alcohol solution. In order to avoid the development of diseases, the places of cuts should be treated with copper sulphate, greased with garden var or special RanNet drug.
Possible diseases and pests
Spruce well resists diseases and harmful insects. However, if it is improperly planted or it is bad to take care of it, not to conduct regular examinations, it can hurt and be affected by insects. You can prevent problems with the following measures:
- harvesting the site from plant debris in the autumn;
- deep digging of the soil in the near-stem zone;
- double spraying in spring and autumn with copper-containing products.
If nevertheless it was not possible to avoid diseases, then you should immediately begin treatment of the tree.
Video: coniferous diseases
The recommendations on the used medical methods can be found in the table:
Disease name | Symptoms of infection | Treatment methods |
Browning needles |
| Spraying with systemic fungicides (Falcon, Horus, Quadris) 2-3 times at intervals of 2 weeks. |
Necrosis of apical shoots |
|
|
Spruce need to be inspected more often. And if any changes in appearance are noticeable, you should pay attention to whether the tree was hit by pests. The sooner the fight against parasites begins, the more chances to save the plant and preserve its decorative effect.
Insect name | Symptoms of lesion | Treatment methods |
Spruce false shield |
| Treatment with a wide spectrum of insecticidal drugs, for example, "Enzhio", "Calypso", "Actara". |
Spider mite |
|
|
Aphid |
|
|
Spruce hermes |
| The use of systemic insecticides, for example, Calypso, Caesar. |
The use of wood in landscape design
Spruce Glauka Compact planted in solitary, as well as in group plantings with other conifers, ornamental plants. It can both complement planting and act as an accentuating crop on the lawn. This form can be grown on the stem. Thanks to skillful pruning, landscape designers make various geometric shapes from Glauca Compacts: pyramids, balls, etc. Another way of using them is undersized hedges.
To summarize the above, it can be noted that the shape of the prickly spruce Glauka Kompakta will fit well into small cottage plots of land. It is resistant to dust, smoke, gas contamination, so it can be planted in cities. Planting and care processes are easy. A beautiful appearance will delight for many decades.Did you know? Spruce has very valuable wood, which is great for making musical instruments. World-famous Italian master Antonio Stradivari made the top decks of his unique violins from this tree.