Many gardeners want to decorate their plots with exotic plants, but do not know what to choose to create a beautiful composition. Folded thuja is one of the optimal and unpretentious options that will decorate any garden or garden. To learn more about how to care for this tree, read the article.

Grade description

Thuja Gelderland is an evergreen plant of the Cypress family. The growth area of ​​the described trees is North America, although folded thuja can also be found in certain regions of East Asia. It is considered an alpine plant, therefore it is found in areas up to 2150 m high. Thuja is widespread throughout the western Pacific coast, represented by the high mountain range of the Cordillera. The plant is quite unpretentious in care, although it is characterized by slow growth. Over 10 years of life, it can grow to a maximum of 5 meters in height.

The plant is monoecious and has a fairly dense crown with a branched tip. It is worth noting that almost all shoots are in the same plane, so they look tightly pressed against each other. The needles of the plant are scaly, bright green in color. Closer to winter, the needles fade a little, gaining a copper-yellow hue, but the greens still remain.

The folded thuja steadily tolerates negative temperatures, so it can easily withstand cold up to -40 ° C. A harmonious tree develops in open, well-lit areas. As for the soil, Gelderland thuja is unpretentious to its composition, although the most dense and fluffy crown can be obtained precisely by cultivating the plant on wet soil.

Did you know? In ancient times, the Slavic peoples believed that it was impossible to plant thuja in the courtyard of the house where the young girl lives. This promised that she would not marry for a long time.

Use in landscape design

Since the Gelderland variety is quite unpretentious, it can be "applied" in various compositions - it looks great both individually and in large plantings due to its dense crown. These conifers in the form of hedges, rockeries or rock gardens have an original and non-trivial appearance (it is not difficult to follow them, it is only necessary to trim the form sometimes).

Thuja is considered one of the best options for creating figured compositions in the direction of topiary art. This tree can be combined with cypresses, pine or larch. Such landscapes will look very bright both in summer and against the background of white snow.

Preparing the landing site

Before landing thuja in the soil, you must definitely choose the right site. This tree is photophilous enough, but it must be borne in mind that being without the slightest penumbra for a whole day leads to dehydration of the plant, which can provoke a drop in frost resistance and death of the shrub in the winter. That is why it is necessary to select a site so that it is illuminated most of the day, but direct noon rays did not fall on the plant.

When choosing a place, you should also pay attention to the composition of the soil. Thuja grows best on turf soil with a small admixture of peat and sand. Often planted on swampy and clay lands.

Did you know? It is believed that conifers are an excellent amulet from the evil eye and spoilage. In order for the plant to manifest itself, it must be planted not in the backyard, but in front of the house entrance.

Seedling Selection

There are a huge number of points of sale of young seedlings, but not everywhere you can buy a healthy specimen that quickly adapts to a new place. To protect yourself from irrational purchases, when choosing a thuja, you should pay attention to the following points:

• trunk - in a good, strong seedling, it should be strong, direct and not have any traces of disease on the bark (it is better that it is smooth);
• root system - it should not be excessively dry, traces of decay or fungus are also unacceptable;
• crown - It is better to choose seedlings with not very elongated branches.

In addition, you should pay attention to the size of the earthen coma: if it is too small, then the root system is poorly developed. It is advisable that the tree be firmly rooted in the container.

Landing rules

When planting a young plant, it is very important to adhere to the rules so that the thuja quickly takes root in a new place. Among the main points are the following:

1. Thuja should be planted in the spring (March-April) or autumn (October-November) periods. Moreover, the first option will be more optimal, because planting in cold weather does not guarantee that the plant will have time to settle down normally before frost.
2. The size of the landing pit depends on the diameter of the root system of the young thuja. The recess should be 0.5 m wider than the rhizome. The depth of the hole reaches 1 m.
3. At the bottom of the pit, you must definitely lay out a small amount of soil mixed with manure. In this case, the humus should not be fresh, but rotted so as not to burn the root system of the young plant.
4. When planting several plants in a row or in a checkerboard pattern, it is worth observing the distance between them. The distance should be, on average, 4 m.
5. After landing the thuja in the landing pit, it needs to be covered with soil so that the root neck is 2.5 cm above the soil level. The soil must be compacted and poured with water (a full bucket for 1 plant).
6. The trunk circle can be mulched with pine bark, wood chips, needles or sawdust. At the same time, the layer of mulch should not come into contact with the aboveground parts of the plant (the thuja will mate and begin to hurt).

Further care

Caring for the thuja in both spring and summer is not difficult. It is enough to follow simple recommendations, and the plant will tolerate both hot and rainy weather, and will not be exposed to various infections.

The general tips include the following:

• the plant should grow in a sunny or semi-shaded area (if over time you decide to plant a tall tree with a branched crown nearby, the thuja will simply dry out);
• do not forget at the beginning of each spring to make fertilizing nitroammophoski (30 g / m²) under the tree in order to saturate the soil under the tree with nutrients;
• when weeding the ground next to the thuja, one should not go very deep so as not to touch the root system located near the surface (it is enough to carry out loosening up to 7 cm deep);
• Do not remove the covering material from the root zone of the thuja immediately after the first warming, because it can be followed by return frosts.

Watering and feeding

In conditions of not very hot weather, it is enough to water melt once a week. Do not wait until the ground under the tree becomes completely dry. If the thuja is not enough such a frequency of watering, it can be carried out 2 times a week.

At least 10 liters of water should be applied under one plant. Watering should not be stopped with the onset of cooler weather. It continues until September, inclusive, because it depends on how successfully the plant wintered.

Important! It should be understood that an excess of moisture is also not needed for thuy, because this can lead to the development of fungal diseases.

In the summer, thuja can be fed, while observing simple rules:

1. If the main goal is to intensify tree growth, a drug such as Megafol (25 ml of active substance per 10 liters of water) should be used.
2. To improve the absorption of beneficial elements by the thuja, as well as to stimulate its root system, it is advisable to use the Zircon solution (10 ml of the drug per 10 liters of water).
3. To prevent the development of chlorosis in young thuja, in the spring it must be sprayed with iron chelate (5 g of active substance per 10 liters of water).

Cultivation of the earth

It is very important to regularly loosen the soil in the summer, when it has not rained for a long time. This is necessary, mainly, not to get rid of weeds, but to enhance gas exchange in the upper layers of the soil (and to preserve moisture). Timely loosening of the near-stem circle will increase the density of the thuja crown.

The frequency of manipulation is a fairly relative concept. It all depends solely on the composition of the soil. If it is heavy, then the crust forms on the surface much faster. In this case, the plants do not receive enough oxygen through the root system, and may begin to hurt. Weeding is necessary as soon as the soil around the tree is dry. To keep the effect of wet and loose soil longer, it can be mulched with needles or sawdust.

Haircut and Shaping

Shrub pruning can be done for two purposes:

• to give the tree the desired shape and limit the growth of the crown;
• to clean the branches of dry and damaged shoots.

The structuring haircut for the Gelderland arborvitae is performed exclusively at will, as the plant has the correct cone shape. By making changes, you can increase the density of the crown or change the direction of growth. When performing a curly haircut, it is advisable to create a markup for convenience by wrapping the crown of the tree with a solid twine. Along this marking, a shallow contour should be made with garden scissors, and then a more thorough haircut should be done.

As for the sanitary pruning of the tree, this stage is mandatory, even if the shape of the plant is quite suitable for the gardener. It is necessary to remove all yellow and damaged shoots, as they not only spoil the appearance of the plant, but can also lead to infection of the tree.

Plantings are sheared every year in the spring. When exactly to trim, it depends on its main goals. If you need to thin the crown, then the procedure is carried out before the buds open. If the goal is to gain growth, wait until the thuja fades.

When trimming, you need to remember a few rules:

1. Too much removal of branches can lead to drying out of the plant. You cannot trim more than 30% of the crown at a time.
2. You can not bare the branches completely. Coniferous trees differ from deciduous trees in that they cannot grow young shoots on bare branches. Such parts will dry out quickly.
3. Do not cut branches too close to the kidney. It is necessary to adhere to a minimum distance of 1-2 cm from it, so that the cut is delayed faster, and this section does not die.

Important! When pruning branches, you must always pay attention to the direction of their growth. Lowered shoots are shortened, making a cut on the lower kidney, and growing upward - vice versa.

Shelter for the winter

A strong shelter from frost is most needed by young specimens whose shoots are still too weak to tolerate temperature extremes. As for adult trees, they can winter without shelter, although in severe or very sunny winters a small protective cover will certainly not be superfluous.If the young plantings are heavily littered with snow, this can provoke the needles to melt and further deform. Also a very frequent problem is the earlier development of thuja shoots in early March, with the appearance of the first sun. In this case, sunburn may occur, which will lead to curvature of the branches, yellowing and falling of the needles.

You can insulate a tree by covering its root system with leaves mixed with earth. Such a shelter will be quite dense, retain moisture in the soil and will become additional fertilizer in the process of decay. Instead of leaves, you can use sawdust or peat.

It is worth noting that any of the above methods of warming the soil around the arborvitae requires an additional layer of spruce top. This will protect the tree from severe frosts as much as possible. An action to protect against frost is carried out in late autumn, but always before the first snow.

Folded thuja is an excellent plant for decorating a personal plot. The tree does not require special care. The main factors for favorable development are moderate moisture and a sufficient amount of solar radiation. Thuja Gelderland will delight the owner of green bright needles throughout the year.