Beautiful shrubs that do not change the color of leaves depending on the season adorn the infield both in summer and in winter. That is why evergreen conifers are so popular among gardeners and landscape designers. This article is devoted to the western thuja Stolvik, it will describe and characterize the shrub, as well as provide recommendations for planting and further care.
Grade description
Western thuja Stolvik belongs to a variety of evergreen coniferous gymnospermous shrubs (Thuja occidentalis), the Cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is found in Asia, Europe and North America. This is a low, slowly growing shrub, over 10 years reaching a maximum height of 100 cm. An adult plant has a bush diameter of up to 80 cm. At a young age, it has a spherical shape, then it changes and takes the form of an elongated cone.
Stolvik's bark is brown, smooth, with age it tends to break into scales, which roughen the surfaces of the branches. The leaves are small, dense, in the form of flat scales, green. Young deciduous growth is painted in a light green color. In winter, thuja needles become much darker than in summer.
The plant produces small, rounded light green cones, divided into flat segments, in the center of each of which there is a pointed protrusion. Thuja seeds ripen inside, their readiness for germination is signaled by a brown color.
Did you know? Another name for the thuja is “the tree of life”. The Latin designation of this plant comes from the Greek word, the literal translation of which means “sacrifice” or “incense”.
In landscape design
The spherical shape of Stolvik allows you to create interesting compositions in combination with other plants. For example, a rounded green bush looks very nice next to an arch of weaving red or yellow roses. Gardeners often use the dwarf size and slow growth of thuja of this variety for alpine hills, since all the components of such compositions should be low.
If the owner of the estate wants to create a hedge, then the best solution would be to dig a ditch rather than a single landing hole, and plant Taughening stolvik seedlings around the perimeter of the site. It is enough to observe a distance of 80-100 cm between plants, depending on the desired density of the evergreen “fence”. But in this case, the gardener must take into account the fact that the bushes reached their maximum height after only 9–10 years.
Landing rules
After choosing the right position and buying a plant, you can begin to plant it in open ground. This time mainly depends on the type of seedling selected. If you purchased a thuja bush in a pot, then the work can be carried out in any period from early spring to late autumn. If the seedling is grown in a nursery with an open root system, then it is advisable to avoid transplanting in the hot summer months (July, August).
Optimal to plan an event for the end of August or September. In spring, it is better to choose the time at the turn of April and May. When a plant is removed from the soil of the school, large and small damage to the root system inevitably occurs, so it will completely recover before the onset of winter. Otherwise, the thuja will be too weak to survive the cold season.
Did you know? Due to the plasticity of the thuja and the ability to grow in a given form, gardeners create whole compositions from plant sculptures. For the appearance of an amazing creation, only the artist’s imagination and sharp secateurs are needed.
It is very important to properly prepare the conditions for landing thuja:
- First, the gardener needs to dig a vast pit, the depth of which will be twice as long as the roots of the seedling. It is desirable to make its diameter 10 cm more spacious than the volume of the root ball of the bush.
- A little upper garden soil and a shovel of peat are laid at the bottom of the finished pit, after which they are mixed and a substrate is prepared for conifers with a slightly acid reaction. Further, a small hill is formed at the bottom, during planting, the roots of the seedling will be evenly spread on its slopes.
- The seedling is placed in a pit, setting in the center, on the prepared substrate in the form of a hill. It is recommended to bury the plant in the ground a little lower than it was grown in a pot or open space of the nursery.
- Next, the root ball is filled with soil, after which water is poured into the landing hole and, after absorption, the soil is added again so as to level the surface. You can do it in another way - put the thaw in a bucket of water for several minutes to saturate the roots with moisture. In this case, it will not be necessary to pour water into the hole, the seedling can be immediately covered with soil.
- After planting, it is important to water the seedling again using approximately 5 liters of water.
- It is advisable to mulch the trunk circle, this will allow moisture to remain in the soil longer and limit weed growth. As a mulch, it is worth using a pine bark or a black garden film.
Care Features
For thuja Stolvik it is not necessary to choose a location in an open place. This culture can easily tolerate the shadow, and even develops better if it receives only 3-4 hours of direct sunlight per day.
Thuja western is not afraid of the cold and is considered a very frost-resistant plant. It can withstand significant frosts (up to -20 ° C) without damage to the aboveground and underground parts. If Stolvik is grown in accordance with the requirements of the culture, the variety is quite resistant to negative environmental influences.
Important! Thuja is not very suitable for cultivation in coastal cities and towns, as it does not tolerate salty air.
Like any other plant, sometimes thuja Stolvik is attacked by parasites (ticks and aphids), which are quite difficult to eradicate due to the special shape of the leaves. To combat parasites, in the midst of "occupation", they are treated with specially designed systemic insecticides ("Rogor", "Karbofos", "Aktellik", "Antio").
The variety is also susceptible to bacterial burns and shute, which are difficult to cure. After the occurrence of these diseases, yellowish patches of foliage appear on the green crown, which gradually turn brown, and then completely crumble from the branches. As a treatment, the diseased bush is watered with the fungicide “Fundazole” so as to moisten not only the branches and trunk, but also the soil under it. This will destroy the spores of bacteria in the soil and prevent re-infection.
In order to counteract the possible emergence of various developmental pathologies, it is advisable to periodically water the thawed solution of phosethyl aluminum or simply scatter granules of this substance under the bush, which, gradually decomposing, fall into the soil with rainwater.
Thuja Stolvik easily reproduces. This can be done both by sowing seeds in the ground, and by rooting cuttings. The latter method is preferable, since a lot of material remains after trimming the bush. To obtain a new plant, the gardener selects the cut branch “with the heel”, that is, with the nodal connection, after which he processes the wood cut with the “Kornevin” preparation and plants it in the ground.
A transparent jar turned upside down is installed on top of the seedling, resulting in a mini-greenhouse with an individual microclimate. Periodically, the can is removed, and the soil is watered. The gardener needs to ensure that the soil in the nursery is always moist. For the winter, the can is left in the same place, at this time watering is not required. In the spring, a young bush of thuja is freed from a glass shelter and transplanted to a permanent place.
Did you know? Tree-like varieties of thuja can rise into the sky to a height of 20 m, while adult plants have an extensive, five-meter crown.
Watering and feeding
Young seedlings need to be regularly watered, while adult plants often do not require additional watering, since they get enough moisture from the rain. Stolwijk is able to easily withstand fairly long dry periods. The type of substrate in which thuja develops is very important.
The plant will feel best in fertile, soft soil, having good drainage in the root area. Stolvik is afraid of stagnant water, so before planting a seedling in alumina, it is advisable to add sand or small expanded clay under the roots. The substrate in which this culture is grown may have a different pH: acidic, alkaline or neutral.
Ready-made dressings are purchased in garden stores, where they are sold under the label "for conifers."
In order for the plant to fully develop, it is advisable to regularly give the roots nutrition. This procedure is best done in the fall or spring. Fertilizer is laid out in the tree trunk circle of the arborvitae, after which a light loosening of the soil is carried out, mixing nutrients with the soil. As a top dressing, it is recommended to use a mature organic fertilizer (compost, humus) or a granular mineral complex of slow release.
Loosening and mulching
Experienced gardeners know that mulch under a bush of evergreens will not only prevent the soil from drying out, but will also prevent the emergence of annual or perennial weed seeds. To do this, the trunk circle is covered with organic materials. This can be finely chopped pine bark, large or small sawdust, compost, dry grass. The most beautiful soil coating is considered to be pine bark, because it has a juicy burgundy color, which contrasts remarkably with green branches.
Important! The gardener should carry out work on loosening the soil layer under the arborvitae very carefully so as not to damage the roots that lie close to the upper soil layer with the sharp edge of a metal tool.
In addition to organics, a gardener can use black agrofibre or an opaque plastic film as a trunk mulch. Such an agricultural technique will facilitate the work of the garden owner, since it will minimize the need for irrigation or loosening of the soil.
If under the thuja bushes there is no layer of mulching material, then the gardener should loosen the soil. This procedure allows you to make caked soil more loose, which will allow oxygen to penetrate the roots of the plant and clean the surface of weeds. Work is carried out with the help of a chopper or a Fokin plane cutter with a frequency of once every 2-3 weeks.
Shelter from the sun
As for other conifers, the end of winter is very difficult for thuja, because at this time the sun becomes especially active, and its radiation can damage the crown. This period falls on the second half of February or the beginning of March. The affected shrub can be identified visually, its leaves will be dry and brown or completely fall to the ground.
Important! In no case should you cover the thawed from the sun with a transparent plastic film. This material does not allow air to pass through, but is permeable to ultraviolet radiation, so the air underneath quickly heats up, and its temperature rises to critical, causing the death of branches.
You can avoid sunburn by covering the branches with some breathable material:
- thick wrapping paper;
- spanbond or agrofibre;
- fir spruce branches.
Shelter can be carried out both in the first month of winter, with the onset of severe cold weather, and immediately before the start of the dangerous period, approximately in the second decade of February. Since Stolvik is a low shrub, it can be wrapped with light materials (paper or spunbond) without using a wooden or metal frame as a support. A good protective shelter from the sun's rays can be a hat of snow on a plant, but only if the crown does not break under its weight.
Pruning
Pruning tuja stolwijk should be done in March. The intervention of the garden secateurs is necessary in order to cut dead or damaged wood under the weight of snow. The dried branches are reduced to the maximum until a white-green sapwood appears on the cut.
During the first few years after planting a seedling, it is advisable to regularly trim to form a thuja. To create a clearly defined shape, the gardener can apply not only pruning, but also stretching the branches (by fixing at specified points or suspending weighting agents).
Due to the fact that the western thuja Stolvik does not drop leaves in the autumn, but continues to decorate the site with bright greenery year-round, gardeners should grow this wonderful plant in their areas. This variety is characterized by unpretentious care and the possibility of growing in partial shade.
