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Spruce blue, it also scratchy (Picea pungens) is a native of North America. But when she got to Europe, she immediately gained popularity there and quickly mastered the expanses. She is loved for the spectacular color of the needles, symmetrical dense crown, unpretentiousness, wind and drought resistance, and the ability to survive in severe frosts. This spruce is a real long-liver, its age can reach 500 years, however, in the climate, after 40 years, the spruce begins to lose its decorative qualities.
Blue spruce varieties
Nature has endowed spruce blue with a spectacular appearance, but breeders have made an incredible breakthrough by studying natural mutations and creating the most incredible varieties. And today, spruces with a pyramidal and cone-shaped crown, dwarfs with a spherical and oval crown are on the market. And the color of the needles varies from silvery to deep blue (1).
Glouca glauca (Glauca Globosa). Perhaps the most popular variety among gardeners. It was obtained in 1937 from seedlings, and already in 1955 it entered the markets. A dwarf Christmas tree with a beautiful compact dense crown will grow no higher than 2 m, but up to 3 m in diameter. In the first years of life, the crown looks sparse and flattened, but then it acquires a beautiful slightly elongated oval and density. The needles are long, slightly curved, white-blue. Cones are large, light brown. This variety is especially good, grafted onto a tall trunk.
Glauka globoza is frost-resistant (tolerates up to -40 ° C), photophilous, but can also grow in partial shade. The soil likes loamy, fertile, slightly acidic or neutral.
In gardens, this variety looks great in the front area, in rockeries and at retaining walls.
Hoopsie (Hoopsii). It is considered the bluest of all blue firs. This variety is the result of many years of work by German breeders from the Hoops Nursery nursery. However, the history of the appearance and promotion of this variety has obvious discrepancies. More important is the fact that in the middle of the last century, an elegant blue spruce appeared on the market, moderately growing and only after many, many years reaching a height of 8 m, individual specimens can grow up to 12 m with a crown diameter of up to 3 – 5 m. This slender beauty at first seems slightly lopsided, but over the years the trunk levels off, the dense wide crown becomes symmetrical, conical, the rich blue color of the needles begins to silver in the bright sun. The strength and solidity of this spruce is given by slightly raised branches (2).
The variety is frost-resistant (tolerates up to -40 ° C), photophilous, but easily puts up with a little shading. Soil prefers loamy, moderately moist and fertile, well-drained.
In gardens, this variety of spruce successfully fulfills the role of a Christmas tree. Therefore, its place is in the front part of the garden or in a private area against the backdrop of a lawn. Hupsi can become a spectacular backdrop for dwarf and recumbent coniferous shrubs.
Majestic blue (Majestic Blue). This cultivar is the state tree of the US states of Colorado and Utah. It is no coincidence that its name is “majestic”. It is exactly like this: a slender tree up to 45 m high and up to 6 m wide, with a noble grayish trunk bark and blue-gray needles with a blue tint. And the needles are not small, 3 cm long, hard, tetrahedral. Their color changes during the year: from white to bluish-blue by autumn. Large cones appear on this spruce only on trees over 30 years old.
The variety is frost-resistant, tolerates up to -40 ° C, however, in such harsh conditions, by the age of 40-50, spruce loses its high decorative qualities. Light-loving, but easily puts up with shading, however, to the detriment of decorativeness. Soils prefer sandy and loamy, moderately dry and fertile, well-drained, with a reaction from acidic to slightly alkaline.
This variety is so majestic that it requires substantial space. In large gardens, it can serve as a Christmas tree, or become a backdrop for ornamental shrubs and small coniferous crops.
These three varieties are the most popular among gardeners, but there are others that are no less interesting:
- Glauca pendula (Glauca pendula) – 8 – 10 m high, with a straight or curved crown shape, hanging branches and silver-gray needles;
- Glauca procumbens (Glauca procumbens) – a dwarf form 20 cm high with an uneven spreading crown up to 1,2 m in diameter and silver-blue needles;
- Glauca prostrata (Glauca prostrata) – dwarf form no more than 40 cm high with a flat crown lying on the ground, up to 2 m in diameter;
- Bonfire (Koster) – 10 – 15 m high, with a regular conical crown and bluish-green needles;
- Misty Blue – 5 – 7 m high with a conical crown and bluish-green needles.
Planting blue spruce
For plants with a closed root system (ZKS), the best planting time is from mid-April to October, for seedlings with an open root system – until mid-April and the second half of September – early November.
The best option is seedlings in a container or with a packed earthen clod. The landing pit must be prepared in advance. Fertilizers are special, preferably with prolonged action. No manure or fresh compost, however, as well as any nitrogen fertilizer, as well as ash. It is useful to add leaf humus, river sand and stale sawdust or dry needles to garden soil.
When planting, it is important not to bury the root collar, so plant at the same level as the seedling grew in the container. After planting, it is important for the tree to be watered abundantly and to ensure regular watering and showering during the growing season in hot weather.
When planting in spring, it is necessary to shade the seedling from the bright sun.
It is important to prepare young seedlings for the first wintering by tying them with spruce branches or burlap.
blue spruce care
Varieties and forms of blue spruce are diverse, winter-hardy, able to grow even in the harsh zones of our country. In general, they are unpretentious, but they still have their own care nuances.
Ground
The soil for planting spruce should be sandy or loamy, loose, well-drained. Drainage should be placed in the planting hole, because these plants do not tolerate stagnant water. If the reaction of the soil solution is alkaline, ammonium sulfate or earth with a litter of coniferous forests is added to the soil.
Lighting
A beautiful, harmonious crown of a blue spruce will only be in a well-lit place. However, a young plant when planted in spring requires shading in the first two weeks, as well as protection from sunburn in the first winter.
Watering
In nature, blue spruce grows on moderately moist soils and is a drought-resistant species. However, when planting, all varieties need high-quality watering in the first two years after planting. In the year of planting, watering is needed once a week at the rate of 10 – 12 liters of water per seedling with a height of no more than 0,5 m. In hot weather, in the evening or morning hours, a shower – washing has a beneficial effect. To preserve moisture, trunk circles can be mulched with a thick layer of bark or sawdust of conifers.
The most important condition for a good wintering of young plants is water-charging watering. No matter how wet autumn is, in October, under each coniferous tree, it is important to pour at least 20-30 liters of water on small plants and 50 liters per meter of crown height.
fertilizers
When planting, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are used and stale sawdust of coniferous species is used as an air conditioner.
Feeding
On fertile soils in the first 2 – 3 years after planting, spruce do not need top dressing. In the future, if the tree is formed by pruning, special fertilizers for conifers are applied to the tree trunks in the spring. Free-growing spruces are fed only if they are poorly developed.
When the needles turn yellow and fall off, as well as in the first year of planting, they practice spraying the crown with solutions of Epin and Ferrovit.
blue spruce breeding
Blue spruce is propagated by seeds, winter cuttings and grafting. It is this species that is easier to propagate by seeds than by cuttings.
Seeds. With the seed method of cultivation, varietal characteristics are not preserved. However, with this method, there is a chance to get plants with a deeper needle color, as, for example, happened with the birth of the Hupsi variety.
With this method of growing, it is important that the seeds are fresh and go through the path of stratification. 2-3 days before sowing, the seeds are transferred to a warm place and dried. Sowing is carried out to a depth of 1 – 2 cm in boxes or in a greenhouse, adding fungicides and fertilizers for conifers to a light substrate. The crops are regularly watered and ventilated, after 2-3 years they are transplanted to a breeding bed for growing, and only at the age of 6-7 years they are planted in a permanent place.
Cuttings. Rooting cuttings are taken from the upper branches of mother plants at least 6-8 years old. They do this on a cloudy day in April, June, August or October, tearing off a branch with a heel – a piece of trunk bark. A good cutting should be 7-10 cm long.
Immediately after harvesting, the lower needles are removed from the cuttings and the sections are dusted with a powder of a root formation stimulator (for example, Heteroauxin). Then the cuttings are planted in pots with light fertile soil at an angle of 30 °, deepening by 2-3 cm. The pots are placed in a greenhouse or covered with a plastic bag. Once a day of landing it is necessary to ventilate.
Be patient – the rooting process can take up to one year. And during this period, it is important to regularly water and ventilate the plants. Once every 2 weeks, you can add a weak solution of Heteroauxin to the water.
In the spring, rooted cuttings are planted in a school, which is arranged under the canopy of trees. Only after three or four years, grown plants can be planted in a permanent place.
Blue spruce diseases
Rust (spruce spinner). A fungal disease that first appears on the bark in the form of small, orange swellings with a diameter of 0,5 cm. Then the needles begin to turn yellow and fall off. Cones can also be affected by rust.
In the initial stage, it is necessary to regularly collect diseased needles and cones, cut and burn the branches affected by the fungus. Sick plants should be sprayed with Hom (copper oxychloride) (3) or Rakurs. To prevent the disease in the spring, spraying with Bordeaux liquid is carried out.
Shutte. The culprit of the disease is a pathogenic fungus. It affects spruce in autumn, actively develops under snow cover. As a result, brown needles with a white coating appear on the diseased plant in spring. Affected needles can stay on spruce for another year, spreading the disease. Schutte affects the development of the plant, with severe damage it can cause the death of spruce.
To prevent the disease, spring spraying with Bordeaux liquid or a solution of colloidal sulfur is used. In diseased plants, the affected branches are removed and spruce is sprayed three times with a solution of Hom or Angle (3).
Blue spruce pests
Spruce spider mite. Attacks spruce trees in the hot dry months of the year. The mite damages the needles and makes them vulnerable to fungal diseases. With a strong infection, the needles turn brown and crumble, cobwebs appear on the plants.
For prevention, regular dousing of tree crowns with water is practiced. It is possible to destroy the tick only by the crown treatment system with Actellik, Antiklesh, Fitoverm (3). It is important to carry out at least 3 treatments from June to September.
Spruce sawfly. Tiny sawfly larvae actively eat needles. But we notice these damages only when the young needles become reddish-brown.
In the initial stage of infection, spraying with Actellik or Fury is effective. The most effective drug from the sawfly is Pinocid. The solution is sprayed on the tree 2-3 times. At the same time, they also water the soil of tree trunks.
Spruce-fir hermes. A small aphid infects the plant, leaving twisted and yellowing tops of the shoots. Pests hibernate in the folds of the bark.
Hermes can only be overcome with a systematic approach. In the spring, spraying with copper sulphate, in early May and in the third decade of June – Aktellik, Komandor, Fufanon with watering the tree trunks with Aktara’s solution. In the second half of August – treatment with a solution of copper sulfate.
Popular questions and answers
We asked about blue spruce agronomist Oleg Ispolatov – he answered the most popular questions of summer residents.
Sources of
- Stupakova O.M., Aksyanova T.Yu. Compositions of perennial herbaceous, woody coniferous and deciduous plants in urban landscaping // Conifers of the boreal zone, 2013 https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kompozitsii-iz-mnogoletnih-travyanistyh-drevesnyh-hvoynyh-i-listvennyh-rasteniy- v-ozelenenii-gorodov
- Gerd Krussman. Coniferous breeds. // M., Timber industry, 1986, 257 p.
- State catalog of pesticides and agrochemicals approved for use on the territory of the Federation as of July 6, 2021 // Ministry of Agriculture of the Federation https://mcx.gov.ru/ministry/departments/departament-rastenievodstva-mekhanizatsii-khimizatsii- i-zashchity-rasteniy/industry-information/info-gosudarstvennaya-usluga-po-gosudarstvennoy-registratsii-pestitsidov-i-agrokhimikatov/