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Catalpa is beautiful – a horticultural crop native to North America, which is a sprawling tree with loose white inflorescences. In the course of breeding work, the plant was adapted for cultivation in the conditions of central Our Country and the Moscow region. At the same time, caring for a crop involves warming young plants for the winter, but the catalpa is beautiful – the tree is quite unpretentious.
Description of the beautiful catalpa
The beautiful catalpa or the “tree of happiness”, as the plant is called in its homeland, is an ornamental garden crop, best adapted to conditions from the whole catalpa genus. The tree was originally 35 m tall, but in more severe climates, the size of this crop has decreased to a modest 12-15 m.
The trunk of the tree is straight, the bark is lamellar, gray in color. The leaf plate of this species is quite large – about 20-25 cm long and 10-15 cm wide. Each leaf is attached to the shoot with a flexible long petiole. The color of the leaf plate is represented by dark tones. On the inside, the leaves of the tree are pubescent.
For the first time, the beautiful catalpa blooms when the tree reaches the age of 10 years. According to the time of year, flowering occurs in mid-June.
Cream flowers of a tubular form reach 6-8 cm in length, forming friable inflorescences. The flower petals of the beautiful catalpa are wavy along the edge. On the inside, yellow stripes and brown dots can be seen. The fruit of this species is represented by a narrow box.
Catalpa is magnificent in landscape design
The beautiful catalpa is rarely used in solitary plantings – for this the tree is undersized. Most often it is part of a group composition, and the plant is combined mainly with deciduous magnolias. Carefully pruned trees frame paths in the garden and park, they are also used to strengthen the slopes on the banks of decorative ponds. Also, a beautiful catalpa is placed near fences and fences.
Growing conditions for beautiful catalpa
The beautiful catalpa prefers soils of moderate acidity. The plant is quite demanding on lighting – it fully develops only in open sunny areas, in extreme cases, partial shade is suitable. It is also important to protect young trees from strong winds – seedlings are vulnerable to drafts.
Replanting a tree is not recommended – this is a big stress for the plant. If it is necessary to do this, then in terms of timing it is better to do a transplant in the spring, before the sap flow begins. You can also transplant a tree in the fall, but only after it has shed its leaves. During digging, it is important to save the earthen ball – you can not shake off the soil from the roots. So the plant will be less likely to take root in a new place.
The planting hole for the tree should be the same as when it was first planted. The composition of the nutrient soil mixture should also be identical to the previous one. Immediately after transplantation, the area near the trunk circle is tamped and watered.
Planting and caring for a catalpa tree is beautiful
Growing a beautiful catalpa is easy. The tree needs basic procedures, except for the need to warm the plant for the winter, but only young seedlings need this.
The beautiful catalpa grows slowly in the climate, blooms late. In spring, plants often require sanitary pruning – some of the young shoots freeze over in winter, despite the fact that this is one of the most frost-resistant species.
Preparation of planting material
Catalpa seedlings aged 1 to 2 years are suitable for planting. It is important to pay attention to the roots of the plant – they should be open and wide. Planting material with weak roots hardly takes root in a new place.
There is no need to specially prepare the plants before planting in open ground. It is enough just before planting to properly water the catalpa seedlings.
Site preparation
There is no need to prepare a fertile site. If the soil at the landing site is poor, the site is dug up and gravel and compost are introduced into the soil.
Rules of landing
The algorithm for planting a beautiful catalpa is as follows:
- In spring or autumn, catalpa seedlings are transplanted into open ground. It is desirable that the soil on the site be neutral. In terms of timing, it is recommended to plant a beautiful catalpa in the spring – so the plant will have more time to take root in a new place.
- A pit for planting is prepared 2 weeks before the catalpa is planted directly. Its approximate dimensions are 80 cm deep and 100 cm wide. This diameter is due to the large root system of the catalpa.
- A mixture of humus, soddy soil, peat and sand is added to the bottom of the planting pit, in a ratio of 1:2:1:2.
- Additionally, 2-5 kg of wood ash can be diluted.
- After that, a seedling is placed on the soil mixture, its roots are sprinkled with earth and watered abundantly.
Watering and top dressing
Water the seedlings of the beautiful catalpa regularly, but moderately. Water consumption is 15 liters of water per 1 plant. Watering is done on average once a week. An adult plant is watered with the same frequency, increasing the water consumption to 1-18 liters. It is important not to flood the area of the near-stem circle. If prolonged rains begin, watering is stopped.
Feeding young seedlings is not necessary. The soil is fertilized only 2-3 years after planting the beautiful catalpa. For this, you can use slurry diluted in a ratio of 1:20. For each seedling, 1 liter of fertilizer is consumed. Feed the plant before the start of the growing season.
Starting from the second half of the growing season, the tree is again fertilized with slurry, the concentration of the solution is 1:10.
Mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil once a season, always during the flowering period. It is important to combine top dressing with watering.
Trimming
Pruning when caring for catalpa cannot be neglected – it is the basis of the decorativeness of the tree. If the shoots are not cut in time, the plant will grow to the sides and take on a sloppy look.
The crown of the plant is formed in May-June, while pruning should not be too deep. Sanitary pruning is carried out throughout the year, except for winter.
Preparation for winter
Mature trees in temperate climates safely overwinter without additional shelter. In the north of the country, it is better not to plant a beautiful catalpa.
Young seedlings are covered with burlap for the winter. The trunk and the near-stem soil are sprinkled with spruce branches and dry foliage. In the spring, the shelter is removed with the onset of heat so that the plant does not rot. If frozen shoots are found after wintering, then they must be removed. Branches should not be cut too much – this stimulates the growth of young shoots and leads to a thickening of the crown. Ultimately, the leaves from the inside will experience a lack of light.
Features of growing beautiful catalpa in the Moscow region
In the conditions of the Moscow region, a beautiful catalpa can suffer from frost in winter. Young plants are covered for the winter so that they do not freeze under the influence of low temperatures.
Reproduction of the beautiful catalpa
There are two main methods of catalpa propagation: seed and vegetative. Both are equally effective, so here, when choosing a breeding method, gardeners proceed from purely personal preferences.
Reproduction by seeds
In the seed way, the beautiful catalpa is bred as follows:
- When the fruits of the tree are ripe, the seeds are removed from them and removed before sowing in a paper bag. You can keep them for 3 years.
- The next step is to fill the seedling container with soil. For this, ordinary garden soil without additional impurities is suitable.
- At the end of February, the seeds are removed from the bag and soaked overnight in filtered water at room temperature.
- After that, they are sown in a container, deepening by 1 cm.
- Then the seedling container is covered with a transparent lid or glass and cleaned in a room with a good level of lighting. The air temperature in the room should be between +15°C and +25°C.
- Within 3-4 weeks, the soil is regularly watered and ventilated. After this period, the shelter is removed. By this time, the first shoots should appear, and the beautiful catalpa rises unevenly.
- For some time, seedlings are grown in warmth. Then they begin to harden the catalpa – they take it out into the street, gradually increasing the time the seedlings are in the fresh air.
- A week after the start of hardening, seedlings can be transplanted into open ground.
Propagation by cuttings
Cuttings for breeding catalpa are harvested in mid-late summer. The procedure consists of the following steps:
- From young shoots cut blanks of 10 cm.
- The cut on the trees is treated with garden pitch. The lower cut of the cuttings is lowered into “Kornevin” – a growth stimulator.
- After that, the blanks are lowered into separate containers filled with a mixture of peat and sand.
- The first 2-3 weeks, the cuttings are kept under cover in the form of cut plastic bottles. In general, cuts take root within a month.
- For the winter they are left in a room with a temperature above 0 ° C. In the middle of spring, catalpa can be planted in open ground.
Diseases and pests
Catalpa is beautiful, subject to all the rules of agricultural technology, it does not need additional protection from pests. Landings do not need to be treated with insecticides for prevention purposes. Occasionally, a tree is struck by a Spanish fly, but it is easy to get rid of it in 1-2 treatments with Decis or Karbofos, and Kinmiks is also suitable.
Of the diseases, the fungus of the genus Verticillium poses the greatest threat to the beautiful catalpa. It provokes the rapid drying of the tree, as a result of which it dies in the shortest possible time. At the first sign of drying of the leaves, it is recommended to treat the plant with fungicidal preparations. As a preventive measure against fungal diseases, it is necessary from time to time to loosen the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe near-stem circle and observe irrigation norms. Excessive waterlogging of the soil creates ideal conditions for the spread of fungal pores.
Conclusion
Catalpa is beautiful, despite mediocre indicators of winter hardiness, it will be a great addition to the garden in the climatic conditions of the Moscow region. The only serious obstacle to growing this plant in this region is that in autumn the tree must be thoroughly insulated. Otherwise, caring for catalpa is no different from growing in warmer areas.
You can learn more about planting and caring for the crop from the video:
