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Eastern spruce (Picea orientalis) is one of 40, and according to some sources, 50 species belonging to the genus Spruce of the Pine family. It is a typical mountain plant whose habitat is at an altitude of 1000-2500 m above sea level. The range of Eastern Spruce is the Caucasus, Turkey, Asia Minor. Although this species is thermophilic, the culture grows well in the Middle lane and some areas of the North-West, belonging to the 4th frost resistance zone.
Description of oriental spruce
Eastern spruce is an evergreen coniferous tree with a crown of a conical shape, sometimes it is called Caucasian because of its wide distribution in the region. This species grows very slowly, especially at a young age (7-10 years), but eventually reaches a height of up to 65 m, and a trunk diameter of 2 m.
Oriental spruce grown from seeds for 3-4 years of life forms a whorl on the crown, consisting of several buds directed to the sides and one apical. At the beginning of the next season, side branches and a single vertical shoot with a new ring of buds grow from them.
The bark of the eastern spruce is light gray in color, smooth at a young age, cracks with age and exfoliates in plates. The needles, like those of other species, are tetrahedral, but much shorter and noticeably flattened. Its length is 4-8 mm, the color of the annual growth is golden, in subsequent seasons the color changes to dark green. Eastern spruce shoots are densely covered with needles, which live 5-7 years under natural conditions, 3-4 years in culture.
Female cones are first red, then chestnut or brown, up to 8 cm long, about 2 cm wide, resinous, spindle-shaped. They are located at the ends of branches in groups. The scales are almost round, shiny, the seeds are black, up to 4 mm, the wing size is twice as large. Male cones of Oriental spruce are yellowish, located inside the crown, bloom in late spring or early summer and release a lot of pollen. It flies over a long distance, turning everything yellow.
The cones stay on the tree for a long time. At first they are green and the size of a pea, in the second season they are fertilized and ripen, reaching a maximum size. At the beginning of the third year, the cones open their scales and fall off the tree. Ripening time in the mountains – October-November, on the plain – August-September.
The life span of Eastern Spruce is 400-500 years.
Varieties
Eastern spruce is sensitive to severe frosts, most cultivars are grown in zones 4-7. The species plant shows low resistance to urban conditions. Therefore, breeding is aimed not only at breeding low-growing varieties with an original crown shape, but also at increasing endurance to anthropogenic factors.
Eastern spruce Aurea
This is a slow growing variety of Oriental spruce with a loose crown of irregular conical shape. In a year, the tree grows 15 cm in height and adds 5 cm to the width. The maximum size of a spruce is 12, sometimes 15 m, the crown diameter is up to 5,5 m. By the age of 30, the height of the plant is from 6 to 8 m.
When blooming, the needles are painted golden, green in summer, and dark green in winter. The skeletal branches of the spruce are raised up, the shoots extending from them are drooping.
This is a fairly unpretentious variety that tolerates urban conditions well, able to grow in the sun and in partial shade. But the winter hardiness of Aurea spruce is low (zone 5), in severe winters the needles darken.
The variety tolerates shearing well, can be used to create hedges. Recommended for medium to large areas.
Eastern spruce Aureospicata
Variety of German selection. The maximum size of spruce is a height of 12 m with a width of 5 m. By the age of 10, it reaches 2,5 and 1,5 m, respectively, at 30 years old it grows to 6-8 m. shoots appear in June. Over time, the needles become dark green.
The crown of spruce is dense, narrow pyramidal, lateral branches are asymmetric, with drooping processes. Annual growth – no more than 20 cm. Young cones are purple, mature – brown, narrow, beautiful, up to 10 cm long.
The variety tolerates a haircut at a young age, is grown in a frost resistance zone of at least 5.
Eastern spruce Golden Start
This is a dwarf variety of oriental spruce, growing very slowly, reaching a height of 1,5-3 m with a width of 1,5 m with age. Its crown shape is wide-conical. The branches are widely spread, arranged horizontally. In a young spruce tree, the height is usually the same as the diameter of the crown, the old one is stretched out, the tips of the shoots hang.
The growth of the new year is golden, gradually darkens during the season and becomes dark green by winter. The needles are short, stiff, cones up to 8 cm long, first purple, then chestnut.
Spruce Golden Start is photophilous, but tolerates shading well. With a lack of sunlight, the golden color of young needles appears weaker or completely absent. The frost resistance zone in which the variety can grow without shelter is at least 5.
Golden Start tolerates shearing well and is recommended for patios, rocky or oriental designed gardens. This spruce will be appropriate in small areas.
Eastern spruce Summergold
This variety differs from others in a symmetrical crown. By the age of 10, the spruce reaches 2 m, the old tree is never higher than 8 m. The young growth is golden, by the end of the warm season the needles gradually become dark green.
Spruce grows well in the sun and in a little shade. Recommended for medium to large areas.
Eastern spruce Skylands
This is one of the most popular oriental spruce varieties in landscape design. It was bred in 1952 on farms in New Jersey. Spruce with short needles, which is bright yellow at first, then turns golden, and only at the end of the season becomes dark green. The crown is pyramidal, in an adult plant it narrows and stretches.
Landscape designers often play on the contrast of light yellow young needles and dark green old ones.
Eastern spruce Nigra Compacta
Perhaps this variety of oriental spruce is the most compact, which is reflected in the title. At the age of 10 years, the tree may not reach a height of 1 m. The needles are shorter than those of other varieties, young – golden, traditionally darkens with age and turns green.
Nigra Compacta winters well without shelter in hardiness zone 4. Landscape designers often cut off the top of the tree to create a more interesting crown, which makes the spruce look like a pillow. If you maintain this shape, the plant will direct all its forces to the development of lateral branches. By stopping pruning, you can get a tree with several peaks and a crown so dense that it does not look like a cone, but a large egg or ball. This is clearly seen in the photo of the eastern spruce Nigra Compacta.
Planting and caring for oriental spruce
At a young age, spruce is quite picky, when the tree grows, worries with it become much less. The eastern one suffers the most due to dry air and gas pollution – these factors affect the life of the needles, and therefore, the decorativeness of the culture.
Seedling and planting preparation
Gardeners want to grow a beautiful oriental spruce, which will not only decorate the site, but will also purify the air and saturate it with phytoncides. To do this, they must carefully approach the choice of site and seedling.
Selection of seedlings
Oriental spruce seedlings are best bought from nurseries, where they are dug up in the presence of the future owner, or grown in containers. This requirement is due to the fact that all conifers die slowly, their needles remain green for a long time.
For example, spruces and pines intended for sale on New Year’s Eve are harvested without permission in October or early November, and sometimes even in September. At that time, environmental and other regulatory authorities have not yet begun to carry out raids aimed at saving forests from illegal logging. Spruces and pines are stored in dark damp hangars, and the needles remain green all this time. If, when buying a New Year’s tree, the tips of the thorns are yellow or brown – this is a clear sign, then the plant was cut down a few months ago.
And what can we say about the period of digging spruce? A tree taken out of the ground with an open root system, if stored in a damp place, will retain an attractive appearance for a long time. After planting, the spruce may die, or take root poorly, lose most of the needles, and then constantly get sick. It is difficult to make claims to the trading organization – usually the complete death of the conifer, accompanied by the drying of branches and the complete shedding of needles, occurs only in the next season.
For planting, you can choose an adult tree grown in a container, or dug out with an earthen clod tied with burlap, or a 3-4-year-old seedling with a crown that has begun to form. Previously, buying spruce does not make sense – it is a single branch, it is impossible to even get an approximate idea of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbvarietal compliance. All representatives of the species have short needles and yellow or golden young growth.
All this you need to know when buying spruce, since even young varietal trees are not cheap, and adults can hurt even non-poor people.
Site selection and preparation
Young oriental spruce should be protected from direct sunlight at noon for at least the first few years of life. Subsequently, the tree becomes photophilous, and even loses the golden color of the growth of the current year in the shade. The lack of sun does not affect the health of Oriental spruce, but only reduces its decorative effect. The illumination of the tree should not be less than 6 hours a day, although the species is considered one of the most shade-tolerant.
Groundwater should not come closer to the ground surface than 1,5 m. In extreme cases, a drainage layer of broken red brick or expanded clay is made of at least 20 cm.
The soil for planting should be well permeable to water and air. Spruce does not even tolerate trampling the soil. Moderately fertile slightly acidic loams and sandy loams are well suited. High (red) peat should be added to alkaline soils.
Rules of landing
It is better to plant oriental spruce in autumn, and in all regions. In the south, it is generally recommended to place it on the site after the first frost, and throughout the winter. Only in zone 4 is it better to postpone the planting of spruce until spring (although not necessarily).
The landing hole is dug in advance and allowed to settle for at least 2 weeks. Its diameter should be about a meter, the depth should be at least 60 cm. On dense soils or where water comes close to the surface, a drainage layer of at least 20 cm must be made.
To plant oriental spruce correctly, you need to prepare a special mixture. It consists of sod land, sand and clay. Where the soil is alkaline, neutral, or contains a lot of salts, acid (moor) peat is immediately added. Special fertilizer for coniferous plants is poured into each pit according to the instructions, in extreme cases – 100-150 g of nitroammophoska.
The pit is filled 2/3 with the prepared mixture, watered abundantly, and allowed to settle. Before planting, the root of the eastern spruce should not dry out. It depends on how quickly the tree takes root and how its health will be in the future. If the root is sewn into a burlap, it is not necessary to remove it, the container (when the conifer grew in it) is carefully removed just before planting.
The operation is carried out in the following sequence:
- A part of the soil is taken out of the pit so that the root collar of the spruce is at ground level.
- The seedling is set in the center and carefully covered with the prepared nutrient mixture, constantly compacting it.
- Check and correct the position of the root collar.
- Oriental spruce is watered abundantly, spending at least 2 buckets of water per planting hole.
- The trunk circle is mulched with sour (red peat). The layer thickness must be at least 5 cm.
Watering and top dressing
Eastern spruce does not tolerate dry soil. Young trees are especially demanding for watering. The soil around them is regularly moistened not only immediately after planting, but also for several years, pouring 10-12 liters of liquid under each spruce in dry weather weekly.
After 10 years, the tree becomes, on the one hand, less sensitive to lack of water, and on the other hand, it begins to grow faster. This requires moisture. So oriental spruce always needs regular watering.
Dry air can also damage the tree. It is good if there is a fogging installation on the site. If not, in hot, dry weather, oriental spruce should be hosed down at least once a week. It is only better to do this after 5-6 pm, if a sharp drop in temperature is not expected at night. Once on the branches in the morning, water can work like a lens and cause the needles to burn. If spruce is poured over late in the evening, the tree will not be able to dry for a long time, there is a risk of developing fungal infections.
If the planting pit was well filled with fertilizers, it is not necessary to feed the tree for the first 2-3 years, then they should be applied under the root and through the needles several times per season. The need for intensive top dressing is due to the fact that oriental spruce does not tolerate urban conditions well. To maintain the crown and root system, it needs nutrients and water. Without the introduction of macro and microelements, the tree winters poorly, quickly loses needles and absorbs moisture worse.
It is better to use fertilizers for coniferous plants, and in accordance with the season: there are special top dressings for spring and early summer, containing a large amount of nitrogen. At the end of the warm season and in autumn, they need phosphorus and potassium. Special fertilizers for each group of plants contain a balanced complex of substances necessary for a culture in a given period.
Now it is no longer necessary to buy expensive Western brands, domestic manufacturers have launched inexpensive specialized top dressings on the market. They must be used in accordance with the instructions. If the packaging indicates the dosage per 1 sq. m, it must be equated to 1 linear meter of tree growth.
For eastern spruce, poorly adapted to urban conditions, foliar top dressing is of great importance, since the microelements necessary for the plant are better absorbed through the needles. It is better to use a chelate complex, to which magnesium sulfate is added, and alternately epin or zircon.
Mulching and loosening
The root system of a young eastern spruce first grows in depth. Then the taproot dies off, but many horizontal processes appear. Sucking roots are located close to the surface of the soil, it is impossible to disturb them without special need.
It is necessary to loosen the soil shallowly, no more than 5-7 cm, and only in the first years after planting. In the future, they are replaced by mulching the soil with acidic peat. You can use fallen needles as bedding, but it is often infected with pest larvae, fungal spores, and pathogens of other diseases. It is almost impossible to completely disinfect it at home, as well as to guarantee that the needles collected somewhere are healthy, although they seem clean.
In garden centers you can buy already processed bark of coniferous trees of different fractions. It perfectly covers the soil, saves moisture and slightly acidifies the soil. The painted bark may look beautiful, but during watering and rains it clogs and clogs the ground.
Trimming
Eastern spruce tolerates pruning well at a young age. After 10 years, cardinal correction of the crown without special need is not recommended – you should maintain the shape that was given to the tree earlier, or leave it alone.
Competent pruning of conifers is akin to art. It is much easier to take care of a spruce than to put in order other evergreen trees – the crown of the culture is already so beautiful. To create a hedge, it is better to call a specialist. He will carry out the initial haircut, and give recommendations on maintaining the shape.
Basic rules for pruning eastern spruce:
- the first haircut cannot be carried out in the year of planting;
- the procedure is carried out in early spring, before the opening of the kidneys;
- even with cardinal pruning, more than 30% of the green mass of spruce cannot be removed;
- the instrument should be used sharp and sterile;
- you can’t leave bare branches – they will dry out anyway;
- the cut must be made above the kidney, at an angle of 45 °, stepping back 2 mm;
- if the branch grows upwards, the cut is made above the bud pointing downwards, and vice versa;
- you need to remove all dry and broken shoots;
- the old branch is cut with a saw, holding it so that it does not collapse, damaging the bark;
- wound surfaces with a diameter greater than 0,5 cm are treated with garden pitch or covered with special paint.
Preparation for winter
Residents of the North-West, the Urals and Siberia, when buying oriental spruce, should be interested in growing in which frost resistance zone the variety is intended. The species tree winters in the fourth. If the plant will be located in its “own” zone, it should be covered only in the first year or two after planting. To do this, it is enough to throw spruce branches on the seedling or tie it with white agrofiber or lutrastil. In the spring, do not forget to remove the shelter before bud break.
In the future, you can limit yourself to mulching the soil with sour peat. By the beginning of the season, it should not be removed from the site, you just need to close it shallowly into the soil.
Reproduction
Oriental spruce is propagated by seeds that have good germination. But at the same time, varietal characteristics are not inherited by the tree. Garden forms are often propagated by cuttings, rarely by grafting.
Before sowing in cold greenhouses, the seeds of Eastern spruce must undergo stratification for 2-3 months – this significantly increases germination. Without treatment with low temperatures, planting material is soaked for a day in settled water. Seeds germinate in the year of planting. The first 3-4 years, the Eastern spruce does not form whorls, from which lateral branches grow.
A tree can be propagated by cuttings all season, but spring ones take root best of all – in 4-5 months. Autumn for survival takes twice as long. They take cuttings from the upper or middle part of the tree crown – they should be with yellowish bark, 15-20 cm. Best of all, shoots take root, not cut, but torn off along with the heel (a piece of the bark of an older branch). For better rooting, the wound surface is treated with a growth stimulator.
Oriental spruce can also be propagated by grafting, but this should be done by specialists.
Diseases and pests
Reviews of oriental spruce show that planted in the right place, with a complete replacement of the soil, a carefully groomed tree gets sick and is rarely affected by pests.
Most diseases of Eastern spruce can be avoided by carrying out preventive treatments with copper-containing preparations at the beginning and end of the season. The most common of them:
- snow shute;
- fusariosis;
- rot of the trunk and root system;
- shutte;
- dry necrosis;
- ulcerative cancer;
- rust of needles and cones;
- spruce spinner.
Among the pests of eastern spruce, it is worth highlighting:
- red and yellow gall aphids;
- caterpillars of the silkworm butterfly;
- spruce leaflet;
- fir-fir hermes;
- spider mite;
- common spruce sawfly.
Diseases are controlled with fungicides, pests are destroyed with insecticides and acaricides. The sooner treatment is started, the more successful it will be. Once a week, coniferous trees should be carefully examined with a magnifying glass.
Conclusion
Eastern spruce is one of the most beautiful coniferous crops. The species tree grows tall and does not tolerate urban conditions well. Varieties are better suited for growing in household plots. They remain small for a long time, and it is easy to build a shelter for a small spruce that can protect it even in cool or cold climates.