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Most lovers of ornamental gardening strive to decorate a summer cottage with beautiful evergreen trees. This is understandable, since such plantings have an excellent appearance and decorate the garden throughout the calendar year. And as a leader, many prefer to plant a fir – an incredibly beautiful coniferous tree with soft fluffy needles.
Is it possible to plant fir on the site
Fir belongs to the pine family and unites more than 80 species, which are both tall trees and small shrubs. This plant is quite often found in the wild. It can be found in coniferous and mixed forests, it can grow as individual trees among spruces and pines, as well as in small groups. Planting fir in the country is quite common. These trees feel good in many climatic zones, they are durable and unpretentious. The technology of growing fir in a personal plot is simple and does not require special knowledge.
Fir in landscape design
The tradition of planting firs in household plots has been around for a long time. In Soviet times, numerous plantings of these trees adorned the territories of sanatoriums, rest homes, scientific institutions, and schoolyards. This is due not only to the decorative component. Fir emits a magnificent coniferous aroma, and its needles emit a large amount of phytoncides – volatile compounds that disinfect the air. These trees are planted both in single and group plantings, using them as architectural elements, pillars or rows of columns when decorating alleys.
What kind of fir to plant in a country house in the suburbs
The climate of the Moscow region is quite suitable for planting fir. Severe frosts have become a rarity now, so the probability of tree death in winter is low. For landing in the suburbs, you can use the following types:
- Balsam fir. Under natural conditions, it lives up to 300 years, while growing up to 15 m. There are dwarf varieties (Nano and Piccolo). Needles up to 2,5 cm long, soft, even. Differs in a dense specific coniferous smell.
- Korean fir. Evergreen coniferous plant with a wide pyramidal crown. Reaches 15 m in height and 2,5 m in diameter. Needles up to 2 cm, dull, rich bright green. It has quite a few varieties (Silberlock, Molly, Tundra, Oberon, Green Carpet, etc.), and is widely used in ornamental gardening.
- Siberian fir. Under natural conditions, it lives up to 200 years, while reaching a height of 50–60, and in some cases 100 m, the trunk diameter can reach 2,5 m. The crown is cone-shaped, narrow. Needles up to 3 cm long, soft, with blunt tips. It has a subtle pine aroma.
- The fir is great. It is found in the wild in North America. The tree grows up to 35-50 m, sometimes up to 70 m, trunk diameter up to 1,5 m. The crown is pyramidal, becoming rounded in an adult tree. The needles are soft, up to 5,5 cm long, bright green with a white stripe below. Lives up to 200-250 years.
- Whole-leaved fir. It grows up to 30 m by the age of 100, and at a more mature age – up to 55 m. The crown is wide, conical. Needles up to 4 cm long, light green, flat.
Growing and caring for fir in the gardens of the Moscow region is no more difficult than in other regions. The above species have long and successfully grown not only in this area, but also much further north.
How to plant fir on the site
Planting a fir is no more difficult than any other tree. For planting use seedlings that have reached the age of 4 years. They can be purchased at specialized stores or nurseries. Photo of fir seedlings below:
Terms of planting
The best time to plant fir in a permanent place in the garden is April. If the deadline is missed, do not rush. You can also plant fir in late August or early September. The technology for planting fir in autumn does not differ from spring. However, later dates are undesirable, since seedlings may not have time to acclimatize in a new place and die from frost. Planting fir in winter in open ground is possible only in the southern regions, where there are no negative temperatures.
Where to plant fir on the site
Shady or semi-shady areas are suitable for planting fir. The soil is preferably loamy, loose and fertile, moderately moist. It is recommended to plant these trees at a small distance from natural water bodies. Fir can also be planted near the house, but it is also necessary to take into account the dimensions of the future tree, as well as the fact that it will give a significant shadow.
Site preparation
To plant fir correctly, pits for future trees must be prepared in advance, preferably 2-4 weeks before the expected planting date. Their value depends on the size of the container in which the seedling grows, since the planting is carried out together with a clod of earth on the roots. Usually a hole with a diameter of 0,6 m and the same depth is quite enough. At the bottom, drainage from large rubble, expanded clay or broken bricks should be laid. Then the pit is half-filled with a soil mixture consisting of river sand, peat, humus and soddy soil, taken in a ratio of 1: 1: 2: 2. Additionally, you can acidify the soil with clay or sawdust.
After preparing the soil, the pit for planting fir is spilled with 2-3 buckets of water and left for 10-14 days. During this time, the soil will have time to settle and become saturated with nutrients.
Fir seedling planting technology
Before planting, the container with the seedling should be poured with plenty of water. This will allow you to easily remove the plant along with a clod of earth. After that, it is installed in a planting hole strictly vertically and covered with nutrient soil, lightly tamping it. In this case, the root neck should be slightly above ground level. Planted plants are watered abundantly with water, after which the soil is mulched with humus.
When planting fir in the ground in a permanent place, it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of future trees. So that they do not compete with each other, it is necessary to observe certain intervals when planting. When making alleys, the distance between adjacent seedlings is 4-5 m, for group plantings – from 2 to 4,5 m, depending on the desired density.
How to transplant fir
Fir, especially at a young age, tolerates transplantation calmly, if all necessary measures are followed. The tree is transplanted at the same time, in April or early September. Fir can only be transplanted with a closed root system. To prepare the plant for transplantation, a year before the planned event, the ground around the trunk is bayoneted with a shovel at a distance of 25-30 cm from the trunk, for older trees this distance must be increased to 50-60 cm. During the year, the tree will grow a large amount of adventitious roots instead of chopped and endure the transplant calmly. A year later, the tree is dug up and removed along with a clod of earth.
You can transfer it to a new place on a piece of tarpaulin or other dense fabric. It is advisable not to do this alone, since a tree with an earthen clod can be of considerable weight.
Preparation of the landing pit and planting is carried out in the same sequence as for a young seedling.
Is it possible to plant a cut down fir
Felled coniferous trees can stand in water or wet sand for quite a long time. At the same time, the plant often begins to produce fresh needles, young cones appear on it. This behavior of the tree is considered by many to be evidence that, under certain conditions, it is possible to grow a full-fledged root system on a felled fir and then plant it in open ground.
However, it is not. Still, it will not work to bring a cut fir back to life. Coniferous trees are cut rather poorly, and even small branches with a heel cannot always be rooted. An adult fir tree, after cutting down, is guaranteed to be doomed to death, which can only be delayed by constantly feeding it with water.
How to care for fir
Fir care is not particularly difficult. The tree is quite unpretentious and, as a rule, does not cause trouble for the gardener. The only exceptions are decorative species, which must be constantly looked after.
How to water fir
Fir does not require watering. For most species of this tree, artificial irrigation is not only not required, but is also contraindicated, since excess moisture affects it extremely negatively. The only exceptions are moisture-loving species, such as, for example, balsam fir, moderate watering of which must be done several times during the summer and only during a long drought. The rest of the species is quite enough precipitation.
How to feed
The nutrients introduced at planting are usually sufficient for the first few years of a fir’s life. In the future, top dressing is done 1 time per year, in the spring. 0,1-0,15 g of Kemira-Universal complex fertilizer is usually applied to the near-stem circle of a tree, combining this procedure with cleaning and loosening the soil.
Loosening and mulching
Caring for the root zone of fir after planting is one of the mandatory procedures that must be carried out constantly. It is very important to keep the near-trunk circles of trees clean, this significantly reduces the likelihood of diseases and pests on plants. Loosening should be carried out after each rain or watering, while removing weeds. Peat, humus, tree bark or wood chips can be used as mulch, laying it out in a layer of 8-10 cm.
Trunk circles are usually mulched within a radius of 0,5 m around the tree trunk, without covering the root neck.
fir pruning
Most types of fir have a neat, beautiful appearance and without any interference. An exception can only be decorative species that must be maintained in the given dimensions of the crown. Pruning of these trees can be done in early spring, before the start of the growing season. In addition to such pruning, sanitary cleaning is also carried out in the spring, during which branches that are broken, dried up and frozen over during the winter are removed.
Preparation for winter
Mature trees tolerate the winter cold quite well without any preparation. It is desirable to cover young plants for the winter. It is best to use spruce branches for this or build a special shelter in the form of a frame made of slats covered with burlap. The interior space of such a shelter is filled with straw, fallen leaves or wood shavings. This method is guaranteed to protect newly planted young trees not only from winter frosts, but also from damage to the crown by the bright spring sun.
Fir breeding
You can grow fir yourself from seeds or by propagating it with cuttings. This is a rather lengthy process, so the gardener who decides to take such a step should be patient for several years to come.
How to grow fir from seeds
Growing fir from seeds at home is a rather long and laborious process. Difficulties arise already at the stage of harvesting seeds, since ripe cones are located on the upper part of the tree. In addition, fir seeds are light and volatile, they quickly spill out and are carried by the wind. Therefore, they are prepared in the following way. Unripe cones with closed scales are plucked from the tree and placed in heat. After the cones ripen and open, seeds are poured out of them.
After collecting a sufficient number of seeds, they are subjected to stratification. It can be carried out both at home, by placing the planting material in the refrigerator, and on the street, simply by burying the container with seeds in the snow. They need to stay in such conditions for about 120 days. Stratified fir seeds are planted in April in special containers filled with a mixture of sand, peat and soddy soil. The planting depth should not exceed 1-2 cm. The containers are covered with plastic wrap, simulating greenhouse conditions.
Periodically, the containers are ventilated, and the soil is moistened and gently loosened. After 3-4 weeks, the first shoots should appear. A year later, they dive into separate containers and keep growing until the age of 4 years. Only after that, young fir trees are planted in spring in permanent places.
How to propagate by cuttings
Fir can also be propagated vegetatively. As cuttings, annual shoots 5-8 cm long with one apical bud are used. Often they are not cut off, but torn off, while the heel remains on the handle – part of the old lignified shoot. Harvesting of cuttings is carried out in the spring, using shoots growing on the north side of the tree in its middle part. It is advisable to do this in cloudy weather. Harvested cuttings are disinfected before planting, keeping for 5-6 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then they are planted in containers with nutrient soil, consisting of humus, sand and soddy soil, taken in equal proportions.
Planted cuttings are placed under a film or glass. It is necessary to regularly ventilate them, as well as moisten the soil substrate. Rooting cuttings of fir is a rather lengthy process. It takes about a year for the cutting to develop its own roots. A full-fledged root system will be formed only for 2 years.
Some of the nuances of breeding fir – on the video:
Diseases and pests
Subject to all the rules for caring for fir, diseases and pests appear on it quite rarely. Problems are possible only under adverse weather conditions, as well as violation of the landing rules or bad ecology. The most common diseases affecting these trees are as follows.
- Booa swarm of fir shute. Fungal disease, manifested in the yellowing of the needles, which subsequently becomes black. The needles stick together, but do not crumble for a long time. In autumn, rounded black fruit bodies of the fungus are clearly visible on them. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to prevent thickening of plantings and waterlogging, you should also pay attention to the quality of planting material. When a disease appears, it is necessary to cull, and treat neighboring plantings with biological products or fungicides.
- Fusarium wilt. Caused by soil fungi. Occurs with excessive moisture and planting trees on heavy, poorly drained and clay soils. The disease begins with damage to the roots and then penetrates into all tissues of the tree, which gradually turns yellow from below. When a disease occurs, the infected tree is destroyed, and the soil and neighboring plantings are treated with fungicides.
- Rust. A fungal disease that especially often affects plantings of young plants. It appears in the summer as a yellow or orange bloom on the branches, greatly weakening the trees. To prevent the appearance, young plantings should be treated with copper sulphate or Bordeaux mixture, and the plantings should not be thickened.
Among insect pests, several groups are traditionally distinguished:
- sucking (aphids-hermes, false shield, spider mite).
- needle-eating (fir moth, pine moth, fir moth).
- Damage Buds (cone fire).
- Root pests (wireworms, crackers).
- stem pests (black fir barbel, bark beetle typographer).
Insect pests are fought by treating plantings with biological products, as well as various insecticides, acaricides and other means. Spraying fir trees with various infusions (tobacco, garlic, dandelion) is also widely practiced.
Growing fir as a business
The constant demand for decorative coniferous trees allows us to consider growing fir in the country as a way to earn money. However, fir can be used not only as an element of landscape design. Fir brooms are very much appreciated by lovers of bath procedures. From the needles of this tree, infusions and oil are obtained, which are used in the treatment of many diseases and are an excellent prophylactic. Camphor is obtained from fir – a substance widely used to treat infections of the respiratory tract, lymph nodes and other diseases.
Fir wood is not inferior in quality to pine or spruce. Therefore, it can be used in construction, as well as for the manufacture of various wooden fittings, decor elements, joinery, and furniture.
Conclusion
It is possible and necessary to plant fir on a personal plot, if the place and conditions allow. It has many useful properties and does not require significant maintenance. Such shade-tolerant evergreen trees not only perfectly enliven the black and white picture of winter, but also significantly improve the overall microclimate of the garden.