How to breed thuja from a sprig at home: how to propagate, how to grow

Experienced gardeners know how to grow thuja from a twig. In order for a tiny shoot to turn into a beautiful coniferous tree, patience and the fulfillment of simple agrotechnical requirements will be required.

Is it possible to grow thuja from a branch

The easiest way is to buy a thuja seedling you like in the garden center and plant it on your site. For those who want to save money on decorating landscape design with conifers, there are other ways, for example, find an adult thuja of a suitable variety in a friends garden and try to propagate it.

Reproduction by seeds is rarely used – it is a long and laborious process. It is more effective to root the thuja from the twig, the seedling will completely repeat the shape of the crown and the color of the needles of the mother plant.

The advantage of vegetative propagation is the ability to obtain a large number of seedlings for hedges. Other conifers take root with twigs worse than thuja. To do this, you need to break off the escape with the “heel”.

There is only one drawback of growing thuja from a branch on your own – you need a lot of patience to get a new adult plant to decorate the garden.

When can thuja be grown from a twig

Branches can be harvested at any time of the year. They cannot be stored for a long time, it is advisable to immediately put them in water or plant them in the ground. In room conditions, it is possible to carry out rooting even in winter. If you maintain the required air temperature and humidity, efforts will be crowned with success.

According to experienced gardeners, the best time for rooting thuja branches is the end of spring or June. At this time, the regrowth of the roots occurs more amicably, the percentage of survival of seedlings increases.

When rooting shoots in spring and summer, roots form quickly. In autumn or winter, the process can take up to three months. Therefore, do not rush and throw away a twig if it does not start growing for a long time.

How to plant a thuja from a branch

To propagate thuja from twigs, they need to be properly prepared. For this, 2-3 summer shoots, fully matured, about 15-20 cm long, are suitable. Harvested branches are prepared for planting, a suitable container and soil are selected. You can root in the garden by building a small greenhouse. When the branches take root, they are transplanted into a school.

Cutting and preparing thuja branches

Having chosen a beautiful adult thuja, and armed with sharp scissors, you can start harvesting future planting material.

Scissors will be needed if the broken branch pulled too long a piece of bark. It must be carefully cut. It is advisable to immediately put the harvested shoots in a plastic bag so that they do not dry out.

Before rooting, thuja branches are prepared:

1. Cut off all small needles at the bottom.
2. Carefully round the heel of the bark at the base with scissors.
3. Shorten the needles at the top to reduce the area for moisture evaporation.

When planting thuja with twigs, not all seedlings take root, so it is better to prepare a few pieces.

Preparation of containers and soil

For rooting, any plastic container with holes in the bottom is suitable. One seedling is planted in small pots with a diameter of 8 cm; several pieces can be placed in a large tray at once.

To grow thuja from a branch yourself, it is best to take good quality purchased land. When using garden soil, you need to add peat and sand to it in a ratio of 1: 1: 1. You can mix vermiculite into the soil, it gives good loosening. The soil mixture should be loose so that it is easier for the resulting roots to spread in it.

How to root a sprig of thuja at home

If there is no experience in growing seedlings of flowers and caring for seedlings at home, thuja can be rooted in water:

1. A little water is poured into the jar so that the needles do not get wet.
2. Water is changed several times a day. It should be clean, best boiled, then the shoots will not rot.
3. No more than four branches are put together in one half-liter jar.
4. When the roots appear, they are planted in containers with loose, fertile soil.

Having prepared the soil mixture and suitable containers, proceed to planting:

1. Needles are cut from the bottom of the branch so that it does not come into contact with soil or water when rooting.
2. The upper needles are also shortened with scissors by half the length.
3. A sprig of thuja is stuck into the soil mixture to a depth of 4-5 cm.
4. Moisten from a spray bottle, and cover with a film, plastic bag, jar or cut plastic bottle.
5. Put in diffused sunlight.

In order for the plant to take root and take root, it needs to provide normal care:

• daily for 10 minutes, the shelter (film, bag or jar) is removed to ventilate the branches,
• humidify as needed, the humidity inside the greenhouse should be 100%;
• maintain the temperature in the room with seedlings above + 20 ° C;
• they make sure that mold does not form, this often happens if it is too cold and damp.

You can plant a thuja from a branch at home in winter, but it will take longer to take root than in summer.

Planting rooted branches

In the spring, rooted thuja branches can be planted on a garden bed in a school for subsequent growth. And a year later, a young coniferous tree can be transplanted to a permanent place.

How to plant a thuja from a branch without roots

You can propagate thuja with branches right in the garden. Freshly cut shoots are planted in a bed with good soil, sticking into the prepared soil at an angle of 45 °. The branch is deepened by 4-5 cm, the stem is squeezed, compacting the soil around, covered with a film or a jar on top. If many branches are rooted at once, they make a greenhouse – a small tunnel of wire arcs, covered with a film or spunbond.

Rooting is carried out in the shade, because under the shelter of the film on a hot day all the shoots will burn. For additional protection from the sun, a two-layer greenhouse cover is made – the film is also covered with spunbond on top.

How to grow thuja from a sprig at home

At home, it is convenient to grow thuja from a branch in a plastic bottle with a cut off top. In the lower part, holes are made to drain the water, soil is poured, compacted a little, a recess is made in the center, and a shoot is planted.

The seedling is watered, sprinkled with dry earth so that there is no excess evaporation, and covered with the top of a plastic bottle with a cork. High humidity must be maintained inside for the twig to take root.

Without watering, such an escape in a bottle can stand for a month. The optimum air temperature for its rooting is + 22 … + 25 ° C. The seedling is placed in a place with diffused light, as a lot of condensation will form under direct sunlight, and the trunk may rot.

How to grow a tree from a thuja branch

A two-year-old thuja seedling is transplanted to a permanent place, choosing a suitable site for it in the garden, without stagnant water. If groundwater is high, they are planted on an embankment. The place for planting the thuja should also not be dry, because its root system is superficial, and if there is a lack of moisture it dries quickly, you will have to do frequent watering.

Thuja is a sun-loving culture, so an open area of ​​u6buXNUMXbthe garden is chosen for it, where direct sunlight will be at least XNUMX hours a day. If you plant a tree in a shaded place, it will lose its decorative properties – the crown will become loose, the branches will stretch, the shape will fall apart, the decorative color of the needles will disappear.

The planting hole is dug twice as wide and deeper than the size of the root system of the seedling. In order for the plant to develop as best as possible in the first two years after planting in a permanent place, a large hole is made. It is filled with a fertile and loose earthen mixture of the following composition:

• 2 hours of fertile land;
• 1 h. sand;
• 1 hour peat.

Such land is quite fertile, light and loose, it will pass moisture and air well.

Watering during the first month is especially important. Once a week, at least one bucket of water is poured under the seedling. During the dry period, the amount of moisture can be doubled – watered twice a week or poured two buckets under one tree at a time.

The trunk circle must be mulched. Peat, compost, wood chips, needles are used as mulch. The mulch will cover the root system of the thuja, it will not allow weeds to grow, and the moisture will not evaporate quickly. The mulch layer should be thick, at least 8-10 cm, this is the only way to provide good conditions for the rooting and growth of a young plant.

The first five years, until the thuja seedling has grown stronger, it is provided with special care. The tree is periodically checked and inspected. This allows you to identify diseases, pests or care errors in time, and help the plant. Young thujas prepare for winter:

• multi-stemmed specimens are tied with twine so that the branches do not break under the snow;
• the needles are covered from the sunlight in winter, which leaves burns on the plant;
• corrugated cardboard, white calico, burlap are used to protect from the sun.

To maintain decorativeness, some varieties require regular shearing. Do this in dry weather twice a year – at the beginning and end of summer, using a sharp and clean pruner.

Additional information on how to grow thuja seedlings from cut branches is shown in the video.

Conclusion

You can grow a thuja from a twig for free and simply. They are rooted in water and in the ground, at home, and in the garden. At the age of two, the thuja is transplanted to a permanent place, and they are carefully looked after. Thanks to this method, a large number of thuja seedlings are grown.