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More recently, oak-leaved mountain ash (or holly) has gained extraordinary popularity among amateur gardeners and professionals. This is not surprising, since the plant looks very beautiful throughout the entire growing season, does not require special care and has a number of other positive qualities. Knowledge of the features of growing rowan oak will be useful when choosing a seedling, planting it and further agricultural technology.
Description of mountain ash oak-leaved
Oakleaf mountain ash belongs to the genus Sorbus. In adulthood, the plant reaches 12m in height. In the first years of life, its crown has a pyramidal shape, which later changes to a spherical one, with a diameter of 6 m. At the base, the leaves of the tree are simple, with a deep dissection. Above, they become like oak leaves. Their upper surface is dark green, below – grayish, covered with fluff. Until the age of two, the shoots have a gray-brown bark, on a more mature plant they brighten, become gray-brown. Flowers with a diameter of 1,2 cm are collected in dense white, wide, corymbose inflorescences, reaching a diameter of 10 cm. Holly mountain ash blooms in May. Its fruits are red-orange, bitter in taste. Ripen in late August-first decade of September.
The tree is resistant to drought, easily tolerates frost, unpretentious to soils, grows well in illuminated areas.
Pros and cons of oak tree rowan
The frequent use of mountain ash in landscape design is explained by a number of its advantages:
- unpretentiousness in care;
- resistance to drought, environmental pollution, temperature drop;
- undemanding to soils;
- frost resistance;
- the presence of strong immunity to fungal diseases;
- attractive appearance at any time of the year and at any age;
- medicinal properties of berries;
- wide use of fruits in cooking.
Among the disadvantages:
- the plant does not tolerate a lack of light, in the shade of other trees it can stretch;
- does not like high occurrence of groundwater.
Rowan oak leaf in landscape design
Rowan oakleaf is not only an ornamental, but also a functional plant. It has an aesthetic appearance, brings useful fruits used in cooking and traditional medicine. The frost resistance of the crop allows it to be grown in the gardens of the northern regions along with coniferous plants – spruce, fir, cypress. In the summer, the culture organically looks in the greenery of the conifers. In autumn and winter, bright foliage and clusters of berries emphasize the green of the needles. Its combination with willows, poplars and ash trees is quite acceptable. Rowan oakleaf can serve as a good background for ornamental shrubs – spirea, barberry, honeysuckle. In the garden, the tree looks good both in individual plantings and in groups, as a hedge.
Thanks to its powerful root system, it can be planted on slopes and sloping surfaces.
There are weeping forms of oak-leaved mountain ash, which look great next to pergolas, benches, arches, entwined with clematis.
The use of rowan oak
According to the description and photo, oakleaf mountain ash ripens in early autumn. Its berries are dense, have an astringent taste. In their composition:
- beta-carotene;
- amino acids;
- tannins;
- vitamins.
Due to the chemical composition of the mountain ash, it is widely used in folk medicine in various forms – as tea, infusion, in dried form. It has diuretic, laxative, hemostatic and immunostimulatory effects. Rowan oakleaf is used to treat diabetes mellitus, dropsy, scurvy, atherosclerosis, dysentery, hypertension, rheumatism. The astringency of the berries disappears after they are frozen or dried.
The berries of the oak-leaved mountain ash are widely used in cooking and the food industry. On their basis, produce marmalade, marshmallow, jam. Multiberry juices are fortified with mountain ash. The berry is used to prepare sauces for meat, it is added to pickled cucumbers. Thanks to the tannins in the composition of the berries, cucumbers remain crispy after heat treatment and pickling.
Planting and caring for rowan oak
Mountain ash oak-leaved does not require special conditions for growing and care. Reproduction of plants can be carried out by seeds, by grafting, by young shoots, by layering. The tree is disease and pest resistant.
For the full growth, development and fruiting of a plant, a number of rules must be followed:
- the right choice of site for planting seedlings;
- the use of soil mixture that retains moisture;
- landing priority in spring;
- use of water retention techniques;
- planting several rowan trees for cross-pollination;
- conducting periodic top dressing;
- correct pruning;
- preparing the seedling for a safe wintering.
Site preparation
Mountain ash oakleaf is able to grow in conditions that are not suitable and extremely uncomfortable for other plants. The tree can develop and bear fruit in the city, be used for landscaping roadsides and highways. It tolerates drought, soil contamination with icy reagents, air pollution. The average life expectancy of the mountain ash is about 100 years. The conditions of a metropolis shorten the life of a plant by 15 to 20 years.
A place where culture feels comfortable and develops rapidly should be sunny. With a lack of lighting, the oak-leaved mountain ash can stretch out. In this case, the shape of the crown deteriorates, which can be difficult to fix. Closely spaced groundwater or swampy peat soils have a detrimental effect on the root system. Fertile loams are the best option when choosing soil for rowan oak.
After determining the landing site, it is necessary to prepare a pit. Its dimensions should not only correspond to the size of the root system of the plant, but also have an additional margin in width for the unhindered spread of roots along the upper fertile layer.
Rules of landing
Rowan oakleaf is planted in autumn or early spring, when the buds have not yet begun to grow.
During landing, follow the steps according to a certain scheme:
- Planting holes are dug 60 cm deep, 80 cm wide and XNUMX cm long.
- They are filled with compost soil, adding superphosphate, ash, and rotted manure humus.
- Shorten the roots.
- Set the seedling in the center of the planting pit and fill it with soil mixture so that the neck is at ground level.
- Water the plant abundantly.
- Mulch the soil around the trunk with straw, grass.
- Shorten the center conductor.
As you can see in the photo, planting and caring for the mountain ash oak, done correctly, leads to a chic plant appearance, abundant flowering and fruiting.
Watering and top dressing
Unlike an adult plant, young seedlings really need watering. Immediately after planting, the moistening of the mountain ash should be regular and plentiful. To retain moisture in the soil, it is worth using soil mulching and earthen rollers around the trunk circle.
Top dressing of the plant is carried out during planting with mineral fertilizers and organic matter. The next time they are brought under the mountain ash no earlier than the third year of life. During the flowering period, the tree needs additional nitrogen, potassium. After harvesting the fruits of oak-leaved mountain ash, during preparation for winter, phosphorus and potassium are added under the plant. Fertilizer is scattered over the surface around the trunk, then it is buried to a depth of 15 cm. After top dressing, the soil must be moistened abundantly.
Trimming
The mountain ash oak-leaved does not need special pruning. It is possible to remove shoots for sanitary purposes and to form a crown.
To do this, immediately after planting, a young plant should cut out excess shoots growing at an acute angle upwards. If you ignore this procedure, the crown of the tree will thicken after a while, the branches will stretch, become thin and brittle, and it will be difficult to form a crown. In the first pruning, the side branches are shortened, leaving only 3 buds from the trunk; the main trunk is not pruned.
In the following years, the crown of the plant is formed, for which, after harvesting, old damaged branches are cut out, shoots touching the ground, growing in the center of the crown, with obvious signs of disease.
To stimulate the growth of young shoots at the age of four years and older, old branches are cut out on mountain ash at a distance of 1-3 cm from the trunk.
Preparation for winter
Oakleaf rowan refers to frost-resistant crops. It is able to survive a drop in temperature to -35 ⁰С.
Mature plants do not need any shelter. Young trees with a weak root system can die during severe frosts, so care must be taken to protect them. For this purpose, the oak-leaved mountain ash is spudded with dry earth before the onset of the winter cold, the near-stem circle is mulched with a large layer of dry leaves (15 cm) and covered with spruce branches on top. The top of the tree is not covered.
Pollination
Rowan oakleaf turned out as a result of mixing two forms – ordinary and mealy. In some years, the culture gives a rich harvest of berries, behind which foliage is not visible at this time.
In order for the crops to be permanent, experts advise planting several trees of mountain ash in the garden. As a result of cross-pollination, it is possible to achieve this effect. You should not plant wild varieties of plants in the garden, so as not to spoil the quality of the berries.
Harvesting
The berries of the mountain ash are large, pleasant to the taste, their harvest is plentiful. Flowering begins in spring, fruits ripen in late summer-early autumn. At this time, it is necessary to hurry with the harvest, otherwise they may lose their useful qualities and presentation or become prey for birds.
To distract the birds, you can make feeders away from the mountain ash.
Cut the berries with secateurs with whole brushes. Remove the stalks immediately before processing the fruit – cooking, drying, freezing. In the dried state, the moisture content of the finished rowan berries should be about 18%.
Diseases and pests
It is believed that the oak-leaved mountain ash has strong immunity and rarely gets sick. But in late May-early June, due to adverse weather conditions, infectious diseases can spread massively:
- mučnistaâ rosa – white cobweb plaque on leaf plates;
- rust – orange-yellow spots with dark brown tubercles, due to which the leaves are deformed;
- brown spot – brown spots with a reddish border on the upper side of the leaves;
- gray spot – gray spots on irregularly shaped leaf plates;
- destroyed – brown spots with radiant edges, on which mycelium with spores develops;
- circular mosaic – yellow rings with a green center, forming a mosaic pattern on the leaves.
The pests of mountain ash oakleaf include:
- weevil – a small brown beetle, feeds on the kidneys, eating out the core;
- bark beetle – a small beetle that gnaws through the bark;
- moths – caterpillar 2 cm long, appears before flowering and destroys buds, leaves, flowers;
- rowan aphid – sucks the juices from the leaves.
Reproduction
Oakleaf mountain ash can be propagated:
- seeds;
- budding;
- cuttings;
- basal shoots;
- layering.
The seed method is rarely used because of its complexity and duration. The first shoots of plants appear a few months after sowing.
The budding of oak-leaved mountain ash begins in early August. Its plastic skin provides high survival rate. A year later, the stock is cut into a thorn, the buds are removed, the grown shoot is tied to the thorn.
The cutting method consists in separating the lateral root of the mother plant with small shoots and digging it into loose soil with the cut up.
Rooting is possible with ordinary cuttings taken from the shoots. Their rooting is 60%.
Layering is done with the help of long young branches, dug in and pinned into a special furrow. After rooting, the plant is separated and planted in a permanent place.
Root shoots of mountain ash oak-leaved constantly appear next to the trunk. For reproduction, it is enough to carefully separate, dig and plant the root offspring in a new place.
Conclusion
Rowan oak leaves remarkably sets off and emphasizes the elements of the garden. It can itself become the center of the composition or the background for other ornamental plants. An undemanding tree pleases with a harvest of useful berries, easily tolerates drought and frost. When planting mountain ash oak, you should thoroughly determine the place in order to emphasize all the positive aspects of the plant and prevent its shading.
