Thuja orientalis growing from seeds. Growing thuja from seeds at home. Sowing thuja seeds

Thuja is one of the most beautiful representatives of evergreen trees and is often used in landscape design to decorate garden plots and city parks. Usually the plant is grown by purchasing ready-made seedlings in special nurseries, but if you wish, you can grow thuja yourself by collecting seeds from an existing tree. Even a novice gardener can cope with growing thuja seeds. It will be possible to move the grown seedlings into open ground in the third year of development.

Advantages and disadvantages of seed growing

The most important advantage of growing thuja with seeds is that you can get a large number of seedlings of the same size and age almost free of charge. This is especially true for those gardeners who plan to make a hedge from thuja, because the seedlings of this plant are quite expensive. In addition, seed-grown thuja will already be adapted to local climatic conditions and soil composition.

But this method of cultivation also has its disadvantages, due to which it is used less often than propagation by cuttings. First of all, this is the duration of the seedling development process. From the moment of sowing the seeds until the seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place, at least four years will pass. When propagating from seeds, the characteristics of the variety of the mother plant are not always preserved, as when growing thuja from twigs. Therefore, young conifers grown by seeds can have a different crown shape.

Preparing seeds and soil

Thuja seeds should be collected in early autumn. To do this, you need to cut the ripe brown or brown cones from the mother plant and lay them out on paper in the apartment to dry for several days. After this, the cones will open on their own, and small seeds will fall out onto the paper sheet.

To increase germination, seeds must be stratified. To do this, they are wrapped in a rag and buried in the ground in the fall, covering the top with fallen leaves or other insulation. With the onset of spring, the seeds are dug up and poured into a container. A layer of sand is poured on top and placed in the refrigerator for 2 months.

Soil for sowing seeds can be purchased ready-made. In this case, choose a special soil mixture for coniferous plants. If this is not possible, you can mix the soil yourself. It should consist of the following components:

• 2 parts sand;
• 1 part of turf land;
• 1 part peat.

Procedure algorithm

Seeds that have passed stratification can be sown directly into the ground, setting aside a special bed for them. But it is better to plant them first in boxes and grow them at home for the first years. This will make caring for the seedlings easier.

Marking furrows

The step-by-step planting process is as follows: a drainage layer is placed on the bottom of the box and filled with prepared soil. The soil surface is leveled and compacted so that its level is 2–3 cm below the edges of the box. Then furrows are marked, keeping a distance of 5–6 cm between them.

Preparing furrows for sowing

Then, for ease of work, the furrows are slightly widened.

Planting seeds in furrows

The seeds are spread evenly throughout the furrow.

Filling seeds with soil mixture

The seeds are covered with a 1 cm layer of soil on top and the soil surface is compacted with a plank. Then it is moistened by spraying with water from a spray bottle.

After sowing, the boxes are covered with glass or film and placed in a warm place for germination. When sprouts appear, the boxes are moved to a cool room with good lighting. The cover is periodically removed to ventilate and water the plants. If there are spoiled sprouts, they are removed. After 40 days, the seedlings will be strong enough, then the shelter can be removed completely.

You can sow and germinate seeds in a simpler way. To do this, the seeds collected in the fall are not processed, but are immediately sown in beds in open ground. To create favorable conditions, the place where the seeds are sown is covered with sawdust. In the spring, after the snow melts, the first shoots similar to dill will appear. With this natural method of growing for thuja, seedlings can grow 7 cm in a year. They must be covered for the winter.

Seedling care

When growing seedlings in boxes, there is no need to replant them if the plantings are not very dense and there is enough space for each plant to grow. Care in the first year of life should consist only of periodically moistening the soil. Boxes with seedlings should be kept in a shaded place at a temperature of +17 to +23 degrees. It is best to grow seedlings on windows on the north or west side of the house. In winter, the temperature can be reduced to +15 degrees.

To stimulate growth and development, seedlings need to be fed with complex mineral fertilizers twice a month. Preparations such as “Solution” or “Agricol” are suitable as top dressing. They are used according to the instructions on the packaging.

In the second year of seedling development, they are planted in separate pots and moved outside to a dimly lit area of ​​the garden. Care at this time consists of moderate watering. For the winter, pots with young thujas are brought indoors. In the third year, they are taken outside in May, and in the fall the bushes can be planted in a permanent place.

Transplantation into open ground

Young plants can be planted in open ground starting from the third year of their development. But it is better to wait until the seedlings reach five years of age with replanting. Before planting, choose a dark place on the site for the thujas and prepare the soil. The soil is dug up, simultaneously applying the following fertilizers to each square meter:

• humus - 1 bucket;
• nitroammophoska - 2 tbsp. l.;
• wood ash - 1 tbsp.

When replanting, you need to ensure that the root collar is not buried. This will lead to yellowing of the needles and death of the plant.

The grown thujas are planted in a summer cottage so that the distance between them is at least 30 cm. After transplanting the seedlings, they are watered and the soil is mulched with peat. Further care consists of timely regular watering, periodic loosening of the soil and timely disposal of weeds. After the height of the seedling reaches half a meter, the young plants can be transplanted to their permanent habitat.

In the first winter after planting plants in open ground, they are absolutely necessary to protect them from cold weather and animals. To do this, the seedlings are covered with leaves and branches; you can use hay for covering, on top of which burlap is fixed. In autumn, seedlings may turn brown. This is a normal phenomenon: in the spring the thujas will turn green again.

– one of the brightest representatives of evergreen coniferous trees. It is often used when planning landscape design. The beautiful slender pyramids of this plant are very unpretentious in care and have the useful property of releasing active substances into the air - phytoncides. This is why gardeners and summer residents who know how to grow thuja fell in love with these lush green beauties. Thuja propagates by cuttings and seeds. Planting cuttings of various varieties can be purchased at a nursery or from an experienced gardener who breeds them. You can quite easily grow thuja from a seed yourself. Let's try to figure out exactly how you can grow thuja yourself.

Did you know? Thuja occidentalis grows in all growing conditions; its unpretentiousness will appeal to novice gardeners.

Thuja seeds: pros and cons of this method

A huge advantage of growing thuja seeds at home is the ability to grow a large number of seedlings at the same time, and they will be the same size and age. This is interesting for those who plan to make a hedge or composition on a large plot. In addition, thuja grown from seed will be better adapted to the growing area.

This method is cheap to use, but it also has its disadvantages:

• long process of seedling development. The period from seed to planting the plant in the soil lasts approximately 5 years;
• seedlings will be similar in appearance, but may lose the shape and quality of the variety of their predecessors.

How to prepare seeds and prepare the soil

If you have thought carefully and decided to propagate thuja by seeds, you need to take this issue seriously. It all starts with collecting seeds in early autumn. To do this, ripe seed cones of brown or brownish color are removed from the parent tree and dried in a warm room for several days. When the cone opens, you need to lightly tap on it. This will make it possible to extract and collect small brown seeds. After collecting the seeds, it is necessary to carry out stratification.

Wrap the collected seeds in a cloth and bury them in the ground, cover with fallen leaves or existing insulation. Overwintered seeds are removed from the thawed ground and poured into a container covered with sand on top, which must be placed in the refrigerator for a couple of months. The next important stage is soil preparation. For good growth of thuja, a special nutrient mixture is needed: turf soil and peat in equal parts and a double part of sand.

Important! You can give the thuja crown the desired shape with garden pruners, cutting off the upper parts of the shoots on the sides and at the top.

Sowing technology: how to propagate thuja by seeds

At least 2 cm of drainage is first placed at the bottom of the wooden box, the prepared nutrient mixture is poured on top, leveled and compacted. Then thuja seeds are sown evenly in the furrows made. The row spacing should be at least 6-7 cm. The seeds are lightly crushed with a peat-sand mixture, irrigated with a spray bottle, and the entire box is covered with film or glass until germination. Watering is carried out using a spray bottle to avoid washing out the seeds from the soil.

The pot should be kept in a warm place until the seeds germinate. After the sprouts appear, the pot with thujas is moved to a cool place with sufficient lighting. In this case, ventilation and removal of spoiled sprouts is mandatory. 40 days after planting, the thuja seedlings should sprout well, after which the film is removed. This method of growing thuja from seeds gives very good germination, but requires considerable effort and the presence of a pot for planting.

Did you know? The thuja variety Smaragd is a real long-liver, growing up to 150 years.

However, there is another option to grow thuja from seeds in an easier way. To do this, the seed is collected in November and immediately sown in the ground without pre-treatment. It will not hurt to cover the sowing areas with sawdust, which will create favorable conditions for the seeds. In the spring, if this method is successful for your seeds, shoots resembling dill in appearance will appear. With this most natural method of growing thuja, a seedling can grow up to 7 cm in height.

How to properly care for seedlings

So, we have figured out how thuja reproduces, and now we will study the process of caring for seedlings. If the so-called thuja seedlings are not very thickened and each plant has room to develop, then in the first year of life the seedlings are not replanted. You can add the soil mixture in which the seeds were planted into the box.

In the spring of the second year of life, you need to plant the seedlings in separate pots and place them in a semi-dark place outside. Watering should be moderate. For the winter, the plants are moved indoors. In the third year of life, from May, the seedlings are taken outside, and in the fall they are ready for planting in a permanent place of growth.

Temperature support

The plant should be in partial shade; the optimal air temperature for seedlings in summer is from +17 to +23 degrees. A pot of thuja should overwinter at a temperature of +15 to +18 degrees.

After planting in open ground for the winter, seedlings must be wrapped.

Lighting selection

Seedlings need protection from direct sunlight. When storing a box of thuja seedlings at home, place it on a window on the north or west side. Plants will have diffused light that is ideal for development.

Feeding seedlings

To improve the growth of seedlings, you need to organize regular feeding with minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen; molybdenum, boron and manganese will also be useful. Mineral fertilizers “Agricol” and “Rastvorin” are well suited for such purposes. Fertilize the seedlings twice a month.

Important! When replanting, do not deepen the root collar of the plant, this may lead to its death.

When to replant seedlings and how to do it

Transplantation of seedlings into open ground is carried out no earlier than the third year if necessary, but it is better to do this in the fifth year of life. First you need to choose a darkened seat and prepare it. To do this, it is necessary to fertilize each square meter of the area of ​​the future bed with the following composition: bucket of humus, 2 tbsp. spoons of “Nitroammophoska” and a glass of wood ash. This mixture needs to be mixed, distributed over the ground and the area thoroughly dug up.

Thuja is an evergreen plant; it can be a wide shrub or tree with flat shoots. It has a dense crown. It is very popular among landscape designers and gardeners. This plant is often used to decorate areas.

Planting a tree in the garden will go well with any trees, including fruit and deciduous trees. This plant is often used for hedges.

Varieties of thuja

The color range of thuja of any type is very diverse: from blue to yellowish shades. This plant has a distinctive feature: the branches grow close to the ground. The height of the tree can be adjusted by timely pruning: it can be made into a bush, or it can be allowed to grow in height.

There are five types of this conifer: Japanese, folded, western and Korean.

It is distinguished by the color of its needles in two colors: green on top and white below. It has a characteristic persistent smell of pine needles.

This type of thuja is the most frost-resistant. She is not afraid of winter down to minus 30 degrees. This tree is best grown away from urban polluted air. The height of the trees is very large: from 15 to 35 meters, and they live up to 300 years.

Thuja foldata

Oriental view, very sensitive to cold. However, frozen shoots can recover on their own with the onset of warm weather. It is best to plant the tree in moist, well-drained soil. Tree height is up to 60 centimeters. Thuja foldata has valuable and durable wood.

Thuja occidentalis

She is the favorite species of this plant. This unpretentious tree takes root everywhere. Prefers moist soil with clay in mixed forests. The crown is green in bright shades in warm weather, and in winter it acquires a brown tint. Loves light, durable. Lives up to a hundred years, sometimes longer. The height rarely reaches two meters, and is more often found in the form of a shrub. Is an excellent air purifier.

It has an interesting color. The tree is dark green in front, and takes on a silvery tint at the back. This species is not popular in cold and rainy regions because not frost-resistant. The height can reach ten meters, but in mountainous areas it takes on the appearance of a bush.

The plant thrives in rooms with high humidity.

How to grow thuja indoors from seed?

Is it possible to grow thuja at home? Thuja is used not only for planting in open areas, but also also planted indoors in large pots. When growing thuja indoors, the pot for the plant must be doubled with each replanting.

Thuja is an unpretentious plant. It tolerates air pollution with carbon dioxide and severe winter cold well. In order to propagate and grow thuja yourself, you don’t have to make any special efforts. This tree lends itself well to propagation.

In order to grow thuja at home, first of all you need to be patient. From the moment of planting until the tree appears, it will take about three to five years.

To properly grow and propagate a coniferous tree, you can choose two methods:

1. Using a cutting;
2. From seed.

Growing a tree from cuttings quite convenient: they quickly take root and young trees begin to grow. But unfortunately, it is not always possible to obtain the required number of cuttings. This is where the method of reproduction comes to the rescue. thuja from seed, t so-called stratification , you can sow them in any quantity. Germination of the first leaves takes much longer, but the result is almost one hundred percent. The number of seeds you plant, the number of trees you will get. Thuja is an expensive tree and breeding them is quite a profitable business, and in the end you will get quite a good material profit. It is more convenient to propagate this coniferous tree from seeds than from cuttings.

Preparing for sowing

1. Procurement of seeds.

You can prepare seeds in late summer or early autumn. Cones from trees must be collected when they have not yet had time to open. The buds need to be dried. After this, it will not be difficult to get the seeds and germinate them. It is best to plant freshly collected seeds. Then they will begin to grow faster. If sowing is done in the fall, the first shoots will be early.

2. Soil preparation.

Since thuja is a frost-resistant evergreen tree, it is best to plant seeds in the ground in the winter. Planting takes place in open ground or wooden boxes, which is more compact and convenient. If the planting took place in boxes, then you need to replant it in open soil immediately after climbing and provide proper care.

The boxes are filled with three components:

• 1/2 part peat;
• 1/2 part of turf land;
• 2 parts sand.

The soil should be compacted and the seeds should be planted at a distance of 6–8 centimeters from each other and sprinkled with soil on top. Gently water with water, avoiding soil erosion.

3. Caring for seedlings

The soil with planted seeds should be kept at a stable temperature of 15–18 degrees. Every two weeks, seedlings need to be fertilized with mineral components, which include nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. With proper care, the seeds will germinate within the first month.

During the first winter, the plants should be kept in wooden boxes. During the first season, the seeds will grow approximately 8–10 centimeters.

4. Transplant

This stage of tree propagation must be approached painstakingly and responsibly. This step is stressful for the plant. They need to be replanted into separate beds in the spring. In this case, choose a place in the shade. The depth of the hole should not exceed 70 centimeters, drainage is half the depth of the hole. The width of the hole should be one and a half times the depth.

Before planting, the soil must be fertilized with humus, sand and peat. You can also use ready-made fertilizers for coniferous trees.

When seating, the acceptable distance is considered to be from one to two and a half meters, depending on how much density is required. If the thuja is tall, then the distance should increase to three meters, and in no case should the earthen ball be damaged.

Young trees should be watered twice a week, but mature trees do not need frequent watering. Thuja tolerates drought well. It is necessary to water adult seedlings more frequently in the hottest time in the summer.

Thuja should be fertilized immediately after transplantation. It is necessary to feed with mineral fertilizers for two to two and a half years. It is necessary to loosen the soil regularly, since dry soil and a lot of shade will lead to a loss of color in the tree. You need to dig shallowly, ten centimeters maximum.

In autumn, young thuja trees must be covered with cloth. In winter, tie the branches with a rope to protect the tree from winter winds until spring.

To form a beautiful tree shape, you need to prune it with pruning shears. Dry branches must be carefully removed.

Basic rules applicable to all types of thuja:

• Sudden changes in temperature should not be allowed;
• Thuja should not be only in the light or in the shade. Change the lighting;
• The soil should be moist;
• Don't get carried away with excessive watering;
• Loosen the soil at the roots for better air flow;
• Fertilize with minerals;
• Protect the tree from pets and other external irritants;
• If the trunk is damaged, use special spraying agents.

Thuja, like any other plant, loves care and maintenance. The tree feels love. Proper cultivation and conservation of a tree will make it beautiful and will always please the eye!

There are currently a lot of varieties and varieties of thuja, but plant seedlings are not cheap. An alternative method of breeding coniferous perennials is to grow thuja from seeds. How to plant thuja seeds and what care to provide to the seedlings? How long will it take to grow a full-fledged thuja seedling? Step-by-step instructions for cultivating conifers in this article.

Thuja from seeds, plant features

• Thuja belongs to coniferous plants from the Cypress family. This is a beautiful evergreen shrub or low tree, which is often also called the “Tree of Life”.
• A representative of gymnosperms, thuja produces leaves that initially look like soft needles, and with age turn into opposite scales.
• In autumn, flat seeds - lionfish - ripen in the elongated cones of the thuja.
• Thuja is considered an unpretentious and hardy crop, well adapted to growing conditions and smoke in urban environments.
• The genus of thuja has 5 species, of which the most common are the numerous garden forms of thuja occidentalis and thuja foldata.
• The perennial plant is widely used in landscape design, for landscaping gardening areas or personal plots. Thuja is cultivated mainly in open ground, although it can also be grown indoors.
• The culture is characterized by high frost resistance, so its distribution area is quite wide.

Growing thuja from seeds is a time-consuming, but relatively cheap way to grow a coniferous crop. Let's take a step-by-step look at the process of planting thuja from seeds and the features of caring for the plant at each stage.

Propagation of thuja by seeds

Growing thuja using seeds allows you to obtain a fairly large number of high-quality, healthy and hardy seedlings in a fairly short time. Moreover, this process does not require any special expenses and can easily be done at home. Propagation of thuja by seeds is possible for any varieties and forms of the plant.

It is important to remember that propagating a plant by seed does not guarantee 100% compliance with the parent form and some deviations in the appearance of the thuja are possible. As is known, it is possible to completely preserve varietal characteristics only with the vegetative method of propagation.

Determine what varietal characteristics the daughter thuja has inherited, perhaps no earlier than in the second year of the seedlings’ growing season.

How to grow thuja from seeds? Let's start with the preparatory stage.

Collection and preparation of thuja seeds

• Thuja seeds can be bought at a specialty store or collected yourself.
• When is the best time to collect thuja seeds? Thuja seeds are harvested at the end of summer or in the first ten days of autumn. It is important to pick the cones before they fully open and the seeds spill out. Cones on a tree are easy to notice by their characteristic brownish-brown color.
• If the cones are difficult to pick from the tree, they can be separated along with part of the shoot on which they grow.

• The collected cones are placed in a dry, warm and ventilated place for their final ripening. In such conditions, the cones quickly dry out and begin to open. It is best to lay them out on paper, since the seeds easily spill out when ripening and can be irretrievably lost.
• As for the temperature regime, the cones should be located in a place where the temperature will not exceed +6-7 0 C. Direct sunlight is also not desirable; it is better to have diffused lighting. Otherwise, the seed material will lose its viability and will be unsuitable for planting.
• In order to collect ripened seeds, you can lightly tap the cone and the long-awaited thuja seeds will sprinkle onto the paper.
• What do thuja seeds look like? Coniferous seeds are small brown grains.

• It is recommended to immediately prepare the collected seeds for planting. Fresh seed material will ensure maximum germination. During storage, even for a short period, the germination rate decreases sharply.

Time and place of sowing thuja seeds

• To grow thuja from seeds at home, sowing can be done in autumn or spring.
• Thuja seeds are best sown in the fall (after collecting them) in open ground, thereby ensuring their natural stratification. Such crops will subsequently be more hardy and resilient. In addition, the first thuja shoots will appear in the spring and will actively develop and grow. Seedlings can easily cope with light frosts or short-term cold snaps. Seedlings sown before winter will survive the first winter more easily than those planted in the spring.

• When sowing in spring, the seeds must undergo a preliminary hardening procedure, for example, in a refrigerator (for vegetables). To do this, the seeds are placed in a container with damp sand (or sawdust) and left on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for several months.
• Some gardeners practice another method of winter hardening of seeds: the collected seed is collected in a linen bag, which is buried in the ground (outside) for the winter to a depth of at least 30 cm. This place is sprinkled on top, for example, with fallen leaves.
• After a long (3-4 months) stratification, the seeds are sown in the ground, from February to April, depending on the chosen planting method.
• You can plant thuja seeds either directly in open ground, in a garden bed, or in a container with soil mixture. When sowing seeds in open ground, the soil should warm up to +10 0 -15 0 C.
• With the container planting method, the seeds can be safely sown as early as February. In this case, the thuja seedlings will have to be artificially illuminated with a fluorescent lamp.

Planting thuja with seeds

After the seeds have been collected, prepared and have passed the important stage of stratification, it is time to sow them in the ground. How to plant thuja with seeds?

• Gardeners who grow thuja from seeds note that the most convenient way to grow thuja seedlings is to use containers. Shallow boxes are suitable for this, which can easily be moved to the right place, depending on changes in conditions of detention.
• The best option for sowing thuja seeds would be containers about 10-12 cm high. You should know that in boxes that are too deep, unclaimed soil begins to turn sour, and in boxes that are too low, the roots will intertwine and interfere with each other. In addition, the “tangled” roots of the seedlings will not be able to undergo further picking without damage.
• When planting thuja seeds in a container, first prepare a nutrient soil mixture. To do this, mix turf soil, peat and sand in a ratio of 1:1:2. You can purchase a ready-made soil substrate intended for coniferous crops.

• A low (2-3 cm) layer of drainage material is placed at the bottom of the container: expanded clay, fine gravel. The soil substrate is poured on top, leveled and slightly compacted. The soil level in the container should not reach the edge of the sides, approximately 2-3 cm.
• To disinfect the soil, it is spilled with a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) of a dark pink color.
• For successful germination, before planting, the seeds will need to be subjected to another procedure - germination.
• How to germinate thuja seeds? Nothing could be simpler. It is enough to soak them in warm water or damp sand overnight. In the morning, the swollen seeds will be ready for planting in the ground.
• Thuja seeds are sown in shallow (5-6 mm) grooves located no closer to each other than 5 cm. When sowing, you should try to distribute the seeds evenly and not densely in the grooves.

• The sown seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer (no more than 1 cm) of soil. The surface is slightly compacted (you can use a board for this) and moistened with a spray bottle.
• Until the first shoots appear, the container is left in a warm room (with a temperature of at least 20°C). For better seed germination, the container is covered with glass or film, creating a humid and warm microclimate favorable for germination.
• After sowing the seeds, the first shoots usually appear within 20-25 days. The film or glass is removed when the seedlings grow slightly and become stronger.

• At first, the seedlings bear little resemblance to an adult thuja plant, but over time, the delicate needles will develop into characteristic scales, like those of an adult plant.
• The procedure for sowing seeds in open ground is practically no different from the container planting method described above.

Caring for young thuja seedlings

• Regardless of whether thuja seeds are planted in a container or in a garden bed, caring for the seedlings will be approximately the same.
• Watering is carried out carefully so that the soil is not washed away. It is best to use a fine spray bottle for these purposes. If the seeds are still “bare” after watering, they are sprinkled with a thin layer of soil. Seedlings should be watered sparingly as the soil dries, avoiding either stagnation of moisture or drying out.

• During the period of emergence of seedlings, provided that the weather is warm, the container with seedlings can be placed outside, in the shade, without direct sunlight on the young plants. For example, a place under the protective crown of trees is perfect. The optimal summer temperature for tender shoots should vary between +17-23 o C. Young coniferous crops are dangerous from the bright scorching sun, which often causes sunburn of the plant. Therefore, it is better to cover seedlings planted in the garden bed with any covering material for the first time.
• To stimulate plant growth, seedlings are provided with regular (every 2 weeks) fertilizing. Mineral complexes containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus are best suited as fertilizers. Gardeners also often use combined fertilizers such as Agricola or Mortar, which, along with the designated elements, contain a number of additional micronutrients. Using the above preparations, seedlings will only need to use half the dose indicated on the packaging for adult plants.
• To protect the plant from possible fungal diseases, thuja seedlings are treated with a fungicidal drug, for example, Fundazol.
• During the first season after sowing, seedlings grow 8-10 cm in height. Seedlings planted in containers spend the winter in the same boxes. For the winter, the containers are left indoors with a temperature of about +14-18 0 C. Crops in open ground are prepared for winter by mulching the area with peat, fallen leaves or straw.

Transplanting thuja seeds into a school

• After the first wintering, the grown thuja seedlings are transplanted into open ground (school) for growing. The plant tolerates the replanting procedure well and quickly takes root in its new location.

• A bed for seedlings is chosen in partial shade. The soil on the site should be nutritious, light and loose. To do this, add organic matter (humus, wood ash) to the soil and, in the case of poor soil composition, complex triple mineral fertilizer “Nitrofoska”. The area is dug up and leveled with a rake.
• Proper planting of seedlings involves placing the root collar of the plant at soil level. Deepening the neck can cause rotting and death of the plant.
• When mass planting thuja, seedlings are planted in rows in the garden bed, with an interval between plants of about 30 cm. The distance between rows should also be at least 30 cm.
• After planting young seedlings in the garden bed, the plant is watered and the tree trunk circle is mulched with peat.
• If the thuja seedlings in the container are not thickened, and the seedlings have enough space for development and growth, you can get by for another year without transplanting them into a school for growing. It will be enough to pour soil into the container and provide the seedlings with proper care.

Caring for grown thuja seeds

1. Caring for planted thuja seedlings consists of regular watering, loosening the soil, applying fertilizer and removing weeds.
2. It is important to water regularly, but moderately, without stagnation of water or the formation of a dry, cracked crust of soil.
3. Fertilizers can be applied once a month. It is best to use balanced mineral complexes.
4. The average annual growth of grown thuja seedlings is about 30 cm.
5. For the winter, the container with seedlings is removed indoors. If young thuja seedlings were in the garden, the plantings are insulated for the winter (fallen leaves, spruce branches are sprinkled or covered with non-woven material).

Planting thuja from seeds in a permanent place

Thuja is planted in a permanent place after about 3 years of age, when the plant reaches half a meter in height.

• The place for planting the plant should be sunny and open, but without strong drafts and gusty winds. A seedling planted in the shade will lose its decorative properties: its crown will thin out, its needles will turn yellow and crumble. It is also possible to plant thuja in light openwork partial shade.
• The soil in the area where it is planned to plant thuja should be light, with a slightly acidic reaction. The best option is sandy loam with the addition of turf soil.
• The planting scheme for thuja seedlings depends on the gardener’s design intent and can be from 1 to 3 meters between plants. If seedlings are planted to form a “living” hedge, the distance between the trees is not large (for example, 1 meter). The distance between trees also depends on the type of thuja, since the spherical or spreading form will require much more space than the compact pyramidal variety of thuja.
• The size of the planting pit will directly depend on the size of the root system (earthen ball) of the seedling.
• A drainage layer is laid at the bottom of the planting hole, after which a small earthen mound is formed, onto which the thuja seedling is placed directly. Drainage performs an important function, preventing moisture stagnation in the future, which is undesirable for thuja.
• The root collar of a thuja seedling should remain at ground level when planting. The better the natural earthen ball of the seedling is preserved during planting, the more successful will be the establishment of the coniferous crop in a new place.
• After planting, a young tree may temporarily “get sick”, adapting to new living conditions.

Popular varieties of thuja

To grow thuja from seeds, you can use any variety of plant. The following varieties of thuja occidentalis are considered the most popular for home cultivation:

• Thuja "Danika" is a dwarf variety, has layered bark of a reddish hue and soft, shiny needles of a rich, dark green color.
• Thuja "Smaragd" is a cone-shaped and weakly branched shrub, growing no higher than 2 meters. Glossy needles are dark green.
• Thuja "Woodworth" is a dwarf spherical variety, no more than 2.5 m high. The shoots are straight and flat, the needles are dark green in color.
• Thuja "Ericoides" looks very decorative and attractive. This is a miniature shrub with a spherical or broadly cone-shaped crown. The plant reaches a height of approximately 1.5 m. The shoots are weakly branched, thin, and long. The needles are painted in light green tones, acquiring a beautiful golden hue in the fall.
• Thuja "Filiformis" is an original heather-like variety of thuja that looks like a juniper. The shoots are flexible, the needles are soft, two-colored.
• Thuja "Zebrina" has the shape of a cone and reaches a height of no more than 2.5 m. The color of the needles is two-color: bright green with light yellow veins.
• Thuja "Kornik" is a fast-growing variety that can reach up to 3 meters in adulthood. The needles are green, with yellowish tips.
• Thuja "Vipcord" is an unusual dwarf variety of thuja with drooping, cord-like, non-branching shoots.

Application of thuja

• Various varieties and varieties of thuja allow the plant to be used in diverse ornamental plantings and landscape designs.
• To create dense hedges, specimens of the same variety and size are planted.
• An evergreen plant, thuja, in addition to its decoratively attractive purpose, also performs additional functions: it protects the area from wind and drafts at any time of the year, and refreshes the air with useful phytoncides.
• The healing properties of thuja, which can have hemostatic, wound-healing and bactericidal effects, are also known. The pleasant smell of pine needles has a calming effect on the human nervous system, promotes restoration of strength, and has a preventive effect against ARVI.
• Another exotic use of the coniferous “beauty” is the formation of a bonsai tree. To do this, the crown of the thuja is constantly trimmed, and the branches are fixed in the desired direction.

conclusions

1. Propagation of thuja by seeds is a cheap and accessible method, as a result of which it is possible to obtain a large number of viable seedlings in 3-4 years.
2. You should not store collected thuja seeds for a long time, as they quickly lose their viability.
3. Seed stratification is the most important condition for successfully growing thuja from seeds.
4. Thuja is an unpretentious and hardy crop, widely used by landscape designers and amateur gardeners.

Video: "Thuja from seeds, planting and care"

Thujas are often used in landscape design. They are highly valued due to their beautiful appearance, which lasts throughout the year.

Most often, thujas are grown, but recently the seed method has become popular - it is more affordable and, moreover, quite effective. Undoubtedly, you need to know when to collect thuja seeds in order to be on time.

What do thuja seeds look like?

The seeds of the evergreen plant ripen in cones located at the tips of the branches. These cones ripen already in the first year of fruiting. They are easy to notice on an adult tree - they have a brown-orange or light brown color, resembling branched branches that have turned brown from the cold.

It is these brown seed branches that are collected to obtain thuja seeds. They easily break off from the wood. After drying the house, the cones open and the seeds themselves spill out of them - small winged and reddish seeds.

When do thuja seeds ripen?

The time for collecting thuja seeds and preparing planting material usually occurs at the end of summer - beginning of autumn. You need to collect the cones before they open, since dry and open cones very easily spill out onto the ground.

The collected cones should be laid out on a flat surface in a dry and warm ventilated area. Once the buds open, the seeds will be very easy to remove. After collecting thuja seeds, you need to decide when you will use them for planting.

Depending on this, you must prepare them for long or short storage. Or you can immediately sow the seeds “in winter.” By the way, it is during autumn planting that thujas are the most hardened, strong, and less demanding of care. Having undergone natural stratification, plants emerge earlier, grow faster, and withstand wintering better.