How to plant thuja correctly in the summer?
Tui became a real decoration of gardens, city parks and streets. Gardeners love this plant and plant in their plots mainly due to its decorative appearance. Green needles contain a large amount of essential oils. After rain, a pleasant coniferous aroma spreads over the garden area where thuja are planted. This plant looks great when planted in hedges, group compositions and flower beds. It does not require much maintenance, accepts almost any soil well and is unpretentious to the weather. Regardless of the conditions, in most cases, even with minimal maintenance, these plants remain bright and green.
Basically, this plant is planted from early spring. It is during this period that thuja seedlings take root most well. Not all gardeners know that thuja can be planted in summer. This period is also favorable for planting, however, their survival rate is reduced by 10% compared to spring. So, how to plant thuja correctly in the summer?
Sapling selection
Before buying a thuja seedling, it is recommended to carefully examine its root system. It is better to plant shrubs with a well-developed root system that have young roots. Also, the roots should not be damaged. It is also advisable to check before buying if the seedling is dry.
It will be correct to inspect the plant before buying for the presence of diseases, harmful insects and a variety of growths. If the seedling meets all these requirements, then it can be purchased.
Choosing a place for planting and preparing the soil
Before planting a plant, you need to decide on the intended location for its placement. It is desirable that this is a windless area in the shade. You can plant one thuja shrub in a round hole 70-80 cm in diameter. At the bottom of the dug hole, it is necessary to put a drainage layer 15 cm thick. Expanded clay, large pebbles, crushed stone or broken brick can be used as drainage. The pit itself is recommended to be filled with a mixture of peat, turf soil and sand. The seedling must be lowered into the hole and covered with the prepared mixture on top so that the root collar of the plant is approximately at the level of the soil. You can also fertilize thuja when planting. In the event that it is planned to plant a group consisting of several shrubs, then a distance of 4 meters should be maintained between them. When planting a hedge, you can leave a distance of 1 m between the bushes.
It is recommended to plant thuja at a time when the weather is cloudy or even rainy. If forecasters did not predict such days in the near future, then plants can be planted in the evening. This is done so that the bright sunlight during the day does not damage the young seedling. Was there no suitable shady place for the plant? No big deal, it can be placed on the sunny side as well. In this case, the young seedling must be shaded with a screen from the south in the first 2-3 weeks from the moment when it was planted. The screen can be made of plywood, twigs, or thick cardboard. Do not use polyethylene as a protective shield.
Plant care after planting
Young thujas, only planted in the soil, are recommended to be watered abundantly. Also, seedlings are advised to spray from a spray bottle: this will save them from yellowing. Spraying is best done in the morning.
Advice
For good rooting of thuja in a new place, it is recommended to add Heteroauxin or Kornevin to the water used for irrigation.
It will be correct to mulch the soil near the planted thuja. This procedure will save the soil from moisture loss. It will also help protect the roots of the plant from overheating. Coconut or sawdust circles can be used as a mulching material.
In the early years, the branches, on the eve of winter, must be pulled together with twine or rope. It is recommended to do this so that the fragile branches do not bend from the weight of the snow layer. Thuja is a fairly frost-resistant culture. Despite this, plants can be protected from frost for the winter. You can do this with any covering material or spruce branches. The only caveat is that opaque coatings cannot be used as a covering material.
Caring for the plant also includes periodic loosening of the soil and removal of weeds. It is necessary to loosen the soil correctly. The fact is that the roots of the thuja are located close enough to the surface of the earth - there is a risk of damage, and therefore care should be taken when loosening. Trim thuja it is necessary not earlier than 3-4 years of age. Thuja, when tall enough, can also be used to create beautiful garden figures or trimmed to fit a hedge.
The most favorable neighbors
This culture goes well with flower gardens and deciduous shrubs. So, next to it you can place:
- acacia;
- spireas;
- dwarf juniper;
- hydrangeas.
It is not entirely correct to place thuja in close proximity to asters and peonies.
Diseases and pests
Thuja is an evergreen plant that is resistant to cold weather and polluted environments. Thanks to the second property, some summer residents plant thuja on their site in order to somehow isolate themselves from the nearby highway. However, despite such positive qualities, these plants are still susceptible to some diseases and pests.
So, with yellowed and fallen needles, the thuja aphid should be blamed. This insect “kills” the decorativeness of plantings. Aphids usually attack the lower part of the shoots. Will help in the fight against this insect "Karbofos".
Also, quite often the decorativeness of thuja is spoiled by the speckled moth. This is a small butterfly, the body length of which is 4 mm. This parasite spoils it since June. As a rule, the tops of the plants are affected - they turn brown. Gnawed holes appear from the influence of this parasite. You can fight these insects with drugs based on pyrethroids.
An equally dangerous pest is a false shield. The adult insects of these parasites are usually brown in color, with a body length of about 3 mm. Most often, these pests spoil shrub hedges. You can get rid of it by spraying thuja with "Karbofos" and "Aktellik".
Another equally well-known parasite is the click beetle. It affects the root system of the thuja. This can damage the growth of the tree.
Among the diseases, 3 main ones are most common.
- Phytophthora. This fungal disease first affects the root and then damages the top layer of the thuja. From this, it can begin to wither, a gray color will appear on the needles, and the trunk will become soft. You can fight this by watering the plant with fungicides. If the damage is large, then the thuja must be removed from the ground and burned, and the soil under it must be replaced.
- Brown shoots. If you do not take any action, the plant will first turn brown and then die. Browning can also occur from a violation of the access of nutrients to the crown of the plant. You must first cut off the brown shoots, and then sprinkle the thuja with limestone.
- Rust, shute. These are fungal diseases that affect the needles. From them it darkens and falls. Young plants are most susceptible to these diseases.You can get rid of the disease by cutting off or spraying the affected areas with a copper-containing fungicide.
Outcome
Thuja is a fairly unpretentious plant that takes root well on the site, if you follow all the rules. Planted in the garden, these plants will delight their owners with magnificent green needles for a long time.
There is a wide variety of options for magnificent landscape compositions, which will include thuja. Having tried to implement such unusual solutions at your summer cottage, you can feel like a real landscape designer.
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