Evergreen conifers fit perfectly into the landscape of the infield. Especially popular today are blue spruce, for example, Hupsi, and it will be discussed in the article.
Features and Description
Spruce grows up to 12 m in height, with a trunk diameter at the soil surface of up to 4 m. Annual growth in a tree is up to 20 cm. Light brown shoots grow straight up, forming a lush crown of conical shape. The orientation of the branches upward from the trunk at an acute angle, and not to the side, protects them from the risk of breaking under an adherent layer of snow.
The thick blue color of the needles consists of prickly needles up to 3 cm long in a diamond shape in cross section. Each of them is covered with a wax coating, thanks to this feature, the variety is one of the most resistant to gas contamination. Replacement of old needles with new needles occurs every 4 years.
Cones of elongated oval shape, 11 cm long, in open diameter up to 4 cm. Young specimens of bright pink color, lignify with age, acquiring a brown color. The seeds they contain are winged, black in color, 4 mm long.
Video: Hupsey's Prickly Fir
In landscape design
Picea pungen, a botanical name, looks spectacular on a lawn made of bright green grass, such as bluegrass or fescue.
A composition with decorative cereals will look no less beautiful:
- steppe feather grass;
- gritselia;
- maned barley;
- miscanthus;
- lightning.
In landscape design, a coniferous plant is planted on the territory of an artificial pond, a rocky garden. Spruce is combined with blooming larch trees such as spirea and barberry.
It can be a central object in a flower bed among lily plants:
- cardiocrinum;
- hyacinth;
- tricirtis;
- nomoharis;
- lily.
Landing
It is best to plant a plant in spring when the soil warms up to +8 degrees. It is not advisable to plant on the site of growing solanaceous vegetables: the soil here may contain spores of Fusarium. The place for spruce should be sunny, open, with a deep occurrence of groundwater, not less than 2.5 m from the surface.
Seedling Selection
Planting material is expensive, so you need to purchase in nurseries, where the plant is healthy and the product is certified. Choosing a seedling, first of all pay attention to the needles: it must correspond to the botanical description. If the trunk has a slight curvature, with age, the deficiency is corrected with proper care. Plant height should be about 60 cm, not higher.
Soil preparation
The ideal option is to plant forest soil on a plot in the garden. It contains the necessary microorganisms for the full development, the desired indicator of acidity. In the absence of such a possibility, the soil is dug at the selected place, introducing the prepared mixture into the hole:
- peat;
- river sand;
- turf and leaf soil.
The ingredients are taken in equal parts, if necessary, add wood ash, which will reduce the acidity of the garden soil.
Step-by-step instruction
Planting is best rescheduled on a cloudy day, so the plant quickly adapts to a change of place. Landing pattern:
- A hole is dug with a size of 50 × 60 cm.
- A drainage layer of about 20 cm must be laid at the bottom.
- A hill of fertile mixture, calculated on the length of the roots, is poured onto the drainage.
- A seedling is placed on the embankment, sprinkled with the remaining soil.
- The root neck should remain above the surface.
- After planting, the plant is watered, spending 20 liters of water.
- When moisture is absorbed into the soil, mulch is applied up to 8 cm thick.
Care
It’s easy to grow a beautiful Christmas tree if you pay attention to it in the first 10 years of life. When the foundation is laid, it will be easier to care. It will only be necessary to monitor the cleanliness of the soil in the near-stem circle, the moisture and friability of the soil. The first 3-5 years, it is advisable to take care of shelter for the winter.
Important! Hupsi grows well in slightly acidic soil, does not like calcareous or too acidic soil.
Watering and fertilizer
Until the seedling gives a full-fledged growth, it is watered up to 6 times a day, but in small portions. Under the tree, spend 1/3 of a bucket of water. Watering a seedling of 3 years is reduced to 2 times a day.
Mature trees are watered several times a season, if there is little rainfall, irrigation is carried out more often. Soil moisture is maintained with a mulch laid in a layer up to 7 cm. The tree responds well to spraying needles, but you need to do this in the evening. Daily moistening of the needles in the sun will cause burns.
Many landscape designers are against feeding spiny spruce, because due to an excess of any substances it can greatly increase to the detriment of the development of the crown, so they fertilize the plant a couple of times a season, it is not advisable to use organics. The mineral complex Florovit is recommended. It is introduced into the soil in granular form, for each plant 30 g in the trunk circle. Up to 3 years apply twice: in the early spring and in the first month of summer, after only in the spring.Important! You can not fill the plant: its roots for the first 1.5 years are close to the surface and from the excess moisture will begin to decay.
Loosening
During care, you need to fluff up the soil in the trunk circle, so that the roots are saturated with oxygen. While the seedlings are not 3-5 years old, its root system is located close to the surface, so you need to loosen no deeper than 5-7 cm. At the same time, weeds are cleared of the soil, which inhibit young plantings, taking away moisture and nutrition.
Cropping and shaping
Hupsey does not need constant pruning; its annual growth is not large. In the first years of life, the tree needs to have a shaping haircut to lay the correct shape of the crown. It is usually pruned, taking into account the natural contours of adult specimens, removing the ends of the branches in an ascending line, obtaining a soft cone. In spring and autumn, cut, weak, dry and growing inward shoots are pruned.
The only thing that must be done at any stage of the development of culture is sanitary pruning.
Shelter for the winter
The frost resistance of coniferous crops is quite high, however, seedlings can be damaged by frost or strong winds. For the winter, the branches are neatly tied, wrapped with agrofibre, and the trunk circle is covered with spruce branches over the mulch. When the snow falls, it is buried on the spruce branches, which serves as an additional shelter.
Spruce Hupsi with a blue tint of needles is a welcome guest in any area, especially since it is not difficult to grow it. For the New Year, decorated with illuminations and toys, it will delight both adults and children.
