Secrets of propagation of thuja cuttings in the fall at home. How to propagate thuja, methods, preparation of planting material, rooting

Do not know how to properly cut and root cuttings of coniferous plants? We will tell you how to turn a thuja sprig into a strong, healthy seedling.

Cuttings - the most effective method get NEW TUI PLANTS. Unlike seed, vegetative reproduction does not take much time and allows you to save varietal characteristics.

Timing of grafting thuja

Perhaps the most difficult thing in cutting conifers is to correctly determine the timing of this procedure. On this issue, experts have several opinions. Some advocate winter cuttings of conifers in February. Others are sure that it is best to cut thuja in April. Still others argue that the optimal time for harvesting cuttings is summer.

The main criterion that should be followed in this matter is whether the plant has finished growing shoots. If the answer to this question is yes, then you can safely proceed to cuttings.

Summer cuttings of thuja are preferable because they allow the cuttings to gain strength and take root well for the next season.

How to cut cuttings?

For cuttings choose a strong, healthy plant. In its upper part, a well-developed skeletal branch is found and, with a sharp movement of the hand, 2-3-year-old lignified growths located at the ends of the shoot are torn off from it. In order for the cuttings to take root faster, they must be torn off with a small piece of bark ("heel").

A thuja grown from a cutting taken from a side shoot may not grow correct form. The stalk of a diseased plant will naturally turn into a diseased seedling.

If the "heel" turned out to be too long, it is advisable to shorten it a little so that the stalk does not rot. If, tearing off a branch, you slightly peeled off the bark from the wood, the situation can be corrected with a knife - to clean up the cut a little.

The ideal length of the thuja cutting is 10-15 cm.

If the branches are very lignified, and it is not possible to carefully tear them off, use a secateurs.

Can cuttings be stored?

Thuja cuttings are rooted immediately after cutting. You can’t store them, otherwise they will quickly become unusable and will not take good roots.

If you did not have time to prepare everything you need for rooting, the cuttings can be briefly wrapped with a damp cloth and put away in a dark, cool place.

Preparation of thuja cuttings for rooting

First of all, thuja sprigs get rid of excess needles. First of all, it is cut off at the bottom of the branch. If the cutting is too "lush", you can also partially shorten the needles on the rest of the branch. The bottom of the cutting is also slightly cleaned from the bark.

Preparation of the substrate for rooting

Clean river sand or light, well-drained soil can also be used as a substrate.

The soil mixture for rooting thuja cuttings is prepared from peat, leafy soil and sand, mixed in equal parts.

The soil or sand must be decomposed into shallow containers. For example, containers for seedlings or special cassettes are suitable.

The containers should have holes for drainage and aeration. Be sure to lay expanded clay, gravel or other small pebbles on one.

If you have such an opportunity, use sphagnum as a substrate. This moss perfectly retains moisture and has powerful antiseptic properties. Thus, the cuttings will not be afraid of drying out and fungus.

Rooting cuttings of thuja

When everything is ready for the procedure, remove the cuttings from the growth regulator solution and dip their tips in Kornevin. Immediately after this, insert the cuttings into the substrate at an angle of 45 degrees to a depth of 1.5-2 cm.

Then place the cuttings in a glass or plastic greenhouse, or cover them with cling film or a plastic bag.

If you use sphagnum for rooting cuttings, wrap the cuttings in it, wrap them with gauze and put them in a plastic bag.

Cutting Care

Cuttings are stored in a warm and bright place. However, it is important to consider that they need diffused light. Direct sunlight will quickly destroy the thuja cuttings, and they will wither faster than they take root.

Water the substrate only after it dries out. upper layer. Remember, an excess of moisture is equally detrimental to cuttings, as well as its lack.

Water carefully so that water does not fall on the needles. It is advisable to use a spray gun so that a strong jet of water does not expose the ground around the "heel" of the handle.

The appearance of new shoots on the branches of the thuja indicates that the cuttings have taken root.

If you rooted the cuttings in sphagnum or a common container, two weeks after rooting, you need to plant them for growing in separate containers or shkolka (a special bed on which the plants will grow before planting on permanent place). Prepare the soil mixture according to the same principle: mix garden soil with high-moor peat or forest litter.

Subsequent plant care consists of regular watering, fertilizing and weeding. In November, young seedlings are covered with spruce branches, leaves or sawdust and left to winter under cover.

In the spring, when the frost subsides, the shelter is removed and the plants are taken care of, as before. After a year or two, the grown thuja seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place.

We hope that with our advice, you will be able to grow healthy and beautiful thuja seedlings. And what to do with them next, read in our article: Tui seedlings: how to choose and plant

Of the numerous coniferous trees the cypress family, in particular, the thuja is most in demand among gardeners and summer residents - this unpretentious, evergreen tree pleases the eye in winter and summer, serves as a wonderful decoration for any site. Thujas are planted along fences, paths, they decorate corners for rest, as thujas smell pleasant and fresh, and trees purify the air around them with phytoncides.

Thuja is also interesting for site owners in that it can be propagated and grown at home without spending too much effort and money on it: purchasing seedlings in stores is not cheap.

Growing thuja seeds

This is what thuja seeds look like

If it is impossible to provide oneself with the required number of cuttings, they resort to propagating the tree by seed.

This process is painstaking, lengthy (from 3-5 years), but it allows you to grow a sufficient number planting material to embody all the ideas conceived, and the remaining copies can be presented to relatives or friends.

It is necessary to start with harvesting fresh seeds, they will ensure good germination.

The period of seed harvesting falls on the end of summer - the beginning of autumn. Cones with seeds must have time to collect before they begin to open, and spread them out in a dry room until completely dry.

The seeds will be ready in 2-3 days, they will easily begin to spill out of the cones, small, brown or reddish.

After receiving the seeds, it is best to sow them in the near future, with long-term storage in warm rooms they lose their percentage.

Autumn (winter) sowing

We make grooves at a distance of 5-6 cm from each other

With this method of propagation, crops will undergo a natural stratification, which will provide more strong seedlings, its active growth. This will require:

Suitable wooden box fill with prepared soil, consisting of 1 part of soddy land, 2 parts of peat, 0.5 parts of fine sand.
Level and compact the soil.
in-depth make grooves at a distance of 5-6 cm, slightly expanding them for ease of sowing.
Distribute the seeds evenly in rows, sprinkle with a layer of soil 1 cm thick.
Carefully pour out, being careful not to wash the seeds.

Drawer set in convenient location outdoors, preferably under a spreading tree, so that the sun dries out the earth less in a box. And in the spring, the branches of the tree will protect the seedlings from direct sun rays. Moderate watering is required as the soil dries out; seeds cannot be poured, otherwise they will begin to rot.

Podzimny sowing can be carried out directly into the ground by preparing a small bed in partial shade, because the bright direct sun for young seedlings will be fatal. Care should be taken that pets do not enter the garden by fencing it or covering it with non-woven material.

spring sowing

If the sowing of thuja seeds was planned for spring period, they must be subjected to hardening (stratification) in order for the seedlings to be strong and fully developed. Required:

Before the onset of cold weather, the seeds wrapped in a cloth are buried shallowly in the ground, covered with a layer of fallen leaves.
To prevent freezing of seeds, make sure that they are covered with snow, or additionally insulated.
With the onset of spring, after the snow melts, remove the seeds from the ground, transfer them to a suitable container, sprinkle with wet sand, and place in the refrigerator until sowing.

By the end of March - the beginning of April, when the earth warms up, you can plan to sow the seeds in the ground. Sowing is done shallow, the distance between rows is 10-15 cm. The sown seeds are sprinkled with a very thin layer of earth and gently watered.

Further care consists in regularly moistening the soil, destroying weeds, and shading the seedlings from the sun.

You can plant each seed in a separate pot so that future sprouts grow and develop individually for a whole year, until the next transplant:

Purchase in advance a special soil for coniferous plants.
Prepare pots or cups, pour a layer of drainage on the bottom, soil on top, compact it, spill it with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Soaked the day before sowing and hatched seeds, place in pots, pour warm water on top.
Put the cups in a warm place, cover with foil on top.
After the appearance of sprouts, take the cups to a bright, cool place. If the pubescent roots are on the surface, they must be sprinkled with sand and moistened with a spray bottle.

On summer- autumn period pots with young sprouts can be taken outside, placed under a tree.

Care of seedlings in boxes

In the first year, seedlings grow only 7 cm., special care it is not required for it, the main requirements are watering, spraying, sprinkling the earth, top dressing.
The following year, in the spring, they start picking seedlings into separate pots or cups with soil for coniferous plants. After the seedlings take root, it can be placed on the street, finding a shaded place, watering regularly and inspecting the seedlings in order to identify diseased specimens in time. In winter, the cups are carried away to the shelter.
In the third year, the seedlings again need to be transplanted into pots. bigger size , from May they can be safely taken out into the street, and in the fall they can be planted in a prepared permanent place, leaving the root neck at the level of the soil.

Propagation of thuja cuttings

Tui cuttings need to be torn off with a heel

For cuttings, you can use the end of April, until the buds are completely swollen, or the middle - the end of June, when the growth of the shoots ends. Lignified branches 30–40 cm long are taken from young healthy thujas, 2–3 years old. It is necessary to tear off the cuttings so that a piece of bark (“heel”) leaves the mother tree with them.

Remove the needles from the lower edges of the broken branches by 8-10 cm, soak in one of the root formation stimulators (act according to the instructions).

During this time, prepare a bed with suitable soil:

peat;
river sand;
sod land.

The components are taken in the same amount, mixed. The soil is brought into the garden, mixed with garden soil, spilled with a solution of potassium permanganate. Cuttings are deepened by 2-3 cm, watered to compact the ground around the cutting. Further watering are replaced by spraying, so the required humidity is created.

Growing thuja from a twig

This method of propagation is almost no different from planting cuttings. From liked healthy tree branches 25–35 cm high are cut from its middle part with sharp scissors, the larger the branch, the better it will take root. The cut is processed by "Kornevin" or "Heteroauxin", all lower leaves are removed.

A hole is being prepared in a secluded, semi-shaded, damp place, the soil is well loosened, organic fertilizer is added, and water is spilled.
After the soil is saturated with water, a thuja branch is stuck, the earth around it is slightly compacted.
The planted twig is covered with a jar or transparent plastic bottle, the edges are sprinkled with earth, once again a little water is poured from a watering can.

The jar or bottle will need to be periodically removed for ventilation, but not earlier than 2 weeks after planting.

Rules for caring for thuja sprouts from cuttings and twigs

After rooting cuttings and twigs, they need regular watering (but not waterlogging), regular spraying of needles, top dressing 2-3 times complex fertilizers, permanent removal of weeds, frequent surface loosening of the soil.

Before the onset of cold weather, warm the ground around the trunks with bark, dry leaves, sawdust or spruce branches, and wrap the upper part of young trees with foil.

September next year is the time to transplant grown trees to a permanent place.

It is important not to bury the trees, leave the root neck at the level of the soil, a deeper planting will lead to the death of the plant.

Tui is afraid of direct sunlight and drafts

Conical, pyramidal, egg-shaped, spherical - thuja will be a wonderful decoration for any garden, if you provide them with the right care.

A landing site must be chosen such that:

straight sunlight fell on trees in the mornings or evenings, exposure to the daytime sun will dehydrate the needles, the plant will lose its beauty;
thuja does not tolerate strong winds and drafts, if planted in such a place, it will be difficult for her to endure winters;
a thick shadow will affect the density of the crown, it will be rare and unattractive;
Tui love moist soil, but prolonged late spring flooding will kill them.
only a year after planting, when the tree gets stronger and takes root well, you can start feeding it.

To maintain the correct shape, the trees need a decorative haircut: from the age of two, the plants are cut with sharp secateurs, branches that go beyond the shape of the design idea. Experienced gardeners consider that it is better to do pruning insignificant, but frequent.

Tui is native to East Asia. In our latitudes, thuja has gained popularity due to its unpretentiousness and dense dense crown. Thuja is easy to cut, so it is possible to give it any shape. Thanks to this feature, thuja is used in many landscape compositions.

Thuja serves as material for hedges, whole alleys are planted with it. For such plantations, tens and hundreds of young trees are required, so the issue of rapid reproduction of the plant is relevant.

The most popular way that is suitable for thuja is propagation by cuttings in the spring. Despite the fact that trees are less hardy with this method of propagation compared to seedlings, it is much more popular. This is explained as follows:

propagation by cuttings allows you to save features mother plant;
conifer seeds need natural stratification, which takes a lot of time. The process of growing seedlings from seeds ready for planting lasts about 6 years;
propagation of thuja by cuttings in the spring allows you to get ready-made seedlings for planting in a permanent place in 2-3 years.

The vegetative breeding method of thuja also has disadvantages. In the process of growing seedlings, only 70-80% of plants from the total number of harvested cuttings survive. If you do not follow the rules for the reproduction of coniferous plants, then this percentage will be even less.

How to prepare spring cuttings

In order for the cultivation of thuja from cuttings in the spring to be fruitful, it is necessary to properly prepare the cuttings.

To harvest spring cuttings, you need to take the tops of the axial shoots of the thuja. Such branches retain the nature of branching, which is inherent in this species. If you take a cutting from a side branch, you get a creeping form of a plant.

The best period for separating cuttings from the mother plant is the spring month of April. At this time, the first phase of plant growth occurs. The plant from which the shoot is taken must be 2-3 years old.

In order for the thuja to have a better chance of taking root, while it is not possible to grow this plant from a cutting with a 100% probability with this method of reproduction, you need to correctly separate the cutting. To do this, it must be torn off manually, without using a pruner. You need to tear off with a sharp movement. The detachable part should be 20 cm long. When a branch is pulled out, a piece of last year's wood remains at its end, which contains nutrients.

Important! To root the thuja, you can collect planting material in the summer, for example, in June. But such harvests will grow for a season longer until they are fully ready for planting, since they will, in fact, “oversleep” the harvesting season. In June, thujas are experiencing a second period of growth.

Primary preparation of harvested thuja cuttings - cleaning small twigs and needles from the bottom of the cuttings. This is done so that they do not come into contact with sand or wet soil, because in this case they will begin to rot.

Features of rooting cuttings in the spring

After harvesting, it is necessary to root the thuja cuttings in the spring. Before this, young shoots must be disinfected. For this purpose, they are immersed in a weak solution of manganese for several minutes, after which they are placed in Kornevin or another growth stimulant for one day.

Existing rooting methods, which one is suitable for spring

The next step in the process of rooting a thuja from a branch is placing the cutting in an environment where it can take root. There are several ways to root thuja:

in the substrate;
in water;
in a diaper with moss.

For cuttings harvested in spring, the most the best way rooting in the substrate is considered. Twigs need a lot of moisture and at least a minimum of nutrients. In water and in a diaper with moss, there are not enough nutrients for the growth of thuja.

How to prepare the substrate for the cutting

In the question of how to plant a thuja branch, the substrate in which the cutting will be placed plays an important role. As a substrate, you need to use clean river sand or a mixture of sand and garden soil, which must be disinfected.

To disinfect river sand, it is placed in a galvanized bucket or tank and boiled by placing it in a large container of water. After that, the sand is watered with a 3% solution of potassium permanganate. After completing these procedures, sand can be used in the substrate for planting thuja cuttings.

Some perform sand disinfection after placing it in a planting container. Sand is poured with boiling water, and then with a solution of potassium permanganate.

How to "plant" a spring stalk

After preparing the desired substrate, the next task lies ahead - how to root the thuja cuttings in the spring. The procedure to be followed is:

prepare seedling containers with a large number of drainage holes;
lay a drainage layer on the bottom of the tank - chopped expanded clay or gravel;
a substrate is laid out on the drainage layer - river sand or a mixture of river sand with garden soil;
prepared cuttings are deepened into the substrate to a depth of 1-1.5 cm and compact the soil around them.

Did you know? When new shoots begin to appear on the handle planted in the substrate, it means that it is well rooted.

Proper care of cuttings is the key to success

The next thing you need to know when exploring the question of how to grow a thuja from a cutting is the rules for care after planting. As the landing takes place in early spring, outdoor temperature is too low for young twigs. Therefore, planted cuttings are placed in a greenhouse, in a shaded place or in a spunbond greenhouse.

The temperature for growing thuja from cuttings should be between 17 and 23 degrees. Spraying of seedlings should be carried out daily, and if the weather is hot, then the substrate must be moistened twice a day.

Important! Water should not get on the leaves of the thuja during spraying, as this can cause them to rot.

Two months after landing and proper care cuttings should release the first roots. When this happens, the risk of the cuttings drying out is greatly reduced.

What to do when the cuttings take root

After the cuttings planted in the spring take root, they must be transplanted for growing into a special garden bed - shkolka. In shkolka, thuja seedlings spend 2-3 years until they are ready for transplanting to a permanent place. Twigs planted in the soil in the spring are placed in a shkolka in the same year, in September.

The main advantage of breeding conifers in the autumn is the possibility of obtaining a full-fledged plant in three years. Such a plant will fully correspond to the botanical characteristics of the mother culture, but the level of survival is not at high level.

It should be noted that cuttings grown at home are quite difficult to tolerate the process of transplantation, they do not have a very high resistance to pathogenic flora and sudden temperature changes. However, it is autumn reproduction that is most often practiced by gardeners and flower growers in our country.

When and how to properly carry out thuja cuttings in the fall

Cutting of planting material is carried out only from branches that have reached the age of two and are well developed. When cutting, remember that the length of the shoot should be about a quarter of a meter. Best Option is not cutting the cutting with a pruner or knife, but breaking off from the branch of the mother plant, which will allow you to get planting material with a characteristic “heel” from the bark.

All harvested cuttings of the conifer must be placed for several hours in a container filled with water with the addition of a growth stimulant and a bioroot. It is advisable to carry out the main process of germinating cuttings inside a special greenhouse, which must first be filled with clean river sand, peat chips and soddy soil, mixed in equal proportions.

Thuja breeding methods (video)

It is important to remember that the nutrient soil mixture, before backfilling, must be disinfected without fail, using for this purpose a sufficiently strong solution based on potassium permanganate.

The cuttings prepared and pre-treated in growth stimulants should be planted in a moist nutrient substrate, keeping a distance of 50-70 mm. The penetration into the nutrient substrate should be approximately 20 mm. Landing in a greenhouse must be covered with a transparent plastic wrap, which will allow the rooted cuttings of the conifer to be shaded from direct sunlight.

Why you can not store thuja cuttings

Cuttings can be done in spring or autumn, but such planting material is not subject to storage, since extremely rapid dehydration and death of wood occurs. Such a vegetative method, in comparison with seed propagation, is the most convenient in indoor and backyard floriculture.

Cuttings from spring or autumn harvesting need proper growing. For this purpose, it is necessary to form special ridges, which are called "shkolka". Under such conditions, the planting material will be for a couple of years, after which the coniferous seedling is transplanted to a permanent place. The planting material cut in the autumn is planted on the ridges of the shkolka only next year.

Rooting technology of thuja cuttings at home in autumn

At home, rooting conifer for autumn breeding most often performed using sphagnum peat moss. It is also necessary to prepare polyethylene film, clean tissue and growth stimulant, including "Epin" or "Kornevin". The technology of this method of rooting conifer at home is not complicated, but must be carried out taking into account the following recommendations:

place the thuja shoots in a container filled with water with the addition of any root stimulant for about twelve hours;
moss-sphagnum pour boiled warm water approximately three hours, which will allow natural material increase in size, and also well saturated with moisture;
decompose into flat surface a wide fabric strip, visually divide the width of the strip in half, and evenly distribute moistened sphagnum moss over the entire upper part;
with a slight distance from each other, it is required to lay the cut cuttings of the conifer, and then cover them with wet sphagnum.

On final stage it is necessary to cover the cuttings with the lower part of the fabric strip, and roll it into a not too tight roll, which is placed in polyethylene. The workpiece must be placed in a room with sufficient natural light. If necessary, the moss needs to be moistened periodically. clean water room temperature from a household spray bottle.

How to cut thuja (video)

What you need to know about planting thuja cuttings in the fall in open ground

Thuja is a light-loving plant, and in shady areas such a conifer can quickly lose its natural splendor and all decorative appeal. The site should be represented by fertile and well-permeable soils. with enough moisture. Before you start planting a coniferous plant, you need to prepare a good planting hole, the size of which depends on the parameters of the development of the roots of the culture. To the bottom landing pit the drainage layer is filled up in the form broken brick or expanded clay. A nutrient substrate based on sand, peat and garden soil is poured from above.

The ideal time for planting is September and early October, but always before the appearance of sufficiently strong and stable frosts. The roots of the plant should have time to take root before the onset of winter. The root neck of a coniferous plant when planting should be placed on the same level with the ground.

After planting, watering is carried out, and timely and proper feeding will allow the plant to take root well and easily endure the stress caused by planting. As autumn feeding potash and phosphate fertilizers can be used. After planting, it is necessary to provide an ornamental culture with daily irrigation activities and regular sprinkling with a hose.

Subject to the planting regime and the rules of care, you can count on getting a beautiful and strong coniferous plant.