Grow your own Christmas tree for summer cottage many people dream. It not only decorates the site in itself, but also serves as an excellent symbol of the New Year - it can be dressed up for the holiday. It's nicer than artificial tree, and more humane than the cut down one, which will die after the holiday.
Growing a Christmas tree from seeds is quite simple. In three or four years it will reach half a meter in size, and in ten years we will get good tree more than a meter high. It is worth recalling that the Christmas tree and others coniferous trees grown only from seeds, vegetative propagation inaccessible to them (one of the few exceptions is larch, which can be propagated by layering). In some cases, a Christmas tree can be propagated by grafting, but still the main method of propagation for it is by seed.
So what does it take to grow a real Christmas tree from a seed? First of all you will need:
- Cones.
- Refrigerator with freezer.
- Soil and pots.
- Patience.
Cones and seeds
First you need to find Christmas tree cones in the forest. They must not yet have opened. You can collect cones from December until spring, but the best time is when the snow begins to melt. The found cones need to be dried - on a radiator, stove or in another warm place; they should dry until they open. The Christmas tree seeds are placed in some container and covered with snow. The vessel must be placed in the freezer and kept there long time– from a week to a month; It is advisable, of course, not to rush and let the seeds freeze thoroughly. Then the container is transferred from the freezer to the refrigerator for several hours, and then the Christmas tree seeds need to be soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate. Now they can be planted in the ground.
The process of freezing Christmas tree seeds is necessary to imitate as closely as possible the conditions in which spruce grows in nature.
Soil selection
Soil for a Christmas tree is usually collected from the forest, in the same place where the cones were found. You can also buy soil for conifers in the store. The planted seeds must also be sprinkled with pine needles or at least sawdust. You can also use coconut shavings as soil for the Christmas tree.
Planting a Christmas tree
Christmas tree seeds are planted shallowly in the prepared soil - about a centimeter. They are sprinkled on top with soil mixed with pine needles or sawdust. Now the soil must be constantly moistened and kept in a lighted place, but not in direct sunlight. It is important to remember that spruce, unlike many flowering plants, requires coolness to germinate. To create the desired microclimate, you can make a small greenhouse. To do this, sticks (for example, matches or toothpicks) are stuck into the ground, and a plastic film is placed on top of them. 
It must be said that Christmas tree seeds take a long time to germinate – within several months. For those who have until now only dealt with vegetables, fruits and garden flowers, this period may seem unusual. There is no need to rush things; you need to wait patiently until the seedlings appear above the ground. By the way, spruce sprouts also do not look like the usual tomatoes or cucumbers: instead of two cotyledons, they have several young needles.
It is recommended to select pots for fir trees in such a way that they can grow in them for several years, since it is not advisable to replant young fir trees. However, others say that the first transplant can be done when the plants have reached two centimeters in height.
Be that as it may, young Christmas trees are kept in the same conditions as seedlings: cool, light and high humidity. You can keep the trees on the balcony, and if they are grown in an apartment, then you do not need to place them near a radiator, stove or other heating system; There must be a container of water next to the pot.
The next tree transplant is done after a year, and then after three years. It is necessary to replant in cold weather.
At the age of three or four years, when the tree has already grown half a meter, it can be planted in open ground. Before this, the plant needs to be accustomed to outdoor air for a long time, periodically taking it out of the room during the day; and when it reaches the age of three months, it can be taken out overnight.
After planting in open ground, the tree must adapt to the new location. To make it easier for her to get used to it, you need to pour a little soil from the forest into the hole, which is well known to our tree. Until it takes root, it needs to be watered from time to time.
It is recommended to keep small Christmas trees indoors. They saturate the air with oxygen and phytoncides - odorous substances that are beneficial to the body, and also emit a pleasant pine aroma.
How many years do Christmas trees live?
It must be said that among conifers, fir trees cannot be called long-livers: they rarely live to be three hundred years old. They usually live up to 150 years; age depends on both the type of spruce and the place of growth. However, the roots remaining from the dead trunk can produce new clone shoots; if all clones from one root are considered one plant, then the life expectancy of spruce increases significantly: the oldest such tree - Old Tikko - lives for almost 10 thousand years. It is located in Sweden, on Mount Fulufjellet. It is the oldest tree organism on Earth.
Since the branches of a Christmas tree, like araucaria, are arranged in “floors,” you can determine the age of the tree by counting the “floors,” each of which corresponds to one year, and adding the 3–4 years required to form the first “floor.”
Fir trees grow quite close to each other in the forest, which is why the spruce forest is the darkest among all other types of forests. It doesn't get hot in summer because most of no sunlight penetrates into it. This feature of spruce trees was one of the reasons for the plant’s cold resistance - for spruce seeds to germinate, a cool temperature is needed.
The Christmas tree is an evergreen tree, but in the fall it sheds a seventh of its needles. Of course, in this sense, larch is more impressive, as it sheds all its needles in the winter, which is why it got its name. Spruce needles are used to prepare fortified feed for livestock, however, an infusion of pine needles will also be useful for humans.
Grow a Christmas tree from seeds and let it never cease to delight you!
Don't you feel sorry for throwing away your Christmas tree after the holidays? I really like it. For a long time I began to wonder whether it is possible and how to grow a Christmas tree on our own plot so that it will delight us under New Year. And in summer, the forest beauty looks great in any area, in addition, it brings great benefits and purifies the air.
There are several ways to grow a Christmas tree, you can choose the most suitable one for yourself. But this is not an easy matter and you will have to wait several years.
- growing from seeds
- from a twig
- replanting from the forest
It is important that the seeds are ripe, otherwise you won't succeed. Many people mistakenly believe that once the cone has opened, the seeds are ready for planting. The cones open in the warmth, regardless of whether the seeds are ripe or not. The nuts need to be prepared already late autumn so as not to make a mistake. long, you need to take into account the rest mode and create conditions as close as possible to natural ones. You immediately need to soak the seeds in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour, dry them and send them for stratification in the refrigerator for 2-3 months. At the end of April you can start sowing. For quick swelling, soak the nuts in warm water for a day and sow in a special greenhouse (you can use a box). The best soil for planting from spruce forest. We don’t bury the nuts in the ground, but lay them out and crush them about 1 cm on top. It’s best to cover the greenhouse with a covering material, it disperses direct Sun rays. Now all that remains is to monitor the soil moisture and wait for germination. The soil should not be overdried or waterlogged. When seedlings appear, they need to be thinned out. During the season, small Christmas trees need feeding. You can feed with mullein solution (1 to 5).
Planting a seedling.
This is the easiest and quick way get a good quality tree. But there is one drawback: seedlings are expensive these days, so not everyone can afford them. 
If you do become the happy owner of a Christmas tree in a pot (you only need to buy seedlings in pots with a closed root system), decide in advance on the planting location. Imagine that the tree will someday grow. Choose a sunny or partial shade location. The soil for the Christmas tree is slightly acidic or neutral. Dig a hole 70 cm deep and 50 cm wide. The bottom definitely needs drainage, suitable broken bricks or just stones. Need a seedling place in the hole at the same level as it was planted in the pot. A serious mistake when planting is deepening the root collar. Before filling the hole, add about 30% river sand to the soil and mix. After planting, the seedling needs daily watering; sprinkling also accelerates the growth of the plant.
Growing a Christmas tree from a twig.
Saplings from spruce branches take root only in the second year. Nevertheless, many gardeners use this method to grow good varietal trees. It is better to take a twig from the top of a young spruce. We only need one-year-old cuttings. We remove all the needles (5-6 cm) from its lower part and immerse it in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour. For rooting, we also need a greenhouse, preferably with heating, if this is not the case, we can arrange heating from manure, it will overheat and give off heat. Only the layer of soil on top must be at least 20 cm so that the seedlings do not burn. 
The soil should have good water and air permeability. Well suited from spruce forest, with the addition of 30% river sand, preferably washed. We deepen the seedlings by 5-6 cm and cover them well. Remember that direct sunlight is dangerous for them, so the greenhouse needs to be shaded with something until it is completely rooted. Watering and spraying should be done several times a day. After roots appear, watering is usually reduced and shading is left only during the daytime. Thus, young plantings need to be grown for 3-4 years, only then transferred to permanent place.
Replanting a Christmas tree from the forest.
The advantage of this method is that you can choose a tree that is 3-4 years old. The downside is that spruce trees do not tolerate transplantation well. Nevertheless, I used this particular method and did not regret it at all. The trick here is that when digging you need to try not to damage the root, it is the core of the tree and goes quite deep into the ground. And you also need to preserve as large a lump of earth as possible on the roots, then the tree will hurt less in the new place. Well, planting and care are the same as when planting a ready-made seedling.
Preparing for winter.
Young seedlings are not afraid only direct sunlight, but also frost, Therefore, with special attention You need to think about how to cover the plants. Greenhouses can be additionally heated in winter, and if this is not possible, carefully cover them and sprinkle them well with snow on top. For the winter, young trees need to be hilled with peat and wrapped with covering material.
The benefits of spruce needles.
When you grow a spruce and understand how difficult it is, you are unlikely to raise your hand to throw away the Christmas tree after the holidays as waste material. In addition, twigs can be used to maintain your health. With the help of spruce needles, you can cure many pulmonary diseases, runny nose, sore throat, and kidney disease. To relieve fatigue, pour 300 g of needles with a glass of boiling water, leave for 30 minutes, then pour the infusion into the bath. Fatigue will go away and your mood will improve. To strengthen the immune system, you can brew spruce needles and drink them as tea, this is especially good during periods of widespread influenza and acute respiratory viral infections. You can brew it together with the twigs, pour about 300 g with three liters of water, boil for half an hour, leave in a warm place for an hour. Then you need to strain the broth. You can add honey, lemon juice, jam. Choose a convenient way to grow a Christmas tree. Grow it, let it give joy to you and your loved ones. Happy New Year.
Spruce is a coniferous plant that serves as a classic decoration for the territory. Blue spruce is one of the endangered species, therefore it is listed in the Red Book. This factor affects the cost of pine seedlings. But why spend money on buying young trees if you can grow them with your own hands? Let’s try to understand together how to grow spruce from seeds, because in addition to saving money, the gardener receives a healthy, adapted to environment plant.
Owners of country estates are massively purchasing blue spruce cuttings for further cultivation even despite the high cost. This is because not everyone has an idea of how to grow a spruce from seeds, but you will know for sure.
Features of blue needles
The main difference between this type of conifer is the color of the needles. When growing spruce at home from seeds, it is possible to obtain a tree with 30% of the spines painted noble blue, the rest acquire a classic green tint. Therefore, many are interested in the question: “How to grow spruce from seeds at home and get a high-quality seedling?”
How to get a high-quality seedling when growing at home?
There are three ways to propagate spruce trees:
- vaccination;
- cutting method;
- growing from seeds.
Cutting method: features
This is the easiest way to grow a new coniferous tree. rooted in a greenhouse, since open ground has a negative effect on still immature coniferous plants. So, planting spruce begins with the selection of cuttings. Winter cuttings are best suited, as they produce results up to 4 times faster. The most favorable period for rooting is considered to be the moment of swelling of the buds. The main thing when propagating spruce is not to forget about maintaining temperature regime and the required level of moisture.
Blue spruce grown this way reaches 1 meter in height within 5 years. At this point, the tree can be transplanted to a permanent location.
Growing needles from seeds
How to grow spruce from seeds? This process is painstaking and lengthy, and the result depends on the selection of material and how high quality it was.
Seed collection
To grow any plant with your own hands, you need selected planting material, which is better not to buy, but to get it yourself. To grow spruce seedlings, seeds obtained from the fruits of a coniferous plant - cones - are used. The cones are collected in mid-February. This is the ideal time to collect full-fledged spruce seeds. The cones are placed in a fabric bag and placed next to a heating device or fireplace, which facilitates quick opening and free access to the grains. After a few weeks, you will be able to remove the seeds without damaging them. After the cones open, the spruce seeds in the bag are ground together to remove the lionfish. Washing under running water will help get rid of the greasy film formed due to secretion essential oils. At the final stage of preparation, the planting material is well dried.
To ensure complete protection of the seeds from bacteria, they are washed weakly and then wiped with a cloth. The prepared seeds are placed in a glass jar, which, tightly closed, is placed in the refrigerator. Conditions in freezer They resemble natural ones as much as possible (in the cold season), where the seeds are kept until mid-March.
How to grow spruce from seeds yourself? It is very important to get good planting material, which, however, can be bought on the market if necessary. The main thing is to know a good manufacturer.
Setting the stage
To blue spruce It grew healthy from seeds at home; it is recommended to prepare the site before sowing specimens.
Important! Do not sow blue spruce seeds in areas where you grow vegetable crops- they do not take root in the beds and quickly die.
The optimal growing medium is soil from under lawn grass, mixed with soil taken from under a coniferous tree. Growing in greenhouses involves two planting methods:
- directly into the ground;
- into an additional container.
When planting seeds in pots, do not forget to prepare a peat mixture with the addition of limestone flour and ammophosphate in a ratio of 6: 0.035: 0.020 kg. The mixture is scattered into containers in which the spruce is planted. The pots themselves are buried deep into the earthen mound in the greenhouse.
Important! When choosing the first planting method, an additional top layer is poured on top of the soil layer - made of sawdust and peat.
Planting seeds
First, determine the most favorable date for planting a spruce tree. The seedling will feel comfortable in nature if the ambient temperature is around +19 o C (+-1-2 o C).
Important! After changing the temperature regime (i.e. after the refrigerator), they can only be stored for 50 hours.
Before the material is treated with a foundation solution: 20 g per 10 liters of water.
Spruce is planted in well-moistened soil. If the spruce will be grown in greenhouse conditions, then the containers are deepened into the ground by 1.5 cm, and a film is stretched on top. If on open ground, first tamp the soil in the hole, then put the seeds, covering them on top with a peat mixture and a thin layer of sawdust (about 1 cm).
Important! The distance between individual seeds should be at least 3.5-6 cm.
Seed germination
The first shoots can be observed after 10-14 days. If placed close to each other, there is a need to thin them out. Of the entire row of plants, only the strongest specimens are left, keeping a distance between them of up to 7.5 cm.
When fragile seedlings enter the active growth phase, it is necessary to maintain optimal conditions growing needles, which are as follows:
- stop watering and introduce light spraying of seedlings with water - 2 times a day;
- Maintain temperature: minimum temperature- +13 o C, maximum - +15 o C.
Important! Remember that night frosts and direct sunlight during the day have a detrimental effect on fragile young needles.
A month later, a young blue spruce seedling reaches a height of 3-4 cm. Experts note that indirect scattered sunlight has a good effect on the growth rates of specimens. Since small needles are not resistant to diseases that affect plants, namely root rot, there is a need for special protection: first, a fungicide will be required, followed by treatment with an insecticide solution.
Plant transplantation
You already know how to grow spruce seedlings from seeds, but it is impossible to do this efficiently without replanting. annual plants. The procedure is carried out in early spring. After the seedlings reach the required level, it is important to plant the specimens you have bred so as not to lose the plants.
Before transplanting, prepare holes, which are compacted and sprinkled with a layer of earthen mixture from under the coniferous plant.
How to carry out a transplant correctly?
Small fir trees are dug out of the ground, separating the intertwined roots of individual specimens. This work must be done quickly but carefully so as not to damage the root system and prevent it from drying out.
Blue spruce, grown from seeds at home, requires special care. Often these are standard rules.
Interesting! By the third year of growth, less than half of the seedlings survive.
Three years after sowing the seeds, the plants are re-planted. This is done to provide sufficient space for the spruce roots. During this period, Christmas trees are planted at a distance of 1 m from each other.
Are you wondering how long does spruce grow from seeds? And we have an answer to this question. After 5 years, you will have a full-fledged spruce exceeding 1 meter in height.
This bluish-green beauty will become a real decoration of the garden or will successfully complement landscape composition. Growing plants with your own hands is quite difficult, but since the process is entertaining and in case of a positive result, when it turns out that your efforts were not in vain, you will certainly be proud of your beautiful Christmas tree.
how to care for a Christmas tree in a pot?
- Indoor spruce Araucaria comes from the subtropics, so if certain conditions are met, it can be all year round keep at home.
While the tree is dressed up, caring for it consists of watering and spraying, since most of all conifers in winter suffer from dry air. Water for irrigation should be taken soft, settled, but not warmer room temperature, water as the earthen ball dries, ensuring uniform, moderate soil moisture, about 2 times a week.
After the New Year, when it has completed its task, you need to place the spruce on a bright, cool window, ventilate the room often and water less often, but without drying out the soil. Very often the side of a Christmas tree standing on the window facing the room turns yellow and falls off. The opposite side is cooler and closer to the light and therefore remains green. The plant needs to be turned, otherwise one side will completely crumble, and the branches of the spruce do not recover, they grow only from above.
Of course, it is better to take the Christmas tree out onto a glassed-in loggia, but you just need to make sure that the soil in the pot does not freeze during severe frosts. At temperatures close to zero, it will not freeze, and the air there is more humid. When the bright sun appears in the spring, lightly shade the plant at first, otherwise the young shoots will begin to turn yellow.
But what you should never do is replant your Christmas tree. Firstly, conifers are transplanted in late spring, and secondly, they do not tolerate transplantation well. If you have a summer house, you can try to plant it in the ground in late spring. But spruce trees have a very difficult time replanting, so it is absolutely forbidden to disturb the earthen ball. Also make sure that the root collar remains at the same level. The place should be chosen moist, with heavy soil, shaded from direct sun in the summer heat. Spruce can take up to three years to take root. - no tree required special care, the main thing is that the pot is large, because it, like any tree, has a powerful root system. and conifers are practically not watered at all. it does not need to be watered often. I think watering once a week will be enough
Before purchasing a Christmas tree in a container, try to lift the plant with its roots out of the pot and carefully inspect the root system. The roots, like the tree itself, should look fresh, and the soil in the pot should be moist. Such trees, if they were grown according to all the rules, are ideal for further growing in a tub. You can immediately, before the start of the winter holidays, transplant such a tree into a larger container with moist, fertile soil. A larger container is heavier, the Christmas tree in it is more stable, and the soil stays moist longer.
On the eve of the New Year, the question of the Christmas tree as the main symbol of the holiday arises more and more acutely. Opponents plastic wood in the apartment they understand that a spruce cut down in the forest is not a solution, because it costs a lot, but it will begin to crumble quite soon. The most logical solution seems to be to grow and decorate a plant in a pot for the holiday - minimum costs, no cleaning, and not a single Christmas tree will suffer due to traditions.
Is it possible to grow a spruce tree yourself?
In principle, anything that at least from a distance resembles a conifer, such as cypress or boxwood, can become a New Year's tree. For those who are looking for easy ways and strive to achieve perfection in everything, it’s time to study the question of how to grow a Christmas tree at home, because it is more than possible!
The biggest difficulty that arises when growing a Christmas tree at home is the limited capabilities of a city apartment in terms of providing the so-called dormant period for the spruce. If you pay attention to the cycle of ordinary life forest tree, it is not difficult to notice that during the year the temperature regime that she has to endure varies from heat of +30 in the summer to frost - 30 in the winter months. Fir trees easily tolerate such temperature changes throughout the year; moreover, these coniferous trees are perfectly adapted to them, and a violation of the temperature regime only leads to diseases of the fir trees.
That is why it is better to start growing a Christmas tree in an apartment if you have a loggia or other cold and cool place. You should also be prepared that in two or three years you will have to transplant them into natural forest conditions, because in nature spruce trees reach a height of several tens of meters, and for a tree of such dimensions, of course, neither a pot of soil nor the size of even the largest room is enough .
On average, a spruce lives about 300 years, but sometimes its age can reach up to 600 years. The oldest Christmas tree on Earth this moment almost a thousand years old, and it grows in Sweden. "Old Tikko" - the name of the tree - is alive and well in Fulufjellet National Park and is revered as the oldest tree organism on the planet.
How to grow spruce
You can grow a Christmas tree at home in several simple and accessible ways.
- From a seed.
Christmas trees belong to gymnosperms and they arose much earlier than angiosperms () plants. Due to their characteristics, gymnosperms often displace other plants from the growing area. The most striking example of such a neighborhood is fir trees and birches. At first, small spruce trees, loving moisture and shade, grow under the crowns of birch trees, then they become taller than them, later they shade deciduous trees and acidify the soil, thereby completely exterminating trees of other species.
- Plant the seeds in a pot and place it in a cool place (preferably a refrigerator) for a couple of months.
At all Christmas trees grow and adapt to absolutely any soil, from swamps to rocky soil, from sand to clay, but spruce, of course, will grow best on fertile black soil. It will also be important to add a little soil from under the spruce tree under which you found the cone with seeds into the pot.
- After two months, when the seeds are ready to germinate, you should place the pot on a windowsill where it is not too hot and not too dark.
By spring, your Christmas tree will already be about 5 cm in size, and in two or three years it will reach a height of half a meter and will beg to be transplanted into the garden.
- From a seedling.
If you do not have the opportunity, desire or time to grow a Christmas tree from a seed, then you can immediately purchase a spruce seedling. This plant will certainly be in a pot with a closed root system at the age of just two or three years, that is, ready for transplanting into open ground.
Spruce sapling last years It has become popular to purchase just before the New Year in order to celebrate cheerfully, smelling the needles of a real living Christmas tree, and in the spring to transplant it into a park or forest.
Among ancient peoples, spruce was considered a sacred tree; they worshiped it, looked after it in every possible way and decorated it. Having become Christians, Europeans, however, retained a number of pagan traditions, including decorating the Christmas tree, only now for Christmas. And Peter I, wanting his state to fully comply with European canons, introduced this tradition into Russia.
By choosing this way to celebrate the New Year, you can indeed kill at least two birds with one stone: do not harm the environment by condoning the cutting down of trees for the sake of tradition, and contribute to the normalization of the environmental situation by planting a new tree in the spring.
In order for the seedling to take root and feel good in the open ground, you need to study the features of its existence before it came into your hands. That is, it is better to select a tree for which you already have suitable conditions. In other words, if you, for example, want to have a Christmas tree in your yard, then you need to choose a seedling according to the conditions of your yard, and not hope that a two or three year old tree will be able to adapt to the changed conditions. This is extremely unlikely, and most likely, if the light and thermal conditions and the nature of the soil are too different, the Christmas tree will begin to hurt and may even die.
If the conditions of the “birth” of the tree and those into which you are replanting it almost completely coincide, then all that remains is to immerse the Christmas tree in the hole exactly to the depth at which it was in the pot, and water it in case of a dry summer (about 10 liters of water per day). week during extreme heat).
- From a twig.
Another popular way to grow a Christmas tree yourself due to its effectiveness is from a twig or cutting, as professional gardeners call it.
A branch about 20 cm long should be cut in spring or autumn from the top of a beautiful and healthy spruce tree, which is at least 5 years old, a little cleared of needles at the base and planted in the ground - in a pot at home or in a greenhouse outside. To ensure that the cutting takes root, you can soak its end for half an hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, and only then plant it in the ground. After planting, it is better to cover the cuttings with film and maintain the soil temperature at 21-26 degrees Celsius, and keep the air temperature at least 4-7 degrees. In the first days before the roots appear, you need to water the newly made seedlings several times a day, and then reduce the amount of water as they take root and become stronger in the soil. It is important to remember that Christmas trees do not like heat and direct sunlight, but they also cannot tolerate complete darkness.
How to transplant a spruce from the forest
If you have a house on your own land, and you want to start admiring the mature Christmas tree as quickly as possible and dancing round dances around it for the New Year, you can transplant the tree directly from the forest. The most important thing here is not to damage the root system of an already mature tree and when planting, mix the soil from your site with the one from which the tree was taken.
It is best to replant a tree in the fall or spring, giving it plenty of water and protecting it at first and if necessary from the scorching rays of the sun and other extreme weather events that can have a bad effect on an already stressed tree.
In general, conifers do not like frequent changes of their place of residence, so you should not rely on the idea that you can keep a Christmas tree in an apartment for some time, then plant it in open ground, and do this several times with the same tree. Sooner or later you will have to part with your pet in favor of conditions that are more natural for her.
But there is also an option when not an ordinary forest Christmas tree grows at home, but a specially bred breed. You can watch the video below about growing such specimens.
How to grow spruce at home (video)
