Shrubs For Forcing

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the previous part. ← Winter forcing bushes in the apartment

How to prepare them for this

Now let's move on to the intricacies of forcing certain crops. And let's start with the lilac. She is a kind of standard forcing plant.

This crop has a unique flavor and is perfect for distillation. However, the greatest effect of forcing is obtained using three types of lilacs.

It is Persian, with thin shoots and small leaves; common lilac, which has thicker shoots and larger leaves; and Chinese lilac, better known as a hybrid between Persian and common lilacs.

Common lilacdespite the fact that it suits well for forcing, it is a capricious culture. In order for it to bloom in the room at an unnatural time for it, it is necessary to create a certain microclimate - to humidify the air and raise the temperature. It is a little easier to drive out Persian and Chinese lilacs, but it is extremely difficult to get copies that you can start to drive out immediately.

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Persian and Chinese lilacsThey are very fond of sunlight, but they do not tolerate direct sunlight, so they should be placed in a warm room and more often, usually three to four times a day, sprayed with water at room temperature from a spray bottle in order to keep them moist. In Chinese and Persian lilacs, the first flower clusters usually appear after one and a half, sometimes two months after the start of forcing. When blooming, they usually retain their light purple color.

Common lilac is not only purple, but also of a different color. There are also terry varieties among them, but with early distillation they acquire only white or light purple color.

Immediately after you bought a seedling, you need to provide it with an abundance of moisture, but where can you get it in sufficient quantity? The answer here will be prompted by nature itself - bog moss>. Swamp moss should be wrapped around the strongest shoots. After that, you just have to regularly spray it with water at room temperature. And this way you will keep the whole plant moist. In this case, lilacs need to be placed in a dark and warm place.

About a month and a half after the start of forcing, the first flowers will appear in common lilacs. As soon as the first lilac buds open, you must stop spraying the plant and free it from the moss wrapper. In this form, the bush is ready to decorate any room. By the way, to extend the flowering period, the lilac must be placed in a cool place.

The next crop to be distilled is action. It is rightfully considered one of the most graceful forcing plants with pretty flowers. Most often, gentle action is used for forcing.

Its shoots form spherical bushes, which rarely exceed a height of 60 cm. The oval-lanceolate leaves of the action harmonize very well with its flowers, which are located in beautiful hanging brushes, from a distance resembling lily of the valley inflorescences. In nature, action blooms usually in late May, and in cold weather in early June.

Sometimes for distillation, the round-toothed action is also used, it forms taller bushes, which often reach a height of one and a half meters and bloom in June or early July.

There are several differences in the forcing of these species. For example,

tender actionyou can drive out very early. Usually they start this in early January, less often in December. But you should not rush, you can get a flower of an ugly shape and a gloomy dull green color. And the round-toothed action should be driven out no earlier than the end of January, this is all the differences between these species.

Plant pots are placed in the room in the brightest place. And so it is left at a temperature of no more than + 12 … + 13 ° С, but not less than 10 ° С. The soil in pots must be kept moist and sprayed with water at room temperature much more often than lilac soil, because this culture tolerates an excess of moisture much worse.

The plants that you started to drive out in late February or early March will bloom significantly more abundantly than the plants you started to drive out in January.

Another culture for distillation is chubushnik, this plant is very beautiful, blooms profusely and is quite easy to distill. On top of that, caring for a chubushnik is not very difficult, only one condition is important - normal, but not excessive moisture.

Spirea is an equally magnificent plant that blooms at the very sunset of spring. Amenable to distillation and quite easily Thunberg spiraea and spiraea spiraea. They have their own differences. For example, Thunberg's spirea is a shrub with sharp-toothed leaves and a large number of small and very graceful snow-white flowers.

Spiraea mucosaIs a slender shrub, even resembling a small tree from a distance. Its leaves are ovate-elliptical, and the flowers are slightly larger, double and snow-white. Both of these types of plants are quite simple for forcing, the whole process here is similar to that of action, however, unlike them, spireas need more moisture. Its volume is almost the same as that of lilacs. The process of forcing spirea should be started around the end of January or the beginning of February.

Kalina bulldonezh is

no less interesting in forcing

… Plant specimens to be distilled are usually of medium size. Forcing begins at the same time as for lilacs, that is, at the end of December or beginning of January. Be sure to take into account the fact that the flower buds of the viburnum are located not at the ends of the shoots, but along their entire length. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out preliminary pruning to the upper flower buds.

The forcing is started by setting the temperature at + 10 … + 12 ° С and gradually, after 12-14 days, increase it to + 16 … + 18 ° С. Plants should be placed in a bright place and kept moderately humid by frequent spraying with room temperature water.

If everything goes as it should, then at first, spherical hanging inflorescences will appear from the flower buds, which at first will be small and painted in a pale shade, and the finally formed flower is usually brighter.

Next, you can try to expel the plum. Of the large number of its species, which are successfully grown in home plots and are used both as ornamental and as fruit plants, some are also suitable for forcing. Of these, only two are the most effective - these are the

Japanese dwarf plum and the

three-lobed plum.

The Japanese dwarf plum is a small shrub with oval-lanceolate leaves.

Plum three-bladed- this is also a shrub, but taller and with large three-lobed leaves.

Forcing both types is not very difficult, you can start it already in mid-September. During this period, the specimens you like must be transferred to a warm room, having previously held in a cool and very bright place until the buds begin to swell. Usually until this moment you will have to wait about a month, sometimes a little less, sometimes even a little more, and then in a warm room the flowers bloom very quickly.

But here, too, there are some subtleties - in order for the result not to disappoint you, several conditions must be met: be sure to pick up a bright place, do not forget about watering, and also often spray the plants. When they bloom, it is advisable to transfer them to a cool room, so you will ensure a longer flowering.

In conclusion, I want to talk about forsythia. This well-known plant is, alas, rarely driven out, but green forsythia is perfect for forcing. For those who don't know, let me remind you that forsythia is a beautiful shrub with long, vines-like shoots and graceful lanceolate leaves. The flowers of forsythia are yellow, bell-shaped, they appear before the leaves and fully bloom around March. Flowers usually cover almost all shoots, so pruning is not desirable before forcing.

If you get forsythia to bloom in your room, you will see a truly beautiful sight. After all, it is difficult to compare the flowering of forsythia with some other plant in terms of showiness.

Forcing forsythia is usually started at the end of January, sometimes in mid-February. Plants are placed in a room where the temperature is maintained within + 8 … + 10 ° С. Usually after 16-19 days, the first flowers appear, the number of which increases every day.

Good luck to everyone who undertakes the difficult, but exciting task - forcing flowering shrubs in winter!

Nikolay Khromov,

Candidate of Agricultural Sciences,

Researcher, Department of Berry Crops,

GNU VNIIS im. I. V. Michurina,

member of the R&D Academy

Photo by the author and Olga Rubtsova