Green Hedge Care, Pruning, Watering, Diseases

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

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General rules for planting decorative tree species

The best time to plant woody plants is autumn. Spring is preferred only in less favorable conditions, and when it comes to delicate species.

The most common types of ornamental trees and shrubs, masking plants, are planted without root lumps in previously prepared relatively deep pits or in ditches, when digging ditches, the top layer of earth is poured separately, and then separately - the lower, subsoil.

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Woody plant care

The appearance of trees and shrubs depends on their care for many years after planting. Care is watering, feeding, removing faded flowers and maintaining the crown in a healthy state.

No need to prune maples, evergreen barberries, Japanese quince. In uncircumcised form, they appear before us in all their glory - with their flowers and fruits. This also applies to wolfberry, witch hazel, evergreen St. John's wort, cotoneaster, rhododendron, laburnum, magnolia, oak, elm, tree peonies, holly, hazel, kalmias, scumpia, evergreen viburnum and a variety of other plants.

Rejuvenation

From time to time, sometimes radically, and sometimes very carefully and carefully, they rejuvenate woody plants, that is, they eliminate old shoots, leaving an equal number of young ones. Irga needs rejuvenation, barberry shedding foliage, hazel, thinning from the bottom, sucker, hibiscus, which blooms little, kolkhvizia, privet, honeysuckle, chubushnik, spirea, cinquefoil, snowberry, lilac, viburnum, weigela and others.

This operation is carried out most often during vegetation dormancy. If any bush or tree in our garden grows too thick or exceeds the size allowed under these conditions, you can radically cut or thin it out. This means that you need to eliminate the old branches, and cut some of the remaining branches in half. Branches in such cases are cut off near the ground, leaving an approximately equal number of young shoots.

Deciduous trees planted in groups are pruned in winter so that they do not deprive each other of air and sunlight. Trees with a spectacular color of annual shoots rejuvenate every year, which makes it possible to invariably admire their beauty, and trees with decorative fruits or bark are cut only at the end of winter: then even in the cold season they decorate our garden.

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Planting a plant from a container

When starting to plant a plant in a container, prepare a planting hole for it; it should be deep enough so that after planting, the top of the earthen coma is 3 cm below the soil level.

The width of the hole should be sufficient so that the clod is surrounded on all sides by a layer of planting mixture 7-10 cm thick. Pour a layer of planting mixture 10 cm thick on the bottom of the hole.

The mixture for planting consists of earth, peat and sand in a ratio of 1: 1: 1. When everything is ready for planting, start planting plants. Take a container with a plant, carefully cut off some of the roots going in a circle and slightly loosen the ends of the other roots without breaking the coma.

Place the container in the pit and cut it sideways, then carefully remove the container. Fill the space between the earthen lump and the pit walls with planting mixture and sprinkle it with earth on top, and then compact the mixture with a shovel; after planting, water the plant. And most importantly, the root collar should remain at the soil level and in no case be buried.

Plants are more likely to die due to improper planting, and not because the seedlings were weak. If the soil in the intended area is poor or compacted, it is advisable to dig up the entire area two weeks before planting the plants, adding a significant amount of garden compost or rotted manure. You can also apply a slow-release mineral fertilizer. The ideal time for planting conifers and evergreen shrubs is August - early September, while the soil is still warm.

If you did not have time to plant the plants in the fall, do it in late April - May, as soon as the soil warms up. After planting, mulch the soil under the plant to prevent moisture loss and overheating of the soil in summer and to keep weeds from overgrowing. When planting, the soil is well compacted, if necessary, the plant is tied up. In a drought, plants in containers need to be watered. In winter, in small and thin-walled containers, the ground can freeze to prevent this from happening, the containers are tied with burlap or covered with foam.

When buying planting material in a container, pay attention to the condition of the seedlings, they must be healthy, well-developed, attractive in appearance. Proper fit and maintenance will help maintain and enhance this appeal.

You have purchased a seedling with a clod of earth wrapped in non-woven fabric or heavy burlap. If at the same time the lump is dense enough, then it is better to carefully remove the packing material when planting so that it does not interfere with the flow of air to the roots and does not cause rotting of the root system.

If the lump is loose, and the packaging material is free to let air in, then it is better not to do this. It is very good to shed the root system with auxins. The procedure must be repeated after two weeks. The use of auxins promotes early rooting. In this case, the concentration of auxins should be twice as high as during watering. When watering the area, try to keep water out of the tree trunks, especially in the first year after planting.

In conditions of constant moisture in small wounds and cracks in the bark, favorable conditions are created for the rapid development of putrefactive fungi. The bark detaches from the trunk, which leads to the inevitable death of the plant. Visible, large wounds during planting must be treated with garden varnish. At the end of the work, see if the plant is planted evenly enough, if there is no need to tie it to a support.

Caring for plants in a green fence

Tying. Plants need to be tied up exactly at the planting stage, and not when it tilts or turns out of the ground in a strong wind. Usually, a seedling is tied to a peg, which is hammered into the soil near the trunk.

However, for plants grown in a container, this method is not recommended, because it will violate the integrity of the earthen coma. It is better to tie a plant from a container to a peg set at an angle.

However, this method is not suitable for those trees which have stems with leafy branches densely flattened along the entire height. In this case, it is recommended to tie the plant to three pegs, placing it under the ropes, so as not to injure the stems, cutting the garden hose.

Recommendations: to prevent the plant from falling, tie it to a reliable support before planting, do not remove the packaging before planting. Keep the earthen ball moist at all times. If planting is delayed for too long, dust the lump with wet peat, compost or soil.

In preparation for the mass planting of large-sized trees, certain requirements of the technology developed for this must be observed. Trial planting of different breeds revealed one of the bottlenecks in the post-transplant adaptation system. The main reason for the death of transplanted large trees was a sharp metabolic disorder.

It is caused by the weakening of the normal synthesis of hormones and complex organic substances naturally synthesized by the plant that have regulatory functions. The vital activity of the root system and the crown of the tree are closely interrelated. In the shoots of the crown, hormones are synthesized that stimulate the vital activity of the roots. In turn, hormones are synthesized in the roots, which have a beneficial effect on terrestrial organs.

Even if the tree is transplanted very carefully, a significant part of the most active roots is lost. The transplant leads to a violation of water metabolism, the absorption of nutrients decreases. However, the main problem of plants that have changed their "place of residence" is the weakening of their main biosynthetic functions. As a result, the root system does not provide the ground part of the tree with the necessary hormones, which, in turn, cannot receive the necessary amount of hormones by the downward flow of substances. This can be avoided by providing the plant with the required amount of hormones.

Pruning evergreens

Pruning of such plants is carried out taking into account their type. Annual pruning is practically unnecessary for evergreens. The exception is plants planted as a living fence.

But even evergreens sometimes need a light shearing. Branches with a thickness of 1-1.5 cm are cut with pruning shears. For cutting branches with a thickness of 1-3.5 cm, special scissors with long handles are used. Plants are usually cut with garden shears or special shears for cutting a live fence. Gently remove the ends of the plant branches: this stimulates the growth of the buds located below the cut

It often happens that one or more branches on an evergreen grow longer than the others and protrude beyond the crown. Such a branch is cut to the base, just cutting off the ends of the branches is not enough. Sooner or later, most or all of the branches stretch out and need to be pruned. Some of the largest branches can be removed, and later a similar procedure repeated annually; if all branches are greatly shortened at the same time, the plant may die.

Many conifers can be sheared, but sheared plants tend to look unnatural. To limit the growth of an evergreen that grows too quickly, several vertical cuts are made around the crown circumference in the soil to the depth of a shovel.

Timing of trimming. Almost all evergreens are pruned in the spring, the best time for this is March-April. Take your time to cut branches damaged in winter, wait until the end of spring to assess the actual size of the damage and see if new growth will appear on the branch. Evergreen shrubs that bloom in spring are pruned immediately after flowering ends. The most inappropriate time for pruning evergreens is August – October.

Watering evergreens

Evergreens need the same care as other plants: during the period of active growth, they need to be watered, fed, weeded out.

Before planting the plant, add a fertile mixture and mulch the soil surface under the plant every spring. Mulching is the application of coarse organic matter to the soil surface under the plants. This operation has many advantages, including the following:

- In summer drought, the soil retains moisture better.

- The soil surface covered with mulching material remains cool on hot summer days, and plant roots grow more actively in such cool and moist soil.

- The number of weeds is reduced; weeds growing through the mulch layer are easily removed.

Some mulching materials provide additional nutrition for plants, resulting in improved soil quality. Suitable for mulching are wet peat, chopped bark of conifers, leaf humus, well-rotted manure. Usually mulching is carried out in May.

Its effectiveness depends on soil preparation. Remove debris and old leaves, weed out, water dry soil. If necessary, spread dry fertilizer, lightly embed it in the soil with a hoe. After that, spread a layer of mulch around the plant, 5-8 cm thick, so that it does not touch the shoots, otherwise they may die. The next spring, the mulch layer is renewed.

Evergreens must be watered for two years after planting in dry weather in spring and summer. Rooted plants can be watered less frequently, but do not completely deprive them of watering. In drought, pay attention to the plants that grow in the so-called "risk zones": near the wall of the house, on sandy soil.

Evergreens with shallow root systems can suffer from a lack of moisture in drought conditions, even if they grow in good soil. Pour 5 liters of water under each small plant, and 20 liters of water under the large plant. You need to water it with a gentle stream closer to the base of the plant. The best irrigation method is drip irrigation using a perforated hose laid among the bushes. A good effect is given by a roller of earth poured around the plant. When watering, it is convenient to fill the resulting "saucer" with water, it will stay in the soil longer.

It is important not to forget to weed the weeds around the plants; this must be done repeatedly throughout the season. Weed growth can be suppressed by applying a layer of mulch. In this case, even if they come out of the soil, they can be easily removed by hand, while the numerous weeds growing in the open soil around the evergreens will have to be removed with a hoe.

Diseases of conifers

Ephedra, like all living things, are susceptible to various diseases. The first symptom that should alert you is the yellowing and browning of individual branches. If the soil does not have adequate nutrition for the plant, and it gives a large increase in shoots, then it is prone to premature yellowing of old branches, since it gives all the incoming nutrients to young shoots.

Numerous pathogenic microorganisms that develop both on the bark and on the needles cause particular harm to plants. Most often these are mushrooms. First, the needle turned brown, then the twig, half of the plant, and gradually only the top of the pine tree remains, and from the juniper - one name.

As a result, you have to completely replace diseased plants. At the same time, there is no guarantee that a new young plant, planted in the same area, will not get sick and will not lose its shape from rust that attacked it.

For example, for Weymouth pine, blister rust in May - June or cancer are the main diseases that it suffers from every year. In addition to this misfortune, pine needles rust, pine wither, and resin crayfish are noted on the pines.

Of the branch diseases, scleroderria cancer has become widespread, in which deep cancerous ulcers, bark necrosis and the death of buds and needles are noted on the trunk. In this case, the needles become reddish-brown and do not fall off for a long time. Often stem rot appears on pines, caused by the development of tinder fungi in the lower part of the trunk, and honey fungus is also found. If your conifers began to turn yellow and dry, and fruiting bodies of tinder fungi appeared on the trunk, the plants have stem rot and they are doomed to death.

A "fashionable" disease for conifers in recent years is shute, which causes yellowing and shedding of needles. Pines, spruces and junipers are ill. At the same time, the needles become reddish-brown with black transverse lines, over time, black shiny dots form on it - spores, which quickly infect neighboring branches and plants.

A lot of fungi-pathogens have been described that cause another ailment - drying of the branches of conifers. And it all starts with the same browning and drying of the needles. True, if you look closely, the needles remain clean, without visible constrictions and deposits, but necrosis and browning are noticeable on the bark of the branches, and with heavy rains, a grayish mycelium develops on the bark.

If your plants develop yellowing, try to identify the cause as soon as possible. If these are traces of the activity of numerous pests, then the plants can be sprayed with "Decis" during the growing season. If no pests are found, feed the plants with complex fertilizers for coniferous crops. The worst case scenario is fungal diseases. In this case, it is necessary to remove heavily infested branches and spray all plants with Bordeaux mixture or copper oxychloride. It is better to carry out the processing systematically, for example, once or twice in spring and in August-September.

Read the next part. Types of green fences and propagation of evergreens →