Weymouth Pine - Indoor Cultivation

The forgotten houseplant Weymouth Pine will decorate your home, office or winter garden

In room culture, there are almost no conifers. The most common araucaria are variegated and tall, and occasionally there are biota and some podocarps (podocarpuses). And lovers really want to have conifers at home, and as diverse as possible.

That is why I want to remind flower growers about one forgotten coniferous plant. True, it is not entirely roomy, rather, half-room - after 10-15 years of growing in the house, it will have to be planted in a garden or on the street, where it will continue to develop even in the harsh conditions of the Northwest. But what a luxurious, unusual, one might say, outlandish plant will decorate your apartment for at least several years!

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It will be about the Weymouth pine (Pinus strobus L.). In the 19th century, it was grown quite often in home winter gardens. Back in 1881 in his book "Indoor Floriculture", the famous specialist of that time in the cultivation of indoor plants M.Yu. Petrov (St. Petersburg, published by I.L. Tuzov).

Since not all florists and gardeners know what kind of plant it is, although it has been widely cultivated for a long time in our country, however, mainly in forests and parks, we will give a brief description of it.

This pine was introduced to Europe in 1705 by Lord Weymouth, after whom it got its name. This is a medium- or fast-growing breed, at home, in the USA and Canada, at 80-120 years old it reaches a height of 40-60 m and a diameter of more than 1.5 m. The crown is cone-shaped, the branches are horizontal, collected in whorls.

Has a fairly large area of ​​distribution, lives up to 400 years.

Her long, up to 15 cm, brown resinous cones are very original and beautiful, but in room culture, unfortunately, it is unrealistic to wait for them, because She begins to bear fruit at the age of 20-25. Shoots are green at first, later purple-brown. The bark is greenish-brown-gray, for a long time, up to 30 years, remains smooth. Subsequently, it becomes roughly fractured.

The crown is transparent, wide, the branches are thin, covered with long, hanging, soft, narrow and delicate needles of an unusual bright green color and a very delicate shade (light green on the outside, bluish on the inside). The length of the needles is 6-7 cm, it is collected in bunches of 5 pieces, it stays on the tree for 2-3 years. The root system is powerful. All parts of the tree are highly resinous.

It is a valuable decorative breed. Outwardly it strongly resembles "cedar", i.e. Siberian walnut pine. Her height growth continues up to 100 years.

Of course, keeping Weimutov's pine in the house for a hundred years will not work, but with appropriate pruning, as already mentioned, it can be grown in an apartment for 10-15 years. And until it becomes too high, then, planted in flowerpots, it can beautifully and originally decorate cool halls, stairs, lobbies, and of course, winter gardens.

In nature, her demand for light is average, but in room conditions she is photophilous. The same can be said about the attitude to soil and moisture - under natural conditions they are average - pine grows well on fresh deep sandy loam and loamy, slightly worse - on degraded soils, but at home with insufficient pot volume - increased.

It requires nutrient-rich soils and regular feeding. Lime, stagnant water in the pot, as well as dry soil and air - does not tolerate.

Good drainage, regular watering and spraying are essential. In summer, the temperature conditions of its maintenance are usual, you can put it in a garden, on a balcony or on an open window; in winter, it is advisable to keep it in cooler rooms.

It resists pile of snow well, is resistant to winds. It is not damaged by frost. It is winter hardy, therefore, when it grows too large, it can be safely planted in the garden, where it can decorate your site for a long time. It can be placed singly, in groups or in arrays.

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At home, as well as in Western Europe, many of its garden forms have been found and cultivated. But it also has disadvantages - it is gas and smoke resistant, it suffers greatly from the rust fungi Cronarium ribicjla and Peridermium strobi. As a result, resin streaks form on the bark, the needles turn red and dry out. The intermediate host of rust fungi are currants and gooseberries, so these breeds and Weymouth pine should be planted as far apart as possible.

In our country, it is often found in culture. Its plantings are in Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh and other regions of central Russia; in the Moscow region, plantings are available in the Forest Experimental Dacha of the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev; in the Leningrad region - on the Karelian Isthmus, near Siverskaya. Quite often, Weymouth pine trees are found in parks of cities and suburbs. Two amazing adult trees stand in front of the main building of the Forestry Academy.

Cones ripen in September-October, at the same time the seeds spill out. At this time, it is best to collect them, but you can also later, from the snow cover. They have a narrow winglet up to 2 cm, themselves ovoid, 5-7 mm long, 1000 pieces weigh 18 g, retain germination for 2-3 years. Their germination rate is usually about 85%. It is better to sow in autumn, if in spring, then after 3-4 months of stratification. As a last resort, you can hold them for 15 days before sowing in wet sand in a cool basement or on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. But in this case, the germination of seeds will not be higher than 25%, and they will germinate only on the 60th day.

Seedlings have 7-10 narrow cotyledons. The needles on seedlings are single in the first year. In the second year, the needles begin to grow in bunches, and in the third year, the first whorl of branches appears. It can reproduce vegetatively - by layering, which allows replicating various decorative garden forms.

Using growth substances, you can breed Weymouth pine and cuttings. You don't have to grow it yourself with seeds - the seedlings of this pine are often on sale in ornamental plant nurseries.

Weymouth pine planting material can be easily confused with seedlings and seedlings of "cedar" - Siberian pine, instead of which some unscrupulous sellers sell it, since cedars grow much slower, it is more difficult to grow them, and they cost more.

I recommend to all lovers of indoor floriculture wonders to try to have a Weymutov pine in their apartment. Several years of joy (and worries) will be provided for you.