Thuja East In Room Conditions

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

Ephedra in pots decorate the room and heal the air in them

According to the horoscope, the zodiac sign Capricorn (December 22-January 20) corresponds to plants: dracaena deremskaya and fragrant; yucca elephant; fan palms; fat woman is silvery and sickle-shaped; laurel noble; ficus; lithops - "living stones" and coniferous crops - thuja, cypress, araucaria, yew, tuyevik.

For almost fifteen years, coniferous evergreen perennials have been popular in our country as indoor plants. Home growers also show some interest in thuja. Under natural conditions, it is distributed in East Asia (China, Korea, Japan) and North America; we have in the south of the Far East. This plant is typical for a moderately mild warm climate and is found in mixed forests (with oak, spruce, pine, maple, etc.).

The famous Swedish botanist K. Linnaeus gave the Latin name to this group of trees, using the Greek word "thuo", which means "to sacrifice", since thuja trees were often used during sacrifices: logs for a ritual fire during burning spread a pleasant aroma.

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Western thuja was brought to Europe from the northern part of the American continent (USA and Canada) for a very long time, it has been bred since 1536, wide-pyramidal forms of western thuja, taken from wooded swamps, were widespread. Then, according to legend, one of the kings of France called thuja "the tree of life". This is well deserved by thuja and is due to its wood, which is very resistant to decay (the American Indians made their canoes from it). The origin of the eastern thuja is considered to be the area that includes China, Korea and Japan, where it has long been known as a cultivated plant.

It is interesting that in its homeland - in China - it is quite widespread as an ornamental plant, but it is rarely found in natural conditions, growing on mountain slopes with poor soils. First, it was brought to Central Asia, where it was used as a cult plant, which was planted next to holy places and mosques, from there it spread across European territory. By the 19th century, thuja gained wide popularity as one of the best ornamental crops in open ground. It has been cultivated in Russia since the beginning of this century, now it is widely cultivated in the North Caucasus.

The genus Thuja (Thuja) is a member of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae), has 6 species, of which - Thuja orientalis, or biota (Biota) - is allocated in a separate genus - Platycladus orientalis (L.) Franco) and deserves some attention as a room culture, although sometimes stunted slowly growing forms of western thuja (Th. occidentalis L.) are kept.

The eastern thuja has a large number of forms with silvery or golden variegated tiled leaves emitting a specific smell. This tree (but much more often a bush) up to 12 m high (in favorable conditions up to 15-18 m), narrow pyramidal shape, bright green, with flat, fan-shaped branches, "paws", characteristically located in vertical planes, which is why and got its name. This thuja has a straight trunk, but very often already from the base it is divided into several ascending trunks (the botanists-taxonomists call this phenomenon "polyfeeding"), each of which has its own crown. The red-brown bark is crossed by narrow longitudinal grooves. Flat, scaly and triangular, opposite leaves (needles) are tightly pressed to the twigs. Above and below the needles are bright green in color,more yellow on young shoots. Under natural conditions, with the first frosts, it acquires a brown (protective) color.

The plant is monoecious, i.e. it has female and male cones appearing on the tops of non-lignified lateral shoots: male (small ovoid spikelets) - about 1.5 cm in size, female (round, green cones) - up to 2-3 cm. The fruit is an ovoid cone up to 2 -3 cm (first they are blue-green, then brown); their scales are very characteristic, ending at the top with a hook turned outward. Seeds that ripen in September - October are characterized by high germination: they can be germinated in spring, but the preservation of forms with the same leaf color cannot be guaranteed. To avoid such splitting of the original form, characteristic of seed propagation, use plant propagation by cuttings (July-August). Currently, more than 60 species of eastern thuja are known, differing in the size and shape of the crown, the structure of the shoots,color of leaves.

Of course, many amateur flower growers would like to have thuja in their collection, and some commercial firms consider it prestigious to place this plant in their office, especially those forms that are characterized by silver-variegated and golden-variegated leaves. In shops and stalls on sale, you can now see both plants from domestic producers and from foreign ones (mainly from Holland). It is best, of course, to purchase a flatworm in a company store, always in a container, pot or tub, but not with a bare root system.

Although the thuja is considered a completely shade-tolerant culture, it grows into branches in the shade, but in good lighting it develops a pyramidal crown, but does not like direct sunlight. For this reason, it is best to place it on a north or west orientation window. The flat plant is drought-resistant, but nevertheless the plant should be provided with a sufficiently moist peaty soil; stagnation of water in the container is unacceptable (a drainage layer is required at the bottom of the pot).

In the spring, you can feed the plant with a weakly concentrated solution of complex mineral fertilizer (fresh manure is not used). For the winter period, it is recommended to place the flatfish in a cool room at a temperature of 6 … 12 ° C (with an inflow of fresh and humid air). Failure to comply with this rule often leads to premature aging and death of the plant. During this period, the thuja is watered extremely moderately, preventing the earthen coma from completely drying out, since it is quite drought-resistant.

If necessary, it is better to transship the flatfish in spring or early summer. In this case, the root collar of the plant can be slightly deepened: this will cause the formation of additional roots. Experts emphasize that large specimens for transplantation must be prepared in advance (preventive pruning should be done long before, watering the plant thoroughly). After transplanting, abundant watering is important.

Note that the eastern thuja has a number of varieties characterized by different frost resistance, therefore, if necessary, an overgrown houseplant, after careful preparation (spring hardening), can be planted in open ground, but it must be covered for the first two winters. Sometimes experts advise to tighten multi-stem plants slightly with twine.

Although the thuja is considered a relatively winter-hardy crop that can withstand frost down to -20 ° C, in our zone, unfortunately, in some years, the temperature may drop to -30 ° C and even -35 ° C, which is fatal for it, therefore, for safety net it is always necessary to warm it up in a timely manner and "undress" after frost in such a way that the plant does not overheat in spring.

Reproduction of thuja eastern

The eastern thuja is propagated mainly by vegetative means, this is especially important for varietal forms. The best option is the division of multi-stemmed plants and the rooting of cut shoots (cuttings). For grafting, it is better to take lateral branches of last year's growth (July-August), and they take root faster if taken with a "heel" - a piece of mature wood. You can use solutions of stimulants (root, heteroauxin, etc.) to accelerate rooting.

Those lovers who want to propagate the flat leaf plant with seeds in spring should keep in mind that the germination of fresh seeds is quite high, but it is impossible to guarantee that young plants retain the same color of leaves as the mother plant. It is also important to know that its seeds have a "dormant" (ie, resting) embryo.

To awaken the latter, the seeds need cold stratification for three months at a temperature of 3 … 5 ° C (for example, in a refrigerator using white sphagnum moss). The seeds are mixed with coarse sand or sawdust, and after stratification they are sown in containers filled with loose earth; kept at 20 … 23 ° C. Seeds germinate within 1.5-2 months.

For seedlings, diffused light and maintenance of moderate moisture content of the soil substrate are important. Like all conifers, thuja are classified as phytoncidal plants. Its leaves (needles) constantly emit aromatic compounds (essential oils) into the air around them, which suppress pathogens. Experts believe that one plant is enough to purify the air of an average-sized room.

From the leaves and wood of thuja, scientists obtained aromadendrin, thixifolin; essential oil from the leaves of thuja oriental yellow color with a pleasant aroma. In Chinese folk medicine, the eastern thuja has long been used. For example, vegetative organs are used as a hemostatic and blood-expectorant drug, as well as for bronchitis and bronchial asthma.

A warm infusion of young shoots of the plant (one glass three times a day) is used for diseases of the bladder, kidneys, liver, for gout and rheumatism. For its preparation, 20 g of needles are poured into 1 liter of boiling water and insisted in a sealed container. For the prevention of respiratory infectious diseases, it is recommended (for adults) to consume 5 drops of 10% alcohol tincture from twigs and needles three times a day; also this tincture is practiced externally.

The seed kernels of the squamous plant are taken orally as a tonic and strengthening agent.

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