In the wild, blue is growing at high altitudes, in mountain valleys, near rivers. In a word, where there is a high level of moisture in the soil, associated with precipitation. But people are happy to grow these beauties on their sites as an ornamental plant.
How to plant a blue spruce tree?
You can buy in the nursery a ready seedling of blue spruce, which you just need to plant on its permanent place of growth. Thus the soil for it should be highly fertile and drained, with acidity in the range of pH 5.5-7.8.
Planting of blue spruce: for the seedling it is necessary to excavate a pit, which is three times larger than the size of the root system of spruce. In this pit, you need to pour in compost, sprinkle with a thin layer of earth and install the plant. It is more convenient to plant a spruce together, so that one person holds it, and the second - digs.
The plant should be in the center of the pit, and the lower roots can barely reach the bottom. Fill the pit with soil, pouring it between the roots with special care. After - thoroughly water the spruce and mulch to avoid excessive evaporation of moisture.
There are other ways of breeding spruce. If you do not want to pay a lot of money for a seedling, you can grow it from seed or cuttings.
Seeds are taken from cones that can be collected in the forest around mid-February. They must first be dried from the battery, so that they open, then rinse under running water from essential oils and dry. After that, the seeds are treated with potassium permanganate, dried again, folded into a sterile jar under a dense lid and placed in the refrigerator for 2 months.
Before planting, the seeds of blue spruce should be soaked for 11-12 hours in a solution of trace elements, then treated with a solution of Fundazol (20 g per bucket of water) to prevent diseases.
You can plant seeds directly in a greenhouse or in pots. Seeds need to be planted under winter, without regret. The land should be with fertilizers from peat, limestone flour and ammophoska.
Seeds are buried 1.5 cm and covered with a film. After 12-20 days, the seeds will ascend, they will need to be thinned, leaving only the strong plants. The distance between them should be at least 6-7 cm.
When they are old enough, and it will happen after 3 years, you need to choose the most beautiful in color and shape seedlings and plant them on a permanent place of growth.
Of course, not everyone will want to go through such a long and difficult path. It is much easier to grow spruce by the method of propagation.
How to grow a blue spruce from a twig?
It is desirable to reproduce by winter cuttings in early spring, when buds swell. You can, of course, use the summer cuttings, but they will take root longer.
As a rule, rooting of blue spruce requires up to 3 months.
Rooting will take place by the spring of next year. In April, you can dig the cuttings, sort out the level of development of the roots and plant them in the open ground.
Care for the blue spruce
Blue spruce after planting on the site does not require complex maintenance. It should be fed after the snow falls for the first 5-7 years with a complex of minerals, remove dry and diseased branches, water under dry weather, loosen soil.