How to properly grow a spruce from seeds?

Few of the people who are passionate about gardening did not grow anything not only in their summer cottage, but also on a window or balcony - parsley, dill, seedlings, in the end. But not many people “aimed” at the tree. Is it possible to grow spruce from seeds at home? Quite, if you follow the simple rules.

Of course, seeds will be required to start a spruce growing operation. They can be purchased in stores. If, for any reason, the purchase is impossible or undesirable, you can acquire seeds by collecting fir cones in any park. However, you should not collect everything in a row, only cones that did not have time to open, but at the same time have already fallen from the tree, are suitable as a blank for growing. You need to collect them either at the very end of autumn or at the beginning of winter. The best cones for germination are from fir trees under 10 years old, but not from young trees either.

After collecting the cones, they need to be placed near the battery for several days. As soon as the cones open, they should be gently shaken, preferably over a prepared container or clean cloth. Seeds should sprinkle from them. To get rid of the scales on them, the seeds are folded into a bag of gauze or cotton cloth and gently rubbed between the palms. After all the scales have come off, the seeds are placed under running water for thorough rinsing. Then they are disinfected, for which a weak solution of manganese is used, and dried.

For stratification, which is the next step in the algorithm for growing a future tree, the seeds are placed in a refrigerator. Experienced gardeners create real natural conditions for seeds by laying future spruces under the thickness of snow, but given how changeable winters have become recently, it is better to act with confidence and stratify the seeds in the refrigerator.

For this procedure, you need to prepare an appropriate container. A certain amount of peat or peat tablets will be required - according to the number of seeds that are planned for planting. Soak peat in water, then squeeze out excess liquid. The peat prepared in this way is placed in a container, seeds are laid on top of it, and then sprinkled with a small amount of peat.

It depends on which variety of spruce is chosen for growing, how well the seeds will sprout, as well as the soil in which they should be grown. There are many varieties of spruce, they differ in the size of the needles, the shape and color of the needles. If you plan to grow a Christmas tree yourself at home, one of the dwarf varieties will do. Well, those that will later be planted on the personal plot should belong to the usual varieties. Most often, this is a green or blue tree familiar to everyone, although it can also be a pyramidal Korean one. However, it should be borne in mind that cones taken from a blue spruce do not always give shoots of a similar color and decorative appearance. It is possible to understand what color a tree will have only after three to four years of its life. Then it becomes clear whether it is blue spruce or ordinary green.

Stratified seed should not be planted in a small container.Once it sprouts, growth is quite intense. The smaller the pot, the closer the future tree is in it. And a transplant during such a period is a sure way to ruin a fragile plant. Therefore, the pot should not only be large, but also quite deep.

Watering the seeds should be regular, but not frequent. - once a week will be enough. As soon as shoots appear, watering ends, periodic spraying of the shoots with a spray bottle with water begins. This moisture is enough for future spruce trees.

Surprisingly, spruce grows most intensively in winter. Therefore, one should not be afraid to chill a young tree, but, on the contrary, it is recommended to put it on a glazed balcony or window sill as soon as the cold comes. Thus, it will harden and get used to the optimal natural conditions for it.

But the direct rays of the sun are absolutely not what a young spruce needs. Otherwise, it will not give either a pleasant coniferous aroma or beautiful needles. In order to withstand bright sunlight, you need a height of 0.3-0.5 m and an age of at least 3-4 years.

Having landed a young Christmas tree in the ground, one should not expect intensive growth from it. For the first three to four years, conifers grow very, very slowly.

It is much easier to sprout a tree than to grow it, because ordinary, non-decorative spruces have been growing for decades. In the seventh to eighth year of life, the tree has usually already formed, reached a height of one or more meters.

Stratified seeds are planted in the same soil in which mature trees grow, but it must be disinfected. This is done by calcining in the oven. Next, it is necessary to spill soil, but not with water, but with a solution of manganese in a weak concentration. After that, you can sow the seeds. To make the soil more nutritious, you can mix it with a little peat or with special soil for growing conifers. Even if you purchase the latter and plan to grow spruce in it, it is still recommended to disinfect it with a manganese solution.

The primer can also be disinfected with a special etching agent. It is necessary to act exactly according to the instructions for its use.

To prepare stratified seeds, they need to be soaked for 2-3 days. The water should be warm. Once the seeds are swollen, they can be planted.

A drainage layer should be placed at the bottom of the container in which your spruce will grow. - best of all from pebbles or small stones. Next, the soil is laid out in a thick layer, it is spilled with a solution of potassium permanganate. After evenly laying out the seeds, you need to sprinkle them with soil, but its layer should be thin. To avoid erosion of the soil, it is not watered, but sprayed with water from a spray bottle. After that, a cling film is stretched over the pot and placed on the window.

The appearance of the first sprouts of Christmas trees is a real event, because they do not look like future trees at all. They are very susceptible to infections, primarily blackleg.

They need to be provided with proper care, which consists of the following procedures.

1. The sprouts do not need to be watered to avoid decay. Periodic spraying with lukewarm water from a spray bottle will be more than enough. If the temperature changes dramatically in winter, it does not harm the sprouts. The only thing they should avoid is direct sunlight.
2. A healthy sprout looks like this: light green stem with a sprouted seed at the end. After analyzing all the seedlings, you should thin them out, removing the weak, curved and other defective ones.As soon as the first needles appear on the sprout, you can apply fertilizers specifically designed for conifers, in accordance with the instructions for use.
3. In the dry and warm air of the apartment, the sprouts are bad, so it would be better for them to stay on the balcony or loggia. If it gets cold, they can be brought back into the room. The optimum temperature for the growth and development of Christmas trees is +15. When direct sunlight hits the shoots, the plant does not develop properly. Deformation of the branches occurs, then the Christmas tree may die.
4. When the sprout has formed, overgrown with needles, watering resumes, but it should not be excessive. The formed tree does not need watering, provided that it grows in open ground. Be sure to mulch. For the winter, in the first two years of the tree's life, the trunk must be insulated with a peat layer. Further, wood insulation is not required.

For information on how to properly grow a spruce from seeds, see the next video.