What is the difference between cedar (and, more correctly, Siberian pine cedar, because the real cedars in Siberia do not grow) from other coniferous trees? Of course its beauty, and the ability to survive in very cold winters. Perhaps that is why many want to know how to grow a cedar - from a nut or take ready-made seedlings, where to plant a seed, and how to prepare for planting cedar cones at home?
As to how to grow cedar, from walnut or seedlings, it is not necessary to think long, the question is in money. Saplings are quite expensive, and no one will give guarantees that the tree in a new place will take root. Therefore, if you are not ready to spend money on seedlings, you can try to grow cedar from walnut. It should be remembered that cedar is not an ordinary garden orchard plant, so growing it from a walnut will be more troublesome, just planting a nut, like a cucumber seed and watering it in time, will be inadequate.
Growing cedar from nut - step by step instructions
- Choose seeds, they should not have an unpleasant smell, mold and damage to the covers. Germination seeds last 2-3 years, and with proper storage and up to 10 years, but all the best germination have fresh seeds.
- In order that the shoots are not affected by the fungus, the seeds must be etched for 2 hours in a 0.5% solution of potassium permanganate.
- To grow a cedar from a nut, the seeds will need to undergo a long preparation, like in any other plant, instantly cedar seeds will not germinate, only they need 5-7 months. Prepare the seeds as follows: first for 3 days soak the seeds in the water, changing the water every day. Then mix the nuts with wet (naturally clean) sand and put them in a rag pouch or wooden box with holes at the sides, for airflow. To store in such packing seeds it is necessary in a refrigerator (any other place at temperature + 4-6оС.). Once a week, moisten the sand to the state in which you put it in the refrigerator. If mold appeared, the sand should be replaced, and the nuts should be reconsidered and the affected ones removed.
- After about 5-7 months, the nuts will be ready to germinate, so they need to be washed and sown in pots. The soil is recommended sandy loam, and the depth of planting is 0.5-1 cm. The pots are kept indoors at a temperature of 20-22 ° C. Germination of seeds should be in half a month (month) after planting. As soon as the shoots appeared it is necessary to make sure that they receive enough light, but they are not constantly exposed to the sun.
- In summer, young plants can be taken out into the garden, so that they are accustomed to the air and the sun. And then gradually planted in loose nutrient soil. Young plants do not suffer a change in transplantation, and therefore the distance between them can be made not very large. But three-year-old cedars can be transplanted only in the early spring, older plants are even less likely to have a transplant, and even if the roots are dried, they may not even catch on. In order to successfully transplant a tree that has been growing for 5 years, it is necessary to form a root lump. A year before the transplantation around the trunk, a circular incision with a diameter of 0.6-1 m is made. At the same time, the deep roots remain untouched, only horizontal ones are cut.
- Also in the first years of life cedars need a shadow, and therefore it would be nice to pritenyat additionally or plant them in the depths of the garden. With watering, the situation is also not so simple - moisturizing cedars is necessary, they love water, but excess moisture will lead to death.
- More mature seedlings will also need care, but it will not be expressed in fertilizing and loosening the soil, but in its mulching. That is, the spruce should be covered with a layer of mulch - fallen pine needles or weeded weeds.
As you can see, to grow a cedar from a nut is not a lot of trouble, and patience, because the handsome handsome grows up not in one summer season.