Thuya is an evergreen plant (tree or shrub) that belongs to the cypress family. She is a native land from East Asia. In our latitudes the tree has gained popularity thanks to its thick and dense crown, which can easily be sheared. Thus, it can be given any form: pyramids or spirals, spheres or columns. Tui is successfully used in the design of landscape design.
Tuya is an absolutely unpretentious plant, caring for it is not complicated at all. It can grow on any soil, but it is more suitable for places that are protected from winds.
There are only five species of thuya, but for breeding, thujas are usually used in the western frost-hardy. Propagated by thuja seeds and cuttings. The plants grown from seeds are more hardy, but the process of growing is very long and laborious. Therefore, most often thuya reproduces in the second way. Let's find out how you can propagate with thuja cuttings.
Growing Thuja Cuttings
If you want to grow a beautiful alley from Tui, then it is better to propagate the plant with cuttings: then all the specimens will receive the same characteristics.
Autumn is the best time for the reproduction of tuja by cuttings, since in the spring and summer the cuttings quickly dry up before they have had time to settle down. The optimal place for reproduction of the plant is the greenhouse. It is best to take root lignified two-three-year shoots or the strongest young side shoots with a so-called heel - a piece of old wood. To get such an escape, you must cut the shank sharply or cut it in a special way.
The humidity should be within 70%, and the lighting - sufficient. Therefore, in the greenhouse you need to install an air humidifier, and make the top of it from a transparent film.
From the bottom of the cuttings cut off all needles. Then they should be put in water for two hours. The soil in the greenhouse should consist of a mixture of river sand, peat and turf. Preliminarily, the substrate should be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate.
When planting in autumn, cuttings of thuja should be buried in the ground for about 2-3 cm. Take care that the needles do not touch the ground to avoid their decay. To accelerate the rooting of the heel, cuttings can be moistened with rootstocks.
The greenhouse with cuttings should be regularly ventilated.
An indication that your cuttings are successfully rooted will be the appearance of young shoots on them. Now it is necessary to carry out gradual hardening of plants. After the planting of tuya seedlings in the open ground, they should be regularly watered and fertilized.
For winter, to protect young plants from freezing, they must be covered with spruce branches, leaves, sawdust or other covering material.
As you can see, it is quite easy to root the thuja with cuttings in autumn. So from a small plant you can grow a real alley of beautiful tui.