Canadian spruce Konica - description and care at home: watering, feeding, transplanting

Now it has become popular to give the most unusual gifts for the New Year. A Canadian Conica spruce seedling (Picea glauca Conica) is not the most win-win option for those who do not have a plot of land, but really want to have such a houseplant? Perhaps, but you should immediately familiarize yourself with the basic rules for caring for spruce at home, because growing it at home is not so easy.

By the way! If you need material for planting Koniki in open ground and further caring for ephedra in the garden (not at home!), it will be useful for you this article.

Canadian spruce Conica (Picea glauca Conica): description

Canadian spruce Conica (Picea glauca Conica) Is a dwarf coniferous plant with a regular conical (conical) crown shape.

Worth knowing! When you buy a very short young seedling, it does not have a conical shape and its needles are quite rare. But withevery year Konica will become denser and with time it will acquire the necessary conical shape!

Key characteristics of Canadian Konica spruce:

• Needles - soft, light green.
• Annual growth in height - 4-10 cm, 3-5 cm wide.

Note! If you decide to grow Konica at home, then you should know that it will give a maximum of 4-5 cm of annual growth.

• Maximum height - 3-4 meters with a crown diameter (width) of 2 meters.

According to experimental data, at 35 years old, some specimens reach a height of 3.6 meters, and at 60 years old - 4 meters.

Requirements for growing Canadian Konica spruce:

• Shine - according to some sources, it is light-requiring, but easily tolerates partial shade. It grows well in sunny places, but is very prone to sunburn (it will burn on the sunny side without shelter or shading).

As a rule, in diffused light or partial shade, Konica grows (behaves, more precisely, feels) much better than in bright light

• Moisture - sensitive to drought.
• The soil - does not tolerate soil compaction and waterlogging (moisture stagnation).
• Care and protection - protection from strong winds and from winter and early spring sunlight is required (in other words, it should be covered).
• Frost resistance - very frost-resistant (USDA zone 3 - up to -37.2 ..- 39.9 degrees).

Is it possible to grow Glauka Konik spruce at home

Important! Despite the fact that the Canadian spruce Konica appears on sale in November-December (before the New Year) - this is not a home treethat can grow safely at home. it exclusively outdoor, not a houseplant.

It should be understood that the business of growing plants is quite tough, in fact, like the people who generate such a demand. After all, many buy such live trees solely for the sake of 2-week fun (for New Year and Christmas), and then they simply throw it away. Thus, potted bunks sold in supermarkets are temporary decorative Christmas trees that arethe subject of New Year's commerce and commonly used as disposable plants.

For growing in the garden, it is better to purchase container seedlings in special nurseries in spring (and not on New Year's, when they cannot be planted in open ground).

However, many enthusiasts manage to grow Canadian Konica spruce with relative success at home (at least for the purpose of preserving it until spring planting in open ground). Moreover, if you have no choice, and you have nowhere to land it, and it is a pity to throw it away.

Interesting! In the video below, the author talks about the experience of caring for and growing Koniki, bought in winter for the New Year, in indoor conditions throughout the year. Interestingly, the author does not carry out frequent moisturizing, and, in her opinion, the spruce feels fine.

The author's comment on the care of Konika: “I water in the morning once every 4 days, watering moderately. I spray once a day, in the morning. In winter, it grows in an apartment, near the balcony door, at temperatures from + 17 ° C to + 22 ° C. In the summer, I take it out onto the balcony. I put it in the corner. In the morning there is sun for 3 hours, and then partial shade, and so on until winter. I use the fertilizer once a month with a mark for conifers. "

Video: the experience of growing Canadian Koniki spruce at home

By the way! For growing at home, Konica is not very suitable for another reason - she has potentially large enough. For this purpose, it is more suitable, for example, spruce canadian Daisy White (at the age of 10 it reaches only 80 cm in height). But again, there is a place in the garden, not in the apartment!

How to decorate a Canadian Konica fir tree for the New Year

Ideas for New Year's decoration of the Canadian Koniki spruce:

• You can fill up the free space in the pot with cones, so to speak, by making a forest floor.
• Decorate with small (tiny) Christmas toys.

Important! Of course, if in the afternoon of December 31 and in the morning of January 1 Konika stays in not very suitable conditions, then nothing terrible will happen. But after the holiday, it is better to immediately remove it to the balcony or to another specially designated place (with the desired microclimate).

How to keep Glauka Konika spruce at home

If you nevertheless bought a Glauka Konik spruce or gave it to you for the New Year, then you can and should even try to preserve it at home in winter. To do this, you will need to create certain conditions (microclimate) as close as possible to outdoor ones.

And in the spring it is very desirable to plant Konika in open ground (in your own dacha or somewhere in the courtyard of an apartment building).

Transferring to a new pot

If you are definitely going to transfer Konika to open ground in the spring, then you do not need to transplant it into another pot, but you will have to create the most suitable conditions.

After the purchase (or gift), it is advisable to transplant the spruce into a larger pot soon (better even immediately). In a large pot, the earthen lump will dry noticeably more slowly, and the evaporation of moisture on the needles will go throughout the volume.

Worth consideringthat Konika doesn't like transplants. Therefore, if you are going to grow it at home, then immediately choose a pot that will be the permanent residence of the ephedra for several years!

Especially you cannot plant a spruce in open ground in the spring, and take it home for the winter by transplanting it into a pot.

Naturally, do not forget that the earth for the ephedra needs a certain composition and structure, namely, it should be sour... Therefore, it will suit you ready-made substrate for violets or gloxinia, and special soil for azaleas, rhododendrons or conifers (it is always acidic). However, you can dig up such an acidic earth in coniferous forest.

Important! Don't forget to do drainage holes in the pot, or even better, additionally lay out a small (2-3 cm) drainage layer, for example, from expanded clay. Naturally, the pot will need a pallet where excess moisture will be poured.

It is necessary to transplant together with an earthen lump, optimally by transshipment method. Before transplanting, water and let stand for at least half an hour (in principle, you can water in the evening, and transplant the next day). Then remove the spruce with the lump and quickly move it to another larger pot. After that cover with earth.In no case should you shake the earth from the roots. If you damage the root system, then the plant will hardly be able to take root, especially at home.

Attention! Be prepared for the fact that after transplanting Konika will shed some of its needles. It will stand dull and pale for quite a long time, and the young tips of fresh twigs will dry out.

By the way! If you notice that Konik is in the active growing season, in other words, it has a lot of young shoots (or previously swollen buds) that have a bright light green color, then such a plant should be taken under special control (transplanted and / or ensured maximum suitable conditions). It should not give "offspring" in winter. Obviously, the plant is not in a dormant period, which means that its life rhythm (cycle) has been knocked down, and thus it is trying to survive, giving life to new shoots, which begin to delay everything that is possible from the old needles, which are starting to turn yellow.

Place in the apartment and temperature conditions

It should be understood that in winter all coniferous crops have a dormant time, and it can only be provided with low temperatures. Therefore, the place where the spruce will stand should be cool. It is necessary that there wasat least +15 degrees (or even less, up to +12 degrees, the ideal range is +5 .. + 12 degrees). If the temperature rises higher, this will adversely affect the coniferous plant: it will begin to crumble and gradually die.

Important! If you put a spruce in a room where the temperature is about +25 .. + 28 degrees, then no matter how you moisten it, the plant will instantly start to wither and dry up within 1-2 weeks.

In this case, the place should be bright, but not open (optimally - diffused light). Direct sunlight is the last thing an ephedra needs (therefore, no southern window sills), because the home conditions for a plant are already strong stress and a test of vitality.

And do not forget to periodically turn (twirl) the spruce in different directions towards the light, otherwise the needles, which will not get light, may turn yellow, dry out and crumble (similarly, if the side is closer to the battery).

Note! It is advisable to find a place on insulated and glazed balcony, loggia, veranda or a special room for indoor flowers, where there is no heating (as a last resort -the coolest window sill in the apartment or inter-window space). However, there there should be no minus temperature, otherwise the earth in a flower pot will instantly freeze and the plant will die (as an option, you can insulate the pot from freezing). it in winter... And at other times of the year (in spring, summer and autumn), when the temperature outside the window is above zero, Konik should be kept outdoors: on the same balcony or loggia, not forgetting to shade from the bright sun, for example, wrapping it with white gauze or other white cotton / b with a cloth.

Note! At a low, but not minus temperature (+2 .. + 5 degrees), the need for photosynthesis is minimal, so theoretically it is possible to keep the spruce until spring, even in a dark room. In this case, it is important to accustom the plant to the cold gradually. Naturally, in this case, additional spraying and watering is not needed. Yes, the needles will fade a little, but when you bring them back to light, they will gradually regain their bright green color. But it is still better that the temperature is slightly higher and a little light falls on the plant.

Required humidity

You need to water the spruce often, in other words, constantly maintain an earthen ball of a coniferous plant in a moderately wet state, it should not dry out in any case (but also do not overmoisten so that the moisture stagnates).

However, the air humidity in the apartment in which the central heating works is very low (the air is dry), therefore, in addition to watering, you will have to regularly spray the ephedra with water (2-3 times a day). Air humidity should be at least 50%, and better - 60-75%.

Advice! For watering and spraying spruce, it is ideal to use soft water, for example from the filter. Also, of course, will do rain and melt water.

Optimally put a container of water near the pot with spruceso that the water evaporates and settles on the needles. Or put wet towels on the battery.

Idea to maintain high humidity at home, when it is severe frost outside, and hot central heating batteries are drying the air at home! Everything is quite simple - you need to do it for your tree home greenhouse. While the tree is small, you can cover it with a cut 5-6 liter plastic bottle. When it grows up, build a real mini-greenhouse - make a frame and fix the film on it. And then spray water inside the greenhouse 2-3 times a day. Such a greenhouse should stand in the coldest place in the apartment!

And don't forget that all conifers love fresh air, so the room where your Konika will be located is ventilate periodically.

Another idea! Next to the spruce, you can put humidifier, which, in fact, will constantly humidify the air next to the crown.

Top dressing

Spruce Konik without fail requires regular feeding (especially in spring and early summer) with special fertilizers for conifers. As a rule, they are sold in liquid form (but there are also dry ones), you only need to dilute them according to the instructions and pour them under the root.

It is not at all necessary to use special expensive fertilizers for conifers; the most standard ones are quite suitable. So, in the spring nitrogen-containing ones are required, i.e. you can use urea (carbamide) or ammonium nitrate, or better - an infusion of mullein or horse manure (now they are even sold ready-made). In the fall, you can potash, for example, potassium sulfate (potassium sulfate).

Important! You should not feed the spruce (like any other conifers) in winter (during the dormant period) and immediately after transplanting (after all, the substrate is already quite nutritious). You need to feed only when the plant is sufficiently provided with light, that is, in late spring-summer-early autumn.

Video: growing spruce at home

Treatment against pests and diseases

It is very important immediately after the purchase (gift) or a little later, but always in winter, that is, until spring, to carry out the treatment of Koniki from pests.

On ate during the winter months, often dormant, sits green aphid, which in a month can eat all the needles. On those shoots where aphids have been, the needles turn yellow and fall off. In the fight against aphids, a weak solution of "Aktara" (under the root and on the needles) or other similar insecticides can help. A day after processing, you need to shake the tree so that all dried harmful insects fall out of it. Green aphids are a very insidious pest, as they are tiny in size and merge with the needles. You can find it only if you look closely (for example, with a magnifying glass) - the aphid has reddish-brown eyes.

If you notice on the needles white bloom, so you should know - this is hermes... To combat this pest, the following preparations (insecticides) should be used: "Aktara", "Fitoverm", "Confidor", "Iskra", "Fufanon" and similar.

Sometimes on the lower shoots may appear white mycelium, which indicates the presence of such fungal disease, assnow shute... To combat it, treatment with copper-containing preparations (fungicides), for example, "Oxyhom", "Hom" or copper sulfate (one%). After processing, it is advisable to cover the plant with a plastic bag and hold it for some time.

Video: Canadian spruce or Glauka Konica spruce - care and watering at home

Why does the spruce turn yellow, crumble, bald

As you already understood, low temperature (+5 .. + 15 degrees), high humidity (60-65%), a sufficient amount of light and power - that's 4 essential ingredients for your success for keeping a meal at home

However! We repeat once again, the Canadian Konica spruce is not a houseplant, but an outdoor one. However, if you bought it in a store for a New Year's sale, then it is a typical plant for temporary decoration.

It's another matter if you bought a seedling in a special nursery. But even there they will not sell it to you for the New Year, because for planting in the ground, plants are purchased not in winter, but, as a rule, in spring!

It should be understood that growth continues in room conditions, which requires good lighting and nutrition. Otherwise, the crown inside becomes bald and crumbles.

Also, the spruce begins to turn yellow and crumble due to:

• heat and temperature difference;
• dry air (low humidity);
• strong drying of the soil, and then produced abundant watering.

To save the ephedra, you can try several times (3-4 times with an interval of 3-4 days) to sprinkle it with Epin. However, it rarely helps, therefore you should not count on the restoration of a neglected plant.

Transplanting Canadian spruce into open ground

Important! About, how to transplant canadian Konik spruce in open ground detailed in this article.

Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that plants that have lived at home for a long time do not take root well in open ground and often simply do not survive the winter following planting (even with shelter).

Important! If you do not plan to plant Konika in the open ground in the spring, then with the onset of warmth, it is still advisable to take the pot with spruce out into the fresh air: on the balcony (loggia), terrace or garden, but doing it gradually (increasing the residence time).

As you understand, you will have to be very confused in order to preserve the Canadian Konica spruce until spring if you are going to plant it in your garden. If in the future you plan to continue growing it at home, then let's hope that you understand what responsibility you are taking on.

Video: how to save a Christmas tree bought in a store

Note! More suitable conifers for home cultivation and interior decoration for the New Year are considered araucaria, cryptomeria, cunningamia and cypress.