Growing spruce from seeds at home: sowing and care rules
If you have the desire and patience, then you can try to propagate the spruce by seed method, in other words, collect cones, get and sow seeds. The process is not that complicated, but rather lengthy and, unfortunately, not always successful ...
Next, you will be presented with an amateur technology for growing spruce from seeds at home.
Note! Varietal (maternal) traits when grown from seeds, as a rule, are not transmitted (not preserved), in contrast to breeding method ate cuttings.
Content
How to prepare spruce seeds for planting: harvesting and stratification
So, you need to first collect the cones, get the seeds, and then, if desired, stratify them or sow them directly into pots.
Collecting cones
To sow seeds for ate, they must first be prepared by collecting cones in a park or coniferous forest. As a rule, this is done from late autumn until the end of winter (from November to February). There is no point in collecting before. the seeds will be immature, and later they will begin to pour out of the buds en masse.
Important! Bumps are worth picking up fresh, definitely this year, while it is possible as fallen to the groundand straight from the tree.
Extracting seeds from cones
Next, the cones should be brought into the room, laid out on paper and allowed to lie for 2-3 days in a dry and warm place so that they open (you will hear a characteristic "crackle") and the seeds can be easily removed.
Advice! If the seeds do not spill out of the buds on their own, then lightly tap the cone on your hand or on another bud and they will fall out.
Further, if you wish, you can separate the "wings" ("husk") from the seeds, but you can not do this.
Then you can carry out the classic test of the seeds, namely, soak them in water. Those seeds that drown are good, they must be left and sown. They will pop up - empty, they can be thrown away.
Seed stratification: needed or dispensed with
Stratification is the process of cold treatment of seeds for better germination, i.e. long-term (within 1-3 months) keeping the seeds at a temperature close to zero (from 0 to +4 degrees), and not just in the cold, but in a moist substrate.
Interesting! Most gardeners agree that seed thuja, pine and spruce stratification not needed (optional), but for the seeds of larch, cedar dwarf, yew - it is still necessary and strictly obligatory.
Accordingly, if you collected the seeds in the fall, then they should simply be stored until spring (for example, in a paper bag), but preferably in the refrigerator (basement).
So, if you nevertheless decide to stratify the seeds, then they need to be mixed with a moist substrate, for example, sand, perlite or vermiculite, and then removed to a cool place.
Advice! You can also stratify the seeds after sowing, i.e. in the refrigerator or basement, place the planting containers themselves in which you sowed the seeds of the ate.
It is recommended to stratify spruce seeds in the following ways:
- In a refrigerator.
- In the basement.
- On the street under the snow.
While the seeds are lying on stratification, you will need to monitor the moisture content of the substrate, periodically (once every 1-2 weeks) taking out and checking if it is dry, or, conversely, if mold has started inside.
By the way! If you collect cones in late winter or early spring (in February-March), then by this time they have already passed natural stratification.
However, it often happens that in spring the buds are already empty, because the seeds have already spilled out of them.
When and how to sow seeds correctly at home
As for the timing for planting, then they start sowing seeds of spruce spring (March-April).
Note! You can sow the seeds ate in the spring and immediately in the open ground (in the garden in the school).
Planting capacity and soil mixture
As a container for sowing, you can take the most ordinary plastic food container with a lid. However, in order not to carry out the picking procedure (in which the root system is severely injured), it is better to immediately sow the seeds in separate cups or cassettes (from 200 ml), in order to subsequently transfer the seedlings together with the earthen clod in a larger container or directly into the ground.
It is ideal to use as a primer precisely forest soil, in which the spruce usually grows, but ordinary loose soil mixture. It can be made from high-moor peat and sand, additionally adding another baking powder, such as perlite, vermiculite, moss or coconut substrate. Or you can buy ready-made special soil for conifers.
Direct sowing
Step-by-step instructions for sowing spruce seeds at home:
- Prepare the seeds.
- Prepare soil mixture and fill the planting containers.
- Moisten the soil by sprinkling with plain water from a spray bottle.Better yet, spill the earth with mortar Fitosporin from the appearance of mold.
- Sow seeds to a depth of 0.5-1 cm and cover with soil.
Advice! If you are planting in individual containers, it is still better to sow several seeds at once. Firstly, the germination rate of conifers is quite low (10-50%), and secondly, if too much germinates, then you can choose the strongest seedlings, and simply remove the rest.
- Water again by sprinkling with a spray bottle.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a lid to create a greenhouse effect (warm and humid).
It is highly advisable to cut air holes in the greenhouse.
- Remove to a warm place (it doesn't matter - dark or light).
Video: sowing blue spruce seeds at home
Further care of seedlings after sowing
As a rule, it takes about 1-3 weeks for germination and the appearance of the first shoots. Until this moment (before germination), the planting container should be kept in a warm place (+25 degrees) and be sure to monitor the humidity. Then rearrange it to a slightly cooler and lighter place (but not in direct sunlight), where the average temperature is around + 18-20, but does not drop below +15 .. + 16 degrees at night and does not rise above +22 .. +24 in the afternoon.
When the first shoots appear, it is worth starting to remove the cover (shelter) - for airing, doing this gradually, adding 1-2 hours every day.
Next, all you have to do is monitor the humidity, watering regularly as the soil dries.
Very important do not overmoisten the seedlings, otherwise the "black leg" will go, and everything will end ...
2-3 months after germination, when the bark of the spruce seedlings turns dark brown, it will be possible to transplant the seedlings into larger containers (by picking or transferring), but it is better to immediately plant them in pots of sufficient volume (100-200 ml) ...
And with the approach of autumn, you will have to decide whether you will plant the spruce outside in the ground or try to somehow organize its wintering at home (more on this later).
Video: ate annual seedlings at home
When to plant spruce seedlings, grown from seeds at home, in open ground
When the root system of the seedlings is strong enough, small spruces can be planted in open ground.
To put it bluntly, then you need to try to plant young spruce seedlings already this fall (Necessarily with a lump of earth!), No matter how sickly they look (in the apartment it is extremely difficult to create suitable conditions for a successful wintering), although it is still advisable to plant, at least at least annual seedlings ...
You can try to keep the spruce seedlings at home on the loggia (closed balcony), where the temperature in winter does not drop below 0 (the pot should never freeze) and does not rise above +8 .. + 10 degrees.
And even the next year, the seedlings will be very small, so after the spring or autumn planting they will need to somehow mark and protect from external mechanical influences, so as not to accidentally trample, and shelter for the winter (mulched with coniferous litter, and putting spruce branches on top).
By the way! Before than planting in open ground, it is very desirable to carry out hardening young seedlings (= accustom to outdoor conditions), gradually taking out and increasing their time in the fresh air.
Well, now you know how you can grow a fir tree from seeds. It's time to act and put theory into practice! We hope you succeed.
It is worth understanding! Much more practical and efficient propagate spruce by cuttings... The seed method of growing spruce is, rather, an activity for those who like to follow the process itself, the result is not so important here.
Video: experience of growing fir trees from seeds