How to properly grow cedar from a nut. How to grow Siberian cedar from seeds: step by step, with photos, planting conditions and requirements

Siberian cedar is a symbol of health and strength, a tree of life that you can try to grow at home. Growing cedar from a nut is not as difficult as it seems. First you need to purchase planting material: It is advisable that it be a solid cone with large scales - the seeds are stored better in it. It is important that it is fresh, from a new harvest, without mold or foreign odor: such buds are sold in the fall, from the end of September. Roasted or dried pine nuts are not suitable for this purpose - the embryo dies when high temperatures. It is better to find a reliable seller in advance. You should not buy cones in places where cedars definitely do not grow.

To extract the seeds, the cone must be boiled with boiling water - then it will open. From the remaining scales you can cook healing tincture or decoction, which are used to treat many diseases.

Seed stratification

When growing cedar at home, the only difficulty that may arise is the stratification of seeds, which is necessary for their germination. It happens in several stages.

1. First, the nuts are soaked in hot water for three days, changing it daily. Some of them may float up - these are empty seeds, they can be thrown away immediately.
2. The rest need to be treated with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate and fungicide, immersing the nuts in it for several hours.
3. The next stage is cold stratification. The nuts should be mixed with clean, damp, fine-grained sand (you can calcine it in the oven in advance), sawdust or peat chips in a ratio of 1:3.
4. The resulting mixture should be placed in a fabric bag and placed in a small wooden box, in which holes are made in advance to allow air access.
5. The container with nuts is placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator (in the vegetable compartment) or placed in the cellar for at least 3 months. The temperature for seed germination should be about +4-6 °C, a decrease to –4 °C is allowed for no more than 2-3 days.

Every 15 days, the bag needs to be ventilated, the mixture moistened to its original state, and ensure that the nuts do not rot or become moldy (damaged ones should be removed and the sand replaced). After some time they will begin to sprout. The best period April-May is considered for sowing. If you sow seeds without treatment at this time, they can germinate a year later.

Accelerated stratification

There are more quick way germinating cedar seeds at home, but it is less reliable than stratification in the refrigerator. You will need fresh, clean nuts, which must first be washed in warm water, freed from resin, and then kept in cold (not higher than 0 °C) for about 3 days. It should not heat up, otherwise nothing will work. To prevent this from happening, you can periodically add ice cubes to the container. The seeds that have sunk to the bottom are suitable for planting.

You can plant them in a substrate prepared in advance (sandy, loamy soils or a mixture of peat and sand are best), the temperature of which should not be higher than 15 °C. The nuts are sown to a depth of 2–3 cm, compacting the soil on top - this will help the sprouts get rid of the hard shell. Containers are needed with a height of at least 8 cm and a volume of about 300 ml. Crops are mulched with sawdust or peat chips, placed in the most illuminated part of the house, but without direct access sun rays, and watered regularly. Seedlings need a temperature of about 20–22 °C.

You can use another option for quick stratification.

1. Pine nuts are soaked in warm water for about 8 days. It needs to be changed every 2 days.
2. After this, a sand-peat mixture is made into which the seeds are placed.
3. The crops are kept at home at room temperature, periodically moistened and shaken, for 30 days, until they begin to hatch.
4. Then the seedlings are put into the refrigerator and stored at a temperature of about 0 ° C until planted in the ground or immediately planted in a pot.

Seedling care

Growing cedar at home from seeds is somewhat more difficult than in open ground, since this tree is very demanding in terms of lighting. If there is not enough light, it is best to illuminate the seedlings with special lamps. It is necessary to prepare for wintering the seedlings in the first year of life, if they remain at home and are not planted in the ground: they will need a temperature no higher than 10 °C. Such parameters may be glassed balcony or in the barn. If this condition is not met, young plants will die after transplantation into open ground.

One of the main enemies of crops is fungal disease- “black leg”. To prevent it, regular treatment of plants with a fungicide is necessary (once every 2 weeks).

It is better to start immediately accustoming young cedars to open air: As soon as the threat of frost has passed, take them out into the garden or onto the balcony. This needs to be done gradually. Plants from seeds grown at home and not in the ground are very tender and can easily die from hypothermia or, conversely, overheating. The soil on top should be mulched with sawdust, pine needles or peat chips so that it does not dry out. These plants need moderate watering, without excess, otherwise the risk of root system rotting will increase, but the soil should not be allowed to dry out. Cedars respond very well to feeding. For this purpose, you can use special fertilizers for coniferous trees. They need to be applied infrequently: once in the spring and twice in the summer.

Wintering and transplanting seedlings into open ground

Young cedars grow very slowly: in the first year of life they look like stems about 2–3 cm high with a bunch of short needles at the top. In the second they can grow up to 7 cm, and in four years they can reach 20–30 cm. As they grow, the seedlings will need to be transferred to larger containers, making sure that they are planted at the same depth. Plants can overwinter at home on the balcony or in the garden; it is not necessary to dig in pots if the temperature is not lower than 10 °C.

Young cedars need to be transplanted into open ground before they reach a height of 1 meter. The planting site should be chosen in the shade, with a low groundwater level. Such seedlings will bear fruit no earlier than in 20 years - for this you need to plant several trees so that they pollinate each other.

Conclusion

Growing cedar at home from seeds is complicated only by the need for stratification and creating the required temperature for overwintering the seedlings. The latter is necessary to prepare plants for transplanting into open ground. Caring for young trees involves regular watering and fertilizing.

In many ways, obtaining good seedlings depends on planting material. When choosing, you need to focus on the size of the cone and its scales - the larger they are, the better. Cold stratification over several months gives the optimal result, as it is close to the natural conditions of seed germination. You can try several ways to grow a tree that will delight not only its owner with its beauty, but also his grandchildren.

Cedar is one of the most beautiful representatives of coniferous trees. Its lifespan is 450–500 years, and cedar pine reaches maturity at 80–85 years. This long-liver pleases not only with its spreading long needles, but also with delicious pine nuts, rich in vitamins, microelements, fats and protein.

Cedar can be grown from a nut

You can meet cedars both in summer cottages and on the territory country houses. Most often they are planted as annual seedlings, but not many people know how to grow cedar from a nut at home.

Planting material

Growing cedar from nuts is not an easy task, because there are no high-quality planting raw materials on sale. Nuts that you can buy in the store are absolutely not suitable for growing cedar at home. Most often they are shelled and fried. Not many people decide to germinate seeds themselves, because it is much easier to buy an annual seedling and plant it in the ground.

Buying pine nuts from hand is also not the best good idea. The seeds retain their germination capacity for 1 year, in the second year it decreases by 50%, and after that the seed will not germinate at all.

In addition to the shelf life of nuts, its conditions may also be violated, which negatively affects the planting material.

To grow cedar from seeds at home, you will have to collect pine nuts yourself. This can be done in areas where cedar pine grows at the end of October and November. At this time, the collection of ripe cones begins. You can take seeds or cones with seeds that have fallen to the ground, but they may be damaged by mold or rodents, and there is a high probability that it will be last year's harvest.

It is better to pick the cone directly from the tree, but this is not easy to do due to the height of cedar pines. The pickers use long sticks with beaters on the ends, knocking the cones off from the very tops. Such seeds are more likely to germinate.

To collect seeds, it is best to pick a cone from a tree yourself.

Preparing seeds for germination

To plant seeds, you need to remove them from the cone. This is done quite simply. The cone is placed near heating devices or quickly burned with a flame from all sides. Under the influence of temperature, the scales open, releasing the seeds. On an industrial scale, special devices are used that crush the cone without damaging the pine nuts.

After removing the seeds, you need to take care of their disinfection. To prevent many fungal diseases, pine nuts are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate for 2–3 hours before planting.

Planting seeds

An important point in growing cedar from seeds is stratification - the creation of conditions as close as possible to natural ones. In the forest, pine nuts, falling into the ground in November–December, overwinter under the snow and only germinate in the spring. Creating something similar at home is quite simple:

1. After soaking in potassium permanganate, pine nuts are planted in a specially prepared substrate to a depth of 1–2 cm. Planting too deep prevents seed germination.
2. Seeds planted in a container are watered so that all the soil is wet, but not soggy from excess moisture. Otherwise, the nuts will begin to rot.
3. 5–7 cm of snow is placed on the surface of the substrate. The container is covered with polyethylene and placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for 3 months. If weather conditions do not allow you to immediately cover the plantings with snow, then this can be done later.
4. Once a month or as the soil dries, the nuts are watered with water at room temperature. It is advisable to use melted snow.

After 3 months of stratification, the container with the cedars planted in it is taken out of the refrigerator and placed on the south window. Most often, the first shoots appear already in the second week.

Cedar sprouts well on a south window

Substrate for planting seeds

The quality and composition of the soil play an important role in growing cedar at home. Seeds should be germinated in a mixture:

• river sand;
• fine gravel chips;
• peat

Sand and gravel are calcined before planting. This prevents the development of many diseases and kills mold spores. Sometimes cedar seeds are germinated in a mixture of pine sawdust and fertile soil. This composition is very similar to the soil of a cedar forest, but it dries out quite quickly, so you need to carefully monitor the watering of the sprouted nuts.

Before planting nuts, the soil should be calcined.

Transplanting seedlings

When the cedar sprouts have reached 3 cm, they need to be planted in separate containers, where they will grow for the first year. The main thing when transplanting is to handle the delicate roots carefully so as not to damage them.

Drainage is placed at the bottom of the pot; you can buy it in a store or use pine cones. The second option is better, because it brings the growing conditions closer to natural ones. The substrate is made from river sand, fertile soil and pine sawdust.

A month after transplantation, you can begin hardening the seedlings. First they arrange ventilation, and after a while they take it outside.

A young tree should not be left in the scorching sun, but shade is not suitable for it either. You need to place the pot with cedar in a place with diffuse shadow - under another tree or canopy.

During the first 10 years, cedar pine grows very slowly, but with good care it will grow rapidly. It is better to plant a seedling in the ground before three years. This tree is well accepted and easily withstands winter.

A three-year-old seedling can already be planted in the ground

Caring for a young tree

If it was possible to plant a cedar tree at the dacha and the tree took root, then all the requirements for growing pine were carefully met. Now you can start caring for the seedling. You need to remember the following recommendations:

1. For full development, forest trees enter into symbiosis with mycelium. This useful neighborhood will help the cedar grown in the country grow stronger. To do this, take 5 handfuls of forest litter and pre-crushed caps of ripe forest mushrooms, soak it all in a bucket of warm water. A day later, the cedar is watered with the resulting mixture.
2. It is impossible to loosen the soil around the tree, because the roots are located very close to the surface and there is a risk of damage.
3. The soil around the seedling is mulched to retain moisture and combat weed grass. Crushed cedar or other coniferous cones, sawdust, and pine nut shells are used as mulch.
4. Water the plant as the soil dries out, but cedar reacts painfully to waterlogging and may die. Every year in spring and autumn you need to apply fertilizers for coniferous trees. If you take good care of the cedar during the first 10 years of its life, it will grow actively and bear fruit well.

Ornamental coniferous plants captivate with their grace and beauty. Since for our climate zone it is possible to grow various forms, the question arises, how to grow cedar from a nut? A few facts about the cultivation and properties of the plant will help answer the problem.

Features of cedar wood

You need to know the characteristics of the plant in order to understand how to grow cedar. This evergreen plant attracts the attention of gardeners due to its appearance features:

• lush paws;
• densely planted and abundantly covered with needles;
• rich green color;
• beautiful cones;
• tall, smooth trunk;
• bright bark;
• pleasant smell.

Growing the plant requires patience and careful adherence to all instructions. But the result can amaze the most demanding esthete. Because cedar can improve any area.

Cedar has a tall, even trunk

The root system of the tree is very pronounced. The main root is surrounded by strong lateral branches; it holds well in the soil. This allows the plant to hold a lump. By covering the area around the trunk with its needles, cedar creates a special temperature and exchange regime.

Collection of seed material

One of the sources of seed material may be its natural growing conditions. To do this, it is not necessary to visit the cedar forest; you can go to the nearest one for the necessary samples. botanical garden or order seeds from the forestry department.

You need to get the seeds in the cone. Since during transportation various processes can occur with a nut:

• drying out;
• frostbite;
• damage by various insects;
• loss of surface integrity;
• debate.

In the cone they are protected from external mechanical and climatic influences. You should not buy nuts in stores or markets, since the seeds are treated with hot oil for culinary purposes. This means they are no longer suitable for landing.

You need to get cedar seeds in a cone

Where to get the necessary seed composition

For a novice gardener, an important question is where to get required material. Purchasing samples from unverified sources does not guarantee the germination and viability of seeds. You can order cedar seeds through:

• garden societies;
• botanical gardens;
• departments of botany and horticulture at universities;
• thanks to independent sellers;
• from the forestry;
• via seed almanacs.

Any of the methods will make it possible to obtain the required amount for germination and planting. To be sure of the result, you should order several buds at once. Pay attention to the period of collection of cones; they should have been taken in the period October-November. What matters is the age of collection, the average duration of seed germination is 2 years.

Pay attention to the deadline for collecting cones

On what soils does it grow?

When preparing you need to take into account important fact, about to undertake germination. One of the most significant factors in successfully obtaining stable planting material where cedar grows. Knowing this issue increases the likelihood of obtaining normal seedlings.

In nature, cedar trees love gray podzols. This is soil consisting of:

• humus;
• silica;
• trivalent metals;
• sulfonic acids;
• loams;
• orstein grains;
• forest floor.

Such soils are considered characteristic of:

• Siberia;
• Southern Canada;
• Northern Europe;
• Far East;
• Central USA.

They have a pronounced shape. Gray loose composition from the upper horizon, a denser reddish hue from the lower horizon. Accordingly, the germinated seed material should be planted in similar conditions.

Requirements for preparation for germination

To germinate pine nuts, you can carry out preliminary preparation:

• soak the seeds in an aqueous solution with the addition of “Kornevin”;
• maintain a three-day period;
• change the water environment once a day;
• mix with purified river sand;
• place in a canvas bag;
• the container must have holes for air;
• place in the refrigerator;
• remove moldy samples.

It is better to use small containers for seedlings

The next step will be planting the material:

• after 6 months, plant in the ground;
• the substrate should contain a large amount of sand;
• hole depth 1 cm;
• the storage location of the container should be at room temperature;
• The sprouted material is exposed to light.

Thus, seedlings suitable for further planting are obtained.

Growing container

Many people wonder how to grow cedar from a nut in home pots. The first rule is that he shouldn't be too old. Even after treatment with manganese, there is a high probability of mold growth.

It is better to use small containers for seedlings, connected into palettes. They have a shallow depth and make it easy to remove the plant. Moreover, in this embodiment it is easy to observe them. Any material will do, since the plant is only temporarily enclosed in a container.

You need to water the cedar seedling with a spray bottle.

Watering mode

You need to water the plant with a spray bottle. To avoid leaching of necessary substances from the soil. The most common method is to check how dry the soil is with a match. Moisturize as needed, at intervals of no longer than one day.

Moisture requirements are necessary because the sprout has to break through the thick skin. Gradual soaking of the surface gives a peculiar swelling effect, after which the sprout can disrupt the integrity of the cover.

Successful germination can be achieved by adding one portion of various growth stimulants. Dosage guidelines are provided on the package. This will make it possible to more efficiently obtain the necessary planting material. You should not flood the plant, as this can cause it to rot.

When planting a nut in the soil, it should have an average temperature

Temperature

When planting a nut in the soil, it should have an average temperature, since in natural conditions the seed has similar conditions. After the first shoots appear, it is necessary to add surface heating. This can be done using a lamp, turning it on for several hours. Or by placing palettes with sprouts in a brighter place. During this period, you should carefully monitor watering; you will have to moisten every day.

Let's work for Mother Nature and grow the famous Siberian tree on our site! The task is difficult, but doable. May inspiration never leave us and may our strength never run out!

If we want to grow cedar from seeds...

Buying seedlings for growing will cost more, and they may not take root. Therefore, it is better to try to grow cedar from seeds yourself. It is necessary to seriously approach the issue of choosing planting material. The seeds should not have any foreign odor. If the material is covered in mold in places, it is also not suitable for germination. However, when proper storage the seeds may remain suitable for several years.

For breeding, select the largest nuts. They are preliminarily subjected to the following procedures:

• soak;
• disinfection;
• stratification.

To prepare the seeds, they are soaked in warm water for 3 days. Moreover, the water is replaced with fresh water every day. Nuts gain moisture. To prevent seedlings from becoming infected with fungus, cedar seeds are treated with a 0.5% solution of potassium permanganate for 2 hours.

Choosing nuts for planting

Then the nuts must be mixed with sand. The mixture must be moistened and placed in a bag made of natural fabric. They should be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of about +3ºС. This is called seed stratification, that is, treating them with cold. For storage, you should prepare a wooden box, make holes in it on the sides to ventilate the mixture. Place a bag of seeds in the box. The preparation is kept in the cold from autumn to spring.

During this time, it must be checked and moistened when drying. If moldy seeds appear, they need to be removed and the sand around them replaced. There is a gradual softening of the shells. And some even begin to sprout white roots.

How to plant cedar

After the required period, the seeds are removed and washed well. Then the nuts, ready for germination, are planted in pots filled with soil and sand. The pointed end of each seed should point downwards. The planting depth is 1 cm. In this state, the planting is kept for 1 month in the shade. Seedlings should be grown at room temperature.

A month later, germination begins, and the pots are placed closer to the light, while avoiding direct sunlight. Roots emerge from the nuts and go deeper. A green sprout grows above the roots, in the upper part of which there is still an open shell. After a few days it subsides. At the top of the shoot, a bunch of green needles opens up like an umbrella. Typically, about 30% of all seeds germinate. This is considered a normal result.

Cedar sprout

When summer comes, the seedlings are taken out to fresh air. And for the winter it is better to hide it in a greenhouse. There you need to water it and feed it with fertilizer every six months.

As the shoots grow, they have to be transplanted into containers large sizes. Young seedlings do not need to be replanted until 3-4 years. By this time they reach a height of 25-30 cm.

Now they can be planted on open area into loose soil enriched with fertilizer. Do it better in spring. First, the seedlings are taken out into the air in pots, and after getting used to the new conditions, they can be planted in the ground.

Before planting a cedar in the ground, you need to prepare:

• suitable place;
• soil;
• seedlings correctly removed from pots.

Trees can be planted in an area where groundwater do not rise above 3 m. When planting shoots, it is important to maintain the integrity of all roots and capture them along with the ground.

As planting soil use peat with soil and sand. After the tree is planted, it must be watered so that the soil density becomes uniform. It is recommended to mulch the top with sawdust or chopped pine needles.

Growing cedar in open ground

There is another way to grow cedar from a nut. Without the greenhouse stage, the grains can be sown directly into open ground. It will be necessary to carry out systematic watering and weeding. You will also have to make sure that the crops are not attacked by mice or birds. If the seedlings are preserved, they will grow and develop in the same way as in the greenhouse.

Many gardeners use ready-made special soil for coniferous plantings. Mineral and organic fertilizers must be added to the soil.

Cedar in open ground

In a coniferous forest, litter is taken from under the trees and the planting areas are enriched with it. The litter protects the soil from loss of moisture, which is dangerous for coniferous plants. If even part of the roots dries out, the entire tree may die.

When planting, a distance of at least 3 m must be left between cedars. The surrounding neighboring trees should also not interfere with the growing cedars. It is known that cedar trees grown in a spacious place can begin to be enjoyed much earlier than those planted in the shade, next to others. And after 18-20 years, cones form on them. In some trees, fruiting age can be delayed up to 40 years.

For 1 year, the sprouts should be in a shaded area of ​​the garden. The soil should be moist. In hot weather, you can periodically spray the pine needles to give them freshness.

If you have to transplant a plant that has reached a height of 1 m to a new place, this can only be done in the spring. At the same time, it is moved with a large volume of earth. There should be about 0.5 m around the tree. For adult seedlings, mulch is done from grass, weeds or fallen pine needles. We must remember that excess moisture is harmful to cedar, just like drought.

Growing requires a lot of patience. Growth is slow. So, after 1.5 years the plants are several centimeters tall. Despite the fact that cedar takes a long time to grow, it will delight others with its beauty.

• Soak the seeds in warm water for about four to six days, changing the water every two days.
• Mix the seeds with washed river sand or peat crumbs and keep at a not too high temperature.
• This mixture needs to be stirred from time to time and well moistened. If you stratify the seeds in this way, then within fifty days they will hatch.
• Next, you need to take the seeds out into the cold and store them at a temperature of about zero degrees.

This is a more scientific way of stratification. Here are some tips from experienced people:

• Saturate the pine nuts with moisture. This will also help wash out from the seeds all the substances that prevent them from germinating. Place the nuts in a bowl and pour hot water. After an hour, the nuts will be soaked and can be washed. Just rub them together.
• After the seeds are washed, pour warm water over them and leave for two hours. Then wash the nuts and change the water again. This procedure must be repeated throughout the day.
• Next, the wet seeds need to be placed in glass jars. It is better to fill the jars only halfway. Be sure to make a hole in the lid to allow air to flow to the seeds. Then find a place where the temperature does not drop below zero, for example, a cellar is perfect. If you put jars of nuts in the refrigerator, the effect will be worse.

Planting nuts

If you want to sow in spring, do it in early May. For one square meter sow no more than three hundred grams of seeds. Plant the seeds to a depth of three centimeters. Be sure to cover the seeds with plastic; if you don’t do this, the birds will eat all the nuts. The film can be removed only after the shells fall off the seedlings. So, after planting, the seeds will sprout.

If the seedlings are too thick, then you need them. The sprouts will look like an arc. Once they appear, dig them up, trim the roots and plant them under a stake. The planting depth should be the same at which they grew before. You can pick seedlings in the second year after they sprout. If you follow all the agrotechnical details, then after picking the seedlings will take root with a 95 percent probability. After two or three years, excellent material will be obtained and the sprouts can be transplanted to a new location.

Seedlings must be planted immediately in a permanent place.

It should be sufficiently lit. Cedars need to be planted at a distance of five meters from each other. You can plant any berries or fruit bushes. You can sow lupine next to cedars - it will serve as a natural fertilizer and will help better development plants. It’s great if you water the ground around the tree, adding at the same time as watering. In the spring they need to be replaced with organic ones.

Tips for planting cedar seedlings:

• Grown plants should be planted in loose, non-turfed sandy loam or loamy soil.
• The planting hole should be approximately one third larger than the roots of the seedling.
• The soil that you removed from the hole must be mixed with either peat, wood ash, manure, or humus.
• It would also be a good idea to add three handfuls of pine forest litter. The litter will help better develop the interaction between fungal hyphae from the forest and root endings, which ensures good nutrition for the cedar.
• Pour this mixture into the bottom of the hole and plant the seedling.
• Fill the hole with loose soil, compact and water.
• Planting sites should be placed in groups at a distance of at least three meters or linearly.
• You can place seedlings according to a 5x5 meter or 4x5 meter pattern. Such planting methods will provide sufficient lighting for the growth and development of trees, and the cedars will not touch each other with their paws, that is, the crowns will be well formed, and the harvest of cones will be large in the future.

Cedar can begin to produce cones from the age of eighteen. When a white coating appears on young shoots (usually it appears when there is excess moisture in the air), be sure to treat the plants with a solution of laundry soap. Dilute the soap in warm water, whip up the foam, then use a sponge or soft cloth wash diseased shoots.

If you do not carry out this procedure, whiteness will actively develop and the plants will die. The tree will not die, but will lose its annual growth. Be sure to add mineral (in autumn) and organic (in spring) to the soil. This will help the tree develop better.

Be sure to start taking care of the shape of the crown immediately after transplanting. It is best to form "garden forms". The plant will be multi-vertexed, spreading and low pubescent. In the first ten to fifteen years of the plant’s life, it is necessary to trim the lower branches to a height of up to two meters.

Apply garden varnish to the cut areas to prevent infection with spores of wood-destroying fungi.

There is no need to prune the tree if the lateral buds on the main shoot are broken off during the first three years after planting a two-year-old seedling. In this case, all the substances that nourish the tree will flow into the main bud. In this case, the growth of this shoot will double in six months, and there will be no need to trim the cedar branches. It is better to break out the buds in autumn or winter.

If the needles are dark green, this means that the cedar has taken root well. An increase of at least five centimeters per year will also be a positive signal.

If you liked some form of cedar, for example, this particular plant turned out to be the fastest growing, most beautiful, and gave the largest harvest, you can clone it. It is for this purpose that a form such as propagation by grafting cedar cuttings onto a pine tree is used. A mature plant will develop from the scion, and after five years, cones will appear on such a tree.

Cedar cuttings should be rooted in a special greenhouse in the same way as, for example, spruce cuttings are rooted.

This process is quite difficult. It is quite difficult to propagate cedar vegetatively, and it will not be easy for a non-specialist to cope with such a procedure. Cedar can produce seeds, and this is a wonderful advantage of this plant. Cedar cones begin to form after about nineteen years if the tree is grown from a nut.

Cedar is a monoecious plant. In the most illuminated places of the crown, female buds are located, and below are male buds. The tree begins to “bloom” at the beginning of summer. The “female” cones are crimson and seem to be hidden in the needles near the upper bud. The male “flowers” ​​are raspberry-orange in color and are collected near the base of the shoot. After about four days, the flowers turn brown and fall off. Pollen is carried by the wind.

After pollination, the female cones close and become green-brown in color.

The seeds are fertilized and formed in early autumn. It is because of wind pollination that it is best to have several cedars on the site. To know that the plant will definitely produce a harvest, you can pollinate it yourself: shake the pollen from the male “flowers” ​​onto a sheet of paper, pour it into some container and put the container in the refrigerator. When you see that the female “flowers” ​​have begun to open, blow the pollen onto them or apply it to the “flowers” ​​with a soft brush.

If you don’t want to bother with seeds, you can try to find ready-made seedlings. Yes, they will cost more, but there is less hassle with them. Try contacting the nearest forestry department, where you can buy two-year-old seedlings. Sometimes, if forestry workers allow it, you can dig up cedar seedlings yourself. You need to dig it out carefully, and then wet the seedlings. Plant the plants on the same day. At least bury the seedlings if it is impossible to plant them.

The most common errors:

• Breaking off the main roots
• Gross damage
• Drying roots during prolonged exposure to air

One of the mistakes gardeners often make is planting plants individually. Coniferous trees They are pollinated by the wind, their pollen is transferred from one plant to another. Pollination can also occur inside, but then the seeds may either not set at all or ripen very small. Know that cedar can grow and bear fruit for several centuries. For example, there are known cases when cedars grew for four centuries.

Cedar grows quite quickly. In a year he can proper care grow up to forty centimeters in height. If you grow cedar, that is, on summer cottage, and also provide it with suitable conditions, then it will bear fruit every four years, whereas in the wild, due to a lack sunlight- once every seven years.

Peak fruiting occurs when the tree is a century old.

From a developed plant you can collect up to fifteen kilograms of nuts. Cultivated species have larger nuts than wild cedars.

More information can be found in the video.

When considering the question of how to grow cedar from a nut at home, you need to take into account the fact that this is not a fruit tree and it has its own botanical characteristics. It is these nuances that justify the high cost of the seedlings sold. Not every nut can turn into a beautiful cedar.

Seeds pine nuts, can be purchased at a garden center as cabbage seeds. You can also buy it in grocery stores and supermarkets. pine cone with nuts.

The freshness of this product is easy to determine - it highlights conifers essential oils and smells pleasantly of forest and pine. If the product has been lying on the counter for a long time and has dried out slightly, the smell becomes less perceptible, but this does not mean that the nuts are not suitable for sowing. But if the nuts smell of mold or rancid oils, then there is no point in trying to grow a plant from them. Sometimes a cone stored for a decade can produce excellent shoots, and growing cedar at home will be successful. However, if the integrity of the shell is damaged, seedlings will not occur.

Seed stores may also offer you seeds of a certain variety. Such a varietal plant will differ from its Siberian counterpart in its high decorativeness.

You can buy seeds of not only Siberian cedar, but also Korean “Sulange”, Himalayan, and Lebanese. It should be understood that Siberian cedar is not actually cedar (in the botanical sense of this plant) but Siberian pine. But true cedar is Lebanese or Himalayan, but their seeds are inedible and small, but the tree turns out to be beautiful.

Garden centers can even offer entire sets of seeds, peat tablet, a means for stratification, a pot and an earthen substrate. All this will be accompanied detailed instructions which will help grow a tree.
Seed preparation
Having purchased seeds, to be sure that there are no pathogenic microflora, it is advisable to disinfect them. To do this, just soak the nuts in a pink solution of potassium permanganate and leave for 2 - 3 hours.

A process of stratification will then follow. In nature, nuts fall to the ground, lie under the snow during the winter, and germinate in the spring. We need to create similar conditions.

To carry out this procedure, you need clean, damp sand or sawdust. You can use a mixture of peat and sawdust. Pour the mixture into a bag or tray, mix with pine nuts and send it outside into the snow.

If this is not possible, you can use refrigerator. However, in this case it is necessary to jealously monitor the humidity of the substrate, spray and ventilate.

The time to start stratification is better to choose the beginning of winter, then by spring, after 3 - 4 months, the seed will be ready.

Preparing the soil mixture

Since we don’t need a lot of soil, it can be purchased at garden center. Slightly acidic soils, the same as for azaleas and rhododendrons, are quite suitable for conifers. You can use forest soil and mix it with peat in equal proportions.

Sowing

For sowing, it is advisable to use a greenhouse or greenhouse. Sometimes a special mini-greenhouse is built exclusively for cedar crops. It must be installed in a bright, heated place.

The beginning of April is quite suitable for sowing. The laid earthen substrate is compacted and watered. The nuts removed after stratification are sown in the furrows made. The sowing depth is equal to three times the height of the nut itself. The seeds are covered with a ball of earth and watered abundantly. Humidity plays a major role during the germination period, since the slightest drying out will immediately lead to the death of the plant starting to sprout.

You can also sow in a bowl filled with earthen mixture. In this case, there is no need to keep it in room conditions. It is taken outside, covered with glass, and subsequent care is carried out there.

Seedling care

If in your region it is already warm in April, and the temperature inside the greenhouse during the day is around 20ᵒ C, then shoots will appear in a month. At first, they need to be covered from the scorching rays of the sun.
Growing cedar at home can be done using another method. In the fall, prepare the bed and sow nuts on it. They will spend the winter under the snow, and early spring build a greenhouse on top, and the nuts will begin to sprout under cover.

In the youngest period, it is necessary to provide the seedlings with moisture. Daily spraying, creation high humidity a prerequisite for good growth.

In the first summer there is no need to remove the greenhouse from the seedlings. Their growth is weak and watering is the only requirement.

Seedlings should also overwinter under greenhouse frames. However, snow caps are a prerequisite for future cedars.

In the spring of the second year, you can plant cedars. They tolerate transplantation well, but it is better to dig them out with a clod of earth. During this period, they need to be planted in the brightest place, which will ensure intensive growth. You can plant in pots, but they need to be buried in the soil to retain moisture.

The distance between plants will depend on the growing purposes. If you intend to grow seedlings in the summer and sell them by the fall, you can plant them thicker and then thin them out.

Some amateurs sow in a bowl in the fall, and then put it in the refrigerator and keep it until spring. Thus, pre-emergence treatment, a kind of stratification, takes place. In winter, snow is placed on the bowl, and with the onset of spring it is taken out into the fresh air. Seedlings are grown in a bowl until autumn, and then planted under greenhouse shelters.

Caring for young plantings

Watering and weeding are mandatory conditions for growing cedar during this period. Since it needs a bright place, the soil will dry out intensively. To avoid unnecessary worries, you can use mulching around the trunk spaces.

The best material for mulching will undoubtedly be forest needles. Ideally, it is better to cut pine or Christmas tree branches and collect green rather than rotted needles, but if this is not possible, then they do not even use woven covering material.

Growing cedar seedlings at home for the first 3 to 4 years is not burdensome. The trees grow slowly and tolerate transplantation well. But transplantation at an older age is associated with some difficulties.

Siberian cedar is the shortened name for Siberian cedar pine. In nature, this powerful plant reaches a height of 35–40 meters, having a spreading tiered crown and a trunk diameter of up to 2 meters. The tree can rightfully be proud of its frost resistance; it can withstand cold temperatures down to -55 degrees. In comfortable, favorable growing conditions, the plant lives up to 600–800 years and grows well in central Russia and Siberia.

To land on suburban areas seeds and seedlings are most often used low-growing varieties– they are no less decorative, and the aroma of their needles is as useful as the essential oils of their tall ancestors. The most popular of them: Recordist - with a thick crown in the shape of a ball, and Icarus, which has a pyramidal crown.

Collection of cones and preparation of planting material

Siberian cedar has inflorescences of both sexes on one tree: shoots of male cones are located at the base of the growth in the central part, and female shoots are located at the top of the crown. Flowering time: May-June. From the moment the buds form until the seeds fully ripen, a year and a half passes.

The ripening of cedar nuts consists of several stages:

1. 1. At the end of spring - beginning of June, ovules form on the tree, flowering and pollination occur. During the summer, seeds form.
2. 2. Throughout the year, the ovules store pollen and gradually become a pine cone.
3. 3. Overwintered winter cones actively develop from the beginning of the next warm season and by mid-July they grow to 6–8 centimeters in length, the yellow color changes to brown-brown.
4. 4. In September the ripening period comes to an end, brown cones with an oily kernel become dry, and the seeds are easily separated from the scales with the intention of finding a place to grow. Ripe specimens fall to the ground at the slightest blow to the tree trunk.

Ripening dates may shift by a couple of weeks depending on the region, climatic conditions and the condition of the tree.

The seed method of propagating cedar is a very labor-intensive and very long process. It will take several years to germinate nuts and successfully grow them into new seedlings capable of independent life in the open air.

You can collect cones for further planting of seeds in the fall or in the spring, when the collection of waterfalls that have independently fallen from the tree takes place. After this, shake the nuts out of the cones, place them in a container and add hot water (not boiling water).

After an hour and a half, the seeds will need to be gently rubbed in your hands to wash off the resin and substances that prevent germination. The liquid after such a procedure will become very dark and must be drained. These steps: pouring and washing the nuts are repeated until the water stops taking on a dirty tint - about a day.

The next day, the seeds will be sufficiently saturated with moisture, and the most mature of them will sink to the bottom of the container. They will serve as good planting material in the future. If spring planting is planned, then the nuts, without drying, should be placed in a glass jar with damp moss or river sand, filling it no more than 2/3. Holes must be made in the lid for oxygen access. In this form, the seeds are ready for stratification - cold treatment, by placing them in a cellar or refrigerator for 2-3 months.

After this period, the pine nuts should hatch - their shells crack and a small white root appears, then they can be sprouted. Some experienced experts advise soaking the seeds for 30 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate before sowing in order to protect them from fungal infection and stimulate the appearance of sprouts.

Planting and growing cedar at home from seed

In order to grow cedar at home, it is important to follow step by step instructions, describing the stages of development of young plants of this species. B prepared flower pot or the container is filled with a pre-steamed substrate: either peat and clean river sand in a 1:1 ratio, or soil for coniferous species. The seeds are buried so deep that the top of the shell is at ground level. Plantings are well watered and covered with glass or plastic film to create greenhouse conditions.

Nuts can be planted either in separate small pots or cups, or in a common spacious pot - cedar grows for quite a long time, and the plants will need to be transplanted into individual containers only after 3-4 years, when they reach a height of 15-18 centimeters.

On average, if preparation seed material was carried out in accordance with the recommendations, the seeds germinate after a few days. It is very interesting to watch the seedlings of cedars: the sprout gradually straightens and throws off the shell that it no longer needs, turning into a miniature “palm tree”. It is important to understand that cedar seeds never germinate all at the same time; the percentage of germination can be judged after a month. Usually about 25–30% of the planting material germinates.

The cover in the form of film or glass is removed from the pot after about 7–10 days, watering is done as the surface of the substrate dries.

Another equally popular and well-proven method of planting cedar seeds is to germinate nuts in wooden box or a box with sawdust and pine needles. The height of the container should be about 25 centimeters; there must be holes at the bottom for excess moisture.

Cedar pine seeds go deep into the substrate by 5–10 millimeters at intervals of 10–15 centimeters from each other. A thin layer of peat is placed on top to maintain moisture. For the winter, the box is placed on the balcony or outside.

Caring for seedlings and their subsequent transplantation

Cedar sprouts do not require much attention; they only need to moisten the substrate and maintain the temperature: room temperature in summer time and cool in winter. It is useful to feed one-year-old seedlings with natural immunostimulating agents - nettle infusion, for example.

Growing cedar from seeds

During the next autumn exhibition in Koska "Russia", very large cedar cones and seeds were demonstrated at one of the stands. A number of visitors approached me with questions about the possibility of inheritance by seedlings grown from such large seeds, such large seeds, and in general about the peculiarities of growing cedar from seeds. At the same time, they asked to quickly answer these questions in the “US”, citing the possibility of sowing seeds this fall. And I agreed to a quick answer and am following it below.

In principle, my article about the features of growing cedar - Siberian pine pine from seeds was published in "US" in 2001. But almost a decade has passed since then and a generation of gardeners has changed. In addition, there was additional information about the features of growing cedar from seeds and about its genetics and selection. I’ll start with the features of cedar selection for seed productivity and large seed size. Selection of cedar is a rather lengthy process due to its many years of development and late entry into the fruiting phase (on average 15-25 years). However, the long-term folk experience of the formation of cedar forests (cedar gardens) in the Urals and Siberia in the 17th-19th centuries indicates great opportunities for a noticeable acceleration and increase in the seed production of cedar forests. Such cedar orchards, which were located, for example, at one time in the modern territory of our Sverdlovsk region, were 4-5 times higher in nut production than the best natural cedar forests. Currently, a number of high-yielding and large-seeded cedar clone varieties based on the Altai population of Siberian pine pine and based on the hybridization of such pine with European pine pine have been obtained by E. V. Titov. But it seems to me almost impossible to obtain seed material or cuttings from the mother trees of these clone varieties for propagation. Therefore, gardeners in our region should try to find seeds for sowing obtained from plus cedar trees, identified by overall seed productivity. And such plus cedar trees have been identified in all forestry enterprises in the region.

Among the plus cedar trees, the best hereditary qualities are those with larger cones and larger seeds. Such plus individuals are the most appropriate for seed and vegetative propagation. Large-cone forms, as a rule, are distinguished among fast-growing trees with increased needle sizes. A sign of strong seeds is wide cones with large wide scales. The main generalized indicator of the current and future nut-bearing capacity of pine pine is the degree of development of the upper (female) tier of the crown. It is quite well expressed in the crown, differing from the middle part of the crown by powerful first-order fruit-bearing branches with upward-curved ends. High-yielding trees exceed the average length of the fruiting layer by at least 60%, and it is very advisable to take seed material for propagation from such trees.

If gardeners do not have the opportunity to purchase cedar seeds directly from plus trees and can only buy them on the market, then, naturally, it is most advisable to purchase seeds only in cones. In this case, as noted above, the largest wide cones with large scales should be selected. But if the gardener does not have the opportunity to purchase seeds in cones, then seeds extracted from cones can also be purchased. True, there is a high probability of purchasing seeds from low-productive ordinary cedar trees. In addition, before purchasing, you should make sure that the seeds are not susceptible to fire drying at high temperatures, when the embryo dies. The correct way is to dry the harvested cedar seeds in the sun in a layer of 10-15 cm or in grain dryers at a temperature of 20-25°C with constant air flow.

Cedar seeds purchased in the fall can be sown immediately. Autumn sowing of seeds has certain advantages. For this purpose, it is best to sow freshly purchased seeds in late September - early October, that is, a month and a half before the onset of stable frosts. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in a 0.5% solution of potassium permanganate for 3-4 days. Sow on ridges, which promotes better aeration. The sowing method is wide-row, the distance between rows is 10-15 cm. Siberian cedar is not afraid of thickened crops, so the seeding rate is increased to 200 seeds per 1 linear. m, especially considering the upcoming picking of seedlings. The seeding depth is 3-4 cm. After sowing, for better contact with the soil, the planting site in the garden bed is rolled and then covered with a layer of mulch 1 cm thick. To prevent damage by rodents or birds, the crops are covered with spruce branches. This protects the soil from excessive freezing and protects the seeds from mice. In the spring, immediately after the snow melts, the bed with the sown cedar seeds is covered with plastic film. Usually, after the soil warms up and thaws, friendly shoots appear.

Research by scientists has shown that soil germination with autumn sowing is 91%, and with spring stratified seeds it is only 76%. The use of plastic film allows you to protect tender, not yet strong cedar shoots that have just emerged from the soil from being pecked by birds. Autumn sowing of cedar seeds has the following advantages. Seeds sown in autumn undergo, as it were, biological preparation for sowing, since the conditions for their seed dormancy during autumn sowing are close to natural. Freshly harvested seeds sown in the fall have great vital activity and produce vigorous and uniform shoots in the spring. From the point of view pre-sowing methods seed preparation autumn sowing much more economical.

When sowing in spring, cedar seeds require mandatory stratification. In most cases, seeds for spring sowing are purchased after the soil has frozen. How they are acquired also depends on the time of their acquisition. pre-sowing preparation. If time permits, the seeds are placed for stratification 80-90 days before sowing. Before stratification, the seeds are soaked for 3-4 days in a solution citric acid(0.02%), heteroauxin and gibberellin (0.005-0.02%), and then stratified in boxes with sawdust or sand under the snow. But it also happens that seeds are purchased in February-March. Then they can immediately be subjected to accelerated stratification. For this purpose they are soaked in warm water within 6-8 days. The water is changed every two days. Then the seeds are mixed with well-washed river sand or peat chips and kept at room temperature. The mixture is periodically stirred and moistened. With this stratification, the seeds hatch in 30-40 days. The sprouted seeds are placed in an icebox or refrigerator and stored until sowing at a temperature close to 0°C. I would like to note that there are quite a lot of methods for stratifying the seeds of Siberian cedar, and its related European cedar, Korean cedar and dwarf cedar.

If for some reason it is not possible to sow cedar seeds in the fall, they can be stratified in the fall in the following way. For this purpose on high place with dry soil, dig a hole to frost-free soil (1.4-1.5 m deep). For better aeration, 10-15 cm thick crushed stone is placed at the bottom of the pit, on which a layer of sand of the same thickness is poured. Cedar seeds are mixed with sand at a ratio of approximately 1:3 or 1:4 (by volume). The mixture is poured to the bottom of the hole and covered with boards to separate the stratified mixture from the ground. Soil is poured onto the top of the boards. At the same time, cedar seeds undergo stratification until spring. In the spring they are removed and sown.

Sowing of stratified seeds is carried out in late April - early May (depending on weather conditions) in the same wide-row method as in autumn. Before the emergence of seedlings, the crops are covered with plastic film, which is removed only after the shells fall off the seedlings. This protects the seedlings from being pecked by birds. Often, in order to protect seedlings from destruction by birds, when even film does not help, seeds are sown in greenhouses or nurseries. To improve the root system of cedar seedlings, it is picked. Special studies of the survival rate of seedlings after picking (with proper adherence to agricultural technology) have shown that it can be very high and reach 95-96%. Cedar plants take root especially well when picked in the cotyledon state, and even better in the “key” state, when the cotyledons have not yet opened. The good survival rate of cedar seedlings when picking with keys makes it possible to grow them in greenhouses or nurseries in dense crops, and then pick. The picking technology comes down to the following. As soon as cedar seedlings appear in the form of a bent knee, they are dug up, sorted, the roots are trimmed and pricked (planted under a peg) to the same depth as they were at seedlings. It is best to pick on specially prepared ridges. The seedlings are placed at a distance of 20x15 or 20x20 cm. The picked seedlings are thoroughly watered. After picking, planting material with a well-developed root system is obtained, which contributes to its better survival after planting in a permanent place.

To obtain large-sized cedar seedlings with a well-formed crown and root system, grown on ridges after picking are transplanted into separate formations (the first, and maybe the second school of the nursery). Usually, three-year-old (rarely two-year-old) cedar seedlings are planted in the first school. Considering that cedar responds positively to soil fertility and the application of fertilizers, the soil is well prepared before planting and organic and mineral fertilizers. In addition, since cedar does not like dry sandy soils, places with sandy loam or loamy, moist, drained soils are used for planting. The same requirements for the soil are imposed on the early stages of cedar propagation discussed above. A mandatory element in this case should be the addition of soil or litter from under Siberian cedar or Scots pine stands to all soils under cedar seedlings to ensure that the root system of the seedlings is infected with “mycorrhiza.” The fact is that Siberian cedar and its other species are mycotrophic species that do not have root hairs. Without mycorrhiza, cedar dies or develops poorly.

Seedlings in the first shkolka are planted in rows, the distance between which is 80-100 cm. Plants are placed in a row every 30-35 cm. In this shkolka, cedar is grown for 3-5 years. Then the seedlings can be transplanted into the second school of the nursery for their further growth and formation of the crown and root system. In the second school, a 1x1 m seedling placement scheme was adopted. The best time In our conditions, cedar planting is considered to be the end of April- first half of May. Cedar can also be planted in the second half of the year - from mid-August to the end of September. But spring planting provide better survival rate of seedlings compared to autumn ones. When litter or soil from under pine or cedar stands is added to the soil, the growth of seedlings noticeably increases, and the trees reach a height of 1.3-1.5 m by the age of 10 years.

It is advisable to plant self-grown seedlings, seedlings grown in forest nurseries, and grafted seedlings in large sizes (80-100 cm and above in height). Planting is carried out in pre-dug holes larger than for fruit trees size. This is caused by the more powerful root system of cedars. Typically, the diameter of the planting pit is 1.0-1.5 m, the depth is also 1.0-1.5 m. At least 3-5 buckets of humus and at least 2 buckets of forest litter or soil from under cedar or pine are added to the pit tree stand. To ensure good fruiting, the distance between trees is at least 6-8 m, and better - 10-12 m. For normal mutual pollination, at least two cedar trees should be planted, since with single plantings during self-pollination, if cones are formed, they They are usually deformed and small with small, often empty seeds with low germination. Fruiting of cedar grown from seeds most often begins after 20 years.

During my gardening activities, I went through all the stages of cultivating Siberian pine in the garden. He grew seedlings from seeds, planted seedlings grown in forest nurseries, and grew seedlings grafted onto pine and cedar. Currently, three fruit-bearing trees of 42-44 years of age and one tree of 29 years of age have been growing in my garden for many years. I regularly grow cedar seedlings from my own seeds. In my opinion, any gardener at any age is simply obliged to plant this tree, which the famous forest scientist M.F. Petrov called the green giant. The gardeners of the older generation will inherit its plantings from their children and grandchildren. Grow cedars in your gardens, you won’t regret it.

V. N. Shalamov