Report on coniferous plants, prickly spruce. Coniferous tree Norway spruce - description

The most common coniferous tree in Europe is Norway spruce or common spruce; this species grows almost everywhere, with the exception of the North German Lowlands and the islands of Britain.

Description of Norway spruce

The common spruce reaches a height of 50 meters with a trunk 1 meter wide. A slender tree with a dense pyramidal crown. It has horizontal or drooping branches that descend low along the trunk. The branches are collected in whorls. If there is enough light around, the lower branches for a long time are saved. When young, the tree has smooth brown bark.

Over the years, the bark becomes rough and scaly. Gets gray or Brown color. The shoots are yellow or brown. May be covered with red hairs. The spruce needles are very hard and green in color.

The needles usually have a tetrahedral, flattened shape and a length of 1-3 cm. The life cycle of needles is 7 years.

Spruce wood of a yellowish-white color is characterized as soft, shiny, and light. The roots are located horizontally, superficially, so trees can be turned upside down in strong winds.

Norway spruce is the fastest growing among all spruce trees. Young spruce trees grow slowly, but older tree– those faster growth. In a year, a spruce can grow half a meter. By the 250th anniversary, the spruce begins to dry out, some specimens live up to 500 years.

It is known that since ancient times people have been using various plants for medicinal purposes, and European spruce cones are no exception, although many have forgotten about them healing properties. For example, the cleanliness of the air directly depends on the number of cones. Some are sure that if you hold a spruce fruit between your palms, you can quickly get rid of the negative energy that accumulates in the body. By applying a lump to the bruised area after a bath, you will speed up the healing of superficial wounds and reduce pain. From an energy point of view, among other things, a fir fence throughout the site prevents negative charges from entering your area.

The needles, cones, and young shoots of spruce contain essential oils, resin, vitamin C, salts of chromium, iron, aluminum, and manganese. Interesting fact that spruce is the record holder among flora for vitamin C content.

For chronic and acute diseases respiratory organs You can use pine decoctions, which are also useful if there is a lack of vitamin C in the body. This decoction is prepared in this way: forty grams of pine needles are taken for one glass of water. The resulting mixture is boiled for 20 minutes and infused. Use this decoction during the day in 2-3 doses. Tincture of fir cones is useful for both adults and children. Inhalations with spruce decoctions are very useful.

Well, the most delicious use of fir cones is considered to be jam. For it you need to collect cones in the first ten days of July. The recipe is as follows: we need 1 kg of cones, 10 glasses of water, 1 kg of sugar. We sort through the cones, rinse them from pine needles and branches. Fill in cold water and leave for a day. After this, pour sugar into the solution and bring to a boil. We are waiting for all the sugar to dissolve. We put the cones into the hot syrup and continue to cook, stirring. The jam is ready as soon as you see that the cones have opened completely.

Norway spruce (European) is a worthy decoration for any suburban area. Planted with fir trees it looks all year round as if I were ready to celebrate the New Year holidays today.

Spruce appeared in Europe several centuries ago; it was grown as early as 1500, but then spruce seedlings were very rare. Today there are more than a hundred garden forms of spruce, and their seedlings can be easily purchased at a specialized nursery.

But to get a good result, it is not enough to have planting material; its planting and care must be correct. Is it difficult to grow a spruce, and what is needed for this? We will talk to you today about how to plant a spruce correctly and what its cultivation should be like.

Description

As we have already noted, its second name is European spruce. It grows everywhere, but mainly it can be found in the European part of Russia, mainly in the north.

At proper care its dimensions can be quite impressive, because it grows quite quickly, its height is up to 55 meters, the trunk can be up to a meter wide. The evergreen coniferous tree grows slender, with a dense, pyramidal crown and shiny needles. Pollen appears in May-June, and seeds ripen in early autumn. The color of the bark changes with age from brown to brown.

Representatives different forms There are minor differences, mainly related to branching.

Is it possible to determine how long a tree grows?

How many years does a spruce tree live? There is one little secret. The age of a spruce can be determined by its trunk and branches.

The first needles appear on germinating seeds. The stem of a plant that is not yet a year old has no branches; they grow from the second year, one whorl per year, and it is from them that the age of the tree can be determined.

Average age European spruce– 250-300 years, but this is not the limit; with good care, a tree can grow up to 500 years.

Choosing a place

Planting any plant begins with choosing a place, because the successful growth of the tree, and therefore the result of your work, depends on how well it is chosen.

Please note that the spruce root has the ability to quickly grow not in depth, but in breadth. This means that vegetable crops and fruit trees cannot be its neighbors. It is better if you plant it away from the rest of the green inhabitants of the garden. But the proximity to a birch tree, on the contrary, will be beneficial for spruce. It will provide the tree with the shade it needs.

Shouldn't be nearby groundwater, the tree does not like them, in any case, when planting, drainage is poured into the bottom of the hole. Choose “light” soils; the root system will be more comfortable in them. Let it be sandy loam, loam, fertile soil.

Due to the characteristics of the root system, windblows pose a serious danger to spruce.

How to quickly plant spruce seedlings?

Spruce can be grown at home from seeds, we will talk about this a little later. But, if the cost of buying a seedling does not scare you, choose a simpler and quick way planting - planting seedlings.

You will need a little effort and strict adherence to the rules of agricultural technology.

The best time for planting is the first days of May. At this time, the earth, as a rule, warms up well, the air temperature is not very high and there is no longer a threat of repeated frosts. If May is cold, planting is postponed until later. late dates- early summer.

If Norway spruce is planted in a row, the holes are made deep - about 50-60cm and at a distance of 2 meters from one another. Don’t forget about drainage, most often they use crushed brick, lay it in a layer of 15 cm. A mixture of sand, peat, leaf soil and turf, taken in a ratio of 1: 1: 2: 2 and mixed with nitroammophosphate, is poured into the hole to 2/3 of the depth.

Make sure that the root bud is not covered with soil during planting. The hole is watered and mulched with peat.

If you take a seedling out of a container, look carefully at what depth it grew and plant it at the same depth.

Propagating any tree, including a Christmas tree, is not an easy task. It propagates by seeds, cuttings and seedlings. A seedling grown in a nursery costs quite a bit, so it’s easier to try growing a tree from seeds.

How to grow spruce from seeds

Let’s say right away that growing a tree from seeds is not easy. You will need a lot of time and effort, and also patience, but such painstaking work will be justified when a beautiful “noble” tree grows on your site.

If your friend has a spruce growing in his dacha, don’t be lazy to collect seeds from it. Store-bought ones should not be trusted; who knows where they were stored, so their similarity may be unsatisfactory. Plus, if you see a tree and you like it, you can imagine that the exact same thing will grow from your seeds.

The best time to collect seeds is autumn. The cones are collected, laid out near the battery, dried and only after that the seeds are released. Seeds can be planted only after stratification; it is generally accepted that this process promotes uniform germination.

After treatment with potassium permanganate, the seeds are poured into a pot with sand calcined in a hot oven (there should be 1.5-2 centimeters from the surface of the sand to the seeds). The pot is hidden in the refrigerator, not on the coldest shelf, preferably in the door.

They should stay there for three months, until about March. In March they need to be taken out and placed on a warm and bright windowsill. Here there will be the most favorable conditions for seed germination, of course, if this is accompanied by abundant watering with warm, settled water, but do not flood the seeds, there must be drainage in the box.

The appearance of the first shoots after two weeks should be a signal that watering should be reduced. The seedlings will need careful care: two feedings before you plant them in open ground and frequent loosening of the soil. Preventative treatment with insecticides will also come in handy.

In a pot, seedlings can grow until it gets warm outside. They are planted in last days May, when the threat of late frosts has passed.

Before planting the seedlings, prepare the holes - pour compost and mineral fertilizers into them. If further care is correct, there will be no need for subsequent feedings.

Having installed a small plant in the hole, add soil, compact it thoroughly and water it. Planted spruce seedling to create greenhouse effect, you will need to cover it with a cut-off drink bottle. To prevent the future tree from rotting or rotting, the glass is opened slightly every day for ventilation. After a week there will be no need for it; the soil can be mulched to retain moisture.

How to grow a spruce from a branch

A tree can be grown not only from seeds, but also from cuttings. In order for a beautiful, strong and healthy spruce to grow from a cutting, you need to follow some important recommendations.

Cuttings are cut from the top in spring or early autumn; it is better to choose a tree 5-8 years old for this; they need to be planted immediately.

The length of the cuttings should not be long, about 15-25 cm; the needles at the end are cleaned off and planted in a pre-prepared greenhouse, preferably with soil heating.

The hole must have drainage, as well as a mixture of nutritious soil and sand. The seedling is planted at an angle, the angle should be 30 degrees, watered and covered with film. The soil temperature should be from 21 to 27C, and the air temperature - from 17 to 23C.

When young Christmas trees become stronger, they are cared for like adult plants, only they are more carefully protected from the sun and frost. The soil underneath is mulched and the branches are covered with non-woven material or other covering materials.

If you care for your spruce properly, it is not afraid of diseases and pests.

How to care?

In order for the spruce to grow beautiful, the planted seedling must be surrounded with care and attention. Young plants need to be watered regularly, hot weather This is done daily; it is better to use a watering can for watering. If the summer is hot and dry, do not spare water, calculate so that up to 10-12 liters are needed for one tree. Each watering ends with loosening the soil and mulching the tree trunk circle.

Proper care of spruce also means fertilizing, the recommended preparation is Kemira-universal.

In addition, common spruce needs pruning. Crown care involves removing dry, diseased and broken branches. If a tree is an important element of landscape compositions, then its crown is formed, and it tolerates pruning painlessly. Decorative pruning is done every year. Scorching fires are equally dangerous for spruce trees. Sun rays, and severe frosts, spruce must be protected from these natural factors.

It has long been known beneficial influence on the human body of components secreted by spruce in atmospheric air. Made from pine needles, cones and buds medications, widely used in folk and traditional medicine.

(Picea abies Karst.)

European or common spruce is an ordinary miracle!

Spruce (Picea) is a genus of coniferous evergreen trees of the pine family. Spruce is one of the main forest-forming species in our country and one of the most powerful trees. In Russia, Norway spruce or common spruce grows in northern and middle lanes the European part of the country, in the south to the central black earth strip of forest-steppe, in the east it reaches the Urals; Siberian spruce is widespread in the Urals and Siberia. Spruce grows in damp places, on rich loamy soils, in parks.

The growth of spruce does not stop throughout the life of the tree, and by 150-200 years it can reach a height of 50 meters and a trunk diameter of 80-100 cm. In total, about 40 species of spruce are known, all of them grow in the Northern Hemisphere. Spruce is frost-resistant, can withstand temperatures down to -52°C in winter, although young trees

They do not tolerate spring and autumn frosts well; young branches may freeze.

Most best holiday Every year we meet with a Christmas tree or spruce branches, bringing the fresh smell of pine needles and a feeling of freshness into our home. Spruce is a coniferous tree with a cone-shaped crown, pointed, flattened tetrahedral needles, male and female cones, dark brown seeds with long wings. Seeds remain viable for 8 - 10 years.

Spruce, like other representatives of the pine family, releases a huge amount of phytoncides that kill any harmful microflora in the air. In the spruce forest there is always clean, fresh, almost sterile air - that’s why many sanatoriums try to locate in coniferous forests so that a person’s 24-hour stay there has a healing effect.

The scientific name of the genus picea is from Latin word pix - “resin”, which is abundantly secreted by all plants of the pine family. The scientific name of the species, abies, is translated from Latin as “spruce.” Russian name of the genus “spruce” - is of Indo-European origin.

Since ancient times, spruce has been used by people to treat various diseases. WITH therapeutic purpose Spruce needles, young shoots, and young cones are used as medicinal raw materials. They contain tannins, vitamin C, carotene, essential oil, resin, mineral salts of iron, chromium, copper, aluminum, manganese.

Spruce preparations have diuretic, diaphoretic, choleretic, antiscorbutic, analgesic, and wound-healing effects. To prepare the preparations, take fresh pine needles or those located in outdoor conditions, since when the pine needles are ate in a warm place, the vitamin C content in it quickly decreases. Spruce branches can be stored in a room for no more than 10 days, dipping the lower ends into water.

Spruce beneficial properties. Useful properties of pine needles

Spruce needle oil, added to water for inhalation, miraculously relieves coughs, facilitates sputum separation, and treats purulent otitis media and sore throat. An infusion of young pine needles has the same effect, which, in addition to its bactericidal effect, is a source of vitamins.

With a lack of vitamin C - vitamin deficiency, as an antiscorbutic remedy,

for acute and chronic diseases respiratory organs - sore throat, bronchitis, tracheitis, bronchial asthma:
- Pour 40 g of chopped spruce needles with a glass of boiling water, boil for 20 minutes, leave, then strain. The resulting infusion is drunk during the day, 1/3÷1/2 cup.

This infusion of spruce needles is very useful after serious illnesses, with dry and cracking skin. The infusion of pine needles has a diuretic and antimicrobial effect, as it contains essential oil, beneficial features needles are used for treatment of kidney and urinary tract diseases .

You can also prepare a vitamin infusion from fresh pine needles:

- 4 glasses spruce needles pour 0.5 l cold water, add citric acid, leave for 2 - 3 days in a dark place, strain. Drink 1 glass a day in 2-3 doses for vitamin deficiencies.

Spruce cones have medicinal properties . A decoction of unripe spruce cones (collected in June - September) is used to prevent infectious diseases.

For sore throat, tonsillitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, rhinitis:

- Pour 50 g of crushed cones into a glass of water, boil for 30 minutes over low heat, then strain. Use 5-6 times a day as a rinse or instill a few drops into both nostrils.

For the treatment of rheumatism, nervous and skin diseases It is good to use pine baths.

For skin diseases, gout and joint damage due to rheumatism:

Pour 500 g of the tops of young branches with buds into 2.5 liters of water, boil for 30 minutes, then add the decoction to a bath of warm water;
Pour 500 g of crushed pine needles into 2.5 liters of water, boil for 10 minutes, then leave for 12 hours, strain, add to a bath with warm water.

Watch a short video about the beneficial properties of pine needles Let's heal with the Christmas tree! :

Boils, pustules, difficult-to-heal ulcers and wounds are dealt with using an ointment prepared from spruce resin, wax and butter. For the same purpose, you can use dry spruce resin powder.

WARNING:

The use of spruce preparations is contraindicated for gastritis, stomach and duodenal ulcers!

In the pharmaceutical industry, synthetic camphor is extracted from spruce, which is included in balms for rubbing joints for rheumatism and arthritis, as well as drugs prescribed for heart disease. Turpentine, purified in a special way, is also used in official medicine for the preparation of warming, analgesic ointments - turpentine ointment, "Efkamon" ointment and balms - "Tiger" balm. Ready-made extracts are available for sale that have a relaxing, calming effect in the treatment of nervous and cardiovascular diseases.

Spruce wood is soft, but strong and elastic, used in the manufacture of furniture, in construction for interior decoration, paper is made from it, musical instruments.

Turpentine, rosin, and tar are obtained from spruce wood, tannins are obtained from the bark, and oil is obtained from cone seeds. Terpene hydrate is obtained from turpentine, a substance with an expectorant effect; it is used in the form of tablets for the treatment of chronic bronchitis.

Tar, obtained from wood, is widely used in the form of 10 - 30% ointments for the treatment of eczema, lichen, and other skin diseases.

So diverse medicinal properties possesses - an ordinary miracle!

Get to know it better and use the beneficial properties of pine needles to maintain and improve your health!

Spruce - coniferous evergreen tree pine family. This is a riddle about her: “Winter and summer in the same color.” The message will take a closer look at these interesting tree, will tell you where it grows and how it is used in the national economy.

Description

A Christmas tree is a slender tree that can grow up to 35 meters high. During the first 10 years it grows very slowly - a few cm per year, then the growth rate increases, but after 100-120 years it slows down again. It has a pyramidal (triangular) crown with a sharp tip. The branches are densely located throughout the trunk. It is often difficult to see behind the spruce paws.

U young tree the bark is smooth gray-brown in color; in the old bark it becomes gray and peels off in thin plates. The needles are dark green and shiny, sharp and prickly. The needles are much shorter than those of pine, up to 3 cm long.

They stay firmly on the branches for 7-10 years. But in urban conditions, with heavy smoke in the air, the lifespan of needles is greatly reduced: they fall off after only 3 years.

The spruce root system is located close to the surface, so strong winds can knock down the tree.

Spruce is a long-liver, she lives 250-300 years.

Where does it grow

She grows throughout the Northern Hemisphere. She can be found in Central and Northern Europe. It is widespread in Russia: in Siberia, the Urals, Far East, in the Caucasus, in steppe zone. Also grows in China and Japan.

In total there are 50 types oil. The most common: Siberian, European, Caucasian, Canadian, white, red, black.

The Christmas tree is the basis of the taiga. She grows in mixed forests, well adjacent to pine, oak, linden, aspen, hazel. Also forms pure spruce forests, which have a number of features:

It's damp and dark here;
the soil is completely covered with moss;
under the spruce paws grow dense thickets of blueberries, lingonberries, wood sorrel, and cuckoo flax.

Growing conditions and reproduction

For a spruce to grow well, it needs the following conditions:

Shadow. This is a tree doesn't really like the sun young Christmas trees often get sunburn in open places.
Sufficient hydration. Christmas tree does not tolerate drought well.
Temperate climate. The tree is cold-resistant, not afraid of frost, but it grows poorly in the southern regions, where the summers are too hot and long,
The soil should not be too dense, but moderately fertile.

Spruce is a monoecious plant. This means that male spikelets and female cones grow on the same tree. Propagated by seeds the germination rate of which is very good. The cones open in late November - early December, the seeds fall out, are picked up by the wind and carried far around the surrounding area.

In early spring, the seed awakens and begins to grow. The main condition for the sprouts to take root and begin to develop well is a warm spring, because they die during spring frosts.

Use in the national economy

Spruce plantations can often be seen in sanatoriums. Because they pine needles release phytoncides that clean and disinfect the air. Also, spruce often becomes the basis of landscapes in personal plots.

High-quality musical instruments are made from this wood. Soft wood is used to make paper, rayon, and smokeless gunpowder. Resin, tar, rosin, and turpentine are obtained.

Fir cones are widely used in folk medicine. Healers believe that a Christmas tree is a donor tree; if you lean against it and stand there for a few minutes, it will give a person energy and strength.

forest guest waiting on New Year kids.

How much joy it brings, filling the house with a special forest smell and pleasing the eye with its beauty!

If this message was useful to you, I would be glad to see you

Description

Norway spruce (Picea abies)- tree 30 - 35 m high, crown diameter 6 - 8 m. B favorable conditions can grow up to 50 m. The needles are needle-shaped, tetrahedral, 1-2 cm long, dark green. Annual growth is 50 cm in height, 15 cm in width. Up to 10-15 years it grows slowly, then quickly. U common spruce the crown is cone-shaped, with distant or drooping branches, rising at the end, and remains sharp until the end of life. The bark is reddish-brown or gray, smooth or fissured, varying degrees and the nature of the fracture, relatively thin. The shoots are light brown or rusty yellow, glabrous. Sensitive to pollution and dry air. Tolerates shade well. Durability 250 - 300 years.

Size:	height 15-20 m, diameter 6-8 m.
Root system:	superficial, widely spread, highly branched; deep on drained soil.
Growth rate:	up to 10-15 years it is low, then it accelerates to 70 cm per year, after 100-120 years growth slows down again.
Light:	sun, partial shade, shade.
Soils:	moderately moist loams, light soils with a slightly alkaline reaction (see).
Watering:	During dry periods, watering is required.
Winter hardiness:	USDA zone 3 (see).
Fruit:	cones are 10-15 cm long and 3-4 cm thick, light green, brownish-brown when mature.

Planting and caring for spruce ordinary

Do not allow soil compaction and moisture stagnation. The landing site should be away from groundwater. It is imperative to make a drainage layer, in the form of sand or broken brick, 15-20 cm thick. If spruce trees are planted in groups, then the distance for tall spruce trees should be from 2 to 3 m. The depth of the planting hole is 50-70 cm.

It is important that the root collar is at ground level. You can prepare a special soil mixture: leaf and turf soil, peat, and sand in a ratio of 2:2:1:1. Immediately after planting, the tree must be watered generously with 40 - 50 liters of water. It is advisable to apply fertilizer (100-150 g of nitroammophosphate, 10 g of root per 10 l, etc.).

Spruce trees do not like dry, hot weather, so during the hot season they need to be watered once a week, approximately 10-12 liters per tree. Carry out shallow loosening (5cm). For the winter, sprinkle peat around the trunk 5-6 cm thick; after winter, the peat is simply mixed with the ground, not removed. Spruce trees can also be planted in winter.

Approximately 2 times a season you can apply fertilizer for coniferous plants.

Typically, spruce trees do not need pruning, but if they form a hedge, pruning is allowed. As a rule, diseased and dry branches are removed. It is best to carry out pruning in late May - early June, when the period of active sap flow ends.

To protect the decorative forms of spruce from autumn and winter frosts, they can be covered with spruce branches. (cm. , ).