Thuja is an unpretentious and frost-resistant plant. It is often used for landscaping garden plots or country houses. However, thujas are an expensive pleasure, so it’s easier to breed them yourself. Moreover, following simple recommendations, thuja can be grown even without being an experienced gardener.
This plant can be propagated in two ways:
- Using seeds;
- Using twigs or cuttings.
The first method, which involves seeds, is very painstaking and time-consuming. It will take from two to six years. In addition, it is generally accepted that thujas grown from cuttings are more hardy. If you have decorative look thuja, also do not propagate it by seeds. It is best to choose propagation by branches.
Propagation of thuja by cuttings
For those who want to grow a similar plant, there is a very simple and affordable option– propagation of thuja by cuttings. Propagation of thuja in this way should occur in the fall. When preparing to propagate a plant, you have probably read many articles on the topic of how to propagate thuja from cuttings, and you know that the shoot must be healthy and strong. You should not choose branches that are too young or too old. Pay attention to those that grow in the middle of the tree. 
Such shoots are usually already sufficiently strong, but have not yet become woody for reproduction. Tear off several shoots 50 cm long. At the end of the shoot there should be some tree bark left.
Experienced gardeners who know how to grow thuja from cuttings gave this plant the name “heel”. The longer the “heel”, the better the shoot will be rooted. In order to tear off a branch with such a “heel”, they usually use a knife or simply tear off the branch with a sharp downward movement. We remove all unnecessary twigs and leaves. It is necessary to prepare a pot with peat and leaf soil in advance (in a ratio of 1 to 1). We deepen the cutting itself two centimeters into the ground at an angle of 60 degrees. The area around the planted cuttings should be sprinkled with sand and lightly pressed with your finger.
It is necessary to ensure that the remaining leaves do not touch the peat. We water it and make a greenhouse on top of the cutting from a film or a simple jar. The more transparent the can, the better. After this, you should set the pot with the shoot in a bright and warm place. Humidity should be no higher than 70% at an air temperature of 23 degrees, otherwise the cuttings may rot. It is better to spray the cutting itself with water rather than water it at the root. 
As soon as new shoots begin to appear on the cuttings, this means that it is completely rooted.
However, it is too early to plant such a thuja in the garden. Start opening the greenhouse more often and letting the thuja “breathe some air.” Increase ventilation time, reducing greenhouse time to a minimum. As soon as the thuja gets used to the coolness, you can safely plant it in the garden.
How to grow thuja from a twig?
When deciding how to breed thuja, you can find several alternative methods. On the Internet you can find a lot of information on the question, which sounds like this: “How to grow a thuja from a branch?” The “instructions” are based on the same steps as when transplanting using cuttings. However, as with everything, there are some nuances. If you are interested in how to grow thuja from a twig, then a cut of the branch itself must first be treated with a root formation stimulator. This will help the root system develop and take root in the new soil.
The tray with sand should be treated with a three percent solution of potassium permanganate. The branches themselves should be placed in the holes made in advance at an angle of 45 degrees. You can grow several branches at once in one tray. To do this, the distance between them should be from 3 to 5 cm.
When replanting using branches, make sure that direct sunlight does not fall on the tray with the shoots.
You can moisten using the same technology as when propagating by cuttings. Rooted branches will need to be planted in the spring, or you can keep them in greenhouse conditions until summer. This will make it more likely that your thuja will get used to new conditions faster and survive the first winter more calmly.
Arborvitae are often used in landscape design. They are highly valued due to their beautiful appearance, which persists throughout the year.
Most often, thujas are grown, but recently the seed method has become popular - it is more affordable and, moreover, quite effective. Undoubtedly, you need to know when to collect thuja seeds in order to be on time.
What do thuja seeds look like?
The seeds of the evergreen plant ripen in cones located at the tips of the branches. These cones ripen already in the first year of fruiting. They are easy to notice on an adult tree - they have a brown-orange or light brown color, resembling branched branches that have turned brown from the cold.
It is these brown seed branches that are collected to obtain thuja seeds. They easily break off from the wood. After drying the house, the cones open and the seeds themselves spill out of them - small winged and reddish seeds.
When do thuja seeds ripen?
Time to collect thuja seeds and preparations planting material usually occurs at the end of summer - beginning of autumn. You need to collect the cones before they open, since dry and open cones very easily spill out onto the ground.
The collected cones need to be laid out on flat surface in a dry and warm ventilated area. Once the buds open, the seeds will be very easy to remove. After collecting thuja seeds, you need to decide when you will use them for planting.
Depending on this, you must prepare them for long or short storage. Or you can immediately sow the seeds “in winter.” By the way, precisely when autumn planting thujas turn out to be the most hardened, strong, and less demanding to care for. Having undergone natural stratification, plants emerge earlier, grow faster, and withstand wintering better.
Thuja is a coniferous plant, although the shrub does not have needles. Its crown resembles small needles. This plant is unpretentious, which is why it has won the love of not only amateur gardeners, but also professional landscape designers. I know how to grow thuja from seeds, I did it. Of course, you will have to be patient. It will take several years from seed to young tree. I'll tell you how to do everything right.
To grow healthy and beautiful tree any variety of thuja, you need not only to germinate the seeds correctly, but also to follow a number of rules for caring for young seedlings
Prepare the seeds
Like others conifers, it is easier to grow thuja at home using cuttings. They take root well in the soil and begin to grow actively. However, it is not always possible to purchase thuja cuttings, so propagating thuja by seeds has become more popular among gardeners.
 |
Step 1. Prepare the cones
|
 |
Step 2. Prepare the soil for planting
|
 |
Step 3. Sow the seeds
|
In order for the thuja to grow strong from seeds, the material should be planted in the fall, soon after harvest. Boxes with sown seeds should be left to winter outside, because thuja is a frost-resistant plant.
In such conditions, the process of natural stratification of seeds will take place, that is, the impact on them low temperatures. In addition, plants grown in this way will more easily survive the first winter.
Properly care for seedlings
In spring, it is important to protect young shoots from direct sun rays. They cause coniferous plants to turn yellow. Boxes with thuja seedlings should be determined permanent place under the canopy of trees, for example, and plants in open ground cover with special covering material.
Proper planting and care will ensure a decent result:
- Seedlings need to be fed every two weeks to ensure active growth. During the first months after germination, young stems stretch up to 8 cm.
- Feeding should be balanced and contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
- It is good if the fertilizer is complex with the addition of molybdenum, zinc and manganese. In a couple of months, it will be possible to observe how coniferous branches appear on the seedlings - the first resemblance between seedlings and adult trees.
- The first year the plants should not be disturbed, but should be left for the winter in the same boxes. If the seeds have not sprouted too thickly, you can leave them in the same place for another year.
The area chosen for growing thuja seedlings should not be located in the sun, it should be in a shaded place. You can plant young shoots in spacious pots, taking into account the further growth of the plants. Before transplanting the seedlings, you need to fertilize the soil.
Prepare the fertilizer as follows:
- based on 1 m² of soil, mix a bucket of humus and 250 g of wood ash;
- add mineral fertilizer in granules, such as “Nitrophoska”, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the required proportions - 45 g is enough;
- distribute the mixture evenly around the perimeter of the bed;
- Dig up the soil and plant young plants at a distance of about 30 cm from each other.
Transplant the seedlings to a permanent place
In another year, when the plants reach a height of about half a meter, they can be planted in a permanent place where the hedge was originally planned to be placed.
This can be done both in spring and autumn. I'll give you some tips to do everything right:
 |
Tip 1
Prepare the soil:
You can buy ready soil For coniferous trees |
 |
Tip 2
Dig a hole:
|
 |
Tip 3
Make drainage:
|
 |
Tip 4
Maintain distance between trees:
|
 |
Tip 5
|
 |
Tip 6
|
 |
Tip 7
|
Further care for thujas after planting them in a permanent place includes regular watering, fertilizing, loosening the soil, weeding, and pruning the crown.
Remember
- Fertilize during the first two years after planting. After planting the seedling in a permanent place, fertilize the plant about once a month.
- Water mature trees on hot, dry days. In general, thujas tolerate dry weather well, so they should only be watered during intense and prolonged heat.
- Remove weeds and loosen the soil shallowly. Loosening will provide the root system with oxygen.
- Protect young trees from frost in winter. To cover them, you can use spruce branches, leaves or other natural material.
Pruning the crown of a thuja is a real art. Using an ordinary garden pruner, you can give the tree head a wide variety of shapes and transform your garden plot. Now you know how to grow thuja from seeds to adult plants, which always fit well into any landscape design option.
Thuja is very similar to cypress. And this is understandable, because she is his closest relative and is often called northern cypress. It is not at all demanding of care or the conditions where it grows, but at the same time, it has high decorative qualities. Therefore, this tree is very popular among amateur gardeners. Thuja can be easily adapted to the interior of a garden or farmstead, for example, by creating hedges from these evergreen plants, and various figures from the crown.
Recently, the tree can often be seen growing in city apartments and private houses. It decorates loggias and balconies. A thuja growing in a tub is a real decoration of a large living room.
Today we will talk about growing thuja from seeds at home, we will talk about how to care for garden thuja and a tree growing at home. I hope this information will help you if you decide to grow this evergreen beauty.
Growing from seeds
This process is not difficult, and if everything is done correctly and carefully, everything will definitely work out. The main thing is to select seeds of the type of thuja that takes root well and grows in your climatic conditions, otherwise all efforts will be pointless.
Take the seeds from the thuja cone. Cut off the woody cones along with the small branches on which they grow, bring them home, and place them somewhere warmer. It is necessary that the cones receive dim, diffused light. When they dry a little, they will open and you can carefully remove the seeds. Now wrap them in damp gauze and leave them there for a day.
Prepare ordinary small indoor pots with good fertile soil. Be sure to place drainage at the bottom of the pots. Now pour water well so that the soil is completely moistened. In general, seeds will germinate in any quality soil. But it will be just great if you add a little peat or humus to it.
Plant each seed in its own pot, without burying it in the soil. Just press it into the surface and cover it with 4-5 mm of soil. Instead of soil, you can sprinkle the seeds with wet sawdust. Water not very often, but as the soil dries out.
In about a month, the first shoots will appear. If you grow young plants in the garden, plant them in the ground in the spring, keeping a distance of 2-3 m from each other.
Caring for garden thuja
Seedlings need to be watered well until they form root system and the young tree will grow stronger. Water it completely, irrigating the crown. In the future, water the thuja regularly so that the soil does not dry out. Be sure to spray the crown too.
The tree will develop well and grow quickly if you plant it in fertile, well-moistened soil and protect it from the winds. The tree tolerates crown formation very well, so you can trim it to give it the desired shape. Most often they form a pyramidal crown, or in the form of a ball. But in general, using your imagination, you can give it any desired shape.
Thuja tolerates sunlight well and also lives well in partial shade. But thick shadow she doesn't like it and may start dropping leaves.
In the spring, be sure to feed the tree with a special fertilizer for thuja or a Kemiru-universal solution. During the growing season, the soil at the roots must be loosened, but carefully so as not to damage them. Periodically mulch the tree trunk circles. Thuja must be covered for the winter.
Home plant care
As we have already found out, thuja can be grown at home in a tub or ceramic pot. In a specialized store you can buy a special, long-growing variety of thuja and grow a tree at home. This plant can easily tolerate the dry air of city apartments and will also withstand hot weather.
The young plant can first be transplanted into a small pot. As they grow, transplant into larger ones. If you transplant a young tree from a store into good nutritious soil, it will grow well. When the tree becomes mature, transplant it into a tub.
Thuja will become a real decoration of the living space in a city apartment. Its crown can also be shaped to your own taste, and the evergreen branches of the plant are especially pleasing in cold, snowy winters.
Just do not place the thuja in a dark room or in the shade. As a result, the branches will begin to thin out and the crown will lose its decorative appearance. For the same reason, thuja needs to be watered without allowing the soil to dry out too much. In general, watering is best done 2 times a week in the summer and 1 time in the winter. Just check if the soil in the tub is dry. When it's time to water, water well and spray with a spray bottle.
It will be useful to sometimes loosen the soil at the roots, as well as dig up the surface, mixing soil with sawdust. You can use peat.
Avoid sudden changes in temperature in the room where the thuja is located. This causes small cracks to appear on the trunk, which often harbor pests. They cause diseases, particularly fungi, that can destroy the plant. Therefore, carefully inspect your thuja. If there is damage to the trunk, spray it promptly by special means, cover up scratches. You can treat the tree with a foundation solution. Dilute the drug in a ratio of 10 g per 10 l. water at the rate of 1 g per 1 liter of water.
Protect thuja from any pets, but especially from cats. If a cat even once decides that the tub contains her cat litter, the tree will quickly die. Good luck to you, dear gardeners!
Of the numerous coniferous trees, the cypress family, in particular, the thuja, is in greatest demand among gardeners and summer residents - this unpretentious, evergreen tree pleases the eye in winter and summer and serves as an excellent decoration for any site. Thujas are planted along fences and paths, and they decorate resting areas, as thujas smell pleasant and fresh, and the trees purify the air around them with the phytoncides they release.
Thuja is also interesting for land owners because it can be propagated and grown at home without spending too much effort and money on it: purchasing seedlings in stores is not a cheap pleasure.
Growing thuja with seeds
This is what thuja seeds look like
If you are unable to provide for yourself the right amount cuttings, they resort to propagating the tree by seed.
This process is painstaking and lengthy (from 3-5 years), but it allows you to grow enough planting material to realize all your ideas, and the remaining specimens can be given as gifts to relatives or friends.
You need to start by preparing fresh seeds; they will ensure good germination.
The seed collection period occurs at the end of summer - beginning of autumn. Cones with seeds must be collected before they begin to open, and placed in a dry room until completely dry.
The seeds will be ready in 2-3 days, they will easily begin to spill out of the cones, small, brown or reddish.
After receiving the seeds, it is best to sow them in the near future, with long-term storage in warm rooms they lose germination percentage.
Autumn (early winter) sowing
We make grooves at a distance of 5-6 cm from each other
With this method of propagation, the crops will undergo natural stratification, which will ensure stronger seedlings and their active growth. To do this you will need:
- Matching wooden box fill with prepared soil consisting of 1 part turf soil, 2 parts peat, 0.5 parts fine-grained sand.
- Level and compact the soil.
- In-depth make grooves at a distance of 5–6 cm, slightly widening them for ease of sowing.
- Distribute the seeds evenly among the rows and sprinkle with a 1 cm thick layer of soil.
- Carefully water from, being careful not to wash the seeds.
Place the box in a convenient place outside, preferably under a spreading tree, so that the sun dries out the soil in the box less. And in the spring, the branches of the tree will protect the seedlings from direct sunlight. Moderate watering is required as the soil dries; seeds should not be watered, otherwise they will begin to rot.
Pre-winter sowing can be carried out directly into the ground, preparing a small bed in partial shade, because bright direct sun will be destructive for young seedlings. Care should be taken to ensure that pets do not enter the garden bed by fencing it or covering it with non-woven material.
Spring sowing
If the sowing of thuja seeds was planned for the spring, they must be hardened (stratified) so that the seedlings are strong and fully developed. You will need:
- Before the onset of cold weather, bury the seeds wrapped in a cloth shallowly in the ground and cover with a layer of fallen leaves.
- To prevent seeds from freezing, make sure that they are covered with snow or provide additional insulation.
- With the onset of spring, after the snow has melted, remove the seeds from the ground, transfer them to a suitable container, sprinkle with damp sand, and place in the refrigerator until sowing.
By the end of March - beginning of April, when the ground warms up, you can plan to sow the seeds in the ground. Sowing is done shallow, the distance between rows is 10-15 cm. The sown seeds are sprinkled completely thin layer soil and carefully watered.
Further care consists of regularly moistening the soil, killing weeds, and shading the seedlings from the sun.
You can plant each seed in a separate pot so that future sprouts grow and develop individually for a whole year, until the next transplant:
- Purchase special soil for coniferous plants in advance.
- Prepare pots or cups, pour a layer of drainage on the bottom, soil on top, compact it, and pour in a solution of potassium permanganate.
- Place the seeds that have been soaked a day before sowing and hatched in pots, pour warm water on top.
- Place the cups in a warm place and cover with foil on top.
- After the sprouts appear, take the cups to a cool, bright place. If the pubescent roots are on the surface, they should be sprinkled with sand and moistened with a spray bottle.
In the summer-autumn period, pots with young shoots can be taken outside and placed under a tree.
Caring for seedlings in boxes
- In the first year, seedlings grow only 7 cm, special care it is not required, the main requirements are watering, spraying, adding soil, fertilizing.
- Next year in the spring, they begin to pick seedlings into separate pots or cups with soil for coniferous plants. After the seedlings have taken root, they can be placed outside, finding a shaded place, regularly watering and inspecting the seedlings in order to identify diseased specimens in time. In winter, the cups are carried away into shelter.
- In the third year, the seedlings must again be transplanted into pots larger size , from May they can be safely taken outside, and in the fall they can be planted in a prepared permanent place, leaving the root collar at soil level.
Propagation of thuja by cuttings
Thuja cuttings need to be torn off with the heel
For cuttings, you can use the end of April, until the buds are completely swollen, or the middle - end of June, when the growth of shoots stops. Woody branches 30–40 cm long are taken from young healthy thujas, 2–3 years old. You need to tear off the cuttings so that along with them a piece of bark (“heel”) comes away from the mother tree.
Clear the lower edges of the broken branches 8-10 cm from the needles, soak in one of the root formation stimulants (proceed according to the instructions).
During this time, prepare a bed with suitable soil:
- peat;
- river sand;
- turf land.
The components are taken in equal quantities and mixed. The soil is brought into the garden bed, mixed with garden soil, and spilled with a solution of potassium permanganate. The cuttings are buried 2-3 cm, water to compact the soil around the cuttings. Further watering are replaced by spraying, this creates the required humidity.
Growing thuja from a twig
This method of propagation is almost no different from planting cuttings. From the middle part of a healthy tree you like, cut off branches 25–35 cm high with sharp scissors; the larger the branch, the better it will take root. The cut is treated with “Kornevin” or “Heteroauxin”, all lower leaves are deleted.
- A hole is prepared in a secluded, semi-shaded, humid place, the soil is loosened well, organic fertilizer is added, and water is spilled.
- After the soil is saturated with water, a thuja sprig is stuck in, the ground around it is slightly compacted.
- The planted branch is covered with a jar or transparent plastic bottle, the edges are sprinkled with earth, and again a little water is poured from a watering can.
The jar or bottle will need to be removed periodically for ventilation, but not earlier than 2 weeks after planting.
Rules for caring for thuja sprouts from cuttings and twigs
After rooting cuttings and twigs, they need regular watering (but not waterlogging), regular spraying of needles, fertilizing 2-3 times complex fertilizers, constant removal of weeds, frequent surface loosening of the soil.
Before the onset of cold weather, insulate the ground around the trunks with bark, dry leaves, sawdust or spruce branches, and wrap the upper part of young trees with film.
September next year is the time to transplant the grown trees to a permanent place.
It is important not to bury the trees, leave the root collar at soil level, deeper planting will lead to the death of the plant.
Tui is afraid of direct sunlight and drafts
Conical, pyramidal, egg-shaped, spherical - thujas will become a wonderful decoration for any garden if you provide them with proper care.
The landing site must be chosen such that:
- direct sunlight fell on the trees in the mornings or evenings, exposure to the daytime sun will dehydrate the needles, the plant will lose its beauty;
- thuja does not tolerate well strong winds and drafts, if it is planted in such a place, it will be difficult for it to endure winters;
- dense shadow will affect the density of the crown, it will be sparse and unattractive;
- Arborvitae love moist soil, but prolonged late-spring flooding will destroy them.
- Only a year after planting, when the tree is stronger and well rooted, can you begin to feed it.
To save correct form The trees need decorative pruning: from the age of two years, the branches that extend beyond the shape of the design idea are cut off with sharp pruning shears. Experienced gardeners They believe that it is better to do minor but frequent pruning.
