Coniferous trees - characteristics of different types, rules of planting and care, how to use them in landscape design?

Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: Garden plants Published: February 25, 2019Last edits: November 03, 2020

plant (lat. Abies) represents a genus of the Pine family. The Russian name of the plant comes from the German word Fichte, which means “spruce”. Spruce-fir is widespread in subtropical, temperate and even tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. Most often, fir lives in coniferous forests, in proximity to trees such as cedar, spruce and pine, but it is also found in mixed and even deciduous forests. The genus has about 50 varieties - from shrubs 50 cm high to trees 80 m high. Currently, decorative fir is incredibly in demand in landscaping both personal plots and public parks and squares. She is beautiful and unpretentious. Disadvantages include low frost resistance, as well as fir intolerance to smoke, gas and too dry air.

Planting and caring for fir

• Planting: planting four-year-old seedlings in the ground - at the end of August or at the beginning of September, but it is also possible in April.
• Flowering: grown as an ornamental foliage plant.
• Lighting: shade or partial shade, preferably near a pond.
• Soil: Moist, well-drained, rich, preferably loamy.
• Mulching: in the spring with a layer of peat, wood chips or sawdust 5-6 cm thick.
• Watering: moisture-loving species are watered 2-3 times per season during the dry period, spending 15-20 liters of water on each plant. Other types of fir do not require artificial watering.
• Top dressing: with mineral complexes, in the spring, from the third or fourth year after planting in the ground.
• Pruning: mainly for sanitary purposes in early spring, before sap begins to flow.
• Reproduction: species firs can be propagated by seeds, but cultivars can only be propagated by cuttings, since the seed method does not preserve the varietal characteristics of the parent plant.
• Pests: spruce-fir hermes (a type of aphid), spider mites, click beetles, fir longhorned beetles, beetles.
• Diseases: rust, root rot.

Read more about growing fir below.

Pruning coniferous trees

Such a necessary event as pruning coniferous trees in the spring is completely easy. There are several mandatory requirements.

1. Coniferous shrubs and trees should be pruned no earlier than next year after planting.
2. There is no need to cut off more than 30% at once, and you should not leave bare branches.
3. When pruning, you need to wear gloves and special clothes; you won’t be able to wash them off the resin afterwards.
4. Tools must be well sharpened and wiped after each use of pine wood.

Botanical description

Fir is a monoecious plant, evergreen, heat-loving and shade-tolerant. Its root system is powerful, pivotal, and goes deep into the ground. Fir bark in young years is thin and smooth, but with age it becomes thick and cracked. The crown is cone-shaped, starting right at the base of the trunk - this is what distinguishes fir from other coniferous trees. Fir branches are arranged ring-shaped and horizontal, fir leaves are flat, entire-edged soft needles, narrowed at the base into a short petiole.

Fir needles do not acquire a dirty red hue in winter, as happens with many other conifers; each fir needle is decorated with two white stripes on the bottom. On reproductive branches the needles are pointed, on vegetative shoots they have a slightly notched or rounded tip. Male flowers look like earrings of cones, and female flowers are ovoid, cylindrical or ovoid-cylindrical, with cones sticking up (another difference between fir and other conifers, whose cones usually hang). Female fir cones consist of a rod on which cover scales sit, inside which there are fruit scales bearing two ovules. Fir trees are pollinated by the wind.

When fir seeds ripen, the scales on the cones become woody and fall off, releasing the winged seeds and leaving only the stems on the tree. In cultivation in one place, fir can live up to three hundred years.

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Coniferous tree diseases

Common coniferous tree species are susceptible to the following diseases:

• fusarium and root rots;
• Alternaria blight;
• mold;
• infectious drying of branches;
• resin cancer (silver grass, seryanka) of pine;
• rust cancer (blister rust) of Weymouth and cedar pine;
• fir rust cancer;
• larch cancer;
• canker of pine and spruce;
• shoot cancer;
• necrosis of shoots and trunks of coniferous trees;
• rust of pine shoots (pine spinner);
• Schutte (brown, snowy, real), its causative agent is fungi - ascomycetes, which penetrate into the wood itself.

Fir planting

When to plant

To plant in the ground, you will need fir seedlings at least four years old. They need to be planted in April, or even better in late August or early September, and it is advisable to choose a rainy or cloudy day for planting. A place for fir is chosen in the shade or partial shade in areas with moist, rich, well-drained soil, ideally it should be loam. It’s great if there is a body of water not far from the place where the fir will grow.

How to plant

Two weeks before planting the fir, dig a hole approximately 60x60x60 in size, although the dimensions of the hole depend on the volume of the root system of the seedling. Pour 2-3 buckets of water into the hole, and when it is absorbed, dig up the bottom with half a shovel and place a layer of crushed stone or broken brick 5-6 cm thick in the hole. Then fill the hole halfway with thoroughly mixed soil of the following composition: 3 parts humus, 2 parts of clay, 1 part of peat and sand, 10 kg of sawdust and 200-300 g of nitrophoska.

After two weeks, when the soil in the hole has settled, lower the roots of the seedling into it so that the root collar is flush with the surface of the site - it is most convenient to install the seedling on a mound of soil mixture. Straighten the roots of the seedling, fill the hole to the top with nutritious soil of the composition described above and compact it thoroughly. After planting, water the fir. If you decide to grow a fir alley, place the seedlings at a distance of 4-5 m from each other. Group planting of fir trees requires a distance between seedlings of 3-3.5 m for loose groups and 2.5 m for dense groups.

Pine: cones and needles

Medicines made from pine cones and needles are used as an external remedy; they are taken orally during exacerbation of gastrointestinal tract disease. Both pine needles and cones are used only fresh.

Infusion of pine needles for insomnia:

Pour 250g of pine needles with two liters of boiling water, leave for 20 minutes, strain. Add to your evening bath.

Infusion of pine needles for rubbing for arthritis:

Pour 10 g of pine needles into 0.5 cups of hot water, simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, strain.

Tincture of pine cones for gastritis:

Pour one teaspoon of raw material with 10 parts of 40 percent alcohol, leave in a dark place for 7 days, strain. take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day before meals.

Fir care in the garden

Growing conditions

When caring for seedlings, loosen the soil to a depth of 10-12 cm after watering and remove weeds. It is advisable to mulch the trunk circle of young plants with a diameter of 50 cm with wood chips, sawdust or peat, a layer of mulch - 5-8 cm, just make sure that the mulch does not lie close to the root collar of the fir. It will be necessary to feed the fir after planting only after 2-3 years, adding 100-125 g of Kemira-universal to the tree trunk in the spring. You will only need to water the fir if you are growing a moisture-loving species, for example, balsam fir, which requires watering 2-3 times a season during dry times.

The amount of water per watering is 15-20 liters. Other species do not need artificial watering - firs do not like waterlogging; natural precipitation is enough for them.

As for pruning, in the spring, before the sap begins to flow, dry and damaged branches are removed, and the fir crown is formed, if necessary. Pruning is done with garden shears. During one haircut, shoots are shortened by no more than a third of their length. In general, fir has a natural, neat crown that does not require shaping.

Transfer

Compared to other plants, coniferous trees adapt quite easily after transplantation. If you decide to transplant a young plant, use a sharp shovel to pierce the soil in a circle at a distance of 30-40 cm from the trunk, then use a shovel to pry this marked circle at the depth of the bayonet, take it out along with the roots and a lump of earth, transport it in a wheelbarrow to a new hole and carefully move into her. An older tree needs to be prepared for replanting: the soil should be pierced in a circle a year before replanting, and the diameter of the circle in this case should be larger.

Over the course of a year, the fir will grow new young roots inside the designated circle and, thanks to this, will more easily withstand the test of replanting. It will be difficult for one person to just remove the fir from the ground, transport it and plant it in a new place, so look for an assistant. The main thing in this process is to prevent the earthen lump from falling apart.

Pests and diseases

As you can see, planting and caring for fir is simple, and the plant will not require any special skills or effort from you. Fir is quite resistant against such troubles as diseases and pests, however, there are cases when fir loses its decorative effect due to spruce-fir Hermes - a type of aphid, from whose vital activity the fir turns yellow.

To combat Hermes, use the preparations Rogor or Antio: in early spring, when overwintered female aphids wake up, treat the fir with a solution of one of these preparations at the rate of 20 g per 10 liters of water. These insecticides will also save your tree from other harmful insects - fir shoot moth and fir pinecone leaf roller.

Sometimes the needles of a beautiful fir begin to turn yellow, and rusty cushions form on the shoots, and the reason for this is the fungal disease rust. The affected branches are cut off and burned along with fallen pine needles, the sections are treated with garden varnish, and the crown is sprayed with a two percent solution of Bordeaux mixture. And carefully inspect the area: plants such as chickweed or chickweed should not be there where conifers grow.

Coniferous trees in landscape design

It is very good to use coniferous trees in the garden. They absorb dust, dirt and release large amounts of oxygen, and they are simply very beautiful. Here are some principles for their placement:

1. Large single plants are best placed in the center or along the borders of the site.
2. Cypress, thuja and juniper make beautiful hedges; these are ideal coniferous trees for the garden.
3. The contrast of coniferous and deciduous plants, roses, rhododendrons looks very good. Exceptions are birch and bird cherry.
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4. Trimmed pyramidally, they look best; they divide the area into parts.
5. Plants with different colors and shapes look good on the site, with winter-hardy coniferous trees placed in the foreground, those with a lush crown in the background, and then creeping plants.

Fir propagation

Reproduction methods

Species fir is propagated by seeds, which are harvested at the very beginning of the ripening of cones, and decorative varieties are taken from cuttings.

Propagation by cuttings

Cuttings for rooting 5-8 cm long should be taken only from young trees, and these should be annual shoots with one (not two - this is important) apical bud and always with a heel. If you want to get a cutting with a heel, then it is better not to cut it, but to tear it off with a sharp movement along with fragments of the bark and wood of a more mature shoot. Cuttings should be harvested in the spring, before sap flow begins, on a cloudy morning from the middle part of the crown on its northern side. Before planting, carefully remove burrs from the heel.

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Make sure that the bark on the heel does not peel off from the wood. To avoid the further development of fungal diseases, the cuttings are kept for 6 hours in a two percent solution of Fundazol, captan or a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. Then the cuttings are planted in a mixture of sand, humus and leaf soil in equal parts and covered with a transparent cap. In order for the cuttings to take root faster, it is advisable to arrange the bottom heating of the substrate 2-3ºC above room temperature. The cuttings should be kept in a bright, but not sunny place, with daily ventilation.

For the winter, the container with cuttings can be moved to the basement, and in the spring it can be taken out into the fresh air. It will take a long time for the cuttings to take root - the fir will first grow callus, and only in the second year will roots appear.

Growing from seeds

Collecting fir seeds is not easy, since the cones of mature trees ripen high, and as soon as they ripen, the winged seeds from them immediately scatter. But if you are lucky enough to get a slightly unripe cone, dry it, remove the seeds and store them in the refrigerator or in the basement with high humidity until sowing - fir seeds need stratification before planting. In April, the seeds are sown in a bed to a depth of 2 cm in soil made of sand and turf and covered with film without watering to avoid the formation of a crust on the surface of the soil and to speed up the emergence of seedlings.

When the sprouts sprout after 3-4 weeks, start watering, loosening and weeding the beds. In the first winter, the seedlings are covered with spruce branches. Next year you can plant the seedling in a permanent place. Fir from seeds initially grows very slowly: in four years it reaches a height of 30-40 cm, since it mainly develops the root system. But then growth accelerates noticeably.

Fir in winter

Autumn work

The firs recommended for planting in the middle zone tolerate our winters well, but young plants must be covered with spruce branches and the trunk circle mulched with peat or dry leaves with a layer of 10-12 cm.

Wintering fir in the country

Adult plants overwinter without shelter, but at the end of winter you need to cover the fir trees with non-woven material to protect them from the spring sun - they can be seriously damaged by its rays, which are too bright at this time.

Types and varieties

Among the large number of species and varieties of fir, there are plants that are more and less in demand in culture. We offer you an introduction to the most popular of them.

Balsam fir (Abies balsamea)

It grows in nature in Canada and the USA, its habitat in the north is limited to the tundra, and in mountainous areas it can be found at an altitude of 1500 to 2000 m. It is a shade-tolerant, frost-resistant fir, which, unfortunately, is not distinguished by longevity - it lives no more than 200 years. Balsam fir is a tree with a height of 15 to 25 m with a trunk thickness of 50-70 cm. The bark on young trees is smooth, ash-gray in color; on older trees, the bark is reddish-brown, fissured. The buds are resinous, greenish with a pale lilac tint, ovoid or spherical.

The needles, 15 to 30 mm long, shiny, dark green with stomatal lines along the entire leaf, blunt or slightly notched at the top, do not fall off for 4-7 years; when rubbed, they emit a pleasant smell. The cones are oval-cylindrical, 5-10 cm in height, 2-2.5 cm in width, unripe have a dark purple hue, when ripe they become brown, very resinous.

This species has been in culture since 1697. Balsam fir is used in single and small group plantings. Known forms:

• Hudsonia is a dwarf mountain fir with a wide crown, very dense branches and short numerous shoots. The needles are also short, wide and flat, black-green on the upper side and greenish-blue on the lower side. In culture since 1810;
• Nana - fir height is no more than 50 cm, the crown is rounded, up to 2.5 m in diameter, the branches are spreading, horizontal, dense, the needles are short, thick, very dark green, yellow-green on the underside with two white-blue stripes. In culture since 1850. Used for landscaping terraces, roofs, rocky gardens.

Other forms of balsam fir grown in cultivation include gray, silver, variegated, columnar, prostrate and dwarf.

Korean fir (Abies koreana)

It grows in the mountains of the south of the Korean Peninsula at an altitude of 1800 m, forming pure and mixed forests. At a young age it grows very slowly, but with age it accelerates. The height of the Korean fir is about 15 m, the trunk is from 50 to 80 cm in diameter, the crown is cone-shaped, the bark of young trees is smooth, ashen, sometimes with a purple tint, while that of old trees is chestnut with deep cracks. The buds are slightly resinous, almost round, the needles are thick, hard, the needles are saber-shaped, with a notch at the top, dark green on the upper side, silvery on the lower side due to two wide stomatal stripes.

The cones are cylindrical, 5-7 cm long, up to 3 cm in diameter, purple-lilac when young. Fir was brought to Europe in 1905. In decorative terms, this beautiful and winter-hardy species with two-color needles has no equal.

It was the planting of Korean fir that was described in this article, just as the care of Korean fir was the basis for the subsection on caring for plants of the fir genus. Varieties of Korean fir:

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• Blue Standard - very similar in characteristics to the original species, only its cones are dark purple;
• Brevifolia is a slow-growing cultivar with a rounded dense crown, but with looser needles than the original species, swamp-green above and whitish-gray below. The cones are purple, small;
• Piccolo - height is only 30 cm, the crown is spreading, horizontal, with a diameter of up to one and a half meters in an adult plant. Needles, like the original species.

Caucasian fir, or Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana)

It is a Caucasian endemic, as it grows naturally only in the Caucasus Mountains. This is a tree up to 60 m high and a trunk up to 2 m thick, with a dense, branched, low-slung crown of a narrow conical shape with a sharp apex, which is not so pronounced in adulthood. The bark is smooth and shiny, but from the age of eighty deep cracks begin to appear on it. The buds are ovoid, almost without resin. The needles are up to 40 mm long, up to 2.5 mm wide, dark green on the upper side, with two white stripes on the lower side, on vegetative shoots the tips are notched, on cone-bearing shoots they are softly pointed. The cones, up to 20 cm long and up to 5 cm in diameter, are green when young and dark brown, resinous when mature.

This fast-growing species lives up to 500 years. The following forms of Caucasian fir are known: erect, weeping, golden, golden-tipped, white-tipped and gray.

Single color fir (Abies concolor)

This is the queen of firs native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, where it can be found in river canyons and on mountain slopes at an altitude of 2000 to 3000 m above sea level. This is one of the most drought-resistant species, with a lifespan of three and a half centuries. The height of single-color fir is from 40 to 60 m, the thickness of the trunk is up to 2 m, the crown is cone-shaped, quite dense in youth, and becomes much thinner in old age. The old bark is ash-gray, rough, and full of cracks. Spherical, resinous yellow-green buds reach a diameter of 5 cm. Bluish-green needles up to 7 cm long, up to 3 mm wide, with a notched rounded tip, have stomatal lines on both the upper and lower sides. The cones are oval-cylindrical, up to 14 cm long and up to 5 cm wide, purple or green when immature, light brown when mature.

In culture since 1831. Fir looks most impressive in autumn against the background of yellowing larches. The most famous decorative forms:

• Compacta fir is a dwarf-sized shrub cultivar with outstretched branches and blue needles. It is sometimes called Compacta Glauca;
• Violacea is a fast-growing tree up to 8 m high with a wide cone-shaped crown and long blue-white needles. It is highly decorative and drought-resistant.

Siberian fir (Abies sibirica)

It grows in the northeast of the Russian Federation in the highlands and river valleys. This shade-tolerant, winter-hardy species is protected by the state. Siberian fir is the most famous representative of the genus. This is a tree up to 30 m high with a narrow cone-shaped crown. The gray bark, smooth along almost the entire length of the trunk, cracks in the lower part. The needles are narrow, soft, shiny, up to 3 cm long, dark green on top and with two white stripes on the bottom. The cones are erect, light brown when ripe.

Varieties: blue, white, variegated, elegant and others.

In addition to those described by us, in the culture there are subalpine, Fraser, whole-leaved, equal-scaled, Semenova, Sakhalin, myra, graceful, cephalin or Greek, tall, Vicha, white-barked or bud-scaled, white or European and Arizona.

What does a fir tree look like?

The external characteristics of the plant directly depend on the varietal. Most species are tall, erect, with massive trunks and a dense crown. The lower branches on mature plants are located almost close to the ground.

The crown is spreading and dense. It has a cone shape. There are also spherical varieties. The diameter of the fir crown on large varieties reaches up to 12 m.

The plant has a powerful tap-type root system. Underground shoots go to considerable depths.

On young fir trees the bark is soft, smooth, practically without cracks or tubercles. As it grows, it coarsens, becomes hard and thick, and large cracks appear on it.

Fir is a tree or shrub

There are about 50 plant species. Among them there are both tall and dwarf varieties.

Despite the existence of dwarf varieties, fir is a tree. However, low-growing varieties are often called bush varieties due to their compact size.

Fir is a coniferous or deciduous tree

The species identity of the plant leaves no doubt. Representatives of the fir genus of the Pine family are classified as coniferous trees. They have a characteristic foliage structure and shape.

The needles retain color regardless of the time of year

Another feature of the tree is that the needles do not fall off. They fall only on dry branches.

How tall is a fir tree

The largest specimens grow up to 60 m. Such trees are found in coniferous forests.

The average height is 7-8 meters. As an ornamental plant, varieties of 4-6 m with a crown diameter of up to 3 m are grown. Such sizes are considered optimal for planting in small areas.

Length and location of fir needles

The branches are characterized by an annular-horizontal arrangement. The foliage is pointed, flat, soft. In small varieties, the length of fir needles reaches 13-14 cm.

On average, needles grow to 6-8 cm.

Important! Fir trees often have an asymmetrical shape. This is due to uneven growth of branches due to insufficient light.

The needles on the shoots are arranged spirally. There are buds of a spherical, less often cone-shaped form.

What do fir cones look like?

Formed at the ends of branches. A distinctive feature is that the cones are directed upwards. Moreover, they crumble without falling off the tree. As a result, thin rods remain on the branches.

In the photo of fir with cones you can see that they have an oblong oval shape. Consist of 50-60 scales. The ovoid or wedge-shaped seeds ripen after flowering and subsequently become woody.

When and how fir blooms + photo

In the first few years the tree grows very slowly. Usually it begins to bloom 3-4 years after planting. On tall varieties, bright cones appear only at 50-60 years of age.

Flowering occurs in early or mid-May

Erect cones of purple or pink color are characteristic of female fir specimens. On males, earrings are formed, consisting of numerous spherical formations containing pollen sacs.

The flowering period varies depending on the variety and can last up to 2-3 months.

Pollen transfer occurs through the air. Fertilization occurs within 1 month from the moment of pollination. Cones with mature seeds fall off in September.

Properties of fir

Fir is a special plant even among conifers. Its wood does not contain resinous substances, so musical instruments are made from it and ships are built. Fir bark is a raw material for valuable balsam, and needles and branches are used for fir oil. A decoction is prepared from the needles and bark, which reduces the acidity of the stomach, increases efficiency and immunity, and relieves toothache.

Fir resin is a good antiseptic used in folk medicine to lubricate wounds, cuts, abrasions and ulcers. Early settlers to America and its indigenous inhabitants widely used fir resin, which has a pleasant taste, for medicinal purposes: it was used to treat bronchitis, cough, sore throat and even tuberculosis, as well as cancer, dysentery, otitis, inflammation of the mucous membranes, and some urogenital diseases (for example , gonorrhea and vaginal infections), scurvy, rheumatism, muscle and joint pain.

Medicines containing an extract based on fir cell sap are used in the treatment of rheumatism, inflammatory processes, infectious diseases, chronic and acute heart failure. Consumption of fir cell sap:

• stimulates hematopoiesis;
• strengthens the immune system, restores the body's protective function;
• has an anti-inflammatory effect in the treatment of pulmonary diseases;
• serves as a prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases;
• prevents the development of hypertension;
• improves the functioning of the excretory organs;
• normalizes the functioning of the stomach and intestines;
• replenishes the lack of vitamins, micro- and macroelements in the body;
• protects against the effects of radiation;
• relieves stress, has an antioxidant effect and increases the body's resistance to adverse environmental factors.

Fir juice comes on sale in the form of phyto-cocktails, which are ready for use, and in its natural form - this liquid can only be consumed internally in a diluted form.

Fir essential oil helps even in cases in which various chemotherapy drugs are powerless, for example, it slows down and even stops the growth of cancer cells. The oil enters the blood immediately and is collected at the site of the disease, bypassing the digestive organs, and therefore without decomposing. Its combat component is camphor.

Fir oil is a universal medicine that has bactericidal, antiseptic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, restorative, soothing and tonic effects. It is widely used not only in medicine, but also in cosmetology to treat acne, lichen, furunculosis, relieve swelling, smooth out wrinkles, eliminate sagging skin, warts and other skin problems.

The use of fir and medicines made from it requires compliance with certain rules: during treatment it is necessary to refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages, even weak ones, since alcohol neutralizes the effect of the drugs. Stop taking fir medications if you find that your body is intolerant to them. Patients with epilepsy, gastritis or gastric ulcers and those with kidney pathology should not be treated with fir. This is contraindicated for pregnant and lactating women, as well as children.

Improper use of drugs or violation of dosage can cause an allergic reaction. If you experience itching, swelling and red spots on the skin, it is better to stop taking the drug. If you don’t know how the body will react to fir, do a test: drop 10-15 drops of oil or juice on the back of your hand or leg and rub thoroughly into the skin. If the allergy does not appear within the next two to three days, you can take the drug, but be sure to consult your doctor about the dosage.