Content
Canadian spruce Sanders Blue is a new dwarf variety obtained from a mutation of the famous Konica in 1986. It quickly gained popularity not only due to its attractive appearance, but also due to the fact that it burns much less than other dwarf cultivars. This simplifies maintenance and provides more options for using Sanders Blue in landscaping.
Description of ate Sanders Blue
Sizaya Sanders Blue spruce grows taller than other dwarf varieties. By the age of 10, it reaches 0.7-1.5 m with a crown width of 35 to 80 cm. This difference is due to the fact that Canadian spruce and its varieties in Russia often grow much lower than at home.
In the first years, the tree adds from 2.5 to 5 cm per season. After 6-7 years, a jump occurs, and the annual growth reaches 15 cm. An intensive increase in the size of the crown continues until 12-15 years, then it slows down again and is 1-3 cm per season. The height of an adult Sanders Blue spruce tree, the photo of which is presented below, after 30 years is 2-3 m, the crown diameter is 1.5 m.
As you can see, the crown of the tree is conical. But if in a young Canadian spruce Sanders Blue it has the correct shape, then it deforms a little with age. In regular gardens, where clear lines are the basis of the style, this is corrected by pruning.
Sanders Blue differs in that its young growth is colored blue. Over time, it turns green, but not evenly, but in spots. This feature is clearly visible in the photo of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, and is rarely found in the descriptions of the variety. Mature needles go green in winter with a faint bluish tint.
The tree forms a dense crown due to the short internodes of the raised branches. Young needles are soft, with age the needles become sharp and tough, but not as much as in the Spruce. The root system first grows in depth, then goes horizontally and eventually spreads far beyond the crown projection.
It is assumed that the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce will live at least 50 years. While this is not reliably known, since the variety is quite young. Bumps are extremely rare.
Canadian spruce Sanders Blue in landscape design
The Sanders Blue variety is not yet widespread enough, but has great prospects for use in landscape design. It fade in the sun less than other dwarf Canadian spruces.
Competent designers do not use Sanders Blue as a tapeworm. If someone sees a beautiful photograph of a single tree in a rock garden, next to a fountain, statue, or in front of a monument, it should be called a garden composition, not a single focal plant.
Canadian spruce Sanders Blue looks good in rockeries, rock gardens, flower beds and rabat beds. It is planted alongside heathers and other conifers with green needles as an accent. Ate Sanders Blue will decorate the front entrance to the house in regular plantings, placed along the garden path, and as a framing of the lawn.
Spruce Sanders Blue can be planted in containers. But when the tree grows, it becomes difficult to move it from place to place. Shelter for the winter will become a must and not an easy procedure.
Planting and caring for Sanders Blue spruce
Although in the description of the Sanders Blue glauca spruce, it is always noted that the variety suffers less from the sun's rays than other low-growing varieties, caring for the tree does not become easier. This only gives a lot of freedom when placing it on the site.
Seedling and planting plot preparation
For the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, you can choose a sunny area, but it will grow well in partial shade. The complete absence of light will weaken the tree and make the color of the needles faded. The best soil is loam or sandy loam with an acidic or slightly acidic reaction, loose, well permeable to water and air. If there are stones in the soil, it is not necessary to choose them, the Canadian spruce is a typical mountain plant. Groundwater should not approach the surface closer than 1.5 m.
The planting hole is dug at a depth of at least 70 cm, with a diameter of 60 cm. They make a drainage layer of expanded clay or red broken brick of 20 cm. The nutrient mixture is prepared from leaf humus, sod soil, sour peat, sand, clay and up to 150 g of nitroammofoska. If there is brick chips, they are added to the substrate.
You need to buy imported seedlings only in a container, grown in domestic nurseries can be sewn into sacking. With an open root, the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce can only be taken if it is dug up in the presence of buyers. Immediately, the root system must be wrapped in a damp cloth, and if the tree is without an earthen clod, it must be dipped in a clay mash and wrapped in cling film.
Landing rules
It is best to plant conifers in late autumn, in the south they do it all winter. Spruce grown in a container can be placed on the site at any time, except for the hot summer months. In Siberia, the Urals and the North-West, even the planting of spruce with an open root system can be postponed in the spring. To do this, choose a cool, cloudy day.
Before planting the Canadian spruce, the Sanders Blue pit is filled with 2/3 of the nutrient mixture, completely filled with water, and left for at least 2 weeks.
Landing Algorithm:
- Part of the soil is taken out of the pit.
- A tree is placed in the center. The position of the neck should be at ground level.
- Cover the root with soil, compact it.
- Check if the root collar has shifted.
- A roller is made from the remaining soil along the perimeter of the crown.
- The Canadian Sanders Blue spruce is watered abundantly. The water should reach the edge of the earthen roller enclosing the trunk circle and be absorbed.
- The soil under the seedling is mulched with pine bark treated with a fungicide or sour peat.
Watering and feeding
After planting, the soil under the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce should be moist without drying out. In the future, watering is reduced. Spruce tolerates a short waterlogging of the soil, but constant stagnation of water will cause the death of the tree. Locking of the root collar should not be allowed. During hot summers, weekly watering may be required.
The Sanders Blue Canadian spruce is sensitive to lack of moisture in the air. It is necessary to regularly sprinkle the crown, in the heat - every day early in the morning or at 17-18 pm.
Until 10 years old, it is necessary to regularly feed the spruce, after that it is desirable. It is better to use special seasonal fertilizers for conifers - there all substances are balanced and selected in accordance with the requirements of the crop. Nitrogen prevails in spring dressings, phosphorus and potassium in autumn ones.
Foliar dressing is of great importance. It is better to give them in a chelated form together with epin or zircon alternately. Starting from the second half of summer, magnesium sulfate is added to the cylinder.
Mulching and loosening
The Canadian Sanders Blue spruce does not like soil compaction, but it needs to be loosened only in the first 2 seasons after planting. Then the root system will grow and thin sucking processes will come close to the surface, you should not disturb them unnecessarily. Loosening is replaced by mulching using high-moor peat or processed bark sold in garden centers.
Pruning
The Canadian Sanders Blue spruce at a young age has a symmetrical crown that does not require formative pruning. Over time, it becomes not so smooth, but it still remains beautiful. Spruce tolerates a haircut well, but it should be done only if the site design requires strict symmetry of the tree.
It is difficult to carry out sanitary pruning - the numerous branches inside the crown, having lost their needles, quickly dry out. They can be removed only by pushing apart dense, densely covered with needles shoots. It will take a lot of time, so sanitary pruning is replaced by cleaning.
Crown cleaning
The sun's rays do not fall inside the dense crown of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, and if you do not push the branches, then moisture during sprinkling and processing. It is dry and dust accumulates there, which is fertile ground for the appearance and reproduction of mites. Such a spruce no longer purifies the air on the site, but pollutes it itself.
To correct the situation, the crown is sprinkled, but this is not enough. At least three times a year, you need to clean the dwarf Canadian spruce on dry needles:
- the first two times in the spring, before the buds open, with an interval of 14 days;
- the third - in late autumn, before the last fungicide treatment.
Cleaning should be done only by taking protective measures so that small particles of dry needles and bark do not get into the eyes or nasopharynx - they can irritate the mucous membrane. A respirator, goggles and gloves are the minimum required, it is advisable to remove your hair and put on oversleeves.
The branches of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce are gently pushed apart with their hands and broken off the dried shoots, if this can be done without effort. Needles are simply peeled off stubborn shoots. You cannot leave them on the lower branches or on the ground. Dry needles and dead shoots are carefully collected and destroyed.
Preparing for winter
Jan Van der Neer recommends growing Canadian Sanders Blue spruce without shelter in the frost-hardiness zone 4. Foreign nurseries claim that it hibernates in the third without any problems. In any case, in the year of planting, the seedling must be protected with spruce branches or wrapped in a non-woven white material, and the soil must be mulched with sour peat. In the spring, it is not harvested, but shallowly embedded in the soil.
In subsequent years, mulching is necessary, and gardeners build a shelter in accordance with their own climatic conditions. It should be done not in autumn, but when the temperature reaches about -10 ° C.
To survive the winter of Canadian spruce, moisture will help, feeding with phosphorus and potassium at the end of the season.
Sun protection
Despite the fact that the needles of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce suffer from the sun much less than that of other varieties, the tree still needs to be covered in late winter and early spring. The rays reflected from the snow fall on the crown and contribute to the evaporation of moisture, and the root is not yet able to replenish its shortage, since it is in the frozen ground.
In the summer, sprinkling of the crown should be carried out - the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, even if it does not burn (which is not excluded), it still feels uncomfortable in the heat. It is also beneficial for hygienic reasons and is the best prevention against mites.
Reproduction
Cones appear on the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce very rarely; species grow from their seeds. The variety is propagated by grafts, which can only be done by specialists, or by cuttings throughout the season.
For amateurs, the best time for this operation is spring. This makes the cuttings easier to control during the season, but they still root poorly. There will be a lot of lunges.
Cuttings 10-15 cm long are taken from the middle part of the crown together with the heel - a piece of the bark of the older shoot. The lower part is freed from needles, treated with a rooting stimulator and planted in sand, perlite, a mixture of peat and sand to a depth of 2-3 cm.The containers are kept in a cool shaded place and watered regularly, preventing the substrate from drying out even for a short time.
When the roots appear, the engrafted cuttings are planted in an individual container with a more nutritious mixture and a drainage layer. Young plants are moved to a permanent place when side shoots appear.
Diseases and pests
Sanders Blue, like other dense-crowned Canadian spruces, is particularly affected by ticks. Acaricides act best against them. Insecticides will help control such pests:
- caterpillars of butterflies nuns;
- hermes;
- a spruce sawmill;
- mealybug;
- gall aphids;
- spruce leaf roll.
Fungicides are used when diseases appear:
- rust;
- shute;
- spruce whirlpool;
- various rot;
- wound cancer;
- fusarium;
- necrosis.
To start treatment in a timely manner, the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce must be examined with a magnifying glass every week.
Reviews of Canadian spruce Sanders Blue
Conclusion
Spruce Canadian Sanders Blue quickly gained popularity due to the original color of the crown and small size. You can place the tree in the shade and in the sun. Although the variety needs careful care, if everything is done correctly and on time, in practice everything will not be so difficult.
