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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 because it burns much less than other dwarf cultivars. This simplifies maintenance and provides more opportunities for using Sanders Blue in landscape design.
Description of Sanders Blue spruce
Gray Spruce Sanders Blue 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 significantly lower than in their homeland.
In the first years, the tree gains from 2.5 to 5 cm per season. After 6-7 years, a jump occurs, and the annual growth reaches 15 cm. The intensive increase in crown size continues until 12-15 years, then it slows down again and amounts to 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 the young Canadian spruce Sanders Blue has the correct shape, then with age it becomes slightly deformed. In formal gardens, where clear outlines are the basis of style, this is corrected by pruning.
Sanders Blue is different in that its young growth is 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, but is rarely found in descriptions of the variety. Mature needles go into winter green with a faint bluish tint.
The tree forms a dense crown thanks to the short internodes of raised branches. Young needles are soft, with age the needles become sharp and hard, but not as much as those of the Prickly Spruce. The root system first grows deep, then goes horizontally and over time spreads far beyond the crown projection.
The Canadian Sanders Blue spruce is expected to live for at least 50 years. This is not yet known for certain, since the variety is quite young. Cones appear extremely rarely.
Canadian Sanders Blue spruce in landscape design
The Sanders Blue variety is not yet widespread, but has great prospects for use in landscape design. It fades less in the sun than other dwarf Canadian spruce trees.
Competent designers do not use Sanders Blue as a solitaire. If one saw a beautiful photograph of a single tree in a rock garden, next to a fountain, a statue, or in front of a monument, it should be called a garden arrangement rather than a single focal plant.
Canadian spruce Sanders Blue looks good in rock gardens, rock gardens, flower beds and ridges. It is planted next to heathers and other conifers with green needles as an accent.Sanders Blue spruces will decorate the front entrance to the house in regular plantings, placed along the garden path, and as a border for the lawn.
Sanders Blue spruce can be planted in containers. But when the tree grows, it becomes difficult to move it from place to place. Sheltering for the winter will become a mandatory and not so simple procedure.
Planting and caring for Sanders Blue spruce
Although in the description of the Sanders Blue spruce it is always noted that the variety suffers less from sun rays than other low-growing varieties, caring for the tree does not become any easier. This only gives greater freedom when placing it on the site.
Preparing seedlings and planting area
For the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, you can choose a sunny area, but it will also grow well in partial shade. A complete lack of light will weaken the tree and make the color of the needles fade. 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; Canadian spruce is a typical mountain plant. Groundwater should not approach the surface closer than 1.5 m.
The planting hole is dug with a depth of at least 70 cm and a diameter of 60 cm. A drainage layer of expanded clay or broken red brick is made of 20 cm. The nutrient mixture is prepared from leaf humus, turf soil, acidic peat, sand, clay and up to 150 g of nitroammophosphate. If there are brick chips, they are added to the substrate.
Imported seedlings need to be purchased only in a container; those grown in domestic nurseries can be sewn into burlap.Bare-root Canadian Sanders Blue spruce can be taken only if it is dug up in the presence of buyers. The root system should be immediately wrapped in a damp cloth, and if the tree does not have an earthen ball, it should be lowered into a clay mash and wrapped in cling film.
Landing rules
It is best to plant conifers in late autumn; in the south they do this all winter. Spruce grown in a container can be placed on the site at any time except during 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 until spring. To do this, choose a cool, cloudy day.
Before planting the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, the hole is filled 2/3 with a nutrient mixture, completely filled with water, and left for at least 2 weeks.
Landing algorithm:
- Part of the soil is removed from the hole.
- A tree is placed in the center. The position of the neck should be at ground level.
- Cover the root with soil and compact it.
- Check to see if the root collar has moved.
- A roller is made from the remaining soil around the perimeter of the crown.
- Canadian Sanders Blue spruce is watered abundantly. The water should reach the edge of the earthen roller enclosing the tree trunk circle and be absorbed.
- The soil under the seedling is mulched with fungicide-treated pine bark or acidic peat.
Watering and fertilizing
After planting, the soil under the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce should be moist without drying out. In the future, watering is reduced. Spruce tolerates short-term waterlogging of the soil, but constant stagnation of water will cause the death of the tree. The root collar should not be allowed to become soaked. During hot summers, weekly watering may be required.
Canadian Sanders Blue spruce is sensitive to lack of moisture in the air.It is necessary to regularly sprinkle the crown, in hot weather - every day early in the morning or at 17-18 pm.
Before 10 years of age, it is mandatory to regularly feed the spruce; after that, it is advisable. It is better to use special seasonal fertilizers for coniferous plants - all substances are balanced and selected in accordance with the requirements of the crop. Nitrogen predominates in spring fertilizing, while phosphorus and potassium predominate in autumn fertilizing.
Foliar feeding is of great importance. It is better to give them in 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
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 shoots will come close to the surface; you should not disturb them unless absolutely necessary. Loosening is replaced by mulching, using high-moor peat or treated bark, sold in garden centers.
Trimming
At a young age, the Sanders Blue Canadian spruce has a symmetrical crown that does not require formative pruning. Over time, it becomes less smooth, but still remains beautiful. Spruce tolerates pruning well, but it should only be done if the design of the site 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 only be removed by spreading the dense shoots, densely covered with needles. This will take a lot of time, so sanitary pruning is replaced by cleaning.
Crown cleaning
The dense crown of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce does not receive the sun's rays, and if you do not move the branches apart, then moisture does not fall during sprinkling and processing.It is dry and dust accumulates, which is fertile ground for the appearance and reproduction of mites. Such a spruce no longer purifies the air in the area, 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 using dry needles:
- the first two times in the spring before the buds open, with an interval of 14 days;
- the third - late in the fall, before the last fungicide treatment.
Cleaning should be done only after taking protective measures so that small particles of dry pine needles and bark do not get into the eyes or nasopharynx - they can cause irritation of the mucous membranes. A respirator, goggles and gloves are the minimum required; it is advisable to remove your hair and put on arm protectors.
The branches of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce are carefully pulled apart with your hands and the dried shoots are broken off, if this can be done without effort. The needles are simply removed from stubborn shoots. They should not be left on lower branches or 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 frost resistance zone 4. Foreign nurseries claim that it overwinters without problems in zone 3. In any case, in the year of planting, the seedling must be protected with spruce branches or wrapped in non-woven white material, and the soil mulched with acidic peat. In the spring it is not removed, but shallowly embedded in the soil.
In subsequent years, mulching is necessary, and gardeners build shelter in accordance with their own climatic conditions.It should be done not in the fall, but when the temperature reaches about -10° C.
Water replenishment and fertilizing with phosphorus and potassium at the end of the season will help Canadian spruce survive the winter.
Sun protection
Despite the fact that the needles of the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce suffer from the sun much less than other varieties, the tree still needs to be covered at the end of winter and beginning of 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 deficiency, since it is located in frozen ground.
In the summer, the crown should be sprinkled - the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce, even if it does not burn (which is possible), still feels uncomfortable in the heat. In addition, this is useful for hygienic reasons, and is the best prevention against the appearance of ticks.
Reproduction
Cones appear on the Canadian Sanders Blue spruce very rarely; species plants grow from their seeds. The variety is propagated by grafting, 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 it easier to control the cuttings throughout the season, but they still do not root well. There will be a lot of lunges.
Cuttings 10-15 cm long are taken from the middle part of the crown along with the heel - a piece of bark of the older shoot. The lower part is freed from needles, treated with a root formation 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 established cuttings are planted in individual containers 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 densely canopied Canadian spruce trees, is especially susceptible to mites. Acaricides work best against them. Insecticides will help cope with the following pests:
- caterpillars of Nun butterflies;
- hermes;
- spruce sawyer;
- mealybug;
- gall aphids;
- spruce budworm.
Fungicides are used when diseases appear:
- rust;
- Schutte;
- spruce spinner;
- various rots;
- wound cancer;
- fusarium;
- necrosis.
To begin treatment in a timely manner, Sanders Blue Canadian spruce must be examined with a magnifying glass every week.
Reviews of Canadian spruce Sanders Blue
Conclusion
Canadian Sanders Blue spruce quickly gained popularity due to its original crown color and small size. The tree can be placed in the shade or in the sun. Although the variety requires careful care, if everything is done correctly and on time, in practice everything will not be so difficult.
