Content
Evergreen spruce trees, characterized by a wide variety of varieties, are consistently in demand by amateur gardeners and landscape designers. However, replanting spruce on the site can lead to the death of the tree. Typical mistakes can be avoided if you first study all the important nuances of the procedure. Mature trees experience especially great stress. After transplantation, they must be provided with competent care.
When is a transplant necessary?
Many natural spruce trees and hybrids bred by breeders are distinguished by their large dimensions and rapid growth rates. If the gardener does not take these factors into account, it is likely that replanting will be required. But these are not the only reasons:
- Excessively close proximity to other cultivated plants, ornamental or fruit-bearing. Without replanting, the spruce will most likely choke them out within 2-3 seasons.
- Threat to buildings, structures, communications. Due to the shallow root system and massive above-ground parts, trees are often torn out of the ground by strong winds.In addition, roots spreading to the sides, if not replanted in time, can damage foundations and underground communications.
- Soil that has become unsuitable for conifers. For example, replanting is required when the tree trunk circle is flooded or the soil is severely acidified.
- Large-scale changes in the landscape design of the site. If the tree clearly does not fit into the new concept, it will have to be replanted.
- Wrong choice of place for planting spruce.
The Christmas tree is a long-lived tree, this also needs to be taken into account when choosing a location.
When can you transplant a spruce to another place?
Transplanting spruce to another place is practiced both in spring and autumn. In the first case, the most suitable time is the end of April and the entire first half of May, in the second, the last ten days of August and the first two days of September.
Gardeners choose the timing of replanting a Christmas tree, focusing primarily on the characteristics of the local climate. In central Russia and more severe regions, they prefer to carry out the procedure in the spring; in the south it is often postponed until the fall.
When choosing the time to transplant spruce to another place, it is necessary to take into account the long-term weather forecast. In spring, you need to wait until the likelihood of return frosts is minimized. In the fall, make sure that there are about 3.5-4 weeks left before the first frost.
The exception is adult large spruce trees. They are able to successfully survive transplantation only in a state of hibernation, when a lump of frozen soil on the roots protects them from excessively serious damage.
Transplantation of such trees is carried out from November to March. The time is chosen so that the substrate is already frozen, but it is not too cold. The optimal temperature is between -8-12 °C.
How to replant a spruce on a site in spring and autumn
Transplanting spruce to a new place is impossible without prior preparation. In general, this is a rather labor-intensive procedure even for a small tree. The main difficulty is its extraction from the soil and transportation to a new place of residence.
Selecting a location
The best place to transplant a forest tree is in a place that is well lit and warmed by the sun. In such conditions, its crown will be more symmetrical, dense and fluffy. Varieties and hybrids bred by breeders, if they have a natural shade of needles, are also suitable for replanting in a sunny place. Varieties of unnatural flowers are best placed in light partial shade.
In direct sunlight, colored needles often fade and rust
What else needs to be taken into account when choosing a place where you plan to transplant a spruce (both a seedling and an adult tree):
- Distance to the nearest cultivated plants and buildings. If it is a dwarf or slowly growing spruce, you can limit yourself to 2-3 m. When transplanting forest and tall specimens, the required minimum is 8-10 m.
- Lack of groundwater close to the surface. The tree absolutely cannot tolerate constant waterlogging of the soil. When transplanted to an area where groundwater is 1.5 m underground or higher, its roots quickly begin to rot.
The fertility of the substrate and its pH are not determining factors for spruce, especially provided that after transplantation it is provided with proper care, including regular feeding. Falling needles gradually acidify the soil, so the spruce will provide itself with the necessary acid-base balance without outside help.
Soil preparation
When replanting spruce in the spring, the planting hole is prepared at the end of the last season. When the procedure is planned for the fall, it must stand for at least 12-15 days. The dimensions of the planting pit depend on the dimensions of the root system.
For young seedlings and dwarf varieties, approximately 70 cm in depth and the same in diameter are sufficient. For larger spruce trees the issue is resolved individually. The hole for transplanting them should be 7-10 cm wider and deeper than the soil ball on the roots.
A layer of drainage 6-8 cm thick must be poured onto the bottom of the planting hole for the Christmas tree. Any material will do - expanded clay, small pebbles, clay shards, and so on. Then it is filled with a mixture of high soil taken from a coniferous forest, coarse sand, peat chips and humus. All ingredients are taken in approximately equal proportions. It is also recommended to add 120-150 g of special fertilizer for coniferous trees into the hole for replanting spruce, but this is not a mandatory requirement.
A hole for a dwarf spruce or small seedling can be filled with special purchased soil
How to dig up a spruce for replanting
A spruce tree that requires replanting is dug in along the diameter of the trunk circle, which approximately coincides with the projection of its branches. The depth of the ring furrow is about 50 cm.
Then the roots are carefully lifted with a shovel, fork or crowbar and turned out of the ground, trying to preserve the lump of soil on them as much as possible.The tree is transported to the transplant site on a sheet of slate, polycarbonate, or by wrapping the root system in a piece of thick fabric. The crown of a large diameter is wrapped in burlap and tied, drawing the branches to the trunk, to make it compact.
About half an hour before digging, water the tree generously to soften the soil.
Transfer to a new place
It is necessary to transplant a spruce (especially an adult one) to another place as quickly as possible - this way the tree will lose a minimum of nutrients. They operate according to the following algorithm:
- About an hour before transplanting, water the soil at the bottom of the planting hole and loosen it slightly.
- Move the earthen ball into the planting hole, being sure to observe the orientation of the tree relative to the cardinal directions.
- Fill the hole with soil. It is advisable to use soil taken from the site where the spruce was dug up. But ordinary garden soil will also do. When transplanting, the trunk is buried to the same level as before.
- Water the soil moderately.
After about 15-20 minutes, when the water is absorbed, it is recommended to mulch the tree trunk with pine needles.
How to replant spruce from the forest
Spruce from the nearest forest is one of the best options for replanting. Compared to purchased seedlings, they are better adapted to the local climate and more successfully withstand any negative external influences.
Before digging up a spruce, you need to carefully inspect it.Trees with mechanical damage or signs of disease are not suitable for replanting.
Relatively small forest trees can be moved into the garden with minimal damage to the root system. The dimensions and weight of the soil ball on the roots make it possible to deliver it to the planting hole with little effort. The procedure for digging up and transporting forest spruce for replanting is similar to that described above.
The best option for replanting is Christmas trees up to 1.5 m high and up to 2-3 years old.
How to replant a large mature spruce
If possible, it is better not to replant large mature spruce trees (no matter from a nursery or from the forest). They endure this procedure much more painfully than young specimens and take a long time to adapt to a new place. Rooting takes up to 3-4 years, during which time the trees require careful care. After transplantation, adult Christmas trees have poorer frost resistance and are more susceptible to diseases and pest attacks.
If, nevertheless, a decision is made to transfer a large tree with a trunk thickness of more than 8-10 cm to a new location, it does not matter whether this spruce is taken from a nursery or from the forest, it must be taken into account that the maximum dimensions at which there is still a chance that it will successfully survive the procedure are height up to 12-13 m and crown diameter up to 2.5-3 m. Since replanting is carried out in winter, the tree is dug in advance, around mid-autumn, when the substrate has not yet frozen. The depth of the furrow increases to 70-80 cm.
To dig up and transport a tree, special tools and transport will be required. They are also necessary to place the tree, along with a lump of soil on the roots, in the right place. The technique is often used to dig a planting hole.
It is impossible to remove a large spruce from the soil and move it to a new place for replanting manually
Aftercare
Spruce is, in principle, an unpretentious tree. However, during the first season or two after transplanting, it will require more careful care than usual. The soil in the tree trunk circle should not dry out, so the tree is watered often, but little by little, as the surface layer of the substrate dries out.
You should not overdo it with watering - this can provoke the development of root rot and death of the tree.
After transplanting, the Christmas tree must be fed according to the following scheme:
- In mid-spring, as soon as the snow melts, a specialized fertilizer for coniferous trees is applied.
- At the end of July, beginning of August, maintenance foliar feeding is carried out with a solution of vermicompost or a universal biostimulant.
- About a month before frost, they are fed again with a special nitrogen-free fertilizer.
Fertilizers for spruce must contain magnesium, iron and sulfur
Every year at the beginning of spring, while the spruce has not yet woken up after hibernation, sanitary pruning is carried out. Remove all broken, dried out, dead branches.
It is recommended to avoid formative pruning of slowly growing specimens for 1-2 seasons after transplantation. However, if the tree actively grows shoots, its formation is carried out approximately in the middle of summer, when its growth slows down. In this case, the wounds will have time to heal and the tree will overwinter normally.
If spruce branches begin to rust after transplantation, they are cut off immediately, regardless of the season.
The spruce tree is regularly inspected after transplantation. This allows you to detect symptoms of diseases or pests that have settled on the tree in time.It is much easier to solve this problem at an early stage of development, before the disease has turned into a severe case and the insects have not multiplied in numbers.
Common Mistakes
In order for the tree transplant to be successful, you must strictly follow the procedure algorithm. Otherwise, there is no guarantee that the tree will take root in the new location. The most common mistakes:
- Wrong choice of place for transfer. The worst option for spruce is an area in dense shade. With a lack of sun, it slowly takes root, and its cold resistance suffers.
- Preparing a planting hole with standard soil. Spruce and other conifers require a specific substrate, very different from what is required by fruit-bearing and decorative deciduous crops.
- Damage to the earthen ball on the roots when removing spruce from the soil. Under no circumstances should you shake off soil from them. This greatly increases the risk of mechanical damage to the roots during transplantation.
- Incorrect orientation of the tree relative to the cardinal directions. If you turn the spruce from north to south when transplanting, this will significantly complicate its adaptation to the new location.
Conclusion
Transplanting spruce on a site requires knowledge and consideration of many important nuances relating to both preliminary preparation and the procedure itself. If a gardener makes mistakes, the tree will have a long and difficult time adapting to the new location, and may even die.On the contrary, the correct choice of place for the spruce, preparing the soil, and competent care after the procedure help it quickly take root, restore its decorative appearance and begin to grow.
