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The design of any plot, park, or estate looks much more advantageous if black pine is used. The evergreen plant serves as an excellent background for other trees and shrubs, purifies the air, creating a unique microclimate around itself. There are a large number of pine varieties, differing in appearance, growth, and characteristics. This diversity allows you to choose a type that satisfies any needs of the owners and the characteristics of their site.
Description of black pine
Black pine, or Austrian pine, is an evergreen coniferous, wild-growing tree up to 55 meters high. His life expectancy is 800 years. At a young age, the culture has a pyramidal shape. Later it changes, taking on the appearance of an irregularly shaped umbrella. The trunk of the plant is straight, black-gray, with pronounced grooves.
Young shoots are gray in color, but later darken, acquiring brown shades.
The tree's needles are thick, bright green, shiny or matte, and grow vertically. The needles are sharp, long, up to 15 cm, collected in bunches of two.
Black pine has yellow male flowers in the form of spikelets and female flowers with brownish cones.
The cones are ovoid, brown, shiny, up to 7 cm long, located horizontally on short cuttings. They ripen elongated seeds up to 6 mm in size, gray in color. The opening of the cones occurs in the third year.
The roots of the tree are taprooted, powerful, and go to great depths.
The pine gets its name because of its dark bark and thick needles.
Where does black pine grow?
Due to its wide distribution in the mountains of Europe, black pine is also called mountain pine. The growing area covers the Mediterranean region, Morocco, Algeria. The plant prefers calcareous soils and is found on open, sunny slopes. The tree reaches a height of up to 1500 m. It does not like the products of decomposition of mountain magma and grows poorly on them. Easily tolerates winds and drought. In illuminated areas it shows good growth and forms forests.
Varieties of black pine
The variety of black pine species is so great that for any purpose you can choose a variety that successfully serves as a windbreak, decoration or hedge. Pines vary in crown shape, height, diameter, color, quality of needles, and other indicators.
Black pine Nana
It is a low - up to 3 m - decorative species with a ball-shaped crown. The growth of the crop is slow, about 5 cm per year. The bark of this conifer is brown, with scales. The needles are hard, long, almost black. The shoots of the plant are located vertically, its roots are deep and strong.
Black pine Nana loves light, and can die in the shade. It also does not tolerate drought well. In adulthood, the crop is frost-resistant, but at a young age, during harsh winters with little snow, it can freeze.
Pyramidalis
Black pine of this species has a narrow, pyramid-shaped crown. It grows quickly - about 20 cm annually. The maximum height of representatives of the Pyramidalis variety is 8 m, the crown diameter is up to 3 m. The needles are dark green, hard, collected in bunches of two needles. Yellowish cones stand out noticeably against the background of the dark bark. The plant is undemanding to soil and can grow on almost any soil, but gives greater preference to its lime composition. The tree tolerates polluted, polluted air and severe frosts well, and is therefore recommended for planting in urban environments.
Fastigiata
The decorative variety of black pine is grafted. The crown of the tree is narrow, conical, with powerful shoots. It grows slowly, at the age of 15 it reaches 2 m in height and 0.5 m in width. At 30 years of age, the plant's height is 20 m.
The needles of the plant are straight, shiny in the form of panicles on short shoots, its cones are brown, cone-shaped. Ephedra is not picky about soil and lighting. Looks great both in group and single plantings. Gardeners call the variety “blue candles.” In Eastern Europe, black pine Fastigiata has been in demand for more than a century and a half.
Japanese
The pine is of medium height - about 25 m, common in Japanese gardens. On good soils, the tree grows up to 40 m. Its shape changes with age from conical to pyramidal. The bark of the conifer has scales and cracks, and turns black in older age.
Dark green, long needles, collected in bunches, are located at the ends of the branches of the plant. Japanese black pine loves sunny places, is tolerant of drought, and has high seed germination rates.
The tree is tolerant of salty sea spray and wind, which is why it is often used to strengthen dunes.
Helga
This variety belongs to the dwarf type of black pine, with a dense conical crown. Its shoots with long, bright green needles may also have white, elegant needles.
Pine grows slowly. At 10 years old it reaches a height of 1 m and a diameter of 1.5 m. The plant is resistant to wind, but the sun's rays can cause burns to the needles. The crop tolerates rocky soil and prefers loamy soil.
Use in landscape design
More than 40 varieties of black pine provide ample opportunities for using them in creating the design of a park, alley, estate, and local area.
Compositions that combine deciduous and coniferous trees, shrubs, and flowers with black pines of various sizes add coziness and uniqueness to any space.
Dwarf forms of black pine, having spherical and conical shapes, are used to decorate alpine hills, flower beds, and alleys. Low-growing varieties look advantageous against the background of stones, cereals and heather plantings.
For a small garden, pine trees no more than 4 m high are suitable.
Tall plants are used both in individual and group plantings. It is necessary to take into account that in the first years they grow slowly, and reach their maximum height at 30 years.
On a large plot, free-standing “blue candles” and Japanese black pine with a bizarre crown shape look majestic. Trees can be used to delimit areas and their zones.
The use of black pine trees in landscape design has a number of advantages:
- large selection of varieties;
- the presence of trees with different shades of needles;
- undemanding to soil and care;
- unique decorative effect.
Black pines go well with deciduous shrubs, perennial ground cover plants, and primroses. The close proximity of conifers of this species to lilac, bird cherry and birch is not recommended.
Planting and caring for black pine
Black pine is an unpretentious plant, but to achieve a presentable appearance you need to know the peculiarities of its planting:
- the area where the pine tree is located can be both illuminated and shaded;
- the plant is able to grow on rocky, sandy, saline soils;
- black pine does not grow well on compacted soils;
- easily tolerates air pollution;
- an adult plant is frost and drought resistant;
- in winter, branches can easily break under the weight of snow;
- the hole for the seedling must be at least 80 cm deep;
- the use of drainage is mandatory;
- Watering a young plant should be carried out regularly;
- young seedlings need winter shelter from frost;
- fertilizing is carried out in the third year after planting;
- to create a beautiful dense crown, periodic pruning of shoots is necessary;
- For preventive purposes, it is worth treating black pine against diseases and pests using folk remedies and chemicals.
Preparing seedlings and planting area
For painless establishment of black pine after planting, it is necessary to carefully prepare the place and the seedling.
A sunny place, sandy and sandy loam soils are quite suitable for growing coniferous trees. In the case of heavy clay soil, high-quality drainage will be required. It is important to determine the acidity: it should be neutral or alkaline. At high pH values, lime should be used. The area intended for pine seedlings must be carefully dug up.You should consider options for protecting pine trees from direct sunlight. Shading can be created from shields or non-woven material.
The best planting time is early spring. Black pine can be purchased at a specialty store, nursery, or grown yourself. The second method will be more labor-intensive and time-consuming. When purchasing a finished plant, you need to pay attention to several points:
- He must be at least five years old;
- needles – uniform, bright green, elastic, shiny;
- the root system should be placed in a container and covered with moist soil;
- All parts of the plant should be examined to detect diseases and pests.
By purchasing a black pine seedling from a nursery, the buyer receives a guarantee of the purity of the variety and detailed advice on planting methods and care details.
Landing rules
The seedling will need a planting hole, which is prepared before the plant is delivered. Its size should be one and a half times larger than the clod of earth with which the tree is transplanted. If the pine tree is up to 70 cm tall, then a pit size of 60 by 60 cm and a depth of about 70 cm will be sufficient. For taller plants, the pit increases by another 10 cm in all respects.
If the site has heavy soil, sand mixed with earth is poured into the bottom of the hole, and drainage is laid on top, which can be expanded clay, broken brick, or pebbles. If drainage is laid, then the planting hole is first deepened by another 20 - 30 cm.
It is worth preparing a soil mixture in advance consisting of sand and fertile soil, pour it in a heap at the bottom of the planting hole, and then pour at least two buckets of water into it.
The black pine seedling in the container must be thoroughly soaked and carefully removed. Place the plant together with a lump of earth in the center of the hole, fill all remaining voids with soil mixture. Next, compact the soil around the trunk so that the root collar (the place where the trunk meets the roots) is at ground level. If it is too deep, the plant may rot and die. After planting, you should water the plant from a watering can so as not to wash away the soil and mulch the tree trunk circle. If necessary, it is worth shading the black pine and making a support to avoid damage during the wind.
Watering and fertilizing
When growing black pine, special attention should be paid to watering. Despite the plant's drought resistance, there are periods when it needs additional moisture. These include the time after planting or transplanting, when the seedling needs to take root, strengthen its roots and begin development in new conditions. Excessive soil dampness also harms the young plant, so watering black pine at this time should be regular, but dosed, based on the condition of the soil.
To prepare for wintering, it is recommended to water the pines abundantly in the autumn. Moist soil will provide moisture to the roots, and they, in turn, will provide moisture to the needles, which will prevent them from burning in early spring.
The rest of the time, adult plants do not need additional watering: they have enough precipitation. The exception is cases of extremely high temperatures and lack of precipitation.
A greater danger to black pine than drought is excess moisture and stagnation of water in the soil, which should be avoided even during planting.
Mulching and loosening
Black pine is an unpretentious tree that does not require constant care. During the first time after planting the plant, it is regularly removed weed and soil moisture. Subsequent shallow loosening allows oxygen access to the root system.
Mulching the soil around the plant helps retain moisture and protect the tree trunk from weeds. Pine needles, crushed bark, and pine humus are used as mulch. You should not use fresh sawdust for this purpose, as it acidifies the soil and can contribute to the introduction of harmful bacteria. The mulch gradually rots and turns into fertilizer. Periodically it is replenished to a layer of 10 - 15 cm. When preparing for winter, it is worth increasing it further so that the roots of the young seedling do not freeze out and the plant overwinters successfully.
Trimming
The formation of the crown of black pine can begin a year after planting. In order for a tree to be healthy, it needs sanitary pruning, during which old, dry branches are removed.
Pruning allows you to shape the tree, make it more beautiful, and give the desired shape to the hedge. The procedure is recommended for plant heights of no more than 170 cm. After the crown grows, pruning is complicated due to large branches, as well as the possibility of stress on the plant, even to the point of its death - with a large loss of green mass.
When pruning black pine, you should follow the following rules:
- carry out the procedure at the moment the shoots appear, when there are “candles”, but the needles on them have not yet blossomed;
- use garden shears with long, sharp, disinfected blades;
- start processing from the top of the pine tree, cutting off the skeletal branches separately;
- You cannot cut the shoots by the needles: in this case the needles will turn yellow;
- cutting areas must be treated with copper sulfate, and large sections with garden pitch;
- It is not recommended to remove more than a third of the green mass in one operation.
Pruning can be done for decorative purposes to create hedges. In this case, the crown retains a pyramidal or other shape, giving it greater clarity, and the plant itself - density and fluffiness.
Pruning black pine allows you to rejuvenate an old tree. To do this you need:
- In order to awaken dormant buds in the autumn, cut off the ends of bare branches.
- Delete the oldest branches.
- After pruning, leave needles on the shoots.
Such pruning of black pine is carried out no more than once every three years.
Preparing for winter
Preparing the plant for winter should begin with fertilizing. Already in August, it is impossible to use nitrogen fertilizers; it is better to focus on phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, so that the new growth of black pines has time to mature and their roots become stronger.
At the end of autumn leaf fall, it is necessary to thoroughly moisten the tree trunk circle of the plant to the width of the crown. This will enable the tree to successfully overwinter in any conditions.
Additional mulching with a layer of about 15 cm is another factor for successful wintering.
During snowfalls and freezing rains, damage to the branches and tops of black pine is possible. To avoid this, tying the pyramidal crowns of low pines is recommended in a spiral, without tightening the twine tightly.
Stones can be placed under low-growing forms to prevent deformation.
Support in the form of stakes will help secure small plants.
At the end of autumn, complex treatment of plants against pests and diseases is carried out using fungicides, insecticides, and acaricides.
Winter shelter for black pines is built to prevent burns. Screens or shields are installed on the south side of the trees so that when the temperature temporarily rises, the pines do not come out of dormancy. You can use covers made of gauze or burlap that can transmit some sunlight and air. The use of polyethylene as a covering material is contraindicated, since the crown can rot under such conditions. Remove covers from conifers after the soil thaws.
Reproduction
Black pine can be grown on your site by sowing seeds. It is believed that this is the most reliable method, since propagation by cuttings does not give a positive result. It is possible to propagate some species of black pine using grafting, but there is no 100% guarantee.
To grow a seedling yourself, you need:
- In the fall, collect black pine cones, dry them, and extract the seeds.
- Sowing is carried out in the fall in open ground or in the spring - in boxes.
- Before sowing, seeds should be stratified by keeping them at low refrigerator temperatures for two months.
- Prepare boxes, pots, containers with drainage holes in the bottom.
- Fill the containers with fertile soil, sprinkling peat on top.
- Spread the black pine seeds on the surface at a distance of 5 mm from each other, without deepening them, sprinkle with a little soil.
- Water moderately.
- Maintain temperature around 20 oWITH.
- Transplant into open ground only next spring.
Pests and diseases of black pine
Diseases affect black pines due to environmental pollution, the emergence of a source of infection, and pests. Viruses and fungi most often accumulate in litter. The pine needle litter contains a lot of bacteria that cause plant diseases:
- rust - when fungi infect pine needles, bark, and easily spread from conifers to other trees;
- rust cancer, which infects young pine shoots, and after a few years orange blisters filled with a large number of spores form on them;
- pine spinner, in which the shoots bend and the top dies;
- scleroderiosis, which makes the needles brown, sagging, falling asleep and crumbling;
- bark necrosis - when the tips of the shoots die off, starting from the top, while the needles turn red, dry out, and may not fall off for a long time;
- Schutte - a fungal disease that causes discoloration and death of needles; the affected plant most often dies.
To prevent and treat black pine diseases, you should carefully select planting material, thin out plants in a timely manner, spray with fungicidal solutions, and carry out sanitary pruning in a timely manner.
Black pine has many pests:
- hermes;
- subcortical bug;
- aphid;
- scale insect;
- spider mite;
- pine cutworm.
Special preparations are used to control pests: Decis, Aktara, Enzhio, Confidor, Mospilan and others.
Conclusion
Black pine not only has an attractive appearance, but is also an inexhaustible natural source of bioactive substances. She has so many varieties that finding a plant with certain parameters is not difficult. Dwarf forms and large trees of this species will definitely take their place in personal plots, parks and squares.With proper care, pine does not get sick, develops well and will delight more than one generation with its appearance.
