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A hedge made of juniper will decorate the area of a country house for many years. This type of conifer is long-lived, they live for hundreds of years. A living fence will enliven the landscape and clean the air from dust and harmful substances. The needles release phytoncides, so the air near these plants becomes healing.
Pros and cons of juniper hedges
The proximity of fruit trees and juniper hedges is not always successful. Ephedra can cause rust on apple, pear, mountain ash, and hawthorn trees. It is caused by basidiomycetes. The fact that juniper is infected with this pathogen can be seen by orange growths on the branches. You can see them in the spring.
Preventive measures save the situation. They are carried out in the orchard and included in the hedge care plan. Ephedra does not grow very quickly. You have to wait for more than one year for a living fence to close off your property from your neighbors. This can be attributed to the disadvantages of a juniper fence. Difficulties arise during cultivation. Varietal varieties often get sunburned at a young age.
We can talk for a long time about the advantages of juniper hedges.Grown with skill, it will not only be beautiful, but also functional:
- as an external fence it will protect the territory from prying eyes;
- it can be used for zoning a personal plot;
- will be an excellent background for ornamental shrubs, flower beds, and lawns;
- bright pine needles will decorate the winter garden;
- will have a phytotherapeutic effect, filling the air with phytoncides and the pleasant aroma of pine needles.
The shape of the fence is limited only by the owner’s imagination. When choosing a specific variety, you can play with color. The needles are gray, golden-yellow, light green, dark green. Juniper tolerates pruning well, so the fence can be given a strict shape or left untrimmed. The undoubted advantages of ephedra include durability, unpretentiousness, and frost resistance.
Which juniper is best for a hedge?
It’s definitely not worth bringing seedlings from the forest. This harms the forest. The decorative effect of a forest juniper fence leaves much to be desired. Planting material should be purchased from a nursery. Expensive, but you can choose a suitable variety of ephedra that meets all the necessary requirements:
- young;
- medium size, with good root system;
- adapted to the local climate.
Some varieties of common juniper are suitable for hedges in the shady part of the garden. This species grows best in areas where there is light, but no midday sun. The coniferous shrub Meyer is one of the representatives of this species.
It has a wide columnar crown and silver-green needles. It grows quite slowly. The height of the tree at 10 years of age is 3 m, with a crown diameter of 60 cm. The crown of the Meyer juniper looks fluffy due to several crowns.
Suetsica is another representative of the common juniper.A hedge made from this conifer grows slowly. By the age of 10 it does not exceed 2.5 m. The width of the crown at this age is 80 cm. It is dense, columnar, and there are no problems with pruning. This variety is frost-resistant and grows best in the sun. In the shade, the crown loses its decorative effect and becomes loose and spreading.
The Virgin and Skalny juniper species are suitable for hedges in light partial shade and in the sun. The advantages of these varieties include the fact that formative pruning does not inhibit the growth of shoots. These conifers are undemanding to soil composition and are frost and drought resistant.
Many gardeners, when planting hedges in the garden, prefer the Skyrocket variety. It has a muted blue-gray needle color. It is quite soft and grows quickly. The frost resistance of the variety is average. Loves light, but can grow in light partial shade. Crown characteristics:
- wide conical shape;
- diameter at 10 years – 1 m, maximum – 1.5 m;
- tree height at 10 years is 2 m, maximum is 5 m.
The slow-growing species Blue Arrow (Blue Arrow) with a columnar, very narrow, dense crown is also popular. Over the course of a year, the growth does not exceed 15 cm. This is a variety of rocky variety of juniper, which is used to create hedges.
By the age of 10, a tree 2-2.5 m tall and about 0.7 m in diameter is formed from a seedling. The maximum growth of Blue Arrow juniper is 10 m. The needles are hard, blue-blue, and scaly. Shoots grow frequently, vertically.
The crown remains decorative for many years, the lower branches do not die off for a long time, they grow close to the ground. Ephedra is not afraid of frost; snow is a danger.Heavy snowfall can break conifer branches.
The frost-resistant variety Keteleri is used in hedges. This is Chinese juniper. The needles are greenish-blue, the crown shape is narrow, columnar. The increase is moderate. Statistics by year are shown in the table.
Age | Crown height (m) | Diameter(cm) |
5 years | 0,8 | 40 |
10 years | 2 | 60 |
Maximum | 10 | 150 |
How to plant juniper correctly to create a hedge
It is better to buy seedlings in containers, aged from 2 to 5 years. Each tree must be inspected for damage. Check shoots for flexibility. Inspect the needles. The color should be uniform. The disadvantages of the seedling include:
- lack of young growth on the branches;
- brown needles;
- cracks on the trunk.
The seedlings are planted in a trench. It is pre-marked. Use pegs and twine. The depth and width of the ditch are commensurate with the size of the earthen clod. Recommended dimensions are 60 x 80 cm. You need to take care of drainage in advance. Bring in fine crushed stone and sand.
Any variety of juniper does not tolerate stagnant water. Drainage should be poured in a layer of 10-15 cm. The soil for backfilling should be taken from the top layer. For every 2 parts of garden soil add:
- sand – 1 part;
- peat – 2 parts;
- humus - 2 parts;
- fertilizer "Kemira Universal" - 150 g;
- fertilizer nitrophoska – 300 g.
The interval between seedlings depends on the variety. When marking planting sites, take into account the shape and size of the crown of an adult juniper tree (bush):
- 1.5-2 m – for spreading;
- 0.6-0.7 m – for cone-shaped.
To form a continuous hedge, seedlings are planted in 2 lines, placing them in a checkerboard pattern.
Features of caring for a juniper hedge
The needles of young trees can burn in the bright sun, so the first year after planting the conifers are shaded from direct sunlight. Use burlap or some rags. There is no need for frequent fertilizing; fertilizers are applied to the hedge once. In the spring, before watering, scatter nitroammophoska at 30-40 g/m².
Adult conifers, if it rains, do not need watering. Young junipers in the system are watered with settled water. The soil under them should be moderately moist. To preserve moisture, the ground around the hedge is covered with mulch (marble chips, bark).
Mulch also serves other functions. It hinders growth weed, spread of infection and pests. Pruning is an important aspect of hedge care. The first time it is carried out 2 years after planting, it is cut in mid-spring. The crown is formed in the form of a pyramid, rectangle, square, trapezoid. During the first haircut, the top can be shortened by 25%, the length of the side branches - by 75%.
Before the onset of frost, young conifers are covered with spunbond, and the soil is mulched. The branches of mature trees with a pyramidal crown are pulled together with twine. This protects them from snow and fractures.
Juniper in a hedge may be suffering from a fungal infection. For prevention, trees are sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate or Medyan Extra fungicide. Sick conifers are treated with the drug "Fundazol".
Conclusion
A hedge made of juniper is appropriate in a large garden and a small country house. A fence made of conifers enlivens the landscape and decorates the garden plot all year round. Juniper creates a favorable microclimate and enriches the air with beneficial phytoncides.
