The author of the text is Dr. Przemysław Bąbelewski
The most popular Christmas tree is without a doubt the Norway spruce Picea abies, which grows naturally in forests, where it is part of lowland and mountain spruce forests. Another domestic tree, rarely found in our homes, is the silver fir Abies alba, which grows in southern Poland in mountainous areas. Sometimes the Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris, is found on sale, forming groups of pine forests (the main forest-forming species in Poland).
In shops and points of sale of trees and shrubs, you can more and more often buy other species of trees grown on commercial plantations , e.g. prickly spruce Picea pungens, primarily its variety 'Glauka 'with silver needles (popularly, though incorrectly called silver spruce). This species grows naturally in North America, and in Poland it is cultivated as an ornamental tree.
Another spruce grown in Poland and sometimes sold in the pre-Christmas period is the Serbian spruce Picea omorica. It is an endemic species that occurs naturally in the Balkans in the Tara Mountains on the Dira River.Creates trees with a picturesque shape, thanks to overhanging shoots and visible white and silvering undersides of the needles.
More and more often you can buy the Caucasian fir Abies nordmaniana with very nice needles, shiny on the top, and with characteristic white stripes underneath.Rarely are Abies concolor fir trees, naturally occurring in North America, with gray-green or blue flat needles.
When buying a tree for Christmas, we can choose the tree cut at the bottom of the trunk, i.e. without a root, or with a root ball placed in the pot.The first of them are grown on special plantations by foresters, e.g. in forests under power lines.Trees in pots with root systems are produced by gardeners in nurseries of ornamental trees and shrubs.
Tree care without roots
When buying a tree without a root system, it is worth paying attention to the method of storing the plants. They should be kept outdoors, in a shaded place and sheltered from strong winds.This is important, because the winds can cause the plants to dry out quickly, and the lack of roots prevents water intake.The seller should store the trees in rooms with low temperatures (approx.8-12 ° C) and humidity of approx. 70-90%. Higher temperature contributes to the agitation of the plants and their faster aging.
Lovely ideas to decorate your garden for Christmas
In an apartment or at home, a tree without roots is best placed in a cool room, because the cold limits the course of life processes, such as respiration and transpiration.In most of our houses, unfortunately, there are no such rooms, so the Christmas tree usually reigns in the central place where the household members gather.So let's try to place them as far away from the radiator or other heat sources as possible. Such a tree is attached to a stand, into which you can pour water. Another solution is to put the bottom of the tree in a container of wet sand. The trees with access to water can be kept for up to 3 weeks, and without water for about 7-10 days.
If we put the tree in a stand without water, it is good to place containers with water under it, which will evaporate and increase the humidity around the plant.You can also sprinkle the tree with water several times a day.It is worth taking care of high air humidity, because the lack of access to water contributes to the rapid aging of the plants and, consequently, to the drying of the leaves, i.e. the needles and shoots. pine trees drying up together with the shoots.
Gardeners have developed various other ways to extend the life of coniferous tree branches and shrubs, and even whole trees without roots. One of them is spraying the twigs with purified or technical glycerin mixed with water. In the latter case, the solution should be constantly stirred, because glycerin does not dissolve in water and sinks to the bottom of the container.Glycerin preserves the vivid green color of the needles and prevents them from shedding, especially in spruce trees.Works by reducing transpiration, as it clogs the stomata. Attention! Glycerine is not sprayed on trees and shrubs planted in pots that are to be transplanted into the garden.
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Christmas tree in a pot
When buying a tree in a pot, i.e. with a root system, pay attention to the quality of the root ball. The roots should grow out of a lump, which is easy to check: single roots grow through the holes in the bottom of the pot. Pay attention to this, because some dishonest growers dig up the trees 2-3 weeks before sale and plant them in pots.Such trees have a damaged root system and due to the low temperature they will not have time to grow into the root ball.Moved to houses and flats, they dry up and die after a while. A correctly selected tree has all shoots and branches, and its needles should be of the same color without discoloration and drying out.
The care consists in systematic watering so that the substrate is moderately moist (not too wet, because the lack of air access to the roots may cause the plant to die off).Such a tree should be kept in a warm room as short as possible (about 7-10 days). Longer storage contributes to the hardening of plants, i.e. juices begin to circulate intensively in them and the plant may start to grow - the buds burst, from which new shoots grow.
This cannot be allowed to happen, because as a consequence such a plant can only be saved by putting it in a cool, bright room and keeping it until the first decade of May, and then planting it in the ground.Earlier exposing the tree to the outside would freeze its swollen buds or young growths, and then it would die.
Holidays, holidays and after Christmas …
In winter, when the soil is frozen, the best solution is to move the tree with the pot to a quiet balcony or terrace or to the garden after a short Christmas stay at home.Secure the pot before freezing (and thus the root system ) by wrapping it with cloth, fleece or even paper.
We do not use polyethylene foil for this purpose. On the terrace or balcony, it is good to place the pot on a piece of polystyrene that will insulate against low temperatures.
Water the plant protected in this way from time to time. JIf the soil is not frozen, the tree can be planted permanently, but it would be more careful to plant the pot in a quiet part of the garden and plant the tree in spring.
To pit the pot, dig a hole of its height, insert the pot, and then cover it with soil. And where to plant a Christmas tree?
Let's try to choose a sunny position, and remember that spruce, pine and fir trees reach large sizes after many years, so they need a lot of space.
