Balsam fir ranks first among conifers in the ranking of professional landscape designers and lovers to decorate their summer cottage. It is not surprising, because, in addition to decorative value, the plant has a pleasant, healing, resinous and tart aroma that kills disease-causing organisms and disinfects the air. The homeland of fir is North America, where it is the main forest tree.
Did you know? Among aromatherapists there is a perception that the smell of balsamic fir inspires optimism, loads positive and eliminates depression. Since ancient times balsam fir has been considered a sacred tree in many northern nations.
Balsam Fir: Description
Balsam fir (Abies balsamea) represents the Pine family, the description of its varieties varies by size and has more than 20. There are both small ornamental shrubs, up to 50 cm high, and powerful trees reaching 40 meters in height. Almost all types of balsamic fir have a regular-shaped pyramidal cone-shaped crown, widely spreading branches with lush needles.
Cones oval-cylindrical shape, brown, brown and brownish-purple, up to 10 cm in length. The bark is gray-brown, smooth. In the wild, tree height usually reaches 23-35 m. The length of the needles reaches 25 mm and has a comb location. The upper part of the needles dark green, shiny, with light stripes at the bottom. Balsam fir has its own structural features - the lack of resin passages in wood. They are concentrated in the bark, unlike other conifers. In addition, the plant has a superficial root system. The average lifespan of a tree is over 200 years.
Did you know? The healing properties of balsamic fir are very popular, medicines are made from all its parts. Bark, needles, buds, resin, and essential oil, which is obtained from a plant, are widely used in medicine.
Popular varieties of balsamic fir
In nature, there are more than twenty varieties of balsam fir, including wild and cultural forms.
The most popular for growing in summer cottages are dwarf, slow-growing varieties:
- Kiwi - slow-growing, dwarf shrub up to 50 cm high. It has a rounded crown and dark green, thick, shiny needles, relatively short. Young trees have bluish color needles. This variety is popular in small, rocky gardens or rockeries, and is the ideal form for growing in pots.
- Nana - dwarf, slow-growing shrub in height from 50 cm to 1 m. Crohn round shape, up to 2 m in diameter. It has spreading, dense, horizontal branches. The needles are thick, dark green, short with white and blue stripes at the bottom. This shade-tolerant and cold-resistant balsamic fir variety is easy to plant and care for. Looks good in containers, rocky gardens and garden landscaping.
- Hudsonia - One of the most common fir, also dwarf. It has very thick branches and short, flat needles, painted in black and green above and bluish green below. Bred in the United States, New Hampshire, where it grows in the upper forests.
- Piccolo - highly decorative, miniature variety, tree height does not exceed 30-50 cm. It has a rounded dark green crown, of a saturated color. Young shrubs light green. Great for alpine slides, container landings.
- Green Globe - a small coniferous plant, has very thick and soft dark green needles. The height of the adult fir is up to 1 m. The crown is even, spherical, not requiring trimming. Planted in solitary form, decorating lawns, alpine slides and rocky gardens, as well as well grown in containers.
Features of balsamic fir planting
Features of growing plants are in a timely disembarkation, since planting balsam fir is preferable in spring than in autumn.
Choosing a landing site
Balsam fir - shade-loving culture, so for its planting should choose the shaded areas of the site - the shadow or partial shade. It is good if there is a reservoir near the place chosen for the fir.
What kind of soil loves balsamic fir
Culture grows well in moist, rich, well-drained, loamy soil. Since it is rather difficult to grow fir in heavy soil, it will be necessary to arrange a 20 cm drainage layer of fine crushed stone or small broken brick. Then it is necessary to pour a mixture of complex mineral fertilizers with rotted sawdust over the drainage layer. It should also be borne in mind that although fir balsamic and likes well-moistened soils, it cannot stand stagnant water.
Planting balsamic fir
For planting balsamic fir in the country will require seedlings not younger than four years. Landings are made in April, and it is better to choose a rainy or overcast day for this. Two weeks before planting, you need to dig a hole about 60x60x60 cm, depending on the size of the seedling's root system. Then, 2-3 buckets of water are poured into the pit and, after it has been absorbed, dig the bottom by half a shovel.
Lay a five-centimeter layer of drainage from crushed stone or brick battle and fill half the substrate. A composition of 3 parts of humus, 2 parts of clay, peat and sand of 1 part, 10 kg of sawdust and 0.2-0.3 kg of nitrophoska will work well. Two weeks after the soil has settled in the pit, place a seedling in it so that the root collar remains level with the surface of the plot. Then straighten the roots and fill the pit with the remaining half of the substrate, seal the fit and pour. If you want to grow a balsamic fir alley, then plantings should be located at a distance of 4-5 m from each other.
Features care for balsamic fir
Balsam fir is distinguished by good shade tolerance and frost resistance, therefore, it is easy to care for fir plantings. But in harsh climatic conditions with a sharp change in temperature, frostbite of the trunk part of the tree is often observed. Therefore, in the winter you will need to cover the young planting spice plants. It is also worth remembering that fir has a superficial root system, which makes the plant unstable, because of this it is often damaged by strong gusts of wind.
Watering the plants and caring for the soil
Despite the relatively high resistance to drought, balsam fir responds well to regular watering. In the summer, weekly sprinkling of tree crowns is recommended. In the spring, 2-3 irrigations are enough with up to 15-20 liters of water at a time. After watering will require loosening the soil, as well as the timely removal of weeds.
Top dressing of a balsam fir
After planting, as well as for the winter, it is necessary to mulch the stem of the seedling in diameter of about 50 cm with chips, sawdust or peat, laying mulch 5-10 cm layer. The plant needs additional feeding only 2-3 years after planting. In the spring, it will be necessary to add 100-125 g of Kemira Universal in the near-barring circle.
Important! Make sure that the layer of mulch does not touch and does not close the balsam fir root neck.
How to form a crown of fir
Balsam fir does not require special care, however, for the cultivation of lush coniferous beauty in the garden will require periodic sanitary pruning. It is carried out in the spring, before the active movement of juices. Garden scissors remove old, dry and damaged branches. Decorative pruning to form a crown is done if necessary, because the fir is naturally tidy and regular crown. But if there is a need to correct the form, it should be done by shortening the shoots by no more than a third the length.
Major pests and plant diseases
As you could be convinced, to plant a fir on the seasonal dacha, special skills and efforts are not required. But to grow a healthy tree, sometimes you have to deal with some diseases and pests of this culture. Most decorative balsamic fir suffers from spruce-fir hermes, a kind of aphid. The defeat of this pest leads to yellowing and weakening of the needles. To get rid of Hermes, the preparations "Antio" or "Rogor" will be suitable, with which fir is treated in early spring, when surviving wintering individuals wake up. The solution is prepared from 20 g of one of these preparations and 10 liters of water.
The same insecticides will also help in the case of the attack of other insect pests — the fir cone leafworm and the fir shoot moth. Sometimes the fir may have yellowing of the needles and the formation of rusty cushions on the shoots. The reason for this is rust, a type of fungal disease. In this case, the diseased branches are cut and burned together with fallen needles, and the cuts are smeared with garden pitch. After that, the crown must be sprayed with a solution of Bordeaux liquid 2%.
