Blue Arrow Rock Juniper is a columnar plant with blue needles that looks spectacular on any background and is very popular in landscape design. The botanical name is juniperus scopulorum blue arrow, translated from English it means blue arrow (due to its unusual color and shape). The variety is popular in many regions of our country.
Juniper Blue Arrow - planting and care
Characteristics of the variety
Blue Arrow Juniper is a plant of the Cypress family. It belongs to evergreen shrubs, has a compact, graceful shape and is suitable for growing in the smallest areas, because does not require much space.
External parameters
The average height of young plants is about 3 m, adult specimens are from 4 to 5 m.
Slowly forms growth - up to 15 cm per year. The needles are beautiful - of a bluish tone, sometimes with a blue tint, the needles are soft.
The crown is narrow, columnar, consists of tough, erect and tightly adjacent shoots.
Regions and cost
The description of the needles includes several advantages - high resistance to severe frosts, drought resistance and high immunity against diseases.
Therefore, it is suitable for almost all regions of our country - the Moscow region, the Middle, Central, Northern zones and Siberia, provided there is good shelter for the winter.
The price of a vertical Blue Arrow juniper depends on the size of the seedling:
- 2-2.2 m - 4200 r;
- 2.2-2.5 - 9300 RUB;
- 2.5-2.7 - 12,000 RUB
Landing rules
This culture does not tolerate heat and wind, so you need to choose a sunny place for it with a little shading and protection from drafts.
In the sun, the juniper will quickly turn yellow and dry out.
The soil
Blue Arrow grows well on acidified, loose and light soil. Therefore, before planting, the soil must be sprinkled with peat, sand (two buckets each), and pine sawdust (bucket) per 1 m².
Then the site is dug up, leveled and watered. Places are prepared 2 weeks before the planned landing.
The optimal time for planting seedlings is late April or early May.
Preparation of seedlings
You can purchase planting material that, when grown, will reveal all the varietal characteristics of the mother bush, in a specialized nursery.
Alternatively, you can use seedlings grown from your own plant using cuttings.
When buying bushes, you should follow some rules:
- you need to choose specimens from the age of 3 years and only with a closed root system, so the risk of its drying out is minimized (they are sold in special containers or with an earthen lump wrapped in burlap);
- in strong and healthy plants, the aerial part has a uniform bluish color of needles with a brown trunk and shoots without any spots, cracks, mold and rot;
- the optimal crown height is 0.6-0.7 m.
Landing technique
Planting material must be of good quality
Given the small size and compact shape for the blue arrow juniper, the following planting scheme is used to create a hedge - 50x50 cm.
The depth of the hole should be 2 times larger than the earthen coma with roots. Broken bricks, pebbles or crushed stone are laid at the bottom. Then, a nutrient mixture of sod land, peat, sand and coniferous sawdust mixed in equal amounts is poured up to half. Additionally add one handful of nitrophosphate, superphosphate and potassium sulfate.
They lower the earthen ball, fill the voids, trample the near-trunk zone and spill it with warm water - 5 liters per seedling.
To protect the roots and soil from rapid drying out, the area around the trunk is mulched with peat or pine chips.
Further care
All plant care is simple and consists of several manipulations.
Watering
The blue arrow vertical juniper does not need frequent watering - it is better to underfill than overflow. But in the first 10 days, for successful survival and rooting, they moisten the soil every day. Up to 5 liters of water are poured under one plant.
Further, the number of procedures is reduced to once a week.
The needles respond positively to frequent irrigation of the aboveground part. On hot days, you need to spend it daily - in the evening hours, when the sun goes down.
Loosening and mulching
The root system of this ephedra is superficial, so loosening must be carried out carefully and to a depth of 3-4 cm.
Usually the soil is loosened one day after watering to prevent the formation of an earth crust. This manipulation is combined with weeding and weeding.
The description of the plant includes a mandatory procedure for mulching with peat, chips or sawdust of coniferous trees. Mulch protects the soil and root system from dehydration and prevents weeds from growing.
Top dressing
Planting and basic care of the ephedra includes the introduction of nutrients into the ground, which will increase immunity against diseases and decorative crown.
The first fertilizer is placed in the planting pits - it lasts until spring.
The next year, before the beginning of the growing season, the bushes are spilled with a nitrogen-containing solution - they take 15 g of nitrophoska, ammophoska or urea and dissolve in 10 liters of water. 5 liters of liquid are poured under one copy.
The second meal is carried out in late autumn (one month before the onset of persistent cold weather). A mineral complex composition of 15 g of superphosphate and 10 g of potassium nitrate is used per bucket of water. This fertilizer increases immunity against diseases, strengthens the root system and the frost resistance of the needles.
Pruning
The tree does not need crown formation
Blue Arrow juniper does not need a shaping haircut: this plant with an ideal cone-shaped crown is able to independently develop shoots in the right direction.
But he needs regular sanitary pruning of all shoots damaged by frost, winds, diseases and pests. This procedure is carried out every spring and autumn.
Additionally, a procedure is needed to remove branches growing inside the crown and at the wrong angle. Such branches thicken and create an unattractive appearance of the aerial part.
Preparation for wintering
Basic care of Blue Arrow juniper includes annual preparation for wintering. In the fall, a month before the onset of the first stable cold weather, the near-trunk zone of young seedlings is spud with peat or needles sawdust, then the branches are bent down to the central conductor, fixed with twine, and covered with spruce branches.
Adult plants do not need shelter, they easily endure even the most severe frosts.
Breeding features
This variety can be propagated in two ways - by seed and using cuttings.
Most gardeners prefer the latter method. It is more productive, faster and makes it possible to get young seedlings with all varietal characteristics and mother shrub.
Reproduction by cuttings is carried out in the summer - in the middle or at the end of July. To do this, use a healthy juniper from the age of five years.
- Apical shoots 15-20 cm long are cut with a piece of lignified bark. At the bottom of each twig, the needles and sprouts are stripped.
- The blanks are immediately planted in the soil so that the living part below does not dry out and successfully take root. Planting is carried out in any roomy container - seedling boxes or plastic containers. The main thing is that at the bottom of such a container there are drainage holes for the outflow of excess liquid.
- The cuttings are placed at an inclination of 40-45 ° C to a depth of 4 cm. Then they are irrigated with warm water, covered with a transparent film or half from a plastic bottle and placed in a warm place with diffused daylight.
In order for everything to go well, the plantings need to be provided with competent and timely care, which consists in regular irrigation, weed removal, surface loosening, ventilation and heat supply of 21-23 ° C.
Cuttings are made in summer
It will take 2 to 3 months to root. As soon as vegetative buds appear on the shoots, the shelter can be removed, and the temperature can be lowered to 18-19 ° C.
The recommended time for transplanting young specimens into open ground is one and a half years after rooting. If planted earlier, many of them may not take root due to a weak root system.
Diseases and pests
For Blue Arrow juniper, only one disease is dangerous - rust.
Symptoms of infection are the appearance of red or brown growths on the surface of the bark of the trunk and shoots.
The affected organs should be immediately cut out to healthy tissue, and the entire crown and soil around the trunk should be treated with Fitontsid several times with an interval of two weeks until all signs of the disease completely disappear.
To avoid infection, ephedra should be planted as far as possible from fruit crops.
Of insects, miner moths and aphids annoy. In the fight against the first parasite, Fitoverm is used, and Decis is used to destroy aphids. To completely destroy it requires a two-time treatment with an interval of 10 days.
In order to avoid the appearance of harmful insects, it is necessary to regularly inspect the crown, remove damaged parts in time, spray for prevention with special means in autumn and spring:
- from diseases with fungicides - copper sulfate, Bordeaux liquid, Skor or Hom;
- from pests with insecticides - Aktellik, Aktara or Fundazol.
Application in landscape
Rock juniper has high decorative qualities throughout the year, therefore it is readily used in landscape design:
- planted along alleys, curbs, in city parks, creating long beautiful dove-blue columns;
- they look great in composition with other conifers and shrubs, they tolerate well the neighborhood of flowering plants;
- form a chic evergreen hedge along fences, arches, outbuildings;
- compact size allows you to make an original group landing on the site to decorate secluded and inconspicuous places.
This coniferous culture is used not only in landscape design, but also in the creation of protective belts in parks, forests and other areas.
Gardeners reviews
Gardeners who have been growing Blue Arrow for several years are very pleased with its delightful decorative effect and unpretentious care.
Subject to all the rules of agricultural technology, the compact juniper practically does not get sick, all winter it pleases the eye with its colors and shape.
In addition, many people note that a small plant is an excellent solution for creating a hedge in small areas;
Beginners love this variety for two qualities - the ephedra does not need to be cut off and often watered, while it grows fully and retains its original exquisite appearance.