Features of sheltering conifers for the winter and tips for preparing for frost. Feeding conifers in the fall - how to treat them, what fertilizers to use? Is it necessary to cover yew for the winter?

But there is a group ornamental crops, which need to be taken care of even after frosts, in the spring. Ice rain, heavy snowfall and bright spring sun can ruin the crown of conifers, or even burn the plants to the ground. Therefore, when preparing plants for winter, it is so important to provide them with shelter to protect them from snow, ice, and sunburn.

Timing of sheltering conifers for the winter

All measures for sheltering conifers can be carried out both in autumn and in the first half of winter. Under such shelters, conifers will be safe from any weather surprises, and the gardener’s soul will be calm all winter.

In order to survive the winter, plants must be strong and healthy. Therefore, it is so important to pay attention not only to preparing for winter, but also correct landing and caring for conifers:

Sheltering conifers from snow and ice

After long snowfalls the crown junipers and it doesn’t look the best - individual branches bend to the ground, or even break completely. It is good when it is possible to shake off trees immediately after the end of snowfall, but often this is not possible.

Shelter of thuja and juniper

1. To prevent damage to the crown, I tie the tree crowns with a special wide garden bandage.
2. I start tying from the top and move down so that the winding does not fly off.
3. After wrapping with bandages, I place 3-4 metal rods around the conifers - they should be the same height as the plant or slightly higher. In the spring you don’t have to pull them out - they won’t be noticeable in the crown.
4. I wrap the rods in plastic coarse mesh. This mesh is an excellent basis for further shelter from the spring sun and additional insurance against breaking the crown.
5. For varieties, shelter is limited to wrapping the crown with a bandage and attaching the mesh to the rods - it does not burn in the spring sun, and is not afraid of frost.

How to make garden bandages with your own hands:

• take a regular covering material, it is better to take one with a thickness of 60,
• cut strips from it for winding.

I also have one more contender for protection from snowfalls - dwarf pine "Spielberg". It has thin branches with fluffy paws at the end, which break off at the slightest snow load. I tie it very tightly.

Sheltering conifers from sunburn

All varieties juniper , spruce konica And fir "Silberloke" on top plastic mesh I wrap it in burlap or unnecessary sheets, because they burn first in the spring sun, especially the conika.

For small specimens, like conic and fir, you can limit yourself to a few rods - dig them around the perimeter of the crown and wrap them with burlap.

• Covering material such as spunbond, agril, lutrasil, etc. They are not suitable as sun protection, because according to the manufacturers, they perfectly transmit the sun, which means that the conifers under it will burn immediately.
• Unnecessary old blackout curtains also keep the sun out. In winter, I sew them and sheets together several at a time so that I can throw them on in one fell swoop and secure them.

More about protection coniferous plants in winter from burnout, watch the video:

Shelter of conifers on a trunk

Conifers on a trunk deserve special pre-winter attention. Depending on the size of the crown, I cover them differently.

1. At the same time, everyone grafted conifers There is weakness– grafting, I always wrap it with a piece of covering material and secure it firmly with ropes. If you conscientiously tie the grafting site, then standard conifers will not be afraid of any frost.
2. The second danger facing plants is breaking off the crown from the trunk as a result of the accumulation of a fair amount of snow. The crowns of grafted conifers cannot bear much weight and, as a result, break at the grafting site.
3. So, it has a wide crown blue spruce on the standard. I place metal rods around the perimeter, stretch a fine-mesh metal mesh on top, and put burlap on it. It turns out that no matter how much snow falls, it does not touch the crown, and all the weight falls on the mesh. I also cover pine bonsai .
4. Recognized star of the garden - fir on the Icebreaker trunk she is afraid of both the sun and the weight of the snow at the same time, so I lower a wooden box onto it and put a “roof” on top.
5. Small crowns of standard conifers, for example, larch , I wrap it completely with covering material, including the crown and the trunk itself to the ground - in my experience, it is to some extent afraid of frost.

Photo: fir shelter

Conifer shelter (video)

For more information on how to cover thuja, junipers, conika, fir for the winter and protect conifers from the sun, the weight of snow and freezing rain, see my video

Each plant is unique in its own way and needs an individual approach to care. Some of them are not whimsical, while others, on the contrary, require knowledge and skills to implement good care. Most plants must be carefully prepared for wintering. Many people mistakenly believe that conifers do not require special care in winter. This is partly true, they are frost-resistant and can withstand temperatures down to -30º. Why cover coniferous plants in this case? The greatest danger to conifers is not the air temperature, but bright sun rays and wind, especially at the end of winter and beginning of spring.

During this period of time, burns may appear on the trees, which can cause irreparable harm to the plant. The most demanding among conifers when preparing for winter is thuja. How to cover a thuja for the winter is an important question, let’s try to figure it out.

How to cover a thuja for the winter All measures aimed at protecting thuja in winter are recommended to begin in late autumn before the first snow and frost appear. If the thuja is located near a structure in the shade and is frost-resistant variety

, then you can cover it for the winter in mid-February. In the first couple of years after planting, young plants, regardless of variety and frost resistance, require mandatory shelter.

Video “Saving conifers from yellowing”

Ways to cover thuja

There are many different techniques that can protect thuja from exposure to ultraviolet rays and wind. Next we will talk in more detail about how to cover conifers for the winter. The following types of shelters are very popular among gardeners:

Fabric

Fabric shelters can be made yourself or purchased at a farm store. A homemade shelter for coniferous trees can be made from gauze or burlap. To insulate thuja with gauze, take material with a width of at least 50 cm and cut it into strips. Their length should be slightly greater than the height of the tree itself. When determining the length of the strip, the splendor of the crown is taken into account. Then all the strips are fastened together and tied into a bundle on one side to form a kind of bag. Instead of gauze, you can use any white “breathable” material. Fabric covers should be made a little loose, as slight shrinkage of the fabric is possible over time. Garden stores offer more modern solution

for insulating wood. Nonwoven materials are very popular among gardeners: agroterm, lutrasil and spandbond. They are easy to use, easy to clean, dry quickly and are reusable.

To create such shelters, wrapping paper is used. Take a piece of material and wrap the tree crown in a spiral from top to bottom. When performing work, lightly press the branches against the trunk. The strips of paper must be overlapped. Fix the resulting structure on the plant using a stapler or tight rope.

Frame

Frame structures are suitable for insulating young plants. You can make the frames yourself or buy them at a garden store. To build a protective frame, you will need to take thick slats and wire, as well as thin bars plastic pipes and a metal corner. If the thuja is small, then the structure can be made with 3 supports, and if larger, then with 4. The frame legs are driven into the ground 20 cm. Their length should be at least 2/3 of the height of the tree itself. If you have a large number of available means, you can build a structure taking into account the capture of the top of the crown. The material is fixed to the frame using transverse and connecting posts. After building the frame, a bag is put on it. The main disadvantage of this design is that accumulated snow must be constantly removed.

Panel

This option is the simplest and can protect thuja only from direct sun rays. Installation of wooden panels is carried out on the sunny side of the tree.

Photo “Ways to cover thuja for the winter”

Winter care for conifers

After the story about how to cover a thuja for the winter, move on to the features of caring for the plant in winter period. When caring for evergreen trees, you should not lose vigilance even in winter. After heavy snowfall, trees must be cleared of accumulated snow mass. In case of accumulation large quantity snow around the trunk must be cleared.

In early spring, do not rush to remove tree covers, as they can get sunburned. You can remove the cover from the thujas after the weather returns to normal. It is recommended to plant conifers near fences and buildings. This arrangement has a beneficial effect on the plant in the spring.

Thujas sheltered for the winter also decorate the yard

In winter, wrapped thujas can look very unattractive. To make the site look attractive, you can show a little imagination. Cover structures can be built similar to a wigwam. You can draw different pictures or funny faces on paper shelters.

Not a single area is complete without coniferous crops. They give a picturesque view of the territory in winter time when all the deciduous trees are bare and the flower beds are empty. There are so many varieties and types of coniferous crops that you can create entire compositions, the decorative value of which will be high in any season. But there is one caveat: not all coniferous crops withstand winter equally. If the seedlings were brought from Europe, where the climate is much milder than Russian and even Ukrainian, there is a possibility of severe damage to the crown and freezing of the roots. Let’s take a closer look at how to avoid this.

You can reduce the likelihood of winter troubles to zero already at the stage of purchasing seedlings. If you purchase thujas and junipers from domestic nurseries, where they grew for several years in the same climatic conditions as in your area, then problems with winter hardiness will disappear. Weak crops freeze out already in the first year after planting in the nursery, so they simply do not reach the shelves.

But more often we get planting material on the market where it is impossible to verify whether the seller provided accurate information about the growing conditions of the seedlings. And even if all the plants were grown in the local climate, there is no guarantee that they were not overfed with nitrogen fertilizers to accelerate growth. And excess nitrogen significantly reduces the immunity of crops and leads to freezing.

Therefore, the owners themselves must take care of the conifers, preparing them for hibernation at the end of autumn.

They get along well in small areas different types dwarf pine, which stands out for its winter hardiness and ability to withstand snow loads

Among the crops that are more damaged than others in winter, the leaders are arborvitae, firs (except Siberian and Wicha), metasequoias, cypresses and cypress trees. In areas with a harsh climate, it is better not to plant these crops or be prepared for the fact that they will have to be protected from frost every winter.

The list of the most unpretentious coniferous plants includes:

• Spruce (except Eastern and Brewer);
• Cedars;
• Larch (except Western);
• Pines (except Thunberg);
• Junipers (except Turkestan and Zeravshan);
• Hemlock;
• Western thuja.

The remaining varieties need to be selected taking into account the duration and severity of your winters.

Rules for preparing plants for wintering

Autumn water-recharging irrigation

Despite sub-zero temperatures, life processes in coniferous crops do not stop, but only slow down. Therefore, trees and shrubs must be prepared for winter taking this circumstance into account.

Before the onset of the first frost (around the end of November), water the conifers one last time. For each crop up to a meter, pour 2 buckets of water, and above a meter - from 3 to 5. This way you will provide the plants with a supply of moisture for the pre-spring period. At the end of February, when the sun begins to get hot, the crown of conifers comes to life and requires nutrition and moisture from the roots. And if there is not enough of it in the soil, then frost binds the soil to a greater depth. The roots cannot take water, so the needles become dry and are easily burned by scorching rays.

Watering is especially necessary:

• one-year and two-year-old seedlings that have not developed a strong root system;
• rare breeds of conifers with poor winter hardiness;
• plants whose crowns were shaped and trimmed this season.

If there is a coniferous trees grown using the bonsai technique or with topiary haircut - they require thorough shelter from the snow

Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers

In order for the young branches of conifers to ripen by the beginning of winter, you need to properly feed the plants. Starting in August, eliminate all fertilizers that contain nitrogen. It provokes rapid growth of green mass, and this will greatly weaken the immune system. It is useful to add a mixture of potassium and phosphorus to the soil in September. By doing this, you will accelerate the lignification of the branches and strengthen the root system.

Mulching young plants

A necessary condition for healthy wintering for rare and non-winter-hardy varieties of conifers is mulching. Perfect option mulch - tree bark. It is large, allows oxygen to flow to the roots and, when the temperature rises, does not prevent excess vapors from escaping from the ground. With this mulching, the plants will never dry out, as is the case with sawdust.

Mature conifers or those purchased at a local nursery do not need to be sprinkled with mulch. They can cope with winter without shelter.

Troubles during the winter months

If you took into account the previous tips, then your pets will feel quite comfortable in winter, but the care does not end there. Winter weather brings many surprises, and you need to deal with them in time.

Surprise one: heavy snow

Sometimes there are heavy snowfalls in winter. Wet snow settles heavily on the conifers, causing skeletal branches to break and thin ones to break off. If your pet is covered with a sticky and wet snow cap, do not try to shake it off by tilting the branches or shaking the trunk. At this time, the bark and branches are so fragile that you will provoke cracking. You need to wrap the end of the board soft cloth and pry it over each branch of an adult tree, gently swinging it up and down. Brush off all branches in the access zone of your growth with a stiff brush or broom, moving from the tips to the trunk.

The crown of spherical and columnar varieties can be protected by tying it with twine. Just do not pinch the branches so as not to disrupt the circulation of juices. The twine should press the crown tightly against the trunk, but not squeeze.

The crown, tied with twine, becomes compact and dense, preventing snow from getting into the middle, which helps to survive the winter without breaking.

Surprise two: freezing rain

With the contrast between day and night temperatures, tree branches can become covered with an ice crust. It has enough weight, tilting its paws and threatening the safety of the plant. You won’t be able to shake off such beauty, as it sticks tightly to the needles. In this case, the supports that you used in the summer for support will come to the rescue. fruit trees. Place them under any branches that have bent too low to prevent them from breaking. All that remains is to wait for a sunny day for the ice to slide under the rays on its own.

Surprise three: gusty wind

Some areas experience squally winds in winter. It is not dangerous for low-growing, dwarf trees or creeping shrubs, but vertical thujas, tall cedars or spruce trees can easily be uprooted (especially on light sandy loam soils).

If weather forecasters have announced a storm warning, play it safe by putting up guy ropes. They come in two types: fixed to stakes and anchor type.

The essence of the first option is that thick stakes are driven into the ground on four sides near the tree, the height of which is more than half the height of the trunk. A twine is pulled from each support to the trunk. It is not tied on bare bark, but the trunk is first wrapped with roofing material or a wooden block is placed at the place of tying. True, it will not always be possible to drive stakes into frozen ground in winter, so conifers are strengthened in this way in the fall, especially recently transplanted large ones.

With the help of an anchor stretch, you can not only protect the tree from gusts of wind, but make it grow strictly vertically

The second type - anchor - involves the installation of steel guy wires, which are attached to the tree at one end and pulled onto the anchors at the other. Anchors should be located outside the root system. To protect the trunk from steel, you need to wrap the tree with thick burlap, and use wooden pads on top of it.

Surprise four: February sun

Even the most resistant conifers by the end of winter run the risk of freezing or, conversely, getting burned. At this time, the weather is unstable, and often the sun shines so brightly for days that it provokes an early awakening of the roots. They begin to actively feed the crown, expecting immediate warmth, and then the so-called return frosts can appear. You cannot stop the flow of sap, but you can cover the crown with a thick non-woven material, like lutrasil, or at least put canvas potato bags on the young seedlings.

To prevent the ground from thawing quickly, mulch it with sawdust. Their White color will reflect the sun's rays, and the roots will not awaken so quickly. But when stable heat sets in, the sawdust must be removed immediately so that the plant does not dry out.

Without covering with lutrasil or other non-woven material, the crown of many rare conifers may not withstand the test of severe frosts

Another danger lies in the sun's rays, which burn tender young needles. Therefore, at the end of winter, all annual seedlings and exotic conifers are covered from the south with shields or the crown is completely wrapped in burlap.

It is not advisable to protect conifers from the sun with non-woven material, as it accumulates heat and can increase the drying out of the needles.

To protect from the February sun, you can use burlap or agrofibre, which creates soft twilight inside the shelter and prevents drying out of the needles

Don't worry if some plants' needles turn yellow in winter. This is how junipers and hemlocks react to cold. The color will return in spring.

If you carried out all the security measures on time, the conifers will quickly recover from hibernation and will delight you with its decorativeness.

Coniferous plants planted this year do not have time to develop powerful rhizomes during the season and become strong enough to survive in harsh winter conditions. Young plantings need protection created by different ways using factory or homemade designs.

The optimal time for covering plants is dry weather that sets in with the arrival of stable cold weather. It is recommended to place protective materials on frames that ensure the integrity of the branches and optimal ventilation.

We purchase ready-made shelters.

Purchased structures are ready-made kits that are easy to install and do not require additional accessories. Among the many options, you can always choose shelters that are suitable in shape and size.

The frames of these products are made of polymer or metal tubes, bamboo rods or fine mesh. Non-woven fabrics are used as protective material, allowing air to pass through and maintaining a dry atmosphere inside the shelter, for example, Snapbond or Agrospan.

We cover the homemade frame with purchased material.
Another way to organize a winter shelter is a separate purchase required quantity nonwoven material, allowing you to save about half the cost. In this case, the base for securing the canvas is built with your own hands from thick wire. Homemade arcs are installed crosswise over the plant.

The synthetic fabric is stretched over the frame and pinned with wire pins.

We use wooden supports and burlap

To make a simple frame, you will need four pegs that are twice the height of the coniferous plant being covered. ends wooden slats They are knocked down with a nail and the racks resembling a compass are installed in place. It is better to stick stakes into the ground in advance, without waiting for it to freeze.

With the onset of persistent night frosts wooden base cover with burlap, fixing the fabric with bent wire pins or stones.

We collect spruce spruce branches

Spruce branches serve as an excellent winter shelter, which additionally protects plants from rodents. The air layer created under the thorny branches is well ventilated and less subject to temperature changes. Spruce branches are harvested exclusively from healthy trees; you cannot use infected needles and transfer diseases to young seedlings.

Long spruce or pine legs are perfect for shelter - they are folded over the plant in the form of a hut, tied at the top with twine. But the short shoots remaining after the formative pruning of mature trees are also used. First, wire arcs are installed on top of the bush. Then the frame is covered with cut branches.

The result is an ideal shelter that saves the coniferous plant from the ice crust in winter.

Another advantage of spruce branches is that they do not rot and do not contribute to the proliferation of destructive microorganisms.

We protect the root system.
The trunk circles of coniferous seedlings are mulched with some kind of organic matter, spreading the material in a loose layer at least 5 cm thick. A mixture of soil and leaves is well suited for covering the roots. Left under the bush in the spring, it rots and serves as additional feeding.

The coniferous plants remaining in the containers are dug into the ground for the winter or a blanket of sawdust is placed near them.

The ground part of the seedlings is protected by any of the available methods.

Each of the structures considered begins to be ventilated when the spring rays of the sun melt the snow around it. First, the northern side is opened slightly, and after the soil thaws, the protective material is completely removed.
Winter shelter for young coniferous plants is one of the means to increase the winter hardiness of plantings. It should not be taken as the only method that guarantees a safe winter. Experienced gardener always carefully approaches the preparation of plants, paying attention to planting, watering and fertilizing.

Coniferous plants occupy a special place in our gardens: they create the basis of the composition, cover unwanted details and outbuildings, and in winter they maintain the shape of the entire garden. Many of them are able to change the color of their needles depending on the time of year, creating additional color accents. Even for the most unstable climate, you can choose conifers to beautifully decorate your site with them.

Most coniferous plants are quite unpretentious, but when growing exotic plants, you have to take some risks. Even local pines and spruce trees do not always withstand the vagaries of winter weather, not to mention overseas species. Everything is natural in nature.

She gets rid of weak plants to make way for the development of stronger, better adapted specimens. Naturally, coniferous “foreigners” have a more difficult time. But they can also be helped.

Each plant has its own preferences that must be taken into account when preparing for winter, but there are some general points that apply to any type of conifer.
Preparations must begin in mid-August. It is at this time that fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers is stopped. If this is not done, the shoots will continue to grow actively, which is why they will not have time to ripen before winter.

In some types of coniferous plants, shoots may not ripen due to drought. For example, cypress is often damaged by frost due to the fact that it requires high humidity air.

For most coniferous plants, such as thuja, cypress, larch, in the fall it is advisable to cut out all broken, diseased and yellowed parts of the branches. For this operation, you can use ordinary garden shears or pruning shears.

It is useful to water the roots of plants with a solution of a root formation stimulator, such as “Kornevin”. It is applied strictly at the root, before the onset of the first cold weather. This is done so that the roots develop better before winter frosts.

Tree trunk circles should be mulched with some kind of organic matter. This is especially useful for young seedlings with an underdeveloped root system. The mulch should be loose and spread in a layer of at least 5 cm to protect the roots from severe frosts. In spring, the mulch must be removed to prevent damping off and ensure faster warming of the soil.

In dry autumn, it is necessary to carry out moisture-recharging irrigation. This is especially important for those exotic species that continue to grow during the winter months.

If the roots of young plants are not yet sufficiently developed, they should be additionally secured for the winter. This is especially true for tall species of conifers, root system which lie shallow: thuja, spruce, fir. To do this, install a long stake next to the trunk and tie the plant to it to protect it from gusts of wind.

Many types of conifers are quite winter-hardy during the dormant period, but very easily emerge from it when the temperature rises at the very end of winter. This can lead to damage from returning frosts. Thus, in the Moscow region, sometimes even Siberian fir freezes slightly, the frost resistance of which in its homeland reaches minus 50 °C. Therefore, conifers often also need protection from the first sun.

Sometimes, at the beginning of spring, plants get burned from sunlight reflected by the surface of the snow. This mainly happens on the south side. Sunburn can also occur due to lack of moisture - in winter nothing comes from the roots, and the needles begin to heat up in the sun. Trees and shrubs suffer not from excess light, but from a combination of frozen soil and warm air. Therefore, conifers recommend shading or even covering for the winter. For shelter, thin burlap is used, which is loosely tied around the plant, or special covers. Under no circumstances should coniferous plants be wrapped in thick non-woven material or plastic film. These materials are only suitable for retaining heat inside, which will inevitably lead to damping out during thaws.

Many plants in winter can suffer from a snow pile: the branches bend under its weight, and then do not return to their previous position. Under the pressure of stuck snow, thin branches may even break off. Therefore, it is recommended to tie plants of columnar and other exotic shapes with rope for the winter.

Good health and well-being depends on how well the preparation for winter is carried out. appearance coniferous plants throughout the year. Relatively small material and labor costs can prevent illness, or even the loss of rare and valuable specimens. It is much easier to prevent damage to trees and bushes during the cold months than to treat them later and restore lost decorative properties.