Cedar is truly the king of Siberian forests. In many ways, the forests of this frosty area gained their popularity precisely thanks to this tree. And the clean air and aroma that it gives.

Cedar is a very beautiful coniferous tree that is resistant to frost, therefore, you often want to have such a plant in your garden, turning it into a piece of home Siberia. How realistic is it to grow cedar at home? How to grow cedar from a nut at home? Or would it be better to use special planting seeds from a gardening store? There are answers to all these questions. But, first things first.

Features of the cedar plant

Cedar is a fairly powerful and large plant with a thick trunk. In its natural habitat, the height of this coniferous tree can reach 40 meters. And if you add to this height the lush crown of the tree, the question arises, what should be the area of ​​the plot in order to allow yourself to grow a cedar? Yes, if you use natural-looking seedlings, you should take into account that the tree will occupy a large area. Not everyone can afford it.

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It is for such cases that a breed of low-growing cedars was bred, which will fit in a compact area and will grow no less beautiful and luxurious than a tree in the Siberian forest.

In nature, there are 5 types of Siberian cedar. There are many more decorative varieties, and some of them are capable of producing fruits - pine nuts. It is these varieties that will be discussed further.

Why do many people want to grow cedar at home?

Cedar is an unusual ornamental plant that will delight you with its attractive appearance both in summer and winter. This is one of the reasons why gardeners are so passionate about growing a tree on their site. In winter, the cedar stands out with its green crown above the snow-white snowdrifts, which gives the site an unusual aesthetic appearance.

Secondly, cedar produces fruits - pine nuts, which are not only a tasty product. Pine nuts can be used to make pine oil, which has healing properties. Also, tree resin promotes wound healing. Well, many people know firsthand about the benefits of pine needles. From pine needles you can make various tinctures, inhalations, or simply enjoy the pine smell while relaxing in the shade of a tree.

Considering all these advantages and the benefits this tree provides, many want to grow cedar from a nut at home.

How to grow cedar from a nut at home?

Nuts purchased at a grocery store or market are not suitable for growing cedar, since they are prepared for consumption by boiling in boiling salted water. It is best to find a smooth, pleasant-smelling cedar cone with no signs of mold or staleness.

1. Remove the nuts from the cone and rinse with warm water. Additionally, you can rub the shell with a toothbrush or sponge - this will wash away the resin that blocks moisture from accessing the kernel itself.
2. After you have cleared the nuts of excess resin, you need to stratify them, that is, keep them in cold (about 0°C) water for three days, changing the water once a day. After this time, you will notice that some of the seeds rose to the surface of the water, and some sank to the bottom. Nuts that float are empty or of poor quality; even if planted correctly, they will not sprout, but sunken seeds can and should be planted in the ground.
3. After three days, drain the water and mix the nuts with peat, forest soil or coarse washed sand, then lightly moisten the mixture and place it in a wooden box with holes for air or a perforated flower pot. After all the manipulations, the container with nuts can be put away in a dark, cool place - now the seeds should lie for several months (from 3 to 6 to imitate natural winter) at a temperature of about +4°C. Every couple of weeks, remove the seeds and moisten the soil. Try to choose the time so that the seeds are planted in March-April.
4. After a long preparation of the seeds, you can finally start planting. It is better to use natural forest soil, but if this is not available, you can buy special soil for conifers at a flower shop. The volume of the pot should be small, about 200 grams, and the planting depth should be about 2 cm. The seeds can be sprinkled with pine needles or sawdust on top. Protect the sown seeds from high temperatures and bright sun: it is better to place the pot with the future tree in a shaded place with a temperature of 18-20°C. And, of course, the soil should be periodically moistened, while at the same time preventing the seeds from being “flooded”.
5. It is best to plant the maximum number of seeds, because only 10-15% of them will sprout. Depending on the quality of the seeds, the first sprouts will sprout in 2-3 months and will be barely noticeable - up to five years, cedar grows very slowly, and the growth is up to 6-7 cm. By the third year of life, the sprout can reach 15 cm, and after five to six years it can be planted in open space.
6. Cedar loves well-drained rocky or loamy soils. Therefore, it is advisable to mix the soil in the place where the cedar is supposed to be planted with sand and gravel.

Caring for young cedar trees

In summer, it is necessary to adapt young plants to air and sun. To do this, they are taken out into the garden. After this, they can be gradually planted in light, loose and nutritious soil. Young cedars successfully tolerate the transplantation procedure. They can be planted close to each other. The cedars will undergo the next transplantation at the age of three. This procedure is recommended to be carried out in the spring. Older plants are replanted very rarely. Such frequent procedures can lead to drying of the roots. As a result of this, cedars may not take root at all.

If, however, replanting an adult plant is necessary, then you first need to create a root ball. Before transplanting, about a year in advance, a cut with a diameter of 1 m is made around the tree. Only horizontal roots are cut. The deep root system is not affected. It is preferable to replant trees in early spring, since only half of the seedlings take root during autumn replanting.

Only in this case can you wait for fruiting.

Trees that have reached one year of age require shade. The best place to plant young plants will be a shaded area in the back of the garden. Seedlings can also be shaded using covering or other material. As for watering, cedar is a moisture-loving plant, but excessive excess moisture can lead to its death. Therefore, competent care is important here. Grown seedlings also require proper care. First of all, it is necessary to mulch the soil around the plants. The tree trunk circle must be mulched. For this you can use sawdust, fallen pine needles and foliage.

That's all the secrets on how to grow cedar from a nut at home. Caring for a cedar tree near your home after planting is not much of a problem. Trees need to be watered only when the soil dries out. Cedar responds positively to fertilizing. Nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are best suited for this. Many experienced gardeners place stones around the cedar trunk. Over time, a fungal growth forms under them, which has a beneficial effect on the growth and development of the tree. To learn how to grow cedar from a nut at home, you can watch the educational video material.

True cedar is a coniferous tree of the genus Cedrus. In our country, Siberian cedar pine is called cedar ( Pinus sibirica) and love her nuts very much. Many people dream of growing this beautiful tree in their garden, thousands of kilometers from its natural habitat. You can try to grow a tree from nuts that are sold in the store. Their germination rate is often low, and sometimes none. The buds are often heated to make shelling easier, but the embryo in the seed may die. And then who knows where and how long these nuts were lying? If you want to get results on the first try, look for whole cedar cones. They are often sold at weekend fairs. You can husk 2-3 dozen nuts from a cone. This is quite enough to get a good result.

How to grow cedar from seeds yourself

The nuts need help to germinate. They are so cleverly designed: they just won’t sprout in warm, moist soil, like, say, marigolds. They need stratification so that everything is as in nature: a nut fell to the ground, lay swollen under the snow during the winter, and when it became warm, it sprang up.

Scarification (breaking the hard shell of the seed mechanically) also greatly increases germination. To do this, before sowing, rub one side of the nut with sandpaper so that the shell becomes a little thinner.

You can simply sow pine nuts before winter, burying them shallowly (1-2 cm) in a garden bed or in a separate pot dug into the ground. But there are plenty of people in the garden who want to feast on them: birds, mice. Therefore, if there are enough nuts, it is better to divide them into two parts: sow one in the garden before winter, and experiment with the second at home.

Growing cedar at home

It is better to start home sowing no earlier than March: earlier, when daylight hours are short, it does not make sense. No matter how you dance around the seedlings, they will develop slowly, and it is very easy for them to die in an apartment. To ensure that the seeds are well preserved, after scarification, soak them in a fungicide (Maxim) for an hour or two. This is a very important procedure, since the main enemy of home coniferous crops is blackleg.

Caring for cedar seedlings

Further care consists of watering and preventing blackleg. We prevent the latter by treating (watering) the soil once every two weeks with a “Maxim” solution (according to the instructions). As soon as the threat of frost has passed, we take the seedlings out into the garden and dig in the pots in partial shade. It is better to mulch the soil in pots with fine gravel or pine needles to avoid drying out.

There is much less hassle with outdoor crops. It is also advisable to scarify the seeds. Sown in the garden, they simply sprout (or don't sprout) in May. Next, you need to remember to weed and water them. In size and strength, both street and domestic ones will be the same by the end of the season.

Despite the fact that after the first year of life, pine trees are just stalks 2-3 cm high with a palm-shaped bunch of short needles on the top, they winter well. Any shelter will only provoke damping off. My cedar crops overwinter in pots that are placed in boxes and not buried.

In pots it is convenient to monitor and care for them for the next 3-4 years, transferring them into larger containers as they grow. In the second year, the seedlings will grow to 5-7 centimeters, by four years - to 20-30. This is where you can think about landing for freedom. Cedar shoots are poorly replanted if they have reached a size of more than a meter, so the planting site must be immediately chosen so that the groundwater level is no higher than 3 m and so that waterlogging is prevented.

Cedar pines begin to bear fruit late - at the age of about 20 years, and sometimes even more mature. And at first there will be very few cones, and the first ones may fall off or be empty. But how nice it will be one day to be one of the few patient gardeners who collects their harvests of sweet nuts!

Cedars are beautiful tall and powerful trees that, in good conditions, grow from 450 to 500 years. The tree becomes mature only from 80 to 85 years. People love pine nuts and it is a noble thing to grow a seedling at home and then plant a cedar.

Anyone who plans to grow a cedar should know that he needs a cone with pine nuts. It contains living seeds from which you can grow cedar seedlings.

It’s easiest for those who live nearby or can drive to the cedar forest. You can also ask a botanical garden worker or forester for seeds.

Why do the right seeds have to be in the pine cone? This is due to the fact that it is unknown how long that lump was and where it lay before it came to you. Not very good changes may occur in her, she may:

• dry out;
• damaged by insects;
• frostbite;
• damage your surface due to mechanical stress;
• end up with rotten seeds.

When the nuts are in a cone, they are protected from the natural environment and any mechanical damage. The cone with seeds should be no older than 2 years.

"Important! Shelled pine nuts, which you can buy in a supermarket or market, will not sprout because they are processed for culinary purposes by placing them in hot oil. Therefore, it is useless to plant them in the ground; they will not germinate.”

Cedar seedlings grow slowly; you need to be patient until they are large enough to plant in open ground. Years will pass, the cedar will rise and become the most beautiful tree in the garden, delighting not only the owners, but also passers-by. Then the work of growing a seedling will pay off with moral pleasure.

Where do you get pine nuts for planting?

The main thing is to get seeds suitable for germination. If you buy them from someone else via the Internet, at the market, in a store, you can get a bad deal. Purchasing through friends, ordering from people who live near a cedar forest are excellent options, but such acquaintances are not always found.

You can also order seed material through:

• gardening society;
• botanical garden;
• almanac with seeds;
• buy from an independent seller;
• forestry;
• Botanical Department and Horticulture at the University.

No matter what method of obtaining seed material the gardener chooses, he will be able to obtain pine nuts that can be grown and get seedlings from them.

To be on the safe side, you need to order 2 or 3 buds. If the nuts in one do not germinate, then the other 2 will contain live pine nuts. Still need to clarify when these cones were collected?

Growing cedar at home

To grow cedar seedlings, you need to follow the rules. It is important to obtain a whole cone whose nuts have not been treated with hot oil. After all, after hot processing, the seeds inside the shell are damaged and will not be able to sprout.

You need buds that are no more than 2 years old. Otherwise, those nuts are suitable for food, but not for seed material.

For successful germination you need not ordinary soil from the garden, but suitable soil:

• loamy;
• enriched with humus;
• you can take the top layer of soil in the forest - this is an excellent basis for growing a tree.

Before planting, certain procedures are carried out with the seeds. The seed is soaked in Kornevin for 3 days. An aqueous solution is made and the nuts are soaked there for 3 days.

Then they are taken out of the solution and mixed with sand (river). Before processing nuts, you need to sew them into a burlap or cotton bag of a suitable size. Processed nuts are poured there, tied loosely so that a hole remains and 6 months. Store seed material on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Periodically, the owner must take out the bag, untie and inspect the nuts. Throw away those covered with mold, tie the rest again, leaving a hole for air to pass through, and place them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

When 6 months have passed. the nuts that remain can be planted in small pots. For nuts, a mixture of soil is made; a large proportion of it should be river sand. Seeds are planted 1 cm deep.

"Advice! To begin with, the pots are placed somewhere on a table near the window. At room temperature, the sprouts will sprout and then they need to be placed on a bright windowsill.”

Let's look at how to properly water cedar seedlings:

1. It’s great if you do this with a spray bottle. You can also spray it on the seedling itself. Such gentle watering will not wash away beneficial substances from the top layer of soil.
2. How do you know whether you need to water or not? Place a match into the ground. If it is completely dry, then it is time to water it.
3. You don’t have to bother, but stick to the rule that cedar seedlings are watered once every 2 days.
4. It's bad when the plant lacks moisture. It is difficult for it to break through the top layer of soil, and then the roots grow slowly, which means that the seedling will not receive enough nutrients.
5. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, it will be difficult for the sprout to break through to the surface, and after that the roots will develop slowly and with difficulty.

The video tells how to grow a cedar seedling at home:

When cedar seedlings grow up, they need to be hardened off in the warm season and taken out little by little into fresh air. You can start from the balcony, leaving it there first for 30 minutes, then for 1 hour, for 2 hours and bring it to the point where the seedlings can stay in the fresh air for half a day or a day. Such hardened seedlings can be planted in open ground in the area that the gardener has designated for it.

Now even a novice gardener understands how to process, germinate seeds, and then grow cedar seedlings. The first year of life they should grow in the shade. They are planted under the shade, for example, from the crown of a large tree or near a house that constantly casts a shadow, etc.

If the owner does not have such large trees in his garden, then he needs to build a canopy and create artificial shade. Cedar loves water, but it cannot be flooded, otherwise the roots will rot and the plant will die.

The soil around the tree needs to be mulched, then there is no need to frequently weed it and remove weeds. For mulch, use wood shavings or autumn leaves, maybe half and half with tyrsa, or another material. If there is already a mature cedar growing in the yard, then its fallen needles are used for mulch.