Characteristics of the tuevik plant, recommendations for planting and growing in a personal plot, reproduction, methods of combating diseases and pests, interesting notes, varieties.
Tuevik (Thujopsis) is an evergreen plant belonging to the Cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is important to note that the genus is monotypic, that is, it includes only one species - Thujopsis dolobrata, or, as it is also called, Chisel-shaped Tuevik or Japanese Tuevik. A little earlier this genus also included Japanese thuja (Thuja standishii), which was later transferred to a separate genus Thuja.
Tuyevik occurs naturally in the dense forests of Japanese lands (on the islands of Shikoku and Hokkaido, Kyushu and Honshu), at an absolute height of about 2,000 meters, among other conifers. Such forests are saturated with warmth and moisture. This representative of the flora was introduced into culture in 1775 and is one of the conifers characterized by high decorative qualities.
| Family name | Cypress |
| Growing period | Perennial |
| Vegetation form | Tree-like |
| Breeds | Seeds, rooting cuttings, layering or grafting on thuja |
| Open ground transplant terms | From the third decade of April to the end of May |
| Landing rules | When planting in groups no closer than 0.5 m, when forming alleys 1.5 m |
| Priming | Fertile, loamy |
| Soil acidity values, pH | 6, 5-7 (neutral) |
| Illumination level | Well lit or shaded area |
| Humidity level | Drought-resistant, watering is needed in summer drought and heat |
| Special care rules | Spring fertilizers are recommended |
| Height options | About 30-35 m, but when grown in culture, the height is about 1.5-2 m |
| Flowering period (bud formation) | It is decorative-deciduous and has no flowering, the formation of male and female cones occurs |
| Cones color | Brown |
| Fruit type | Seeds |
| The timing of fruit ripening | In the first year after the formation of bumps |
| Terms of decorativeness | Year-round |
| Application in landscape design | Group plantings or as a tapeworm, for the formation of alleys or as a container culture |
| USDA zone | 5 and more |
The scientific name for the plant was derived from its resemblance to real thuja. For this, the words "Thuja" and "-opsis" were combined, which in translation from the Greek language also sounds like "thuja".
Thuvik growing in nature can reach 30 m in height, but when grown in our latitudes with a colder climate, the growth of this representative of the flora slows down quite a lot and then the plant takes the form of a small tree or shrub (no more than 2 meters high). The trunk is covered with a thin reddish-brown bark. As it grows older, its entire surface begins to crack into thin narrowish stripes.
Tuyevik branches grow rather dense and flattened. They are covered by leaves, which are essentially needles, having a horizontal arrangement, but in some cases the needles grow whorled. Through the branches, a thick, wide crown is formed, which takes on a pyramidal shape. The surface of the needles is leathery and glossy, its color on the upper side is dark green, the opposite is whitish from the stomata present there. Tuevik coniferous scales are located in one plane, 1-2 pairs in a row, while they are spliced together. The needles are very tightly pressed to the shoot. A pleasant aroma is always barely felt around the ephedra, which will be stronger when rubbing the needles in your fingers.
Unisexual spikelets are formed on tuyevik plants:
- Male, usually formed at the tops of lateral shoots. They grow singly, have a cylindrical shape and 6-10 pairs of opposite stamens.
- Female, formed singly at the tops of the branches. The shape of such spikelets in the tuevik is ovoid, they are made up of thick and fleshy scales. There are 4 to 10 pairs of scales, they grow crosswise in opposite order. At the same time, both the upper scales in the spikelets and the lower ones are not fruitful.
In general, woody scaly cones are formed in tuyevik, bearing 3-5 pairs of scales with rounded outlines and tops bent outward. The diameter of the cone can reach 1.5 cm, while the cones of the real thuja are much smaller. Inside the cones, oval seeds ripen, which measure 0.7 cm in length and are characterized by the presence of a pair of leathery wings. The seeds ripen in female cones in the same year they were formed.
The plant is notable for its winter hardiness, therefore it is used in landscaping the coastal areas in the Crimea and the Caucasus, as well as in Russia and some regions of Azerbaijan. Despite its slow growth in nature, tuyevik can live up to five hundred years of age or more. When growing in a garden, it is recommended not to violate the rules of agricultural technology below, and then this ephedra will become a real decoration of the site for many years.
Recommendations for planting and leaving tuyevik in the open field
- Landing place for this ephedra it is recommended to select it with shading from direct sunlight. If such diffused lighting is not provided for the tuevik, then its needles will suffer from the heat and bright light and will quickly fly around. Also, do not place the plant in places of close groundwater or in lowlands, where moisture can stagnate when the snow cover or precipitation melts. Planting on a sunny location is also possible, but then you will have to pay more attention to watering the ephedra. In any case, the location of this evergreen should be protected from drafts and gusts of cold winds.
- Soil for tuevik it is recommended to pick a fertile one. Loam is the best choice, but it is important to remember that in a too heavy substrate, the plant may suffer from waterlogging of the root system. If the soil on the site is exactly like this, then when planting you need to use a drainage layer. You can make a soil mixture yourself from sod and leafy soil, compost and river sand, taken in equal parts, or apply a composition of garden soil, river sand and peat compost in proportions of 2: 2: 3. The latter mixture can be used when growing tuevik in a pot. But it is noticed that this ephedra can endure even sandy loam during growth. The acidity of the soil is recommended to be normal, that is, its values should not go beyond the pH range of 6, 5–7.
- Landing a tuyevik. It is recommended to do this with the arrival of spring, when stable warm temperatures are established (from about mid-April to the end of May). The distance that should remain between ephedra seedlings should be at least 0.5 m; when planting in groups, this value can reach up to one and a half meters. Pits for planting a tuyevik should be dug to a depth of 0.6 m. At the very beginning, a layer of drainage material should be laid on the bottom of the pit, which can be small expanded clay, pebbles or broken brick of the same fraction. This will protect the root system from waterlogging. The drainage layer should measure 10–15 cm. It is best to plant a tuyevik seedling by transshipment, that is, when the earthen lump surrounding the root system does not collapse. This will help to ensure that the roots of the plant are not injured. When planting, the removed soil is combined with fertilizer. It is recommended to use 250 grams of nitroammophoska, which is well mixed with the substrate. They try to install a tuyevik seedling so that its root collar remains flush with the soil on the site. All the voids in the pit, after the plant is placed there, are filled with soil, which is then carefully squeezed around. After that, it is recommended to water it in order to wet the substrate well. After planting tuyevnik seedlings, it is recommended to mulch the trunk circle using peat chips or sawdust. This layer should be about 3–7 cm thick.
- Transfer performed at any time from spring to the beginning of the autumn cold. Tuyevik, like thuja, tolerates this operation very easily. All actions are performed as in the initial planting of the ephedra.
- Watering when caring for a tuyevik, it is not often carried out, since the plant is quite drought-resistant. The exceptions are dry and hot periods, then at least 10 liters of water must be poured under each ephedra. This "relative" of the thuja reacts well to sprinkling the crown by sprinkling. Evening hours will be the best for this operation. After each watering or precipitation, it is recommended to loosen the soil in the near-trunk circle to a depth of about 5 cm.
- Fertilizers when caring for a tuyevik, it is recommended to make it every year, but when at least two years have passed after planting. It is necessary to use complete mineral complexes, such as Kemira-Universl or Fertika, or special preparations for conifers, such as Compo or Plantofol. For 1m2 of such dressings, about 20 grams are taken. The best time for fertilization is the beginning of March. Once every three years, you should dig up the near-trunk circle of the ephedra.
- Pruning when growing tuevik, it should be carried out to give the crown of the plant beautiful outlines (for example, a multi-tiered contour). But it should be remembered that you should not shorten the shoots too much, since their growth rate is quite low. So for a year, the branches lengthen by only 1.5-2 cm, while the total size when growing ephedra in our latitudes will be only 1.5-1.7 m. shrunken).
- Wintering. Some forms of tuevik are winter-hardy and do not require any shelter for the winter, but this does not apply to young plants. For them, with the arrival of cold weather, it is recommended to update the layer of mulch, increasing it to 15 cm. The conifers themselves need to be covered with spruce branches or a good layer of dry foliage. With the arrival of constant heat, such a shelter should be raked away so that the root system does not dry out.
- The use of tuevik in landscape design. Since there are forms of this evergreen coniferous plant, both with significant heights and dwarf sizes, this makes it possible to use it for a variety of purposes in the garden. So, tree-like forms can be planted as tapeworms in the middle of the lawn or group planting. Alleys and hedges are formed from low-growing varieties.
Tuyeviks also look good with their coniferous "relatives": cypresses and thujas, junipers and pines, spruces and hemlock, beeches and firs. Dwarf varieties can be planted between stones in rock gardens or rockeries. With such plantings, you can plant the background of mixborders. When planted in containers, the ephedra can be placed for decoration in gazebos, on terraces and on balconies.
Tips for breeding tuyevik
In order to grow such a coniferous evergreen plant on your site, it is recommended to sow seeds or engage in rooting of cuttings and layering, or use the grafting method. When growing tuevik as a crop, preference is given to seedlings obtained by seed propagation.
Reproduction of tuevik using seeds
For sowing, it is better to use freshly harvested material, since germination will decrease over time. In order for the seeds to germinate normally, it is recommended to carry out pre-sowing preparation, which is 3-4 months of stratification. To do this, the seeds are mixed with soil and placed in a container. Then they put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator (where the temperature is in the range of 0-5 degrees), or drop it in the garden so that the container is covered with snow for the winter.
When the period of stratification is over, then the container with the seed is taken out and placed on the windowsill, where the crops of the tuevik will be illuminated by the sun's rays. For germination, it is recommended that the room temperature is maintained in the range of 20-22 degrees. When leaving, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the soil in the container with crops. If its surface begins to dry out, then you need to spray with warm water using a fine spray gun. When tuyevik sprouts appear above the surface of the substrate, it is recommended to dive into separate pots filled with nutrient soil.
Young plants grow a little, this process is quite long, since the growth rate of this ephedra is rather slow. It can take about 5-7 years to grow seedlings. When the plants reach a height of about 20 cm, they can be transplanted into open ground at the end of May.
Reproduction of tuevik by cuttings
Usually, blanks are cut from young shoots. The length of such a cutting should reach 20 cm. Then the slices are treated with any root stimulator (for example, heteroauxin) and planted in greenhouse conditions so that the cuttings take root. So you can plant in pots filled with nutritious soil, and put a plastic bottle with a cut bottom on top. Rooting moisture should be maintained at 80%.
The substrate for planting tuevik cuttings is usually mixed from high moor peat, perlite and river sand. With this reproduction, the efficiency of the obtained seedlings reaches 70%. After the cuttings take root in May, they are transplanted into a school for growing, and also after a couple of years, when the seedlings develop a sufficient number of roots, you can transplant into open ground.
Reproduction of tuevik by layering
This method, like the previous one, gives a high percentage of positive results. Usually in the spring, a healthy shoot is selected that grows close to the ground. Such a branch is carefully bent to the surface of the soil and where they touch, a groove is pulled out into which the shoot is laid. After that, it is added dropwise and care is provided in the same way as for the mother plant. When its own roots appear on the cut by next spring, it is carefully separated from the parent tuyevik and planted in a pre-prepared place. But it is important to remember that the resulting plant will never have a pyramidal crown, the branches will form it spreading, spreading in width.
Some gardeners also propagate tuyevik by grafting it onto the western thuja, which acts as a rootstock.
Disease and pest control when caring for tuyevik
Like many coniferous representatives of the flora, the “relative” of thuja can also suffer from diseases or attacks of harmful insects. Among the latter, botanists have identified the following:
- Spider mite, in which the needles are covered with a thin cobweb, then it takes on a yellow color and flies around.
- Shield, sucking nutritious juices from the tuyevik. Seeing a pest is simply due to its shape in the form of brown plaques with a shiny surface.
When such "uninvited guests" appear, parts of the plant also begin to cover with a sticky bloom, which is the waste products of an insect (pad). If you do not take measures to destroy the pests that have settled on the tuyevik, then such a coating can provoke the appearance of a sooty fungus disease. To combat the above harmful insects, insecticidal preparations should be used, such as, for example, Aktara, Actellik or Karbofos.
If the plant is planted in a place where moisture stagnates from melting snow or prolonged rains, or the soil is too dense during planting, there was no drainage or watering was too abundant, then the root system of the tuyevik suffers from the onset of putrefactive processes. If it is noticed that the branches of the plant are wilting, then an examination of the roots of the ephedra should be carried out, and in the event that they have turned black or become slimy, then it is recommended to transplant to a more suitable place, having previously removed all damaged parts. When cutting out such parts, you should grab some living tissue to prevent further spread.
After removal, it is necessary to carry out treatment with a fungicide (for example, Fundazol). Tuevik transplantation should be carried out in disinfected soil (it can be treated with a strong solution of potassium permanganate or Bordeaux liquid and allowed to dry). Watering should be limited until the ephedra adapts and grows. If this is not done or most of the root system is affected by rot, then the plant will inevitably die.
Read also about methods of combating diseases and pests when growing eastern thuja
Interesting notes about tuyevik
The plant, which is a relative of thuja, is characterized by woody, resistant to putrefactive processes, while this material has a pleasant coniferous aroma and has lightness, softness, but at the same time sufficient strength. In connection with the indicated properties, the wood of tuyevik is used both in the construction business and for the construction of ships or for the production of sleepers. But also folk craftsmen love to use this material for various crafts.
From its native Japanese lands, the ephedra has been introduced to many Western European countries, and it can be propagated in various ways (seed or vegetative, by rooting cuttings or by grafting into the western thuja (Thuja occidentalis)).
Since in Japan the plant has a rather significant height, often reaching 35 meters, it is customary in those parts to rank tuyevik as a sacred representative of the flora, belonging to the symbols of the country, both religious and royal.
Garden forms of Japanese tuevik
Although there is only one species in the genus, a number of garden forms were derived from it, which are actively used in landscaping gardens and parks. Some of them are characterized by compactness and variegated color of the coniferous mass:
Nana
also referred to as Low … It is represented by a shrub, which does not exceed 0.5–0.6 m in height. The branches of the plant are thin, they are covered with thin needles. At the same time, its color on the upper side is green, glossy, and the reverse has a bluish or whitish tint due to the presence of stomata. This form of tuevik is characterized by winter hardiness, however, when grown in the northern regions, there is a possibility of frostbite at the ends of annual shoots.
The best growth of "Nana" tuevik is seen on wet substrates. If the humidity of the environment is low, then the ephedra may even stop growing. As a culture, forms have been cultivated since 1861, since the plant was obtained from Japan thanks to the British botanist and gardener John Gould Veech (1839-1870). If propagation is carried out by cuttings, but the result reaches 80%. Due to its short stature, it can be used in stone gardens or when grown in garden containers.
Variegata
or Variegated takes the form of a tree, reaching a height of 15 m. At the same time, over a 15-year period, the span of the crown in diameter is measured about a meter. This variety attracts the eye because of the variegated colored coniferous mass, where whitish or creamy is added to the green color. The branches grow dangling. When grown in the middle lane during the winter, branches may be exposed to freezing. Reproduction of this variety can be carried out by winter cuttings, while the positive result of this method is 75%.
The first variety of tuevik "Variegata" appeared on the territory of Europe (namely in Germany) in 1861, when the seedlings were brought by the Anglo-Scottish botanist Robert Fortune (1812-1880) from the Japanese lands. These plants are suitable for planting, both in the form of a tapeworm and in group plantings, with the help of them there is the possibility of forming alleys.
Hondae
has a tree-like shape, and the height of the plant is maximum 30 m. The arrangement of branches relative to each other is quite dense. The variety does not differ in high frost resistance and can withstand a temperature drop down to -20 degrees frost only for a short period.
Solar Flare
or Solar flare … This variety of tuevik attracts attention to the crown due to the colorfully colored coniferous mass. The needles at the ends of the shoots have a dark yellow color, while the rest of their mass is colored in the usual green tone.
Aurea
characterized by a tree-like vegetative form and an unusually bright color of the needles. It takes on a golden yellow hue.
Graciosa
- a variety of tuevik, which has a dwarf size, and the crown is formed by means of slightly turned, not too dense branches.
Plicata
in which the crown is formed by lush branches that take the shape of the folds of an open fan.
Aurescens
It is attractive for landscape decoration due to its coniferous color, which takes on a yellow-orange hue.
Related article: Tips for growing cypress outdoors
Video about tuevik and growing it in open ground:
