Distinctive features and etymology of the name of the juniper, native places of growth, cultivation, reproduction, diseases and pests, interesting facts, species. Juniper (Juniperus) botanists attributed to the genus of evergreen conifers, which have a shrub or tree-like form of life, and are part of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae). Almost all representatives of the genus are common in the Northern Hemisphere, from arctic lands to mountainous regions with a subtropical climate, with the exception of only the East African juniper (Juniperus procera), which can be found on the African continent up to 18 degrees south latitude. And only common juniper occupies rather large growing areas, but the rest differ in that their ranges are rather limited, for example, only in mountainous areas.
A variety of common juniper is also known under the name Veres, and the Turkic peoples also have a name for tree-like representatives, which was included in scientific works as "archa". The Latin name (according to one version) comes from joini-parus, which means "giving branches suitable for weaving", but there is other information that the term Juneprus will be translated as "prickly", all due to the fact that the leaves of some plant species have a prickly outline.
Juniper is tree-shaped, large in size, with a height of 10–20 m. Other varieties of this plant can take the form of smaller trees or tall shrubs that inhabit deciduous or coniferous forests. There are also junipers in the genus that are undersized or even with creeping shoots, which do well on rocky slopes and rocky surfaces that are located at the upper border of forests. The height of the juniper begins with half a meter.
The buds of the plant are bare, devoid of scales, occasionally they are surrounded by pressed rather short leaves, and only the variety of drupe juniper (Juniperus drupaceae) has a large number of dense scales. The leaves are collected in whorls of three units, their outlines are acicular and scaly, they grow apart, linear-lanceolate. At the base, the leaf is escaping, and in its upper part there is an stomatal strip, and there is also a median longitudinal vein, which takes on an undivided or divided form. When the plant is young, then its foliage has the shape of needles; over time, the leaves of the juniper resemble small scales that grow, clinging to the shoots. Their location is sometimes in three-membered whorls or they grow in pairs opposite.
The plant is dioecious. Male flowers have the appearance of spikelets or earrings, they can grow either singly or in several pieces. Location on last year's or lateral shoots in leaf axils. Scale-like stamens (3-4 pieces), connected in pairs opposite or in whorls of three pieces. Each of the stamens has 3–6 anther opening longitudinally. Female flowers, crowned with shortened twigs, or grow finite, taking the shape of cones. The flowering process occurs in June.
When fruiting, a cone with the shape of a berry ripens, it is called so a cone berry. This fruit does not open, its scales are fleshy and tightly closed, the shape is spherical or with a slight elongation. Inside contains 1-10 seeds, which grow separately, and in stone juniper - with intergrowth. Full ripening of the lump takes place in the second year from its formation. The plant bears fruit only from August to September.
Growing juniper on the site: planting and care
- Landing and seat selection. It is recommended to plant heather in early spring, as soon as the snow melts. You can plant young plants later, but then the needles can burn in the sun. If the planting is carried out in the fall, then there is a chance that the juniper will not take root. When the root system of the plant is closed (that is, the root system is in an earthen coma), then planting is carried out at any time, even in summer, but it will be necessary to shade at noon from the scorching sun's rays. The landing site should be sunny all day long. Only for a variety of common juniper is light shading possible.
- Soil for planting heather. The acidity of the substrate is highly dependent on the type of plant. Common, Cossack and Central Asian need alkaline soil. For this, slaked lime or dolomite flour is added to the soil. The rest will need acidic soil, therefore they add peat and sand to the ground, mulch also with peat and sawdust. Sandy and sandy loam soil is needed for the Siberian species, and the virgin one is suitable for clay soil, into which compost is mixed. When landing in a hole, a drainage of broken brick, large pebbles, expanded clay and sand is placed on the bottom. The layer thickness is 15–25 cm.
- Juniper planting rules. When a young plant is planted, it is better that it be in a container of up to 5 liters. So their engraftment is more successful, and planting is easier, especially if the heather is with a closed root system. Adults are more difficult to land. Before planting, the earthen lump must be moistened with plenty of water a couple of hours before the operation. To plant a juniper, the hole should be 2-3 times larger than the plant's soil coma in width, length and depth. A drainage layer is laid at the bottom. Then the prepared soil is poured according to the type of heather. If the specimen is young, then the root collar should be at the very surface of the substrate, in adults it should be 6–12 cm higher. After planting, the plant is watered abundantly, and it is recommended to mulch the near-stem circle. Peat, wood chips, sawdust or pine bark, wood chips, carefully crushed cones or pine nut shells are suitable as mulch. The thickness of the mulch layer is 5–10 cm. When planting several specimens side by side, the distance between them depends on the variety: in small junipers - at least 0.5 m, if the species is large and spreading - 1.5–2.5 m.
- Watering. Juniper is quite drought tolerant, but if the summer is dry, then it should be watered once a month. You can shower with a spray bottle, garden hose, or other sprayers. But such procedures are carried out in the morning or in the evening so that the sun's rays do not harm the needles.
- Fertilizers for juniper. In the spring, it is recommended to apply nitroammofosk to the soil under the bushes - 45 grams per 1 m2. Throughout the summer months, it is necessary to fertilize the heather with mineral complexes and organic matter, with a frequency of once every 30 days. These feedings are necessary if the plant is growing slower than it should.
- Transfer. For a juniper, it is not recommended to disturb the root system, so there is no need to transplant the plant. But if this is necessary, then the substrate is prepared on the basis of peat, sand and coniferous soil (parts are equal). After transplanting, you need abundant watering.
- General care. Pruning is not required, but if a crown is formed, then the excess branches are removed. You cannot cut off many shoots at once - it is fraught with heather diseases.
For the winter, the juniper is covered in the first couple of years from planting with litrasil or agrofibre. For adult specimens, the crown is tied with a rope so that the snow cap does not break off the branches. It is recommended to periodically shake off the snow from the crown.
With the arrival of spring, the shelter is not removed until the snow completely melts (with the activation of the sun and the arrival of spring, the crown is covered with burlap), since the bright sun can burn the needles. As soon as the soil is completely free from the snow cover, the shelter is removed, the debris from under the bush is removed, and the soil is loosened and a new layer of mulch is poured.
How to propagate a juniper on your own?
You can get new heather by sowing seeds or cuttings.
With seed reproduction, two-year-old cones are taken, during the period when they darken. If you collect completely dark fruits, then they will sprout for a very long time, since they "went" to rest (in "hibernation"). But even that seed material, which is collected according to the rules, springs up for a long time. Then the seeds are stratified: they are placed on the surface of the soil, poured into a box consisting of sand, peat and sphagnum moss. Top seeds are also sprinkled with the same substrate. For the winter, it is necessary to take the box outside and leave it there for 5 months under the snow.
In May, seeds can be planted in prepared beds in open ground. When the seedlings grow up, they are transferred to a permanent place.
When grafting in spring, the tops of annual branches are cut off, but always with a part of the parent juniper. The length of the workpiece should not be less than 10 cm. The needles are cleaned from the cutting and placed in a solution of a root formation stimulator. At the end of the day, the cuttings are planted in a pot with a substrate of peat and sand. The soil is moistened and the cuttings are placed under a cut plastic bottle or plastic bag. The place should be shaded.
It is recommended not to forget about airing and moisturizing the soil. After 30-50 days, the cuttings should take root. Then young heather seedlings are planted in open ground in a prepared place. For the winter, for support, you will need a shelter made of spruce or pine spruce branches. But such plants are planted in a permanent place after 2-3 years.
Diseases and pests arising from the care of juniper
Of the diseases that affect the varieties of heres, there are:
- rust, which occurs from the salting of the substrate, the needles acquire a dirty orange color;
- when waterlogged, the needles turn yellow, and then fly around, but drought also leads to the same;
- from rusty growths, immunostimulants and micronutrients are used, after the affected parts of the plant are removed;
- the Schütte fungus manifests itself as small black growths on last year's needles, you will need to cut and burn the affected parts, treat with copper and sulfur preparations;
- to prevent various fungal diseases, it is recommended to use copper sulfate.
The plant can be affected by aphids, scale insects and spider mites. For the fight, insecticidal and acaricidal agents are used.
Interesting facts about juniper
There are specimens of juniper that live up to 600 years.
Where juniper grows, the air becomes much cleaner, in just 24 hours 1 hectare of thickets of these plants evaporates up to 30 kg of phytoncides - and this indicator with which you can cleanse the atmosphere in a large city from pathogens and bacteria.
Heather cones are known for their beneficial properties to folk healers (namely, a variety of common juniper). The drugs that are made on their basis are used for diseases of the kidneys and bladder, due to their strong anti-inflammatory effect. Juniper broth is used externally, mainly for symptoms of dermatitis and eczema of various forms. Essential oil obtained from the needles and shoots of juniper will help with the manifestation of rheumatism, polyarthritis, neuralgia and sciatica. Preparations made on the basis of heres roots are prescribed for the treatment of bronchitis, skin diseases and pulmonary tuberculosis. A decoction from the branches is also used for allergies.
The species of Cossack juniper is poisonous!
Due to its rather strong aroma, juniper has long been used as a spicy herb in cooking. Pine berries give meat and game a specific taste. In the wine and vodka industry, heather is used to flavor gin.
Wood is also used by mankind; it is customary to make canes and pencils from it.
Important!!
In no case should pregnant women take juniper-based drugs, as they can provoke a miscarriage.
Description of juniper species
Since there are quite a few types of juniper, we will focus on the most popular.
Common juniper (Juniperus communis) is also referred to as Veres, the most common variety. It can withstand any adverse weather conditions. It is a tree with a height of 18 m, with many trunks. Or it takes the form of a shrub, the branches of which can be 6 m in height, but these parameters depend on the type of plant. The crown is in the form of a cone or ovoid, in male plants it is narrower than in female, more or less extended, or it can be ascending. Branches at the ends hang down to the soil. The bark is dark gray or grayish-brown, there is longitudinal peeling, and the shoots with a reddish-brown tint. The branches grow chaotically, sprawling.
Leaf plates with a length of 1–1.5 cm and a width of 0.7–7.5 mm. They grow sessile, with a rigid surface, the leaf shape is linear subulate or subulate-pointed, prickly, almost triangular, the leaf is dense to the touch, shallow grooved at the top. There is also one unseparated or half-divided whitish oyster strip, which follows the central vein; in the lower part, painted in a brilliant green tone, there is a blunt keel. The arrangement of leaves on the shoots is annular, there are three pieces in each ring, they tend not to fall for 4 years.
When flowering, buds appear with petals in yellow and light green colors, monoecious, but more often dioecious. Male cones, which are called microstrobilae, practically sit on the shoot, female cones are called cones, their number is multiple, they reach 5-9 mm in diameter, the color is pale green at first. Their shape is oblong-ovoid or spherical, with a bluish-black tint and a waxy bluish bloom when ripe (there may be no plaque). The pulp of the cone berries is healing, viscous, but the fruits ripen for about 2-3 years. They consist of 2-3 scales and crown a short stem. In the cone there are 2-3 seeds, with a triangular surface, their shape is elongated-ovate or ovoid-conical, the color is yellow-brown.
The growing areas fall on the lands of the Northern Hemisphere with a temperate climate.
Juniper Cossack (Juniperus sabina) has a shrub form of growth with creeping shoots. The height of this dioecious plant is 1–1, 5 m. It grows at a high speed in width, creating dense thickets. Very rarely it can grow like a tree with a height of about 4 m, then the trunks are strongly curved. Bark with a reddish brown color, flakes off. There is an essential oil in the shoots, they are poisonous.
The needles are of two types: the length of the leaves in young plants is acicular, erect with a pointed tip at the apex, the length is equal to 4–6 mm, the color is bluish-green on top, the median vein stands out well; when a juniper becomes an adult, then its needles are scaly, they are located like a tile. Differs in a pungent smell when rubbed. It lasts 3 years on the branches.
This variety is dioecious. Cones with drooping outlines, with a diameter of 5–7 mm, their color is brown-black, on the surface there is a bluish bloom, their shape is rounded-oval, there are often two seeds inside. Seed ripening occurs in the autumn and in the spring the next year.
Grows in forests and groves located in the steppe zone, as well as rocky mountain slopes and sand dunes, this variety can be found in the lower mountain belt and up to the upper one at altitudes of 1000-2300 meters above sea level.
For more information on planting and caring for junipers, see the following video:
