Description of the sycamore tree, photos, recommendations for planting and caring for a garden plot, how to reproduce with your own hands, possible diseases and pests, cognitive notes, types and forms.
The plane tree (Platanus) can also be found under the names Chinar or Chinara. It belongs to the monotypic family Platanaceae, that is, there are no more other genera in it. Many varieties of the genus are valuable as an ornamental culture, which is usually used for landscaping city parks and squares, but if the garden area is quite large, then you can try to grow such an ancient and gigantic tree on it.
This genus has united ten species, which are mainly distributed in nature in the northern hemisphere of the planet, namely in the southwestern and central European regions, on the North American continent and in the vastness of Central and Asia Minor, as well as in the Mediterranean countries.
| Family name | Plane |
| Growth duration | Perennials |
| Vegetation form | Tree-like |
| Breeding methods | Seed or vegetatively (cuttings or root shoots) |
| Dates of disembarkation in open ground | Spring or Autumn |
| Landing requirements | Between the seedlings they stand about 1.5-2 m |
| Substrate | Any garden, nutrient-rich, loose |
| Indicators of soil acidity, pH | 6, 5-7 (neutral) or 7-8 (alkaline) |
| Lighting degree | Only an open and sunny place |
| Humidity parameters | Abundant watering, especially in the heat |
| Special care rules | Regular watering, feeding for young trees |
| Height values | 30-50 m |
| Inflorescence shape or type of flowers | Capitate inflorescences |
| Flower color | Pale yellow in masculine flowers and reddish with purple streaks in females |
| Flowering time | Early spring |
| Decorative period | Spring-autumn |
| Fruit type | Ball-shaped multi-nuts |
| The timing of fruit ripening | Year-round |
| Application in landscape design | As a tapeworm, when forming group plantings in squares or alleys, to form a hedge |
| USDA zone | 5–8 |
The name of the genus is quite ancient and has its roots in the Greek term "platys", which means "wide", since people, thus, wanted to point to the spongy outlines of the crown, formed by far-apart shoots with large leaves. In the east, such giants are called the plane tree or plane tree, on the territory of Ukraine and, especially in the Crimea, you can hear the name “sycamore”, just like the maple tree.
In the genus of plane trees, there are both deciduous and evergreen representatives. But all of them are characterized by a large crown and large parameters of a powerful trunk in height - up to about 50 m with a diameter of about 18 m. The trunk has a cylindrical shape and is covered with a grayish-green bark, which eventually begins to flake off, exposing the light yellow color of the wood.
Curious
The crown of some plants in ancient times was so large that, according to legends, up to a hundred horsemen could sit in the shade under a sycamore tree.
Foliage on distant branches grows in the next order. Because of the palmate-lobed outlines of the leaf blade, the sycamore is often called the "oriental maple". The leaves are attached to the shoots by means of elongated petioles.
Curious
Despite the external similarity, if you put a maple and a sycamore leaf next to each other, you will immediately understand the difference, since the width of the leaf plate of the first tree is only 5-6 cm, while in the plane tree this figure reaches 25 cm.
When a sycamore tree begins to bloom, and it falls in early spring, then this will immediately become a clear difference from maple. This is because maple flowers are small in size, characterized by the presence of a green calyx and a corolla composed of five petals. In plane trees, capitate inflorescences are formed from: pale yellow color of male flowers, which are stamens and female flowers, which are pistils with a reddish tone and crimson stains. When the flowering of the sycamore tree is completed, the female flowers are replaced by small spherical fruits with a greenish color.
The ripening fruits of the sycamore tree are many trees that do not fall off, but continue to decorate the branches of the tree throughout the winter. In fact, the ripening of the fruit takes a whole year. With the arrival of the last days of February or at the very beginning of March, such fruits disintegrate into scattered tiny nuts, which are picked up by the wind and carried at a considerable distance from the mother plant, thereby helping to spread. The color of the nuts is reddish-rusty, the surface is velvety.
Curious
Despite the fact that the plane tree is called "oriental maple", but the antiquity of this plant is much great, often the time of its origin is called the period of existence of dinosaurs on the planet.
It is important to remember that if such a gigantic plant is planted in an insufficiently large area, then it will be completely devoid of sunlight. But if the size of your land plot allows, then the place under the crown will become a real refuge in the heat, not only for the owner himself, but also for many of his descendants for many decades.
Recommendations for planting a sycamore tree and caring for it on a personal plot
It should be remembered that the plane tree is a plant that in nature prefers warmth, light and moisture, therefore it is not possible to grow it in regions with severe winters. If the heat indicators drop to -15 degrees, then the plane tree can still survive it, but if the thermometer reaches -25 frost, then its death is inevitable.
- Landing place this natural giant must be open so that the crown is illuminated from all sides by the sun's rays. Since the first time the growth of the seedling will be rapid, it is the high level of illumination that will guarantee such a speed. You should not place a sycamore tree near buildings, since the plant has such a powerful root system that it can, growing, lead to the destruction of not only communications and even damage to the capital foundation.
- Soil for sycamore picking up problems will not be, since the plant can grow well in any composition, only the main thing is that it is nutritious and loose. If the substrate does not differ in these properties, then the growth of the plane tree will be slow. However, some species prefer very alkaline soil, with acidity values around pH 8.
- Watering when caring for a plane tree, regular is necessary, since in nature such representatives of the flora choose a place next to large and small waterways or in lowlands, in river floodplains or at the bottom of gorges, where moisture will collect. Especially the plane tree will need to moisten the soil if the weather is dry and hot for a long time. If the plant does not have enough moisture, its growth will begin to slow down, and the foliage will turn yellow.
- Planting a sycamore held both in spring and autumn. At the same time, there is a rule that during spring planting, the soil should be dense, and loosened in autumn. A hole is dug in such a way that an earthen lump can fit there, covering the root system of a plane tree without destroying it. The seedling is carefully removed from the container and placed in the hole. After the soil is poured to the top into the hole, the soil is carefully squeezed out, and then abundant watering is performed. To ensure the future preservation of moisture in the soil, slow down the growth of weeds, and subsequently protect the roots of the plant from frost, it is recommended to mulch the tree trunk circle with dry fallen leaves, spruce paws or sawdust.
- Fertilizers when growing a sycamore, it will only be necessary to apply when the plant is still young. Usually complete mineral complexes are used. This rule especially applies to those cases when the soil is depleted. It is recommended to use preparations such as Kemira-Universal, so that they have both minerals and the required trace elements. The substrate should be introduced into the soil not only well aerated, organic and containing a large amount of minerals.
- Pruning when caring for a sycamore tree, it is necessary to give the crown a spherical shape. It is recommended to cut off even adults and large branches that have begun to stand out from the general "picture". You should be engaged in shortening the shoots with the arrival of spring, then you can remove branches that have been damaged or dried out over the winter.
- Wintering. In order to protect the root system of plane trees from freezing due to the thermophilicity of the plant, it is recommended to mulch the trunk circle in the autumn. The mulch can be coniferous paws, dried leaves or sawdust. The thickness of such a layer should not be less than 30 cm.
- The use of a plane tree in landscape design. Since ancient times, plane trees have been used to obtain thick shade, especially in hot regions. If the terrain and the size of the garden area permits, then such a beautiful plant can be used to decorate the backyard area, placing benches or gazebos under its crown. With the help of young plants, it is possible to form a hedge. Due to the fact that the plane tree easily copes with the polluted and gassed city air, it is recommended to grow it in squares and parks as a tapeworm.
Read also the rules for caring for willow, growing in the garden.
How to reproduce a plane tree with your own hands?
In order to start such a gigantic tree in the garden, it is recommended to use both vegetative and generative (seed) methods. The first involves rooting cuttings and jigging root shoots.
Propagation of a sycamore tree using seeds
After the planting material has been collected, it should be stored in a dry and cool place. The shelf life of seeds is no more than a year, then their germination will be lost. Plane seeds are sown in open ground both in spring, and autumn sowing is also possible. During autumn sowing in open soil, the seed is sown to a depth of 0.5 m. However, among gardeners, the method of growing seedlings in a pot is a success, since it is possible to provide both the required care and monitor their development. It is generally recommended to do this immediately after collecting the seeds. Before landing, the following preparation is carried out:
- Hardening and disinfection, for which the seeds are placed in a bag of cotton cloth and buried in the soil to a depth of about 0.5 m. The ambient temperature should be at least 10 degrees Celsius.
- If the heat indicators are already lower, then you will have to put the seeds in a cloth bag, and then in a container filled with clean river sand. The container should be placed in a place (basement or on a closed balcony) where the heat indicators will not fall below +10 degrees.
After spring comes, and the temperature outside gradually begins to rise, the seeds are removed from the soil and pre-sowing preparation is carried out. Seed material is soaked for at least a day in a container with cold water, or a solution of a root formation stimulator is used to increase the number of germinated seeds (heteroauxinic acid, Zircon or sodium humate are suitable). Some gardeners, instead of such means, use a manganese solution at a concentration of 0.25%, the seeds are kept in it for at least 30 minutes.
When the seeds hatch, planting in containers filled with loose peat-sandy soil is recommended. The depth of the seeding should be about 2 cm. The container with crops is placed in a room with a temperature of at least 25 degrees and covered with a transparent film. When caring for crops, regular ventilation, watering (so that the soil does not dry out) and shading from direct sunlight are necessary.
When the seedlings grow up, they are dived (transplanted) in separate pots with the aforementioned substrate. They take care of the seedlings further according to the above rules, waiting for the right time to plant in open ground. The speed of the variety of sycamore seedlings is very high, and by the second year from the moment of sowing, the height can reach about 50 cm.
Reproduction of the sycamore by root shoots
This method makes it possible to get a seedling pretty quickly. For this, the time is suitable for spring or autumn. A healthy shoot is selected near the trunk of the mother plant and separated from the root system of the parent specimen. In this case, it is important to grab part of the root. The sections are immediately powdered with charcoal powder, and the seedling is planted in a prepared place.
Propagation of sycamore by cuttings
For this, the time is the same as for planting root shoots - autumn. As a blank, an already lignified branch is cut off, from which all the leaves have fallen. The length of the cutting should be 40 cm, and the thickness should be about 2 cm. The branches are collected in bunches and placed in a bucket of water. Then, until spring, the container with cuttings is placed in a cool place. When the buds begin to swell on the cuttings, the blanks can be planted in the ground.
Some gardeners plant the planting immediately after cutting the cuttings, while the cut is treated with a rooting stimulator (for example, Kornevin) and the blanks are planted in the substrate, providing them with proper care.
In any case, the cutting is buried in the ground by two-thirds of its length, and the part above the soil surface is tilted at an angle of 45 degrees. Seedling maintenance should include regular watering to keep the soil from drying out. Rooting of cuttings takes place quite quickly, and after a short period of time you can see young unfolded leaves on the seedling.
Read also how to propagate a rosewood tree from seeds
Possible diseases and pests when growing a sycamore
Today, botanists note that the decline in the number of plane trees has begun everywhere. This is because plants are attacked by the fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata, which causes cancer in plane trees. With this disease, most of the branches begin to dry out, and subsequently, areas of brown color are formed on the trunk. There is practically no cure for this disease. At the moment, in all nurseries, a robot is being actively carried out to breed plants that are resistant to this disease.
The next problem when caring for a sycamore tree is anthracnose, provoked by the fungus Gnomonia veneta or Glonomonia platani. Symptoms of this disease are small brownish patches or the appearance of grooves and cracks in the leaf plates along the veins. You can also notice the formation of cracks along the branches. To combat this disease, while the plane tree is young, you can cope with timely treatment with fungicidal agents, such as Bordeaux liquid or Fundazol.
The insect that causes significant harm to the plantations of the plane tree is the Platan lacemaker (Corythuca ciliata). This pest is small in size and spends the winter months under the bark plates on the tree, when the spring months come and throughout the summer the pest begins to suck nutritious juice from the foliage. If the lesion is too extensive, then almost all the leaves of the crown take on a yellow tint. Also, the pest is especially dangerous due to the fact that it can carry viral and fungal diseases that are not treated. To fight only at a young age, it is recommended to treat plantings of plane trees with insecticidal preparations, for example, Karbofos, Aktara or Aktellik. As they grow older, it will be more and more difficult to do this, since the size of the tree will no longer allow it, and the insect will continue to live under the bark.
Read also about pests and diseases of maple, methods of dealing with them
Cognitive notes about the sycamore tree
The plant is especially revered in the countries of the East, especially for the inhabitants of Azerbaijan, professing Zoroastrianism and worshiping fire. On the territory of this region, you can count more than a thousand of such long-lived trees. Even in the mythology of Greece, this plant was considered sacred, since its patron, according to legend, was the goddess of fertility and vegetation - Helen. And in the book of Genesis, the prophet Ezekiel mentions a plane tree, therefore, in the Christian religion, the representative of the flora left his mark.
In culture, the plane tree has been grown, for example, on the islands of Britain since the 16th century, but, in all likelihood, the period of the appearance of the tree refers to the conquest of the territory by the Romans. The ancient Greeks, who especially revere the plane tree, brought it to Italy around 390 AD and since then its introduction has begun on European lands. The plane tree is suitable for the formation of shady alleys and squares.
Plane wood is on the same level as ash and oak in value. It lends itself well to grinding and is applicable for the manufacture of furniture and all kinds of crafts. However, due to the high cost of raw materials, mass production does not have a place, but rather, you can admire the overflow of its reddish or yellowish-whitish shade only in unique items for interior decoration.
If we talk about the oldest plane tree on the planet, then such a specimen grows in Turkey, which is considered the most ancient, while its age dates back to two thousand years. The height of the tree trunk reaches more than fifty meters.
There was also a place in folk medicine for the use of the medicinal properties of the sycamore. Its bark and foliage contains a large amount of useful substances that have long been used by doctors. Thus, preparations based on plane tree leaves helped to reduce blood cholesterol levels, helped to strengthen the walls of blood vessels, and served as the prevention of atherosclerosis. But official medicine has not yet found application for the plant.
On the basis of sycamore bark and foliage, healers prepared remedies that could have an anti-cancer effect, relieve pain manifestations and soothe the nervous system. Eastern healers knew that a decoction from the bark of plane trees can stop bleeding, and also helps with the bites of poisonous snakes. Such drugs were prescribed to be used by patients suffering from dysentery and intestinal disorders, with colds and toothaches. If you burn the foliage and prepare an ointment on its basis, then it can heal wounds, places of frostbite and burns.
Important
The plane tree has one negative feature - with the arrival of spring, pubescence appears on young foliage, which is very easily exposed to separation, especially in windy and dry weather. This fluff can provoke an allergic reaction, as it contributes to severe irritation of the mucous membranes (mouth and nose) and eyes. This should be taken into account when planting in the garden if there are people in the house who are prone to allergies to spring blooms and pollen.
Types and forms of sycamore
Although there are only a dozen species in the genus, here are the most popular of them:
Oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis)
bearing the name plane or plane tree … The natural area of distribution falls on the lands of Italy and the Balkans, the western and southern regions of Asia Minor, the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and is also found in Central Asia. Prefers valleys and coastal areas near rivers, streams and streams. Shows excellent growth on a fairly alkaline substrate, copes well with polluted and smoky city air.
Over time, it can reach very large sizes, while the height of its trunk varies within 25-30 m, but some specimens can stretch up to fifty meters. At the same time, the diameter of the powerful trunk is 12 m. Its outlines are uneven and knotty, which in this form continue to the very top. When a plant gets old, its trunk becomes hollow. The crown of the tree is wide, formed by spreading and loosely growing branches. The twigs have curved contours, they extend from the trunk almost perpendicularly, the branches in the lower part hang to the soil. The color of the bark is light gray or grayish green. Over time, it begins to fall off in thin but long stripes. At the same time, the inner layer of the bark of a lighter color is exposed - whitish or grayish-yellow.
The leaf blades have 5 and occasionally 7 lobes, if the branch is young, then the leaves on it grow with three lobes. Their length is measured 12-15 cm with a width of about 15-18 cm. The base of the leaf is truncated or broadly wedge-shaped, in rare cases it takes a wide-heart-shaped shape. The leaf lobes are elongated; there are notches and large teeth on them. When the foliage is young, its surface is covered on both sides with stellate hairs, then the color turns dark green, often glossiness appears. The underside of the lighter clair foliage is bare, but pubescence still remains along the veins and in their axils. The surface of the petioles is at first also whitish-tomentose, becoming bare over time. The length of the petiole is 5–7 cm.
When fruits ripen, they take spherical shape with a diameter of 2.5 cm. Their surface is bristly. There is a thickening at the apex; the entire outer side of the multi-roots is covered with hard hairs pressed against the fetus. The fruits can be used for food and in the East it is customary to call them "plane trees".
Western plane tree (Platanus occidentalis)
The natural distribution area falls on the North Atlantic territories located next to the Atlantic Ocean. Prefers to grow along the banks of large and small waterways, in river valleys, lover of floodplain (alluvial) soils. In nature, the height of the trunk reaches 40–45 m. The species is deciduous, the trunk is covered with a light green bark, sometimes with a creamy whitish tint. The difference from the eastern plane tree is in the outlines of the foliage, which has three or five obscure lobes. There is also a shallow notch. Compound fruits grow singly, covered with bristly hairs.
Indicators of frost resistance are higher than those of plane trees, they may not show preferences for the soil. When grown in gardens and parks, it suffers during dry periods and can be affected by rotting diseases. Often, adult specimens have a hollow trunk. They have been used for landscaping since the second half of the 17th century.
Maple-leaved plane tree (Platanus x acerifolia)
also bears the name London plane tree … It is a hybrid plant from the crossing of eastern and western sycamore species. The height of the tree is 40 m. At the crown, the outlines are low and wide, they are formed by sprawling branches, which is similar to the eastern variety, the fruits, as a rule, grow alone - a property inherent in the western species. The trunk often has strong branching. Leaf plates with 5 lobes, with a wide heart-shaped base.
If reproduction takes place by means of seeds, then future seedlings are split according to the characteristics into an eastern and western species, therefore reproduction by rooting cuttings is recommended here. In terms of frost resistance and endurance, the plant surpasses its basic varieties and therefore found application throughout the American and European territory, displacing other less resistant species. In the north, the cultivation boundary extends along a line running from Minsk to Rostov-on-Don. They have been cultivating in culture since 1640.
There are the following ornamental garden forms, especially used in horticulture:
- pyramidal (form pyramidalis), with a cone-like crown shape;
- variegated (form variegata) with the color of the leaves, where yellowish tones are mixed;
- grape-leaved (form vitifolia) outlines of leaf plates resembling grape foliage;
- Suttneri (form Suttneri) characterized by leaves dotted with cream-colored specks.
Related article: Rules for growing mulberries.
Video about growing plane trees in the open field:
