Today, spruce trees are popular ornamental plants that are often used to decorate summer cottages, personal plots, and city parks. The culture presents a huge number of species and varieties of this plant with different stem heights and growth rates. The ways in which it is possible to slow down or accelerate the growth of a plant are written in the material.

Growth factors

The speed with which spruces grow is influenced by several factors:

• belonging to the species and variety;
• climate in the area where conifers grow;
• weather;
• the location and degree of illumination of the plot on which the tree grows;
• quality of care;
• the presence of top dressing;
• the absence of diseases and harmful insects that can slow down the rate of growth and development;
• plant age;
• state of planting material.

Given the above factors, each tree will grow individually. And we can only talk about approximate growth rates. It is impossible to calculate exactly how many centimeters or meters a plant can grow after a year or another period of time.

Growth ate for the season

Different growth rates have individual species and varieties of conifers. Among them are fast-growing, plants with a moderate and slow growth rate. As a rule, stunted trees grow longer and slower than tall trees. It is worth considering the difference in growth on the example of some species: dwarf, mid-sized and ordinary.

Did you know? In the Swedish park Fulufjellet, a European spruce has been growing for a long time, which is 9550 years old. She was nicknamed Old Tikko.

Dwarf

Miniature forms of spruce reach growth of not more than 2 m in height and 2-3 m in width. There are varieties that at the age of 10 can grow only 0.5 m above the ground.

Dwarf forms grow slowly. Over 12 months, their shoots can be extended by 10-15 cm, the trunk - up to 5-7 cm.

Medium

Srednerosly species can give shoots growth of 30–50 cm. The trunk grows by 10–15 cm per year. The crown expands by 8–15 cm.

Did you know? Over the course of many centuries, Norway spruce has been used to make musical instruments. From it, the famous Antonio Stradivarius made the upper decks of his unique violins.

Common

In the first year after planting, an ordinary or European species adds 2-3 cm per year. Until reaching 10-15 years, it grows slowly. An increase of 5–7 cm in height and 2 cm in width is recorded annually. From 15 to 20 years, moderate growth rates are observed.

During this period, the trunk grows 8 cm in height per year, and the crown expands by 3 cm. Upon reaching 20 years of age, European spruce begins to grow rapidly and adds 16 cm up, 6 cm in width.

How many years will grow to 2 meters

It is important to understand that it is impossible to say unequivocally how much height and width a particular tree will reach. You can only approximately determine, comparing with the same species, but already grown to the desired height. People who had the experience of cultivating ordinary spruce in their area claim that two-meter tall plants grown from 70–90-centimeter seedlings overcome in 15–17 years.

Important! Rooters, such as Novofert, Kornevin, Agrecol, Heteroauxin, Radifarm, can accelerate the growth of the root system of conifers.

How much grows to maturity

The adult tree of this species reaches its maximum height at 40-60 years. It is at this age that spruce comes of maturity. In general, it can grow for 250-300 years. This tree is considered a long-lived plant. Individual copies can live up to 600 years. They are able to bear fruit until the 60th anniversary.

How to increase or decrease the growth rate

Accelerated growth rates are observed in those plants that are most of the day in the sun, are well heated. The acceleration of growth of the tree is also affected by top dressing. Only mineral fertilizers that contain a minimal amount of nitrogen are suitable for this crop. In order for the plant to grow and develop well, in the spring (in May) “Uniflor-bud” and “Uniflor-cactus” (2-3 ml / 1-5 l of water) should be used. In summer or autumn, Uniflor-micro (0.5 ml / 1 plant) is applied to the soil. Other fertilizers are also suitable, for example, Agricole, Florovit.

Foliar top dressing is very effective. For them, you should choose chelating agents designed specifically for conifers (for example, "Spring-Summer", "Autumn", "Quantum", "Oracle", "Brexil Combi", etc.). Also, the use of growth stimulants is allowed on conifers, for example, “Pro BioTech Reanimator”, “Megafol”, “Kendal”.

Important! Disease can be prevented by pruning with a pre-sanitized garden tool. The treatment of the resulting wounds should be done with a solution of copper sulfate, garden varieties or with RanNet.

If growth is required to be restrained, 2 methods are used: pinching and trimming. A sanitary haircut is carried out in early spring, before the swelling of the kidneys begins. Formative - in late June, after the cessation of shoot growth. There are different ways to cut. One of the simplest is the shortening of annual growth on all branches by 1/3 or 2/3. In one procedure, no more than a third of the green mass should be cut.

So, several factors can influence the growth rate of spruce, the main of which are climate and weather, as well as belonging to the variety. If you properly care for this culture, it will certainly please with splendor, rapid growth, pleasant aroma and will become an ornament of any site.