Description of the plant
Sakura is a variety of East Asian cherry species, whose double flowers are usually pink in color. You can often find this plant in China, Korea, but most of these trees grow in Japan. No wonder the second name of sakura is Japanese cherry.
The height of the tree depends on age and does not exceed 8 m on average. Taller trees are usually of considerable age and are rare. The smooth bark is covered with numerous cracks of various shades. The leaves are oval and slightly jagged. Due to its high resin content, sakura is a tree with a fairly flexible wood.
Flowers bloom on this plant long before the leaves appear. The inflorescences, covering the bare branches of the tree, consist of double flowers, each of which has 5 petals. The most common sakura, the flowers of which are pink or white, but sometimes also red, crimson, yellow or green.
Varieties
Most Japanese teas are classified as green teas. The main difference from the Chinese is the method of processing the leaves.
Sencha is one of the most famous and demanded drinks in Japan. He is quite famous and popular. The drink has a rich taste and amazing aroma. The color of the drink is light green.
Matcha is a common option for tea ceremonies. Collecting tea takes a long time. After that, it goes through a long process. As a result, the leaves retain useful substances. The result is a delicious and aromatic drink.
Genmaicha is famous for its unusual taste. Slightly cloudy, brown drink with amazing aroma. The Japanese often drink this tea when they are hungry. The rich taste allows you to cope with it.
Kabusecha - has a slightly sweet and very unusual taste. Collecting tea takes a long time. The entire plantation is covered with a net, after which the harvest begins.
Kamatri is a very rare and ancient tea that is practically never found. The tea is made by hand by roasting the leaves. It is famous for its unusual and rich taste.
Aracha - very similar to Senchi, but much sweeter. The drink turns out to be very thick and bright green.
Kanzan trees are an upright tree with a height of about 10 m, with a dense conical crown. Their leaves are large, oval-shaped, green in summer and bronze in spring, and in autumn they turn yellow-orange. This variety is considered to bloom profusely. The flowers are bright pink, double, with 2-5 flower inflorescences on a long branch. The fruit is the same size as the regular cherry and is delicious. This variety is frost-resistant, prefers quiet, sunny places, sandy or clayey soil and moderate humidity.
The Kiku Shidare variety is characterized by small growth - from 3 to 4 m in height with branches hanging down and an irregular crown. The apex is spherical and spreading. Every year the plant grows another 20-30 cm. The leaves of this variety are large, green in summer and purple-yellow in autumn. They are located on the branches alternately. It usually blooms in May. The inflorescences are dense, are along the entire length of the branch and hang down to the very ground. The berries are tasty, slightly smaller than ordinary cherries, with a slight sourness.Sakura Kiku shidare prefers bright areas without drafts, with fertile soil and moderate humidity. It is also frost resistant.
Sakura blossom
This period is considered a real event in Japan. Blooming sakura covers all parks, squares and city streets with pinkish foam. This color is a symbol of the spring holiday, personifying the beginning of life. A blossoming sakura tree gives you the opportunity to enjoy your beauty not only up close. In the distance, these plants look like pink and white clouds of air and look extraordinarily beautiful.
During cherry blossom days, hundreds of people flock to city parks to enjoy this beauty. Whole groups of them are located right on the ground, arranging picnics. This period lasts no more than a week. It is at this time that holidays and weekends are planned so that as many people as possible can recharge themselves with the inspiring sight when the sakura tree blooms. Photos of these flowering plants often decorate many things and perform a decorative function. An old Japanese legend says that contemplation of cherry blossoms prolongs life up to a hundred years.
The duration of cherry blossoms depends mainly on the weather conditions. At lower temperatures, flowers last longer. But strong wind and rain will shorten this period.
Landing
Many gardeners of central Russia successfully grow this ornamental cherry on their plots. For her, you must definitely choose a place well-lit by the sun, because sakura is a fairly light-loving tree.
The best time for planting is spring, when there is already a steady warmth, or late autumn. For more abundant flowering, it is recommended to plant several different varieties at the same time at a distance of 2 m from each other.
A mixture of humus and fertile soil is poured into the planting pit, then fertilizer is added - potassium and superphosphate, dissolved in 15 liters of water. After planting, the plant is watered and the area around the trunk is mulched with peat. In order for the plant to harden properly, this area should be kept clean in the future.
Pruning
Removal of diseased and dried branches, sprouts that interfere with comfortable light absorption and sufficient air exchange are carried out in early spring, before the start of sap flow.
Fragments with traces of the activity of harmful organisms are subject to cutting and burning.
Places of cuts should be treated with garden varnish.... It is important to ensure that gum does not form at the cross-sections. The appearance of sticky growths is excluded in the case of proper drainage and watering.
Care
Fertile soils with a high content of humus and sunlight are the main conditions for sakura to take root well. The tree does not tolerate various atmospheric pollution, dryness, or, conversely, excessive soil moisture. All of this can lead to disease.
Care must be taken to ensure that the soil contains sufficient nutrients. The lack of potassium or nitrogen in the tree is signaled by poor flowering and too early loss of foliage. Water the plant abundantly only during the period of active growth, then only to maintain normal soil moisture. Like many ornamental trees, sakura needs regular pruning of excess branches and damaged branches.
For the winter period, young plants should be covered. Before the onset of frost, it is necessary to wrap the base of the largest branches with covering material. Wood processing for protection from pests and diseases is carried out several times per season. The first time they spray it before the buds begin to bloom, and the next one only 3 weeks after the fruit set.
Reproduction methods
The main breeding method for sakura, especially varietal, is cuttings.How to propagate sakura by cuttings? Cuttings of this culture can be used both for independent rooting when grown in warmer regions, and as a scion in Central Russia.
You can purchase planting material for grafting from amateur collectors. It is best to plan a purchase in the second half of February or March. With a later harvesting, the survival rate of cuttings is significantly reduced.
Sakura adult - photo
If possible, cuttings can be cut independently from mature trees in February.
For these purposes, it is best to choose well-ripened shoots without external signs of damage. The optimal length of the cutting should be no more than 15 cm.
Immediately after harvesting, the planting material is wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in the vegetable section of the household refrigerator. There it will be stored until grafting. If reproduction will be carried out by vaccination.
If reproduction will be carried out by rooting, then semi-lignified annual shoots should be used. They are harvested after the end of the flowering period. Usually they look like thin green twigs. The rooting process itself is as follows:
- Young shoots no more than 10-15 cm long are cut from the tree.
- Slices of cuttings are treated with a root stimulator, for example, you can use a drug such as "Kornevin".
- The processed cuttings are placed in a jar of boiled water.
Further, depending on the capabilities and personal preferences, there are two options for rooting the planting material. The first is the use of the aquatic environment.
In this case, the cuttings are left in a container with water until the roots appear. To prevent the development of putrefactive processes, a piece of charcoal is placed in the container.
To speed up the rooting process, you can also use the bottom heating, but in this case you need to very carefully monitor the water level in the tank and prevent its complete evaporation.
A central heating pipe can be used as the simplest heating. A piece of cloth or just a towel is placed on it, on top of which a jar with cuttings is placed.
Sakura park
When rooting in the soil, the cuttings are planted in loose and nutritious soil after daily exposure in the aquatic environment. They should be planted slightly obliquely.
After planting, the soil surface is thoroughly watered. To create a greenhouse effect, the container is covered with a piece of plastic wrap on top.
Further care of the cuttings consists in maintaining the temperature at + 20-22 ° C, periodic ventilation and watering. If all conditions are met, the rooting process lasts no more than 1.5 months.
Sakura species that set fruit can also be propagated using seeds. Like all stone fruit crops, they need to undergo a stratification process for seedlings to emerge.
For this, bones for two ducks are soaked in water with the addition of a growth stimulant. For example, you can use "Epin" or "Zircon".
Then they are sown in a small container with loose nutrient soil. You can compose it yourself from equal parts of peat, sand and humus or use a ready-made universal substrate for growing seedlings. For greater looseness and moisture capacity, you can add perlite or vermiculite to it.
The seeding depth should be no more than 1 cm. After sowing, the container is well watered and wrapped in a plastic bag. Further, for stratification, it is placed in the refrigerator for 2 months or, if possible, is taken out to the balcony.
After the end of this period, the container is transferred to a bright place with a temperature of about 20-22 ° C. Seedlings should appear within 1-1.5 months.
Sakura pink - photo
If there is no opportunity for stratification at home, you can use podzimny sowing seeds in open ground.
To increase the percentage of germination before planting, they can be scarified. This can be done with sandpaper.
After preliminary preparation, the seeds are sown in a pre-prepared small greenhouse. The place for it must be chosen such that there is no spring stagnation of water.
The best time for sowing is the second half of October. After the end of the sowing work, the soil surface in the greenhouse is mulched with a layer of leaves or peat.
Attention! Sowing seeds is best in the harvest year. When stored, germination rates are greatly reduced.
In the spring, for 2 or even 3 months, do not disturb the sowing site. Very often, the sprouting process can drag on until mid-summer, and individual seeds can only sprout in the second year.
In the summer, caring for seedlings consists of regular watering and removing weeds. In autumn, when a steady cold snap sets in, it is recommended to cover them.
Young plants are quite sensitive and can easily die during their first wintering. They are planted in a permanent place in the second or third year of cultivation.
Diseases and pests
The sakura tree, whose photo is simply mesmerizing, needs protection from pests and diseases. Otherwise, instead of this stunning beauty, there will be bare branches with dried leaves and scanty flowers. Some varieties are susceptible to a disease in which the branches delaminate due to the growths formed at their ends. To avoid this, you need to cut off the growths in winter, lubricating the cut with some healing agent. Sometimes leaves on a tree, without having time to appear, immediately dry up. A mixture of coal and sulfur, which needs to be processed on the branches, will help get rid of this fungal disease.
The development of many fungal diseases is facilitated by pests, sticking to the trunk and branches. The ringed silkworm, which appears during the flowering period, is very dangerous for sakura. To protect against pests that cause rotting of the root system, it is necessary to add special agents to the soil.
How to choose seedlings when buying
When choosing a seedling, you must definitely focus on winter-hardy varieties... The whole problem with growing a tree is precisely that it cannot survive our frosts. Therefore, preference should be given to the Sakhalin cherry variety, which is well acclimatized.
Next, we examine the upper part and the root system (if the roots are not in an earthen coma). There should be no wounds or dry branches. The root system must be developed, healthy, without swelling and rot.
A seedling should be purchased at the end of autumn, when the tree has already dropped its foliage. The height of one-year-olds should be 65-75 cm. However, planting is carried out only in the spring (April), otherwise the fragile seedling will die over the winter, not taking up a new place in such a short time. Before that, you can place the tree in the cellar or directly in the living room by planting it in a large pot or bucket.
