A Complete Guide to Selecting and Propagating Spruce Seeds
People living in rural areas often see all kinds of trees, and the spruce is a fairly common one. It purifies the air, conserves soil and water, and can also be used to make artworks or as an ornamental garden plant. So how do you select spruce seeds? What propagation methods are there?
1. How do you select spruce seeds?
In the natural forest areas of the northwest, spruce seeds mostly begin to mature in October, and collection can start once the cones turn from green to yellowish-brown or chestnut-brown. The mother trees for seed collection are best chosen from 30-50 year old plants that are vigorous, have a good trunk form and are free of pests and diseases. However, because seed collection tasks in natural forest areas are fairly heavy, seeds are often purchased from local farmers; alternatively, seeds are collected from established seed stands and seed orchards.
2. Propagation methods for spruce seeds
1. Seed treatment
About two months before sowing, disinfect the seeds with a 0.5% potassium permanganate solution for two hours, then soak them in warm water for 6-8 hours. Note that spruce seeds cannot tolerate high temperatures, so the soaking time must not be long. The soaking water temperature must be below 50C, and the soaking time is generally around 8 hours. Then mix with 2-3 times their volume of wet sand and keep indoors at a room temperature of 18C-25 for 3-5 days. Then place in a shaded pit and cover the seeds with crushed ice. Before sowing, bring them back indoors and turn them frequently, keeping the sand moist; once the seeds show white and sprout, they can be sown.
2. Site selection and land preparation
For propagation in mountainous areas, choose the lower edge of sunny slopes at lower altitude, or low mountain and mid-mountain zones. Choose a location that is open, avoids the accumulation of cold air and drains well. The soil should preferably be fertile, deep loamy soil with little stone content. Land preparation is generally carried out twice. In mountainous areas, do it before the rainy season of the previous year; on the plains, plough before the soil freezes to a depth of 25-30cm. After thawing the following spring, do a shallow ploughing of 18-20cm, together with applying base fertiliser and soil disinfection.
3. Making beds and ridges
On gentle mountain slopes, make beds and pay attention to drainage. In rainy areas, make raised beds; in drier areas, make level beds or sunken beds. Mountain seedbeds are 1.5m wide and S-10mo long. On the plains, open-centred level beds or ridges are generally used. The surface of a level bed is level with the surrounding ground; the earth bank is 10cm higher than the bed surface, the bed is 2.3m wide and 10m long, with a drainage ditch down the middle 20cm deep and 30cm wide; the bed surface on each side of the ditch is 1m, the row spacing is 15-20cm, and on each side of the bed 5 rows are sown in drills. When making ridges, the ridge is 80cm wide, the flat ridge top is 50cm, the ridge height is 15cm, the ridge spacing is 30cm and the ridge length is 20-30cm. Sow 3 rows per ridge in drills, with 20cm row spacing.
4. Sowing
Spruce is generally sown in spring. In most areas, sowing is done in mid-April. Too early and it suffers from late frost; too late and it also suffers from sunscald. In mountainous areas, sow early rather than late, drilling into the frozen soil; the covering soil thickness is 1.5-2cm, press down after sowing, and cover the seedbed with a layer of twigs. On the plains, bed sowing and ridge sowing with wide, dense drilling are used. Irrigate thoroughly before sowing, and drill on a windless day with a sowing width of 8-10cm. Bed sowing row spacing is 25cm; ridge sowing row spacing is 20cm. After sowing, cover with a mixture of sieved, disinfected sandy loam and sawdust. The covering soil thickness for bed sowing is 1cm, and for ridge sowing 1.5cm. After covering, press down gently.
5. Tending and management
From sowing to seedling emergence, spruce generally needs 15-20 days. If the seeds are treated by freezing and snow storage, no irrigation is carried out before emergence; the seedlings emerge quickly and evenly, and the seedlings are sturdy. After spruce seedlings emerge, water them promptly to keep the bed surface moist and prevent the temperature from rising. The principle of watering is frequent, light amounts at the right time. During the rainy season, irrigation should stop. Later, if the weather is particularly dry, water 1-2 more times. Spruce should not be watered too much; too much affects overwintering. After emergence, spruce seedlings are shade-tolerant and afraid of heat. To prevent sunscald to the root crown of the spruce, water can be sprinkled to lower the surface temperature. If the temperature rises to around 30C, spray twice a day until the seedlings grow two rounds of needles.
6. Loosening the soil and weeding at the same time
Loosening the soil must be done after rain or after watering. In the early growth stage, do it once every 15 days; later, once a month; 6-8 times over the year. The principle of loosening: loosen shallowly for small seedlings and deeply for larger seedlings; shallowly when the bed surface is dry and deeply when it is moist. Spruce seedlings like moisture and tolerate shade, and seedlings sown that year grow slowly. Also, damage from birds, damping-off, sunscald and frost heaving is severe. Therefore, seedlings of the current year are not thinned, while 2-year-old seedlings can be thinned appropriately.
Alright, that is all the content the editor wants to share with you. If you are thinking of growing spruce, you should still choose good-quality seeds for sowing, and you need to master certain propagation methods. I hope this article can help you.
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