Tui are evergreen conifers with a wide variety of species and varieties. Compact shrubs are very popular in the design of adjoining territories, which look equally attractive both in the form of individual plantings and as part of garden compositions with other plants. One of these varieties is the thuja Mr. Bowling Ball, which has a lot of excellent virtues.
Botanical tree description
Thuja western Mr. Bowling Ball (Thuja occidentalis Mr. Bowling Ball) - dwarf coniferous shrub, the originality of which is a compact spherical crown. At first glance, it looks rather dense, but upon closer examination it becomes noticeable that the bush consists of thin shoots that give a soft openwork appearance. In summer, the crown has a saturated green color, and with the onset of cold weather it is covered with a faint bronze tint.
The variety grows very slowly - after a dozen years, its crown grows in diameter to 70 cm, and the maximum crown size of an adult bush does not exceed 90 cm.
Origin of name
Title Mr. The thuja variety received the Bowling Ball due to its interesting shape. Being like a round ball, as if lying underfoot, it evokes associations with the game of bowling. But the purpose of the plant is completely different - it has a role to play as a worthy participant in landscape design, attracting attention with its unusual decorativeness. Landing of spherical arborvitae in small adjoining areas where it is impossible to find a place for bulky plants is especially beneficial.
Did you know? Tui produce a large number of volatile — substances that kill bacteria, which purifies the surrounding air.
Landing
Spherical arborvitae are a collection of specially bred varieties, each of which has its own characteristics and requirements. The thuja western Mr. Bowling Ball is best suited for growing in Russia, as the plant is able to tolerate severe frosts, temperature changes and other climatic features (in comparison, dwarf Japanese or Korean thuja is very difficult to grow in open ground in Russia). At the same time, Mr. Bowling Ball also has its own requirements regarding, first of all, proper fit.
With autumn planting, the ideal period is the end of September - the beginning of October. A later landing may cause the fragile root system to freeze.
Recommended Dates
Thuja seedlings can be planted in open ground in autumn or spring. Spring planting is most preferable, since thuja is a southern plant and takes root better in the warm season. Planting or transplanting work is carried out in late April - early May. The material that has been planted at this time over the summer will take root and get stronger, which will help it further cope with cold weather conditions.
Site selection and soil preparation
To plant a thuja, it is important to choose the right place. These plants, for the most part, prefer sunny areas, but if you plant them in the southern regions with a hot climate and long daylight hours, it is better to choose a site in partial shade. Staying in the sun for a long time, needles can get burned.
Important! A spherical thuja cannot be planted in the shade, otherwise its shoots will stretch and the bush will lose its original symmetrical shape.
As for the composition of the soil, it can be noted that thuja is not capricious in this regard, but if you want the bush not only to grow on the site, but also to please its healthy decorativeness, it is better to fertilize the soil composition. First of all, make sure that, in addition to garden soil, it also includes peat and sand, which will make the soil more loose and permeable to air and moisture.
The culture grows well and develops on moderately moist soils. When planting in places with a high occurrence of groundwater or in wetlands, it is necessary to lay an additional drainage layer with a thickness of 15–20 cm. It can be made of chipped brick, gravel and other materials.
Keep a ratio of these components 2: 1: 1. You should also feed the soil: 300 g of wood ash and 8-10 kg of humus are added to each planting pit - these components need to be mixed with the soil and put to the bottom. It is also recommended to add mineral complex compounds, for example, you can use Nitroammofoska, spending 150-200 g of the product for every 1 m².
Planting a seedling
Thuja seedlings can be bought in a special nursery or store. Before planting, it is necessary to inspect the material - it must have a well-developed root system and a lush crown without signs of disease. Most often, plants are sold in containers or wrapped in burlap. If the thuja is placed in the tank, see if its roots have sprouted through the drainage holes. If this happens, then the seedling is already quite old and should not be bought.
Under landing of a thuja Mr. Bowling Ball dig a hole with a diameter of 60 cm and a depth of 80 cm. A drainage layer and soil with fertilizers are laid on the bottom. Please note that with a group additive of spherical dwarf thuja, you need to retreat between them a distance of about 1 m.
The seedling is placed in a hole so that the root neck is located at the level of the soil. Immediately after planting, thuja must be abundantly watered, spending up to 10 liters of water per instance. To make the plant take root faster, add the Zircon or Kornevin simulator to the water for irrigation. The final stage will be mulching the soil with peat, compost or wood chips. The layer thickness should be about 5-7 cm - this is enough to keep the young plant roots from drying out in the summer and freezing in the winter.
Thuja care
Immediately after planting, young arborvitae require particularly careful care. At first, it is important to water them regularly 2 times a week, delivering 8–10 liters of water under each bush. After 2 weeks, the time comes for the first feeding of mineral potassium-phosphorus compounds (Activin, Brexil Combi). At first, they need to be carried out every 2-3 weeks. If the bushes are planted in autumn, be sure to cover the soil with fallen leaves, which will protect the planting from freezing. In the future, standard care procedures should be followed.
Watering and feeding
Thuja develops well in moist soil, but does not like wetlands. Watering is necessary as the soil dries. In the summer, it is recommended to water it in the evening, after sunset - so the plants will not get burns and can fully relax after a day of exhausting heat. It is also advisable to spray shrubs daily, the duration of the procedure is 15-20 minutes.
In the spring, 1 time per week is enough, in hot weather you can increase watering up to 2 times, spending 10-15 l per planting (the soil should be moistened to a depth of 30 cm).
Feeding is very important for thujas. It provides better resistance to climatic whims, increases immunity to diseases and has a positive effect on color. Fertilizers are applied in the spring. In autumn, plants are not fed, so as not to provoke the growth of new shoots, which do not have time to get stronger before winter. From early spring to August, the soil composition is periodically improved with mineral compounds. For this, you can use Kemira-Universal fertilizers (100 g per 1 m²) or Osmokot (15 g per 1 bush).
Loosening and mulching
Soil cultivation should be carried out after each irrigation - this will provide better soil permeability to moisture and air. At the same time, you can get rid of annoying weeds. After loosening, the soil should be mulched using sawdust, peat or compost. Mulching not only helps preserve soil moisture, but also serves as an additional fertilizer for arborvitae. The optimum layer thickness is 6–8 cm.
Pruning
Thuja western Mr. Bowling Ball perfectly retains its spherical shape without a decorating haircut - breeders took care of this. Nevertheless, if you have a desire to correct the features of the plant, this can be done in autumn or early spring. It should be noted that this variety of thuja perfectly lends itself to decorative formation. Shrubs used as hedges are also trimmed.
In addition to forming trim, periodically need to carry out sanitary. Most often, this is done in the spring, removing shoots that have not survived winter frosts well. You need to monitor the thuja throughout the growing season, remove the stems that dry out, have yellowed needles or signs of damage by diseases, pests.
Wintering
You can not shelter an adult thuja for the winter, just mulch is enough to protect the root system from freezing. The young planting should be warmed more thoroughly - in addition to the need to protect the roots from frost, you should also take care of the needles - they cover it with burlap and other “breathable” materials, such as the now popular spunbond. It should be covered just before the frost - in December.
In the spring, do not rush to take cover as soon as the sun warms. It is better to wait a little while the soil warms up. If you remove the cover early, the shoots “wake up” under the influence of heat and can grow, and the root system will still remain dormant in cold soil, which will negatively affect the plant and it will begin to turn yellow.
Possible diseases and pests
Thanks to the work of breeders, the thuja variety Mr. Bowling Ball has a certain immunity to diseases and attacks of harmful insects, but the risk of damage still remains. The most dangerous for the plant are such ailments as powdery mildew and anthracnose (leaf spot). They appear as a result of lesions with fungal infections.
For the fight using chemical preparations fungicides. The best assistant will be Fundazol. The product must be thoroughly sprayed with the entire shrub, up to the bark and shoots, as well as cultivate near-trunk soil and adjacent plants. After the first treatment, it is recommended to re-run after 2 weeks.
Experienced gardeners prefer preventative treatments that prevent diseases. To do this, they use the method of regular spraying of thuja with fungicide preparations, for example, such as Ordan, Horus, Skor, etc. It is advisable to process plantings several times during the season, starting in early spring.
In addition to diseases, coniferous shrubs are attacked by insect pests. The most common and dangerous is the Maybug larva. A gluttonous scoop can completely nibble the root of a young seedling in one day and destroy the plant. To prevent this from happening, from mid-April it is necessary to regularly spray the thuja with such preparations as Aktara or Antichrush. Spraying is carried out throughout the season every 60 days.
Important! Chemical thawing must be completely sewn up, so that chemicals arrive even in the most inaccessible places and always on the trunk and root neck.
In addition to the scoop, spider mites cause coniferous plants a lot of trouble, the attacks of which especially progress in hot, dry weather. You can determine the appearance of insects by yellowing and shedding of needles, as well as the presence of thin cobwebs on the shoots. To avoid these “unsolicited” guests, in dry weather you need to periodically spray bushes with cold water. If signs of tick-borne colonies have already appeared, treat them with acaricide. Envidor, a drug with a wide spectrum of action that destroys insects at any stage of development, from eggs to adults, is well suited for these purposes.
The use of wood in landscape design
Compact evergreen conifers are often used as a complement to the design of garden compositions or as individual elements. One of the advantages of Mr. Thuja Bowling Ball is that it is suitable for any style, and its slow growth will allow you to permanently preserve the landscape picture.
If the garden is spacious enough, you can equip it with a mixed flower garden with thuja balls, which can organically fit into the forbs. In this case, the evergreen heather, which blooms from July to October, is traditionally planted next door. Bright elements of the composition will be dahlias or astilbe - their color will perfectly shade the rich green needles.Did you know? Today, a minimalist trend has gained great popularity in design. To arrange a site in this style, it is enough to plant dwarf arborvitae on a flat, short-cut lawn or a ground covered with crushed stone.
Another option is to design a mixborder exclusively from thuja, picking up bushes and trees that differ in shape and color of the crown. For example, a combination of dwarf western thuja Mr. Bowling Ball with bright green needles on the background of lighter pyramidal coniferous varieties such as Golden Minaret, Kolumna.
The compact thuja looks great in rockeries and in the design of alpine hills, where spherical elements are required. Coniferous green bushes, located among the stones or on the slopes of the mountains, acquire a special flavor. Here plants can be located singly or in groups. Often, designers prefer to complement them with low annual and perennial flowering crops. For example, you can plant a periwinkle next door, which over time will grow with an evergreen rug, and its small blue flowers will look expressively against the background of rich needles. Ornate saxifrage shrubs or an elegant shroud of perennial shrubs are also suitable.
Shrubs are suitable for planting in both large and small areas. The curbs made of spherical thuja look beautiful, which are arranged along garden paths or to separate certain areas of the site. And also plants can be planted in containers and decorate terraces, verandas. By the way, thuja perfectly tolerate the conditions of the city, so that you can grow them even on the balconies of apartment buildings.
Thuja western Mr. Bowling Ball is an excellent choice for decorating the local area. Providing proper care to the plant, you can admire its decorative originality for decades, because dwarf thujas are able to live a long period, sometimes reaching 150-200 years.
