▷ Large trees for the farm: how to choose

Nurseries are full of decorative trees, but when you want a big, serious tree for your farm, it’s difficult to figure out which trees might be right for your farm and how to choose them. Gardening specialist Ingė Auželiene discusses the most commonly grown 10–15 m tall trees in Lithuania.

IN NEW FARMHOUSES IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO FILL OUT OLD TREES

Large mature trees are a gift and a value, the Lithuanian and the tree have always been connected. However, when it comes to your own garden or even a large farm, the specialist believes that people are afraid of large trees. Maybe they avoid taking responsibility towards future generations, maybe they don’t know how to choose, understand how big a tree will grow and how the environment will change.

A large tree radically changes the landscape. Kupiškis, photo L. Liubertaitė

Big trees are best the shadowyou can’t deny it here. When it is hot, gazebos and canopies are built to shelter from the sun and Romanettes are purchased. And natural shade can be provided by large trees, especially deciduous ones. Basically the microclimate changes: the air is cleaner, the relative humidity is higher, there is less dust, less wind, the sun bakes less during periods of drought.

Furthermore, small plants change the overall landscape very little (unless there are large arrays of them). OH a large tree is enough for the landscape to change.

Therefore, it is good that little by little there are more and more people who are not afraid to plant trees in their garden, which will become larger and larger over time.

MOST COMMON ERRORS

Ingė Auželienė says that the most common mistake is to underestimate when planting trees, what size they will be in the future. Some trees reach their height relatively quickly (maples, birches, rowans), while others (for example oak) much more slowly. Eventually, the oak will be much larger than the birch, but it will take several generations of your family to reach its full size.

As the tree grows, its environment also changes, and conditions for other plants that may be growing nearby also change. As long as the tree is small, we will plant light-loving flowers. After a dozen years the shade will appear and some plants will no longer exist, because the conditions will no longer be suitable for them; then we will plant shade-loving plants. This change is slow, but it’s still happening, so it’s something to think about when planting a young tree.

Another common mistake is conditions are not evaluatedrequired for a specific tree. For some, sandy loam is suitable, for others clay, some do not tolerate water stagnation. If we talk about trees 10-15 m tall, in good conditions they can reach 20 m in height. And if it is poor, it can only reach 8 meters.

Do your research before planting. It is usually indicated in plant catalogs 10 years the height of the plant does not correspond to its full maturity, the tree can continue to grow. If the height is too much for you, simply choose another shorter variety. There are also plants suitable for cities, which grow lower (8-10 m) and are better suited to smaller spaces.

The avenue of patterned lime trees does not suit every farmhouse, but if the style of the farmhouse is closer to that of the manor, you can frame the entrance in this way. photo Rundale Castle Manor, Latvia. author of the photo L. Liubertaitė

Let’s talk about the most common trees grown on the farm:

BIRCH

Birch is good because it does not cast a very deep shadow, its leaves are small, so it casts a light shadow. Birch needs a lot of moisture, its roots absorb water extensively. Therefore, birch can grow in a humid place, it dries out a little, then you can plant more bushes or flowers next to it. Spruces could grow nearby, and shrubs such as dogwoods could grow under the birches.

If the area is drier, the nearby lawn also does not grow well due to the lack of humidity. In this case, pine trees may grow nearby. No rhododendrons, he really won’t like the company of the birch, says the specialist.

In addition to the traditional ones, there are grafted and swaying forms, there are birch keruses, which are more bush-shaped, suitable for coasts.

If falling birch leaves bother you in the fall, you can rake them up with a lawnmower.

Birches and pines on the sandy coast of the Baltic Sea. Saulkrasti, Latvia. photo L. Liubertaitė

CHESTNUT

Chestnut’s biggest problem right now is attacking him vendettacausing the chestnut leaves to brown. Until there are effective, easily accessible and usable tools, Ingė Auželienė does not recommend it plant chestnuts on your farm.

Chestnut trees are not the best trees for the farm, at least until there are effective measures to combat the vengeful moth. photo L. Liubertaitė

Exception it is a form of red-flowered chestnut, so it does not attack the weevil.

If you decide to plant chestnut trees, keep in mind that they do not tolerate pruning, so they do not fall, then grow back ugly or get sick.

MAPLE

We all know maples and call its leaves in autumn its greatest advantage and at the same time its disadvantage. Maple, like chestnut, has many leaves that fall in autumn, the lawnmower cannot handle them, so you need to spend more time harvesting and it is slower in composting.

But the variety of leaf colors is exceptional not only in autumnsome forms even in summer. For example, the red-leaved maple forms ‘Crimson King’ or ‘Drumondii’ with white edges. It’s not for nothing that orientals love maples so much. Japanese maples are usually small, more bush-shaped, but the shoots can freeze, in open areas it is not necessary to abuse it.

Redleaf maples are prone to powdery mildew if grown in shade and unfavorable conditions.

The shade is deeper under the maple than under the birch. It does not tolerate pruning, so choose the right size immediately.

JULY

Lime trees are very suitable trees for the homestead in our climate. The leaves do not have a variety of colors, but flowering – marvelous. Plus, linden flowers are fragrant, attract bees (which will only improve your crop), and you can dry them for tea in the winter.

July

Among the most interesting varieties, characterized by colour, is the ‘Winter Orange’ lime tree, its beautiful branches are orange in winter. However, the most important advantage of lime trees is that they are suitable for shaping. Not very demanding towards the soil and unfavorable environmental conditions, the lime tree is the perfect tree for our climate.

SHERMUSHNIK

A little lower, 3-6 years. tall, but very decorative: beautiful cut leaves, flowers in spring, berries in autumn. The shade under the brambles is shallow, the foliage is quite openwork. Flowerbeds that love partial shade feel good underneath.

Rowan is also suitable for cultivation in poorer sandy soils, for example near pine trees.

Rowan

OAK

The oak grows slowly, although it becomes a large, robust tree. It needs a lot of space, but if you want oak and don’t have space, you can now also choose its decorative column shape.

Loves fertile soil: true kings of the woods! If it grows in the shade and in unfavorable conditions it tends to suffer from powdery mildew. The leaves are sluggish, so it is better not to throw them into general compost.

PINE

Suitable for sterile, clayey, sandy soils. It will grow poorly in waterlogged soil. Rhododendrons, rowans like the pine company and lower friends: heathers and hillocks.

In the courses»Farm landscaping» I. Auželienė notes that the owners of the farms are mostly new it does not estimate the height of the pine tree and the change in the canopy. Both common and black pines grow large, up to 20 m tall.

The black pine has a bush (teardrop) shape when it is small, but subsequently the trunk lengthens and the foliage rises. So the group of pines first blocks the view, then just opens it. If planted more densely, the canopy rises faster. And if one by one, the pines have a much wider crown and the crown rises later.

FIR

Pine can grow in sandy areas, but fir will not like it there, says the specialist. Loamy, richer soil is suitable for spruce. Its roots are shallow, widely distributed, which makes it difficult to grow flower beds or other groups of plants next to it. Additionally, spruce blocks the sun for other plants.

The density of the spruce can also become an advantage: if we want to block the view, the spruce curtain remains throughout the growing period (unless it is planted too densely and the crown rises slightly). Therefore it also protects well from the wind.

Spruce is easier to shape than pine, you can shorten the side branches, raise the crown by removing the lower branches, slow down growth by shortening the upper part (only then the shape will not be maintained).

Note that the buckthorn fir (also known as the white fir) reaches the same size as the common fir. Don’t get excited about small Christmas trees if you haven’t planned how big they will grow.

The fir wall protects well from the wind. Photo by L. Liubertaitė

PLANTING

If we want to plant a large tree immediately we cannot do without a nursery. In the nursery trees are grown using certain technologies so that they can be transported and transplanted. And if you buy those dug straight from the ground at a nursery or forestry store, do so in the spring. You can’t eradicate a tree from the forest at all, forget it.

The smaller the tree, the easier it will be to establish. But if you plant a very small one on the farm and don’t have time to care for it, the grass can overshadow it. Therefore, the specialist recommends planting a tree at least 1-1.5 m high.

You can see how to plant a pine in this video report: watch