Berries of cornus mas ordinary bright red, fleshy, inside the drupes.,
Cornus mas tolerates frost well, but at -30 ° C, branch damage occurs. Therefore, the young plants cornus mas for the winter require good shelter. If the temperature is slightly above +40 ° C, the leaves on the sapling may dry out.
Planting cornus mas
As I said, cornus mas loves a warm mild climate. But do not despair regions with a cooler climate. You just need to more accurately select the variety that can take root in your area.
Cornus mas grows well in soils rich in lime. He basically does not like acid soils, but can even grow on them, but this will affect the development of the plant and the yield. Groundwater should be no closer than 1.5 m to the ground.
When planting, select the south or southwest side. Plant in the fall. It is believed that if the foliage of poplar began to fall, then it is time to plant cornus mas.
- The depth and diameter of the landing pit should be about 60 cm.
- You drive a stake from the side where the wind is blowing, and you put a seedling on the opposite side, spreading the roots.
- Root neck doing 3 cm above ground level, so that when the earth has settled, the neck was at the same level with the ground.
- When digging a hole, lay the top layer of soil and the bottom in different directions. Top fertile layer mixed with humus and mineral fertilizers and pour the seedling, pour 2 buckets of water and grumble the soil with humus or dry ground of the lower layers.
From the fence to cornus mas must be at least 5 m, arrange it so that in subsequent years it will be provided with good food from the soil and other trees do not interfere with it, otherwise after 20 years the crown of cornus mas will thicken and taper, which is qualitative affect the amount of crop.
Cornus mas is a beautiful honey plant, but, as I have already said, its flowers appear early (flowering lasts about 2 weeks) when the air temperature is about 12 ° C, and for pollination by bees the temperature should be much higher. Therefore, Cornus mas must have a pair in the garden, and preferably two, so that the wind can transfer the pollen from one tree to another and thus the trees can pollinate each other. They are placed at a distance of 3-5 m.
The seedling Cornus mas, ready for planting, should be 2 years old, about 1.5 m in height, about 2 cm in diameter and have about 5 skeletal branches. After planting, the shoots must be cut to 1/3. Although many gardeners do not do this in the first year after planting, and the plants also take root well.
Cornus mas reproduction
Cornus mas can be propagated by seed or vegetatively. When propagating by seeds, their stratification is necessary. To do this, the drupes are cleaned of pulp and put in wet sawdust or moss, constantly moistening them (stratification period of about a year). A peculiarity of the drupe of this plant is that it does not break up into cotyledons, therefore, when planting, it should be dug no more than 3 cm, then a hole appears in the bone through which the germ makes its way to life. You can sow seeds without stratification, in this case they will emerge in two years, but the seedlings will appear unevenly.
In vegetative propagation, reproduction with green cuttings, layering and inoculation is more effective; take a two-year-old seedling.
The layering reproduces in the same way as most fruit plants. Horizontal grooves are made near the tree, an escape is laid in them, pinned to the ground and sprinkled with earth, moistened. Over the summer period, the branch should acquire roots, then it can be safely separated from the parent plant.
Cornus mas care
Formation of the crown and pruning of cornus mas consist of marking a trunk about 50 cm and 5 skeletal branches in the sapling, adhering to the shape of a bush. Thickening shoots and shoots removed. Pruning in subsequent years may not be carried out. In order to rejuvenate the cornel, at the age of about 20 years, rejuvenating pruning is done by trimming 4-year-old shoots. Due to this, many new young branches are formed. For landscape design, many gardeners do pruning in various forms.
Caring for dogwood consists of weeding, loosening the soil to a depth of about 10 cm, drip irrigation and watering in the first growing year.
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