Lilacs Are A Garden Nymph! Care, Planting, Cultivation, Reproduction. Diseases And Pests. Photo

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Lilacs Are A Garden Nymph! Care, Planting, Cultivation, Reproduction. Diseases And Pests. Photo
Lilacs Are A Garden Nymph! Care, Planting, Cultivation, Reproduction. Diseases And Pests. Photo

Video: Lilacs Are A Garden Nymph! Care, Planting, Cultivation, Reproduction. Diseases And Pests. Photo

Video: Lilacs Are A Garden Nymph! Care, Planting, Cultivation, Reproduction. Diseases And Pests. Photo
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The name of the lilac comes from the Greek word 'syrinx' - a tube, which, apparently, indicates the structure of the flower. According to another version - on behalf of the nymph Syringa, turned into a reed, from which the god of forests Pan made a shepherd's pipe "syrinx".

Lilacs are a garden nymph
Lilacs are a garden nymph

Content:

  • Description of lilac
  • Preparation for planting lilacs
  • Lilac planting technique
  • Lilac care
  • Reproduction of lilac
  • Diseases and pests

Description of lilac

Lilac (Syringa) is a genus of shrubs belonging to the Olive family (Oleaceae). These include up to 10 plant species common in the wild in Southeast Europe (Hungary, the Balkans) and in Asia, mainly in China.

Lilac leaves are opposite, usually whole, less often pinnately-separated, falling for the winter. The flowers are white, lilac or pink, arranged in panicles that end in branches. The calyx is small, short, bell-shaped with four teeth.

The corolla is usually with a long cylindrical tube (less often, as, for example, in the Amur lilac - with a shortened tube) and a flat four-part bend. Two stamens attached to the corolla tube. One ovary, with a bipartite stigma. The fruit is a dry bivalve capsule.

All types of lilacs are distinguished by beautiful flowers, which is why they are bred in gardens. Common lilac (Syringa vulgaris L.) is especially widespread - a luxurious shrub, extremely hardy, which grows well in the open air both in the south and in the north of Europe and decorates gardens with large inflorescences of its fragrant flowers in spring.

In addition to the basic form with lilac flowers, varieties with white and pinkish flowers have arisen in culture. They are also used for forcing in greenhouses, so that you can have fresh lilac flowers almost all winter. This species grows wildly in the Balkans.

In addition to the common lilac, we can also mention the Persian lilac (Syringa persica L.) with narrower, sometimes pinnately-separated leaves, the Hungarian lilac (Syringa Josikoe Jacq.) With odorless flowers, originally from Hungary; Syringa Emodi Wall. originally from the Himalayas; Syringa japonica Maxim from Japan. Several types of lilac grow wildly in China. Amur lilac (Syringa amurensis Rupr.) Is found on the Amur in Russia.

Preparation for planting lilacs

Lilac seedlings are planted in planting holes, which are dug 2-3 weeks before planting. Two-four-year-old lilac plants are planted in pits with a diameter of 40-50 cm, at a depth of 35-45 cm. The pit is filled with an upper fertile layer of soil, with the addition of humus, half-rotted manure, peat faeces or weathered peat. Up to 20 kg of these organic fertilizers are applied to the planting pit.

In addition, 2-2.5 kg of lime tuff are added on acidic soils. On sandy soils, it is better to apply lime in the form of dolomite flour containing magnesium, which is not sufficient in light sandy soils. At the same time, mineral fertilizers are applied: 0.7-0.9 kg of granular superphosphate and 0.3 kg of phosphate rock or bone meal; up to 150 g of potassium sulfate and 700-900 g of wood ash.

Mixing of organic and mineral fertilizers with the soil is carried out in such a way that most of them fall into the lower part of the pit. If this amount of soil is not enough to fill, then soil is poured into the pit from the fertile layer of row spacings.

Lilac planting technique

Before planting, the damaged part of the root system is cut off with a sharpened garden knife or pruner. The root system of lilacs, especially in dry times, is dipped in a dung-clay mash before laying in the planting pits. If the pits are not filled with prepared soil before planting, then before planting they are filled to half and evenly compacted.

After that, in the center of the pit, a mound of earth is poured almost to the upper edge of the pit. The lilac root system is placed on the mound, directing the roots in different directions. To avoid burying the plant after soil subsidence, the root collar should be located 4-6 cm above the soil level.

Having sprinkled the lilac root system with a 3-5-centimeter layer of fertile soil, the pit is thrown with the remaining soil and trampled underfoot tightly, starting from the edge. Compaction is carried out carefully, avoiding damage to the root system.

Around the planted plant, a roll of earth 15-20 cm high is poured, forming a hole for irrigation. Pour 15-20 liters of water into the hole. After soaking, the trunks are sprinkled with dry soil and mulched with a 3-5 cm layer of peat.

Lilac bushes
Lilac bushes

Lilac care

Lilac is unpretentious, and caring for it is easy.

Lilacs should be planted either in early spring, before buds bloom, or in autumn. The best time to plant it is September. A planted young bush should be watered frequently. And adult, established bushes are watered only during drought.

In early spring, lilac branches that are weak, dry and growing inside the bush are cut off, and the "wild" shoots are also removed from the grafted one as it appears. Faded panicles are cut off, trying not to damage the shoots located next to them, on which flower buds are laid - from which flowers will appear next year.

When feeding a bush, do not get carried away with nitrogen fertilizers, including organic ones - the lilac will bloom worse and will not tolerate winter well. It is enough to apply complex fertilizer in the spring and potash with phosphorus - after flowering, and this can be done not even annually.

The soil under the bushes must be loosened carefully so as not to damage the superficial root system. All other rules are standard, take care of lilacs in the same way as for any ornamental shrub.

Reproduction of lilac

Wild species of lilacs propagate by seeds. Sowing is carried out in autumn or spring after two months of seed stratification at a temperature of 2-5 ° C. Varietal lilacs are propagated by layering, cuttings or grafting. The inoculation is performed with a graft or a dormant bud (budding). The stock can be common privet, Hungarian lilac and common lilac.

Lilacs can be budded with a sleeping bud (in summer) and awakening (in early spring, at the beginning of the growing season). In spring budding, cuttings are harvested in February - March and stored in the refrigerator in bundles of 10 - 20 pieces wrapped in paper.

With spring budding, the survival rate is 80%. The vitality of the eyepieces is high, and they winter successfully. Due to the rapid budding in the spring, there is little time for budding, therefore, the method of reproduction by a dormant bud is more common.

The stock is prepared from the second half of June: lateral shoots are cut to a height of 12-15 cm, shoots are removed. Late pruning of lilacs, immediately before budding, is not recommended, since the pruning site does not have time to heal. At the rootstock, the thickness of the root collar should be 0.6 - 1.5 cm, and the bark should be easily separated from the wood.

To do this, it is necessary to water the plants abundantly 5 to 6 days before the start of vaccination. On the day of budding, the stock is uncooked, and the site of inoculation is carefully wiped with a clean damp cloth. Lilac cuttings with buds for budding are prepared as they ripen. The buds of mature shoots are large, the bark is brown in color, the maturity of the cutting is also determined by bending: it emits a weak crack as a result of the breakage of the lignified tissue.

The optimal thickness of the lilac cutting is 3-4 mm, the length is 20 - 30 cm, it is better to cut them from the southern or southwestern side of the crown of the bush. Leaf blades are removed, and leaf petioles 1 - 1.5 cm long are left. They serve for the convenience of budding. Prepared cuttings are packed in plastic wrap with moistened moss or sawdust and stored in a basement or refrigerator for 7-10 days.

The buds are taken from the middle part of the shoot. The upper, usually floral (1-2 pairs) are not used. The lower, poorly developed kidneys are also unsuitable for budding. From one mature shoot, you can take 10-15 full-fledged buds.

The best time for budding lilacs in central Russia is the second half of July. The success of budding depends on the technique used. At a height of 3-5 cm from the ground, a T-shaped cut is made with a quick short movement of the knife so as not to touch the wood tissue. The length of the longitudinal incision is 2-3 cm. At the point of contact of the incisions, the bark is raised (with the bone of the gardening knife).

The handle is taken in the left hand and held with the thumb and middle fingers above the cut kidney. At the same time, the index finger is extended and supports the handle from below. The knife blade is placed at an acute angle to the handle 1-1.5 cm above the kidney. With a quick movement of the right hand, the knife is shallowly inserted into the wood and pulled towards itself.

Along the entire length of the shield, it must be kept at the same depth, and only under the kidney the blade is slightly deepened and pressed in order to overcome the denser tissue of the vascular bundle. A properly cut scutellum has a thin layer of wood, its length is 2-2.5 cm, the position of the bud is in the center.

Further preparation of the shield consists in the separation of the wood. The shield is held in the left hand with the wood upward. The wood is carefully lifted with a knife and with a quick movement, supported by the thumb of the right hand, separated from the bark. If the vascular bundle is damaged, the flap must be discarded.

A properly prepared shield is taken by the petiole and inserted into a T-shaped incision in the rootstock. With a knife bone, you can move the shield down and, at best, it should be in the middle of the cut. The bark of the stock is bent to the shield and tied.

For strapping, an elastic film is used, which is used in medicine for compresses. The ribbons are cut with a length of 30-40 cm, a width of 1-1.5 cm. The strapping begins at the top and ends under the kidney. The ends of the tape are secured above the transverse notch with two turns clockwise. Spiral winding: each lower turn is overlapped by the upper one.

The strapping should tightly, without gaps, close the entire longitudinal incision on the stock. The scutellum kidney remains open. The end of the tape at the bottom is fixed with a loop. Then the rootstock is spud, after 5-7 days the eyepieces must be watered, and after 15-20 days you can check the survival rate: the engrafted buds are shiny, have a fresh look, the petiole disappears with light pressure. The buds that have not taken root dry up, turn black, the leaf petiole is firmly held.

It is best to make lilac budding from 5 to 10 and from 16 to 20 hours. In the rain, budding is not carried out. Immediately after the first frost, the eyepieces are covered with dry peat with a layer of 5 - 10 cm above the inoculation site. In the spring, peat is raked off, the strapping is removed and the trunks are cut "on a thorn" 5 - 7 cm above the bud.

The place of the cut is covered with garden pitch. The kidneys are immediately removed from the thorn, except for 2-3 upper ones, which provide sap flow and supply of nutrients. When the eye begins to grow, the remaining buds are removed from the thorn. A new lilac shoot is tied to a thorn so that it does not break off.

Lilac
Lilac

Diseases and pests

Lilacs are relatively rarely affected by pests and diseases. The most common and dangerous are the following.

The lilac miner moth attacks the leaves. At first, they are covered with brown spots - mines, then roll up into tubes and dry out. The bush becomes as if burnt. The next year, such bushes hardly bloom. Butterflies fly out in mid-May - early June and lay their eggs on the lower part of the leaf along the veins. After 5-10 days, caterpillars emerge and penetrate into the pulp of the leaf.

Approximately in mid-July, caterpillars descend to the ground and pupate in the upper soil layer, at a depth of 5 cm. After 18 days, butterflies fly out. Pupae of the second generation hibernate in soil at a depth of 3-5 cm.

Control measures. Digging the soil under the bushes in late autumn and spring to a depth of 20 cm with overturning the layer. In this case, care must be taken not to damage the root system, since it is located superficially in the lilac. If the bushes are slightly damaged, the affected leaves should be cut off and burned.

Bacterial necrosis. The disease progresses in the first half of August. The disease is transmitted by insects, through watering during irrigation, with planting material and through injuries. The causative agent hibernates in fallen leaves, in the tissues of diseased shoots. Signs of the disease: gray leaves, brown shoots. First, the leaves of the lilac and the tops of the shoots are affected, then the disease goes down. Young shoots are affected from the base of the leaf cuttings.

Control measures. Timely insect pest control. Collection and destruction of fallen leaves, pruning and burning of affected plant parts. Severely affected bushes are uprooted and burned. Lilac cuttings should be disinfected before vaccination.

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