Juniper Cossack Mas is often used for decorative purposes. He has the ability to strengthen the slopes, does not allow crumbling problem areas and at the same time looks beautiful at any time of the year. Therefore, it is often used in the design of park areas and estates. From this conifer can grow a wide evergreen fence.

Botanical Description

Juniper Cossack Mas is a coniferous evergreen shrub that reaches a height of 2 m and a width of 8 m. It gives a small increase annually - about 10 cm in height and 20 cm in diameter. Another name for this variety is Sabina Mas.

The Mas variety stands out among other junipers for its elongated shoots with slightly curved ends. A dense crown is like a truncated cone that is upside down. As it grows, it expands widely, occupying a decent area.

Did you know? The coniferous shoots of Cossack juniper are saturated with essential oils (up to 5%) and can be used to repel moths.

The bush has a powerful root system. Bark of red-brown color. Needle needles are painted green, which in the cold period acquires a purple hue. Single fruits in the form of cones give only old bushes.

The plant has high frost resistance. It also tolerates drought well. It develops normally in gassed urban conditions. Juniper of this variety is unpretentious to the composition of the soil and can grow on soil that is not rich in nutrients.

Important! This plant crop contains a toxic substance - sabinol. In its fruits up to 17%. It causes severe poisoning and miscarriage in animals who had the imprudence to eat them.

Landing

In order for the juniper to grow well and delight the eye, it is necessary to choose the right seedlings and the site for planting. This plant culture, despite its unpretentiousness, requires certain conditions to maintain a beautiful aesthetic appearance. Therefore, it is best to select and prepare a landing site in advance. It should also be noted that over time this variety takes up more and more space.

Seedling preparation

Seedlings need to be purchased from reputable suppliers. For this purpose, local nurseries that specialize in the cultivation of decorative conifers are well suited. Seedlings should be in containers or other suitable containers.

When buying, you should pay attention to the root system - it must be well developed and not dry. The seedlings should not have visible signs of the presence of pests or any diseases, as well as damage. The branches should be flexible, and the color should be uniform. Best for planting 2-3 summer specimens. They will adapt well to a new place of growth.

Before planting, the needles dried up in the base area are cut off from the seedling. To planting material better settled down in a new place, the root system should be kept a couple of hours in the solution with a growth stimulator ("Kornevin") before planting.

Site selection and preparation

Juniper variety Mas prefers a place well lit by the sun's rays or slight shading. With strong shading, the crown becomes more rare. This plant crop prefers moderately dry light soil with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction (PH 4.0–7.0).

Normally grows on rocky ground. It should be planted away from fruit trees.because they can suffer from the same diseases. If the soil is too scarce, then the application of turf and leafy soil, humus, compost will create favorable conditions for the growth and development of seedlings.

Landing process

Planting seedlings is best done in early spring before pouring buds or from late summer to early fall. For areas with severe winters, this process is best carried out in the spring. When planting this plant crop to create a dense fence or border between seedlings, they maintain an interval of 0.6–0.7 m. When group landings leave a gap of at least 1 m.

Important! Juniper Cossack Mas poorly tolerates waterlogging and stagnation of water. Salinity is also unacceptable.

The procedure for landing on a permanent place is as follows:

1. They dig a hole twice as large in comparison with the size of the root system of planting material.
2. If the soil on the plot is sparse, then a nutritious soil mixture is prepared from the same parts of dug land, peat and sand.
3. A drainage layer of 10-15 cm made of broken brick, gravel or other suitable material is placed at the bottom.
4. A mound of loose earth is poured from above. A seedling is placed on it by the method of transshipment (without destroying the earth coma). If the planting material has open roots, then they are carefully distributed on top of the mound. The root neck should not be deepened.
5. Then the seedling is covered with soil, lightly tamped with it.
6. Around the bush form a hole for irrigation and produce abundant hydration;
7. Then mulching is carried out around the seedling with the help of sawdust, fallen needles and peat. In this case, you need to make sure that the mulch does not come in contact with the base of the bush. This will negatively affect the plant.
8. After planting, it is advisable to carry out preventive treatment of seedlings with fungicidal preparations against diseases.

Juniper Care

In the middle zone with a temperate climate, humidification of adult bushes is carried out several times a season. During the warm period during heat and drought, watering should be done every two weeks. For one copy, it is enough to pour 2-3 buckets of 10 liters.

This coniferous plant culture is well related to sprinkling in dry weather. It cleanses the needles well and preserves its greenery. Such hydration is carried out in the evening to avoid sunburn. Recently planted plants need more careful care. In this case, you need to constantly monitor so that the earth does not dry out.

At the same time, do not forget that juniper does not tolerate overmoistening. This can cause fungal diseases (fusarium, rust). For their treatment and for prevention, fungicidal preparations of the type Fitosporin, Fundazole.

In order for the crown to be dense and well colored green, it is recommended to feed twice a year:

• in the spring, complex fertilizers containing nitrogen are applied;
• at the end of summer or in early September, feeding with phosphorus and potassium is used.

Soil loosening is carried out for young bushes - this will improve their growth and development, as the supply of oxygen, nutrients and moisture will be more active. Adult specimens are simple enough to mulch.

In winter, the bush does not need to be covered, since this culture normally tolerates frosts. But young seedlings need to be protected and used shelter. To do this, they can be covered with a cardboard box or white agrofiber. Adult specimens simply cover with mulch to protect the roots from frost.

Juniper tolerates a haircut. Sanitary pruning should be carried out - remove dry and damaged shoots. If this conifer is used to form borders, then the bushes must be shaped with a haircut.

This procedure is preferably carried out in the spring or at the end of the summer period. In this case, you need to trim no more than 20% of the increase. To form a bush, pinch the tops to make it grow more magnificent.

Fertilizers

Organic fertilizers can be used as fertilizers, especially if the soil on which the juniper grows is infertile. To do this, mix peat, sod land and humus in equal proportions. The mixture can feed bushes throughout the season.

As organics, mulch or compost is good. They can be prepared independently from the remains of vegetation, sawdust, hay, humus.

Important! You can not use mullein and chicken droppings for feeding. This organics negatively affects the juniper roots, causing burns.

You can use manure in the spring as a source of nitrogen fertilizer to build green mass. Coniferous crops are wonderful for feeding on the basis of vermicompost. For a better intake, organics are recommended to be diluted with water.

Mineral fertilizers are also well suited for top dressing. In the spring, nitroammophoska is used as a source of nitrogen. About 1 g takes 1 bush.

In the autumn period there is often a shortage of magnesium, which can be seen by the yellowing of the needles. In this case, food is introduced before the cold period. For juniper it is good to use special complex fertilizers.

Did you know? Juniper Cossack can be used for medicinal purposes, but only as an external remedy. With its help, warts are removed, they struggle with baldness, lichen and other skin diseases.

In garden shops, you can buy ready-made mixes for conifers:

1. "Needle". This mixture is used in the spring (10 g per 10 l).
2. Kemira. Great for planting seedlings and feeding bushes throughout the growing season (60 g per 1 specimen).
3. "Fertile fertilizer". Due to its high nitrogen content, it is suitable for top dressing from early spring to mid-summer (30 g per 10 l).
4. Green Needle. Contains magnesium and sulfur. It helps with yellowing needles (50 g per 1 bush).

The use of these fertilizers allows you to maintain a beautiful aesthetic appearance of juniper.

Use in landscape design

Junipers Cossack Mas designers prefer to use in large areas. This fast-growing evergreen conifer perfectly covers unsightly and inaccessible places and slopes for other plants. They are draped with high foundations and large flowerbeds, samples of small architecture.

Did you know? For 24 hours, 1 ha of juniper planting releases 30 kg of phytoncides. This amount is enough to cleanse the air of a big city from harmful microorganisms.

It looks great among stone boulders, can be used on large alpine slides and in a rocky garden to create tiers. His needles look good against a background of mown green lawn, stone chips, mosses and lichens. It will be appropriate in combination with heathers.

This juniper variety looks good in single and group plantings. From it you can grow a wide border or undergrowth in large park areas. It looks great in the foreground in landscape compositions with other conifers.

Creeping bushes can create a good backdrop for trees with high-looking crowns. The needles of this plant emit volatile disinfectants. Its landing will be appropriate in the design of recreation areas.

Juniper Cossack grows slowly and forms a large creeping bush. This unpretentious evergreen can participate in various design decisions. In the first year, young seedlings need to be given more attention.