Although Little Jam (Picea abies Little Gem) belongs to the species of ordinary spruce, the appearance of this tree is truly unusual: it looks more like a large green hedgehog than a dwarf spruce, having a spherical shape. The indicated tree today occupies an honorable place among the evergreens used in landscape design. Read more about eating Little Jam later in the article.
History and description of the variety
According to experts, this spruce variety arose by chance, mutating in a natural way from the dwarf spruce Nidiformis, which had been bred earlier by German breeders. This event took place in the middle of the last century in one of the Dutch nurseries. Specialists appreciated the original appearance of the new variety, which appeared naturally, and made efforts to consolidate its valuable qualities.
Currently, Little Jam is a clear antipode of the classic spruce, reaching a height of 30 m (sometimes up to 50 m), rising above the ground no higher than 0.5 m (an average of 0.35 m). The crown of the plant is round or pillow-shaped, reaching a maximum diameter of 1 m.
Important! Spruce Little Jam is distinguished, among other things, by the fact that it never has the usual fir cones.
Dwarf spruce grows extremely slowly, adding no more than 2 cm in growth each year. At the same time, the young needles are painted in a bright green color, and last year’s needles, not exceeding half a centimeter in length, have a dark green color and are very densely located on the branches.
In landscape design
The miniature size of this spruce suggests its active use as a container plant. It looks great in flowerpots decorating balconies, open loggias, terraces, front doors to buildings. Often this spruce is used for growing using the bonsai technique. Judging by the descriptions, they are actively using it to create rocky, heather corners and oriental-style sections in gardens. This tree looks great in rockeries, rock gardens and rose gardens, favorably shading flowering plants.
Landing
Propagated spruce Little Jam mainly by cuttings. At the same time, it retains all the valuable qualities of the mother plant. Saplings obtained in this way are affordable and widely represented in a specialized trading network. Then plant them in open ground is not difficult.
Video: how to plant a spruce
Seedling Selection
For a successful planting, it is best to purchase a seedling with a closed root system directly in the container. Such a plant is already provided with all the necessary fertilizers for a long period. It can be planted in open ground from early March to late November. In this case, the seedling should be completely green, without interspersing yellow needles and dry branches.
Site preparation
For this spruce variety, a well-lit area is preferred. And although he tolerates partial shade well, it is desirable to provide several hours of sunlight per day. In addition, the garden should be protected from the wind, since the root system of the spruce is located close to the surface of the earth and may not keep it under strong wind pressure.
The plant in question prefers loamy and sandy loamy soils, low acidity or neutral, loose and fertile. If the soil is excessively dense, then when planting it is necessary to create a sand or expanded clay layer in the pit up to 20 mm thick. To create the best conditions for tree growth, it is recommended to make a soil mixture from equal parts of garden and forest soil with the addition of peat and sand to it in the amount of one third of the total volume.
Important! Like all conifers, Little Jam does not tolerate moisture stagnation in the root system. For this reason, for planting, you should choose areas with a deep occurrence of groundwater.
Step-by-step instruction
Spruce is planted in open ground as follows:
- Dig holes corresponding to the size of the root system of seedlings. As a rule, the depth of the holes is between 0.5–0.7 m, and the distance between them should be at least 2 m.
- If a fertile soil mixture is being prepared, then small mounds are created from its part in the center of the holes.
- Seedlings are placed on the knoll, and their root system is spread down along these earthen elevations.
- Then the roots are covered with a mixture so that the root necks are located at ground level.
- After that, each seedling is watered with 2-3 buckets of water.
- To prevent moisture from evaporating quickly, it is useful to mulch the peri-stem circle with crushed peat, dry humus or sawdust.
Care
Being an unpretentious plant, Little Jem spruce does not require that it be painstakingly looked after. But still, certain points in the cultivation of this culture make us focus on them.
Moisturizing
When watering this spruce crop, it is imperative to maintain water balance. Spruce is intolerant of the slightest manifestations of drought, so in hot and rainy weather it should be watered at least 1 time per week, using at least 1 bucket of water each time.
Did you know? Most of the paper produced in the world is made of spruce.
In the evenings, it is useful to irrigate the crown. However, as already mentioned, this coniferous tree does not tolerate stagnation of water in the root system. Excess moisture provokes damage to the tree with fungal infections.
Pruning
During the first 10 years of its growth, Little Jam keeps its rounded shape well and practically does not need to be trimmed. Then the spruce branches begin to grow more unevenly, and in order to maintain a symmetrical shape, the crown has to be corrected by trimming the branches that are too elongated. Such an operation is best performed in late spring or early summer, when sap flow becomes less active.
Did you know? For unknown reasons, in the summer in the heat in the fir tree it is noticeably cooler than outside, and in winter - on the contrary, warmer.
In the spring, they also carry out sanitary trimming of the crown, during which dried and damaged branches are removed. When creating a live border with the help of this spruce tree, the plant is sheared more intensively to give it the desired shape. Usually, this spruce tolerates pruning well.
Video: cutting a ball in the shape of a ball
Winter preparations
Since the adult plant of the spruce variety under discussion is capable of withstand frosts down to –40 ° С; it does not require shelter for the winter. However, this does not apply to young trees that need shelter for the winter. Otherwise, yellow spots may be observed in their crown in spring, indicating local frostbite. In addition, young spruce trees need support for the crown to prevent breaking of fragile branches under the weight of snow.
The dwarf spruce Little Jam for its relatively short existence has firmly won its niche in the landscape design of garden and garden plots. At the same time, the considered culture is unpretentious and does not require excessive efforts to care for itself.
