Table of contents
- Characteristics
- Location, soil, habit
- The blossom
- Plant Nobilis fir
- Care work (in the growth phase)
- Cut
- species and varieties
The Nobilis fir is the noble No. 2 among the 23 million trees grown and felled for just one year "German Christmas". You can also put the beautiful noble fir in your garden and decorate it as a Christmas tree every year - 50 times over more environmentally friendly variant if you use the Nobilis fir as a Christmas tree for the next half century... the noble fir has in the garden but also to offer some surprises during the rest of the year, and the culture will not cause you any problems with the following care instructions prepare:
Characteristics
- The Nobilis fir is also known as the Pacific noble fir
- It is the "real" noble fir, but be careful when buying: the local silver fir is also colloquially called noble fir
- The Nobilis fir comes from the USA, where it grows in the coastal regions of the Pacific
- The botanical name is Abies procera, sometimes the old name "Abies nobilis" is still used
- Systematics: genus firs (Abies), family pine family (Pinaceae), order conifers (Coniferales)
- Growth character: Upright, but uneven, conical silhouette
- Needles: Soft and rounded (not prickly) needles; green color with blue-green tinges
- Site requirements: Good soil, semi-shade to sun, does not tolerate waterlogging
Location, soil, habit
The Nobilis fir comes from the Pacific Northwest of the USA, where it grows in and on coastal mountains/Cascade Range at altitudes between approx. 700 and 2000 meters grows. Mostly in mixed forests together with Douglas fir, purple fir and hemlock, sometimes as Pure stand, in good humid soil, not particularly polluted and rather humid air blows around.
She would also like to get a location that is as similar as possible in the garden, whereby initially the later space requirement determines the choice of location:
Free-growing Nobilis firs reach the highest growth heights of all firs, more than 80 meters are not uncommon. The trunk diameter in old age exceeds 2 meters, in width the fir can take up to 10 meters. The Abies procera also reaches the highest age of all fir species, it can survive a proud 800 years.
It can be assumed that you will be sold a cultivar for the garden that will not grow 5 to 10 times as tall as your house in the foreseeable future (or ever). But the Nobilis fir from the German tree nursery also grows up to 30 m high, and the maximum growth width is said to be 7 m; the noble fir clearly towers over normal single-family houses in old age and may take up 50 square meters of garden space. However, if you plant a normal sapling of a maximum of 30 cm, it needs a Growth rate of 5 - 10 cm per year alone one to two decades, until they are up to you waist goes; possible problems with excessive height and width get generations born in the distant future.
In nature, young trees grow in the shade and are sheltered from the wind and should also have a partially shaded, do not get a location exposed to strong winds, fully grown Abies procera should also have full sun tolerate. If there is a tree in your garden that you can foresee starting to decompose in the next few years, a sheltered location for the small fir would be ideal in terms of lighting. The location should otherwise be cool rather than too snug, water that increases humidity is welcome to be nearby.
In terms of soil, the Nobilis fir is not particularly demanding, but it should be real garden soil with humus and soil life. On sandy areas with nourishing chemistry, the Nobilis fir will not necessarily be happy, especially not when was applied these decades without analysis and calculation according to feeling and therefore burdened plants rather than nourishes.
The soil can be slightly more acidic, the noble fir tolerates lime in the soil only moderately and avoids it in natural locations. Apart from that, the soil can be sandy and gravelly to loamy, i.e. rather nutrient-poor if it is permeable enough to prevent stagnant moisture and the fir a little hummus finds. The root first develops shallowly (and is vulnerable to windthrow) and then forms a central root system, the soil does not have to be exceptionally deep for this.
The growth habit of the Nobilis firs shows a lot of character: the trunk is straight up to the crown, the main branches are horizontal outgoing to slightly curved upwards, but above all irregularly arranged and irregular, strong, short branches training. This brings life to the entire cone-shaped to pyramid-shaped structure, the Nobilis fir looks "a bit more natural" than a super neat Nordmann fir that grows layer by layer.
The blossom
and other talents that could make the difference in choosing this particular type of fir:
- Fir trees flower with cone flowers, male flowers are reddish, female flowers are small, yellowish to light red
- Usually rather inconspicuous rarely in the garden (silver firs bloom from the age of 30)
- Different with Abies procera: cultivars flower from as early as the 7th month. year, in the garden soon after planting
- And the flower that appears in mid-April to early May is really striking: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File: Male_Cones_of_Noble_Fir. JPG
- The cones that emerge from the flowers are up to 25 cm long and 8 cm thick, the largest cones of all firs
- Another special feature of the noble fir are the resin pockets (small bumps) on the trunk
- These are nothing but small canned Christmas scents that spread an intense smell when pricked
- It should then smell like a Christmas tree: fir green, but also orange and a little gingerbread
Tip:
If you enjoy creating floral works of art, the material provided by the Nobilis Fir would all alone be a sufficient reason to plant it in the garden. The fir green lasts longer than most other firs, flower cones and fruit cones are highly decorative and so unique that your circle of friends will notice them.
Plant Nobilis fir
The Nobilis fir can be planted in spring or autumn. When she's just starting to grow in spring, the roots do the rooting effortlessly on the side; after the autumn planting, the hibernation follows, in which the fir can concentrate fully on rooting in the new location. Neither of the two times is preferable, the Nobilis fir is completely uncritically hardy here and therefore does not need any lead time before winter.
Elrond, Female cones of European silver fir (Abies procera) 02, edited by Hausgarten, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Dig a spacious planting pit in which even the finest fine root can be bedded without bending, insert the fir and water it well. Whether a watering edge should be piled up around the planting hole so that rain and possibly Running irrigation water to the roots depends on the location: in a location that is a little too dry for the noble fir, definitely, in one rather too In a humid location, on the contrary, it would be more appropriate to design a slight downward slope towards the environment, so too much water drains.
If the weather is very dry for a long time during the growth of the noble fir, you should also water the fir so that rooting is not disturbed.
Care work (in the growth phase)
In the first 4 to 5 years, the Nobilis fir grows rather slowly, which makes the maintenance work manageable:
The root area should not be completely overgrown by weeds, as they "eat and drink" with them and take away light and oxygen from the young fir.
At a location with normal nutrient-rich soil, Nobilis firs do not need additional fertilization. In symbiosis with mycorrhiza fungi, they develop such an extensive network of roots that they can get by with the surrounding soil nutrients.
The Nobilis fir certainly has nothing against spreading a little ripe compost, stable manure, organic fertilizer in spring; Otherwise, you only have to take action when an inadequate supply situation becomes noticeable in the wrong colouring/dryness of the needles.
Then a possible need for fertilizer should really be determined by soil analysis: Because conifers in German Garden soils rarely suffer from an overall nutrient deficiency, it could be a nutrient imbalance act. The main nutrients nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, calcium and magnesium can be present in the wrong ratio, one or more of the most important trace elements may be missing (sulphur, iron, boron and manganese), but maybe the "slightly acidic soil" is in fact far too acidic and needs to be limed (pH for firs should be between 5 and 6 lay). Since wrong coloring of the needles can also result from sunburn, frost, lack of light or drought, maybe nothing is missing, so a sensible fertilizer concept can only be created after soil analysis become.
In the budding phase, the noble fir feeds primarily on stored nutrients, so fertilization is then at the earliest at the beginning of May and possibly again at the beginning of July.
In spring and early summer you should check the young plant once for pest infestation (and remove any pests if necessary). curb), then you have done everything to get the Nobilis fir to make ends meet.
This simple care concept basically also applies to an adult Nobilis fir, only that it needs less and less attention up to old age; You will not experience old age, which again requires intensive care, with a tree with a life expectancy of up to 800 years.
In terms of overwintering, the Nobilis fir is unproblematic: It is very frost hardy, and due to the very late budding, late frost damage never occurs in normal weather.
Cut
If you plant the noble fir right after the wedding and/or the construction of your own home at a young age (applies to you, who are very slow-growing fir may well have a few years "under its belt"), you can foresee that you are dealing with the tree for a few decades have. If in this case it is also foreseeable that the Nobilis fir is threatening to swallow up the house optically around the time you are about to experience a mid-life crisis - you can now (or soon, depending on the age of the noble fir tree when planting) ensure that the fir tree will never "outgrow" your house:
- Fir trees (and many other conifers) form a centered spike as they grow
- This so-called terminal drive is genetically programmed for growth
- Overall, fir trees grow mainly in the upper area, to the side and upwards
- This growth can be regulated, which happens mainly in the production of Christmas trees
- In this way, top growth is inhibited by interrupting the sap flow of the terminal shoot to a calculated extent
- Professionals achieve this by treating the terminal drive with what is known as "top-stop forceps".
- A bit much for the one-off treatment of a fir tree, a rental device would make more sense here
- The alternative would be to make multiple cuts in the leader with a sharp knife
- Too many/too deep cuts interrupt the flow of sap completely, the terminal shoot dies
- The tree also if there are more branches in the top area (e.g. B. by game browsing) are repeatedly damaged
- If it survives, it grows very bushy and develops several tops of side shoots that take over the function of the terminal shoot
- The side shoots also have their own genetic program: every year a new shoot appears on the very outside
- They are regulated in growth by shortening the outermost shoots (manual pinching).
- The fir is pruned all around like a fruit tree
- This so-called topiary inhibits the side growth of the tree and thus leads to a narrower tree
- Again, you need to proceed with a fair degree of caution
- Trimming should only be done on the fresh green
- Most conifers are very tricky when it comes to pruning into old wood
- If you cut too deep, it can also happen with the noble fir that it no longer sprout from the old wood
- Terminal shortening and shape cutting work will begin on April 6th. year scheduled
Tip:
Just as there are two noble firs, the silver fir and the nobilis fir, there are also two blue firs: the blue varieties of the holly spruce, Picea pungens, are used regardless of the It is colloquially called blue fir from its botanical affiliation, and the silver fir Abies procera 'Glauca', commonly planted in parks, is also known as blue fir.
species and varieties
Nobilis fir is Nobilis fir, there are no special cultivated varieties of the archetypal noble fir. Just a set of dwarf varieties, 'Blaue Hexe', 'Glauca', 'Glauca Prostrata', 'Noble's Dwarf', 'Procumbens' and 'Wiesmoornixe'. Often with blue needles, sometimes with a "creatively crooked" growing leader, sometimes with a leader that crawls along the ground and/or shortened stubs.
However, these cultivars are not real Nobilis firs, but rather dwarf trees selected for their bizarre growth. B. planted as original focal points in rock gardens. If you just want to plant a nice, regular fir tree, be careful when shopping: the ones that are popular in public parks Dwarf varieties have recently been increasingly sold to private gardeners, but remain quite small (final height mostly around 8 meters, after for a very long time) and with their irregular, squat growth they do not even remotely come close to the noble archetype of the Nobilis fir approach.
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