How to plant Ulmus pumila cherry blossom bonsai
The editor introduces to you how to plant Ulmus pumila cherry blossom bonsai and the related knowledge of cultivation and management of Ulmus pumila, please correct me if there are any mistakes!
Ulmus pumila is a shrub of the Rosaceae cherry family, 2-3 meters high; also known as Ulmei, Small cherry red, Ulmus pumila Wing etc. It is named because its leaves resemble Ulmus leaves and its flowers look like plum blossoms. Ulmus pumila has dense branches and leaves, and its flowers are colorful and beautiful, suitable for cultivation in park lawns, roadsides, or corners of gardens, pondsides, etc. It has high ornamental value and can also be used as a potted plant or cut flower. Ulmus pumila is the main flowering wood for spring viewing in the northern regions, and like peach, it blooms before the leaves and the flowers are dense on the branches.
Ulmus pumila is native to North and Northeast China, loves light, slightly shade-tolerant, cold-resistant, and can survive at -35℃. It is not strict about soil requirements, with neutral to slightly alkaline and fertile soil being the best. It has a developed root system and strong drought resistance. It is not tolerant to waterlogging and has strong disease resistance. It grows on slopes or beside ravines at low to medium altitudes under forests or forest edges.
The leaves on short branches of Ulmus pumila are usually tufted, and the leaves on one-year-old branches are alternate; the leaves are broadly elliptical to obovate, 2-6 cm long, 1.5-3 (4) cm wide, with short acuminate tips, often 3-lobed, with a broad cuneate base, upper surface sparsely pubescent or hairless, lower surface covered with short pubescence, leaf edges have coarse or double serration; petioles are 5-10 mm long, covered with short pubescence. Flowers are 1-2, opening before the leaves, 2-3 cm in diameter; pedicels are 4-8 mm long; calyx tubes are broadly campanulate, 3-5 mm long, hairless or slightly pubescent when young; sepals are ovate or ovate-lanceolate, hairless, with sparse small serrations near the apex; petals are nearly circular or broadly obovate, 6-10 mm long, with rounded or slightly notched apices, pink; there are about 25-30 stamens, shorter than the petals; the ovary is densely pubescent, the style is slightly longer than the stamens.
I. Propagation methods of Ulmus pumila: The propagation methods of Ulmus pumila include seed propagation and grafting. Since seed propagation cannot maintain the original characteristics of the variety and some may revert to single-petal flowers, reducing ornamental value, grafting is a better method. The rootstock for grafting uses single-petal Ulmus pumila, mountain peach, or hairy peach seedlings. The rootstock usually needs to be cultivated for more than two years, with a base diameter of about 1.5 cm, and the stock should be cut off in advance, retaining a tree stump 5 to 7 cm above the ground surface. Bud grafting is done from late August to mid-September, and branch grafting is done in mid-to-late March of the following spring. Branch-grafted plants can bloom the next year, and summer bud-grafted plants can bloom in the third year, while seed propagation takes three years to fully bloom.
II. Cultivation and Management: Ulmus pumila prefers a cool climate, is cold-resistant, drought-resistant, and thin-soil-tolerant, and is not strict about soil requirements. It grows well in deep, fertile, loose sandy loam and slightly acidic soil rich in humus. The cultivation and management of Ulmus pumila are relatively relaxed, just pay attention to pruning the rootstock suckers, updating branches after flowering, cutting off the flowering branches to promote the growth of new branches, because the flower buds of Ulmus pumila are all on new branches, old branches that are not updated have weak growth, few and thin flower buds, and fewer flowers in the second year. After pruning, appropriate fertilization and watering should be done to promote the healthy growth of new branches. Fertilize once before winter and during the flower bud differentiation period from June to September. In early spring, after flowering and leafing, Ulmus pumila has consumed a lot of nutrients, and top dressing at this time is very beneficial for the post-flowering growth of the plant, making it grow vigorously with abundant branches and leaves. From June to September, it is the period of flower bud differentiation, and some phosphorus and potassium fertilizers should be applied.
In summer, Ulmus pumila is prone to leaf-eating pests such as刺蛾 (Spiny caterpillar), 舟形毛虫 (Boat-shaped caterpillar), 饺子虫 (Dumpling caterpillar) and aphid damage to new shoots. These can be controlled by spraying with 1500 times the concentration of carbaryl or 1% tobacco water.
The above () introduces how to plant Ulmus pumila cherry blossom bonsai and the specific introduction of the cultivation and management of Ulmus pumila, hoping that everyone will like it!