Western thuja. Seeds.

Western thuja. Seeds.

This is an evergreen tree of the cypress family, reaching up to 20 m in height in the North. It can be seen growing near estates, parks, cemeteries, but the tree of life cannot be considered a local species.

This ancient thuja was brought from the Atlantic coast of North America in the 18th century.

The main species is characterized by a conical crown, dark green scaly needles, tightly adjacent to the shoot, light brown cones with 8-10 long cone-shaped scales. In young plants, the bark is smooth, in old ones - cracked, pinkish-brown-gray.

Health: Properly dried young shoots contain about 1% of essential oil, the main ingredient of which is the toxic compound thujone, thujol, such as flavonoids, resins, mucus, tannins.

In homeopathy, thuja preparations are used to treat headaches, cystitis and warts. In folk medicine, it is used externally, making infusions.

One tablespoon of freshly crushed wasp is poured with 300 ml of boiling water, left to brew for 20-30 minutes, drained and used to remove warts and strengthen hair roots.

Thuja extract is rubbed onto the skin to relieve joint, muscle and rheumatic pain, as well as to get rid of warts. It is prepared from crushed thuja shoots, poured with 60-70% vodka (1:5-10) and kept in a warm, dark place for 10-14 days, then filtered.

Sowing: Thuja seeds are quite easy to germinate and grow. The seeds are best sown in March. Then by the end of summer the seedlings will have gained strength and will be able to successfully overwinter;

First, soak the collected seeds in water for 24 hours.

Drain the water, dry the seeds on a napkin, mix with wet sand, put in a plastic bag and close the end. Place the bag in the refrigerator at 4°C. It is important that the seeds do not dry out, so check them from time to time (keep them in a moderate state).

After about eight weeks, the seeds can be sown. It may happen that they begin to germinate earlier, before the end of the stratification period. In this case, sow immediately.

Pour acidic peat (pH 3.5) into a pot or box, place the seeds on top, then cover with a layer of substrate a few millimeters thick. During germination, keep the seeds at room temperature and slightly damp. The seeds germinate in 2-3 weeks.

If there is a lot of space in the room, it is better to take many pots and sow the seeds in them as rarely as possible. Then the small seedlings will not need to be pricked out and they will get stronger faster. If this is not possible, you can sow in a box and after germination, transplant the plants into pots.

Seeds in a package of 20 pcs.