Rowan intermediate

Rowan Intermediate sorbus intermedia, as well as its names such as Swedish or Scandinavian, is a real decoration for any place. In the spring, during the flowering period, you cannot take your eyes off the white inflorescences, in the summer you admire the rich green leaves, in the fall you are amazed by the red-orange outfit, and in the winter you admire the scarlet bunches of berries. The Swedish mountain ash grows remarkably and is combined in a group with both deciduous trees and conifers. This variety of mountain ash is unpretentious in care and weather conditions, it is not difficult to grow it, you just have to follow a number of recommendations. This article tells in detail about the intermediate rowan, the main characteristics, description, advantages and disadvantages, how to plant it correctly, how to care for and propagate it. The issue of diseases and pests is also touched upon.

Rowan Intermediate: description of the variety and characteristics

Rowan Intermediate: photo

This variety is called Scandinavian for a reason, since the tree grows in Scandinavia and Europe. Outwardly, mountain ash resembles either a tree, whose height is 15 meters, or a bush. The trunk of the Scandinavian is smooth, gray.

The plant has an oval or pyramid-shaped crown, it depends on the age of the mountain ash - in the young it is narrower - pyramidal, and in the adult it is spreading, and can grow up to 5 meters in diameter. A young plant has shoots with a kind of "pubescence", after which, with age, they become naked.

The foliage of the Scandinavian mountain ash Intermediate is large, pinnate, outwardly similar to the foliage of an oak, the bottom leaves are pinnate-tomentose. In the spring-summer season, rowan leaves are green, but in autumn the foliage color becomes saturated red.

Rowan inflorescences are white, the shape of which resembles thick shields. "Intermediate" blooms since June.

The flesh of the berries of the Swedish mountain ash is sweet and sour. I would like to note that the fruits are not bitter, which cannot be said about most other varieties. Gardeners highly value the fruits of the intermediate for its taste characteristics; they make gorgeous jams, and they also boil compotes or freeze them. Bunches of berries are kept on tree branches until winter. "Intermediate" blooms, and therefore bears fruit every year.

Rowan Intermediate: the pros and cons of the variety

Rowan Intermediate: photo of a tree

For any variety, gardeners will always highlight their pros and cons, including the Intermediate rowan. What are the advantages of this variety:

• unpretentious in care;
• resistant to frost and drought;
• even tolerates environmentally unfavorable conditions - gas pollution, smog;
• is actively growing;
• decorativeness of the plant;
• rowan fruits with medicinal properties;
• delicious berries that are used to prepare blanks;
• resistance to various diseases.

There are a few disadvantages, but they are:

• mountain ash Scandinavian Intermediate does not tolerate shading;
• grows and develops with difficulty on land where there is a high occurrence of groundwater;
• reacts negatively to saline soils.

Rowan intermediate: landing

Tree propagation occurs by layering, root shoots. The plant does not require any special care, you just need to water it regularly and abundantly. The place for mountain ash should be light, the composition of the soil does not really matter, but it should be borne in mind that Intermediate prefers drained loams to light, slightly moist soil with the addition of lime.Each year, mountain ash grows 40 centimeters high and 30 cm wide. In order for Intermediate to grow and develop faster, it needs to be fed with special fertilizers in the third year.

Preparation of a site for mountain ash

Rowan Scandinavian Intermediate is a fairly tall tree, with a chic crumbling crown in the adult period. Pay attention to the fact that in your garden it will shade other plants. It follows that the best place for planting mountain ash will be the outskirts of the site, or even outside of it. A crop can grow in one place for about 120 years, so think carefully about the place before planting.

Rowan Intermediate is not picky about the conditions in which it grows, but at the same time it feels better on fertile, moist soils.

Landing rules

Rowan Intermediate: photo

Planting material of intermediate rowan is planted, as a rule, either in the autumn season (this is done a couple of weeks before the onset of frost) or in early spring (before the process of bud swelling has begun).

A hole is pre-dug about 80 cm deep - in general, the size of the hole depends entirely on the size of the root system. The width of the pit is at least one meter, since with growth, the roots of the tree grow along the top layer of the soil, in which there are many useful microelements. The walls of the pit should be steep, at the bottom the pit is loosened by 15 cm, after which the drainage is laid.

Standard rules for planting Swedish rowan Intermediate:

• despite the fact that the plant is self-fertile, it is recommended to purchase several varieties at once for a more fruitful harvest;
• dig holes for plants, keeping a distance of 8 meters from each other;
• a useful mixture of fertile soil, ash, superphosphate, a bucket of 3-year-old manure is poured into the prepared pit;
• further, the plant is placed in a central position in the hole, the roots should not bend and cut into the walls of the hole;
• long roots cut off a little;
• the root collar should be above ground level
• the pit is sprinkled with earth, then watered abundantly;
• make a peg;
• in order for moisture to linger, a landing tubercle is made;
• then the trunk circle is covered with a layer of mulch, which will protect the root system from frost, and in the warm season, it will not allow moisture to quickly evaporate, and also prevent the growth and development of weeds.

Rowan intermediate: care

After planting a tree, a simple agrotechnical care is needed for it, which will allow the mountain ash to grow, develop, and bear fruit faster.

How to water rowan

A young plant must be provided with regular, abundant watering, paying special attention to during heat and drought.

Mulching allows you to keep moisture near the plant, so in order to water the mountain ash less often, in order to retain moisture, use mulch (sawdust, straw, coconut fiber, and others).

Top dressing

It is worth feeding the Swedish mountain ash no earlier than 3 years after planting.

In the spring, before the flowering period, a combination of nitrogen fertilizers (15 grams), potassium salt (15 grams) and phosphorus fertilizers (25 grams) is used as top dressing - this mixture is designed for one square meter of the trunk circle.

In the fall, after the harvest is harvested, phosphorus and potash mixture is used. It is necessary to use 10 grams of each fertilizer per 1 square meter of the plot.

Fertilizers are applied to the trunk ring, after which the place must be dug to a depth of 15 centimeters, and then the soil is watered abundantly.

Pruning

Rowan Intermediate: photo of a tree

The intermediate Swedish rowan, like any other crop, must be cut strictly following the rules so as not to damage the plant, but, on the contrary, to contribute to generous fruiting and the prevention of diseases.

In summer, the plant survives pruning more easily than in spring. It is recommended to carry out the procedure on a clear, dry day, so as not to introduce fungal infection into the cut off places.Each cut is necessarily processed with garden varnish or any other putty for trees.

In the Scandinavian mountain ash Intermediate, the lower branches are cut around half a meter from the ground, the branches of the skeletal type are reduced. The conductor is cut so that its length is 25 centimeters longer than the skeletal one. Thus, the formative pruning of the crown is carried out, and the process of growth of new shoots is also started.

It is not advisable to prune in the fall, since the tree is preparing for the winter period, and the pruning procedure is stress for the mountain ash, which will lead to its weakening.

Experienced gardeners suggest pruning in February as an option. This method is only suitable for trees over three years old, which have already developed frost resistance. In the process, weak, deformed, broken branches are cut, as well as those that are knocked out of the shape of the top of the tree. The shortening is done to the level of the outermost kidney. It is also recommended to thin out thickened branches, plus a tree that has poor growth, to carry out a rejuvenating cut.

In addition, the plant develops a large root growth - it must be dealt with in a timely manner. For prevention, it is necessary to regularly loosen the soil in the near-trunk circle, the depth of loosening is at least 5 centimeters.

Preparing mountain ash for winter

As noted earlier, the Swedish mountain ash is a frost-resistant plant, therefore, it does not need some preparation for the winter season.

The exception is young plants planted in the fall, which did not have time to get stronger. To do this, the roots are spud, a 20-centimeter mound is made, then the trunk ring is insulated with leaves, spruce, sawdust.

For plants over three years old, a simple preparation consists of harvesting dry foliage (both fallen and the one that remained on the branches), insects are removed along with the foliage.

Pollination

Swedish mountain ash Intermediate is a triple hybrid obtained from the following varieties:

• mountain ash;
• mountain ash glogovina;
• round-leaved mountain ash.

Most of all, the plant is found in Sweden, Norway, Germany, as well as in Poland, Finland, Denmark.

The Swedish mountain ash does not need pollination, it spreads by means of birds that eat berries and carry the seeds of the fruit.

Rowan Intermediate harvest

Rowan Intermediate: photo

The harvest of the intermediate rowan is rich red berries growing in clusters, semicircular in shape, the diameter of each berry is about 1 cm, and the weight is about 1 gram. As mentioned earlier, this variety does not have the usual bitterness for ordinary riffra. The berries of the Swedish mountain ash are sweet and sour, which ripen in early autumn, and stay on the tree for a long time. You can pick berries already starting in September, as well as after frosts - the main thing is to have time before the birds have eaten them.

The harvest is widely used in cooking - jam is made from berries, compotes are boiled, they are also used in the preparation of jelly, sweets and much more.

The fruits of mountain ash are widely used in folk medicine. The berry has excellent properties: anti-inflammatory, diuretic, astringent and other properties.

Rowan intermediate diseases and pests

The rowan variety "Intermediate" has good resistance to sores and attacks of harmful insects. But nevertheless, in some years, damage by diseases and pests was noticed.

Common ailments include: rust, scab, powdery mildew, cancer, wood rot, septoria, rabbit, phomosis.

Common insect pests found on mountain ash trees include caterpillars, ticks, aphids, sawflies, gall midges.

To fight diseases, as well as harmful insects, it is recommended to purchase specialized chemicals, as well as to use folk remedies.

Rowan intermediate: reproduction

Most often, the Scandinavian mountain ash is propagated by the following methods:

• Layers;
• With the help of root shoots.

When propagating a plant by the layering method, you must adhere to the following scheme:

• to begin with, the site is being prepared: the soil is dug up and the weed is removed;
• then a ditch is dug;
• then a long shoot of the plant is taken;
• the shoot bends down to the ground and is fixed with brackets;
• as soon as the first shoots appeared, they must be half-sprinkled with humus;
• one year later, the cuttings are separated from the parent tree, after which they are transplanted onto a permanent basis.

The most affordable and easiest way is to reproduce with the help of root shoots, which regularly form at the trunk of the tree. In this case, the shoots must be dug up (this must be done very carefully so as not to damage the very base of the tree), after which it is transplanted to a permanent place, while all planting rules must be followed.

Conclusion

Rowan Intermediate is a gorgeous plant that will be an incredible decoration for any site. The plant plays not only an amazing decorative role, but also its fruits are widely used both in cooking and in folk medicine. This variety is not afraid of frost and drought, it is unpretentious in care, and it is also not difficult to plant it - this means that even the most inexperienced gardener can grow a plant.