Thuja or arborvitae can be grown yourself if you already maintain a arborvitae hedge. But you need a lot of patience until the seeds or cuttings grow into larger plants. Not every offshoot will sprout either. This is how you grow Thuja yourself.
How can you grow a thuja yourself?
To grow a thuja yourself, you can either sow seeds from the mother plant or take cuttings from it. The best time for propagation is mid-summer. Cuttings root quickly in a sand-soil mixture, while seeds germinate cold and take longer to germinate.
Grow Thuja yourself – methods of propagation
You can grow Thuja yourself in two ways: either you sow seeds that you have removed from the mother plant, or you take a few cuttings from it.
If you want to grow offshoots with exactly the same properties as the mother plant, your only option is to propagate using cuttings. With seeds there is always the risk that fertilization has occurred by a Thuja species with different characteristics.
The best time to propagate thuja
The best time for growing Thuja cuttings is mid-summer. Then the shoots stand well in the juice and root quickly.
However, storing the cuttings afterwards is a problem because it is usually very warm now. To prevent the offshoots from drying out, either grow them in a small indoor greenhouse (€12.00 on Amazon) or put a transparent plastic cover over them.
Growing a tree of life from cuttings
- Harvesting cracklings in summer
- Treat cutting end with rooting powder
- stick in sand/soil mixture
- cover with foil
- or use a small greenhouse
- keep moist
Do not cut the cuttings with a knife or scissors, but tear them off so that a small piece of bark remains on the cutting. These so-called cracklings root more quickly.
Keep the cuttings in a place that is around 20 degrees warm and has enough light. Make sure that the soil does not dry out, but also that it does not become too moist.
The new growth shows that roots have formed. You can then transplant the cutting to the desired location.
Sowing thuja is a long process
Sowing thuja is the more tedious way to grow new plants for the hedge or garden.
Harvest the seeds in autumn and sow them in moist soil as soon as possible. Keep it cool, because the tree of life is a cold germinator.
Tip
When you harvest the seeds from the tree of life, be sure to wear gloves. Thuja is poisonous, in all parts of the plant.
