There are more than 40 species of the elm family, and the Russian name "elm" was given to these trees for flexibility: baskets, rims and sledges were knitted from their bast. Other names of the plant: elm, elm, birch bark. The geographical distribution range of elms is quite wide: its species grow in parts of North America, Europe, the Caucasus, Asia, and in areas with a temperate and warm climate.
General description
Elms appeared on the earth millions of years ago, they can be attributed to relict tree species. On the ground, they are more often found in mixed and broad-leaved forests, they can grow solitary. They love fertile and alkaline soils, tolerate a lack of sunlight and are capable of creating a dense shadow thanks to a dense crown.
Young elms have a light brown smooth bark, with age it darkens and becomes covered with deep longitudinal grooves, becoming coarse and thick. Adult trees of many varieties look mightier, grow up to 40 m in length, and the trunks of individual specimens reach a diameter of 2 m. There are also shrub species. The roots of trees sprout to great depths, in podzolic soils branch widely. The leaves of the elm are very beautiful: rough or smooth, from 4 to 20 cm in size, saturated bright or dark green in color, tridentate, pointed to the edges or oval, drawn with relief strips from the center to the sides, arranged alternately, almost closely on short cuttings. On the branches they form a kind of lace due to the relief pattern. The shadow given by the spreading wide elm crowns hardly shines through the sun. The leaves fade very early, acquiring a red-brown color and falling in early autumn.
Elm tree blossoms and bears fruit in April, even before the appearance of foliage. Its dioecious flowers, inconspicuous, are collected in small yellowish bunches. The fruits are small nuts surrounded by lionfish. On trees, they ripen already with the first onset of heat - in May. Carried by the wind around the area, the fruits fall into the soil and sprout for several days.
Due to the clumsy furrow bark, elms very often become the target of damage by insect pests or fungus.
Types of Elm
About 10 varieties of elm grow in Russia. Almost all of them are long-livers - they can reach the age of up to 250-300 years.
Ordinary
Common, or smooth, elm is common throughout the European part, in Western Siberia, in the Caucasus. Depending on the fertility of soils, tree trunks rise from 10 to 25 m; their diameter is up to 1.5 m in old specimens. In urban environments and on poor nutritional grounds, such elms are much lower and finer. The bark is dark brown, embossed, rough, can peel off with small scales. Shoots form a wide elliptical crown. Leaves are up to 15 cm long and 10 cm wide, elongated, framed by sickle-shaped teeth. The front side is dark green, the back is lighter, matte, slightly pubescent. Brown-violet small flowers bloom in April; after 7-12 days, small fruits with webbed lionfish form in their place. Common elm grows quite quickly, tolerates pruning well, creates a dense shadow. It can be used for landscaping parks, alleys, house adjoining territories.
Squat
Small-leaved, or squat, elm or just ilmovik lives up to its name. Compared with related giants, its maximum growth is no more than 15 m, often forms shrubby forms. Distribution Territories: Transbaikalia, Far East. The ilmovik has thin branches, leaves are rounded, jagged, uneven at the bases, pointed to the ends. Size - about 4–7 cm. In the spring, the foliage of squat elm is soft green, leathery. In the summer it gets dark. Inflorescences are small, yellowish-brown. Ilmovik does not like heavily shaded areas, preferring bright places, but he himself creates a rather thick shadow. The composition of the soil is unpretentious, tolerates drought well.
Paddle
One of the common Far Eastern species, for the original shape of large leaves resembling sharp lobes, is often called split. It grows mainly in highlands. Tree trunks reach 25 m in height, the crown is cylindrical, very dense.
Rough
This species prefers fertile soils, does not tolerate highly saline, it is found in the deciduous forests of Eastern and Western Europe. The trees are straight-stemmed, with a fairly smooth dark brown bark, in height - up to 30–40 cm. The leaves are very large - about 17–20 cm, ovate, light green, rough on top, with a hard fleecy surface. The lifespan of a rough elm is up to 400 years.
Properties and applications of wood
The density of dry elm wood is close to birch - it is 550–600 kg / m³. It has a beautiful noble texture with a pronounced natural pattern. The core is light brown, the sapwood is pale yellow. Ilm materials are highly hard, resistant to decay and deformation, have high resistance to shock loads and compression.
Due to the high density, the elm is difficult to cut, split and other types of processing, but it bends rather well. The smooth surface of the material perfectly tolerates polishing. Fresh timber does not crack or warp during drying.
Since ancient times, ilm has been used for the production of bows, rims, rockers, harness wooden parts. From the array hollowed out dishes. In London, Venice and other European cities, bridge supports were made from elm wood and used in the construction of river dams, locks, construction of mines and cellars.
Currently, elm is more used in the form of veneer, which increases the artistic value and ennobles lower-quality wood species or as part of combined materials for interior decoration. Ilmovye materials are used for the production of parquet, wooden frames, panels and handles, baseball bats, furniture parts, blanks and products requiring bending.
Landing and care
To breed elm in a personal plot is not difficult. Moreover, this can be done with seeds, as they germinate very rapidly - within a few days. The only drawback is that germination is quickly lost, so you should not miss the moment.
- After flowering, the seeds collected from the tree are placed in a moist nutrient substrate for several days. You can just put them on wet cotton. The embryos are immediately treated with a fungicide, otherwise the resulting fungus will be impossible to destroy.
- After 2-3 days, the germinated seeds are planted in a container with soil. It is better to use black soil for these purposes, so that the plant develops faster. In the absence of nutrient soil, a mixture of humus and leafy soil is suitable. The soil must be loose and well moistened.
- Seeds are deepened by 1-2 cm, making the distance between plantings about 25 cm. From above, the soil layer is covered with moss, hay or cotton. The ground needs to be moistened daily. After 10 days it will be possible to observe the young shoots and remove the covering material.
It is useful to expose seedlings more often in the sun. Since elm seeds ripen in April-May, the period of their germination occurs at the end of spring - the beginning of the active vegetation of most plants. In clear and light weather, it is better to leave a container with shoots in the open air: on the balcony, in the garden.
In the first year, elm shoots rise to 20 cm, in the second - they can be planted in open ground. Similarly, in spring or autumn, ready-made cuttings or purchased seedlings are planted.
Young elms are not capricious, undemanding to the composition of the soil, temperature conditions or moisture. However, in the early years, they must be protected from strong winds and frosts, wrapped in winter with special agrofibre. It is worth remembering that the nutritional value of the soil directly affects the growth rate of trees, so it is advisable to periodically fertilize poor soils with organic matter. It is necessary to ensure that the soil around the roots is always well loosened.
In hot weather, you will have to introduce additional watering, with regular rains, even young shoots in the open field do not need special moisture.
Elms grow by 40–50 cm per year. The pruning of branches in the early years is usually not performed, giving the crown to grow properly. Only dried or diseased branches are removed. As the trees grow older, you can begin to “tame” the greens, giving them an aesthetic appearance.
Of the pests of elm, the most common elm tailtail, scale insects, leaf beetles. In diseased plants, foliage and branches dry quickly, the bark is covered with painful growths. Pest control can be done using traditional methods: spraying trees with copper sulfate solution and other insecticides and fungicides. Young trees can be easily removed from pests, adult specimens are much more difficult to cure. Especially difficult for trees to tolerate the defeat of the fungus, for this reason, the use of fungicides as prevention is necessary even at the planting stage.
Planting elms is an excellent way of landscaping garden plots, squares, suburban and urban landscapes. These trees perfectly tolerate the effects of a gassed atmosphere, clean the air of dust particles, soot and smoke, create a picturesque street landscape. They are usually planted along roads, along river banks, on the edge of ravines in order to strengthen the soil and prevent landslides.