Content
- Firethorn: care and varieties
- ancestry
- growth
- leaves
- blossom
- fruit
- use
- hedge
- Which location is suitable?
- What is the best planting time?
- The right planting distance
- Cut the firethorn properly
- bonsai
- Diseases
- Remove
- Is firethorn poisonous?
- Tips
- sorts
- Yellow varieties
- Soleil d'Or
- Orange varieties
- Teton
- Orange Charmer
- Red varieties
- Red Column
The firethorn thrives very well with us
Firethorn: care and varieties
Fire thorns are a very sympathetic and decorative hedge plant with their white, fragrant grape blossoms and fire-colored, lush fruit stalks. In addition, they are easy to maintain and increase the variety of beneficial insects and birds in your garden.
ancestry
The wild forms of the genus of fire thorns, botanical Pyracantha, come originally from southeastern areas seen from us. The Mediterranean firethorn, Pyracantha coccinea, has its origins in southeastern Europe, the three other wild species Pyracantha crenatoserrata, P. rogersiana and P. koidzumii are from China and Taiwan. In our latitudes, mainly garden forms are cultivated, which are bred as crosses from the various wild forms. They get along very well with the local climatic conditions.
To remember:
growth
The firethorns grow as upright shrubs with spanky branches and a very dense crown. Overall, they are about 2 to 6 meters high - depending on the variety, there are significant differences. The larger varieties have partly also a tree-like habit. Its branches are covered by a dark brown, later greyish to olive bark and covered with long, pointed thorns.
The growth characteristics at a glance:
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leaves
The leaves of the firethorn are usually on alternate stalks alternate or in clusters on the branches. With their elongated, ovate to lanceolate shape and the smooth to finely sawn edge they have a certain similarity to other hedge plants such as hawthorn or privet. Its rich, dark green color, which is slightly lighter on the undersides, persists throughout the year and thus serves as an effective privacy screen. Only at extremely severe degrees of freezing can it happen that firethorns throw off their leaves.
The leaf characteristics in key words:
blossom
The flowers of the firethorn open in the spring from about April or May and are very similar to those of the hawthorn. They are pretty, small umbrella panicles in white, which are lush and close together. The single flowers have five petals over five green sepals and up to 15 long stamens. The numerical and nectar-richness of the dense inflorescences are also a valuable insect pasture.
The firethorn blossoms summarized once again:
fruit
In autumn, the fruits of the firethorn ripen, which are as numerous as the flowers due to the willing pollination of the insects. From its yellow to orange-red or red color, the firethorn also has its name. The hawthorn berries look a bit like small apples and are about pea-sized.They are often eaten by birds, but unfortunately they are largely inedible to humans.
use
The firethorn is appreciated for its dense growth, especially as a hedge plant. Because he is intensely thorny, he is even advertised by some plant traders as burglar-resistant. Its bright berries, which appear in yellow, orange and red, depending on the breed, are also a beautiful fruit ornament over a long period. They also serve many birds as a source of food and thus increase the diversity of garden fauna. But the dense branch of the firethorn is also good for the bird world - here you can build well-protected nesting quarters that keep predators like martens and cats away.
For humans, the berries of the firethorn, however seductive they are, are unfortunately inedible and even mildly poisonous. For the kitchen, the plant can not really use - if necessary, by cooking and separating the pulp from the cores can be a tasty and well-tolerated mus produce - but that means a lot of work with the fleets Lotte.
How to use the Firethorn:
hedge
As a hedge, you have a practical as well as an aesthetic benefit from the thorn. With its dense, thorny growth and evergreen foliage, it can be a well shielding plot boundary. The more cut care you miss, the higher the effect will be. Due to the simple beauty of the flowers described above and the luscious, colorful fruit formation, you can also enjoy a very decorative sight in the spring and a long autumn period.
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Which location is suitable?
The firethorn is generally relatively undemanding, which is yet another advantage for use as a hedge plant. It can be sunny to partially shaded, but in the sun it forms significantly more flowers and fruits. He is very robust against wind and weather and even longer periods of heat, he usually survives easily.
As far as the soil condition is concerned, the firethorn is also tolerant tolerant. The reason should just not be too wet, conducive to a good thriving is also a fresh, well-drained soil - a too lean you should enrich with the planting and also later in the spring again and again with compost. The ph value does not matter to the firethorn.
To remember:
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What is the best planting time?
Basically you can plant preferred shrubs from the garden center at any time of the year. However, spring and summer are the best times for the plants to grow in peace.
The right planting distance
If you want to plant the hawthorn as a hedge, depending on the size of the purchased young shrubs put about 2 to 3 copies per meter.
Cut the firethorn properly
Especially if you want to cultivate the firethorn as a sight-protecting hedge, you should cut it regularly. This keeps the growth compact and prevents too sparsely and sparingly crowning. The pruning is best done immediately after flowering. Just clear the shrub and cut the outer shoots. But: because of the sharp thorns do not forget gloves, best with cuffs!
More radical cutbacks tolerate the firethorn quite well, he is very willing to start new shoots.
If you do not want to give up the bright, fire-colored fruit decorations in the fall, you should of course refrain from a cut and leave the flowers. Although he would still rub some pollinating flowers after the cut, but the fruit yield is of course much lower.
The cutting recommendations at a glance:
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bonsai
Due to its dense growth and its high regeneration capacity, the firethorn is also suitable for bonsai cultivation. He also does not require a particularly advanced experience. He is very easy to train to a mini-stunt, which easily assumes a tree-like character through its dense crown.
For bonsai cultivation place the firethorn in a planter with bonsai soil and volcanic granules. Here, too, the highest possible amount of sunlight is available for the location. You should repot your miniature firethorn every two years in the first time. Watering should be moderate, waterlogging can definitely lead to root rot. If you want to have the bright fruits on your bonsai firethorn, you can use bonsai fertilizer every 2 weeks after flowering.
To sculpt, you can aim for a classic miniature tree shape by regularly shortening the lower shoots and simply sharpening the contour of the crown every spring. In addition, you should end of the vegetation phase ausstichten old twigs.
Advanced and artistically demanding can also work with wires and spans.
Bonsai care at a glance:
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Diseases
Against diseases, the hawthorn is quite insensitive. What can most easily clog him is a too wet reason - then he can start to rot in the field too. So pay close attention to a rather dry location with good drainage when planting.
Some firethorns can also be attacked by the scab fungus - but most garden cultures are resistant to it. If you have a non-resistant strain and a scab attack, you should immediately remove the diseased parts of the plant and use a fungicide.
Occasionally, the firethorn can also be hit by fire blight. This bacterial disease is due to their epidemic spread notifiable and unfortunately incurable. It manifests itself by wilting and a brownish-black discoloration of the leaves, later the shoot tips break off due to severed supply lanes. Depending on the age, the plant dies after 3 weeks to several years.
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Remove
If you want to remove a firethorn, you have to get used to a lot of hard work. Because the rose plant has a deep, dense root system, which is difficult to excavate completely. Of course, the work is made even more difficult by the sharp thorns of the aboveground plant section.
Therefore, first remove all large branches so that you have easier access to the trunk. Then loosen the root area as much as possible to get to the main root strands. These separate with a knife and then try to reposition the plant. The remaining root remnants can then be further excavated, depending on whether you want to plant something new at the site or release the site.
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Is firethorn poisonous?
The firethorn is not poisonous in itself. Most of the plant parts, ie the roots, branches and leaves contain no toxins. It is a bit different with the fruits. The bright yellow to orange-red berries contain in their cores substances that are not really toxic, but definitely lead to unpleasant phenomena when consumed. These include, in particular, the flavonoid rutin and chlorogenic acid. Above all, the hydrocyanic acid forming during their metabolism is a critical factor.
Indigestion, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may be present in infants when over-consumed. For adults, the concentration of substances is too low to cause serious discomfort when consumed.
In cats and dogs, the effect of hydrocyanic acid is more critical, as they can degrade them worse. If your pet has eaten from the hawthorn berries, it can lead to severe energy metabolism and circulatory disorders. If possible, induce vomiting in the animal, give it no liquid to drink and immediately seek out a veterinarian.
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Tips
If you attach special importance to the late summer and autumn fruit decoration, the combination of different colored fruiting varieties in a hedgerow community is recommended. So you get in the truest sense of the word a color fireworks, which is very beautiful, especially in the light of golden October.
sorts
The hybrid cultivars for the garden are mainly categorized with regard to their berry color. They are available in the fire colors yellow, orange and red. Here you can choose according to the taste and the ability to combine with neighboring garden plants. Scores resistance is often emphasized by traders, but is present in most breeds.
Yellow varieties
Soleil d'Or
The best known among the yellow fruiting varieties is the Soleil d'Or. Her berries light up in a beautiful golden yellow. It is a medium-sized variety and is only about 2 meters high and about one to one and a half meters wide. Even at the rate of growth, at 10 to 30 centimeters per year, it is not necessarily predestined primarily for effective and fast site fencing.
The Soleil d'Or is very resistant to scab and quite frost hardy. Regular cut tolerates them well. The small, white flowers appear from May to June and exude a wonderfully lovely scent.
As location, it prefers a sunny to partially shaded place.
Orange varieties
Teton
The variety Teton is a medium sized with an altitude of about 3 meters at a moderate extent in the width of one and a half to 2 meters. But their branching is particularly dense, so it is well suited for privacy.
It forms from August dark orange fruits. Its white flowers appear from May to June. Her frost hardiness is good, her scoring resistance as well.
Orange Charmer
This variety delights with its fiery orange fruits, which show from September. From May to June, the Orange Charmer blooms with small, lush parasol panicles that smell pleasant.
In growth the variety is particularly broad and bushy. At a rather low height growth of 2 to 2 ½ meters it expands up to 3 ½ meters in width. Like most varieties, it thrives best in the sun, but may also be half-shady. It is scab and frost resistant.
Red varieties
Red Column
The red column shows a firm, upright growth with up to it is very resistant to frost and heat. Its rich, dense, white flower clusters appear in April and May, the bright crimson fruits of which develop from September and can persist into the winter. In a sunny spot it thrives best.