Tim, what kind of protection did you use for covering of araucaria?

Hi Serj,

here's a few photos of the protection and monkey puzzle over the years.

Tim, thanks very much for sharing very interesting pics. I realy see that your climate is more warmer than mine. I remember you told about -19 C as minimal temperature during last years?

Hi Serj,

yes your colder than me if your USDA zone 6a. I'm in USDA zone 6b. By the way, palms can't grow here, I protect them in a greenhouse too!

Tim, realy my area is borderline beetween 6a and 6b. This is in case if calculate it with official data from the meteo-station. We have no any meteo-station in our city. It is located in the another city. My city is more warmer. I have a good microclimate. It is not a long way from me to the local nuclear power plant. 😀 Maybe 17 kilometers to the North-West.

Look at this picture, please. You can see A. araucana in the Uzhgorod, Ukraine. Uzhgorod is located in zone 6b/7a, Zakarpattya. The mountain Karpati protected Uzhgorod from the cold North winds.

TimMAz6:

Hi Jack,

what type of trunk damage did you get on your monkey puzzle when mulched heavily? How much mulch did you use?

Looked like slightly white fungus or slight rot. I hit it with fungicide and am careful with the mulch now. The first three inches or so of the trunk now looks like some of your pics i.e. no needles and a bit worn. But the rest of it is flourishing. No brown whatsoever. That is probably due to our warmer winters down here.

I only put two inches of mulch down, but I banked it around the bottom of the trunk. I refrain from that now. Ultimately it does fine here except that it takes the prize for slowest growing tree in the universe. I am tempted to seek out a bigger specimen.

Hi Serj,

Very nice A. araucana!! I wish someday mine will look that healthy! I've heard there is a form of A. araucana which is more hardy. I beleive this 'hardy' form is native to the colder regions in South America.

Hi Jack,

thanks for the input with mulching the monkey puzzles. I have another monkey puzzle I grew from seed but it's in a container. I'll plant it out next season.....this container grown one appears more 'healthy' than the one outside. Perhaps these trees will get hardier with size/age??

Tim, I've seen the Korean people were wrapping cold tender trees with the rice straw cover - every branch. In a case of your araucana I would wrap stem and every branch with a burlap, put a chicken net around and pack a space around the tree with a wheat straw. It should work.

What is the growing speed for araucana?

It depends... I've seen a huge tree (about 10 meters height) in Montreux, Switzerland. Zone 8b for sure. Generally the conifers start growing fast at the age of 7-10 years old. You must have a lot of patience!

Hi Igor,

those protection methods should work, thanks.

Serj,

the monkey puzzle tree in my garden was seed germinated by in 2000. It's 10-years old now.......very slow growers.

Hi Jack,

thanks for the input with mulching the monkey puzzles. I have another monkey puzzle I grew from seed but it's in a container. I'll plant it out next season.....this container grown one appears more 'healthy' than the one outside. Perhaps these trees will get hardier with size/age??

I would think so. I saw several large ones growing in the Italian Alps which sees plenty of snow.

About a month ago, I saw two 5 foot specimens at a local nursery and they had a few brown patches like yours, so perhaps its not so uncommon. There is also a 20 footer growing in Georgetown near here. I will have to check it out in the dead of winter.

Hi Jack,

that 20 foot'er in Georgetown must be a great sight. It would be nice to know if that 20' specimen has any brown branches since once it's brown, the areas will never turn green again..........one can tell if there has been a historic freeze in the area!