Gladiolus - colorful plants, flaunting on postcards and photos, are found in the gardens of almost all flower lovers. None design country house not complete without their landing. To get them bright and abundant flowering, little care during the growing season. Question: gladioli: when to dig and how to store is no less important. The fate of the plant depends on how correctly it will be resolved. There are several rules that allow not only to preserve the gladiolus, but also to ensure its further growth and flowering.
When to dig up gladioli for the winter
Each amateur grower determined for himself the time of digging gladioli. It depends on the place where the flower is grown, or rather on climate zone and the onset of cold weather. Therefore, it is difficult to name the exact time of excavation. Easier to decide temperature regime. It is recommended to dig up gladioli when autumn weather sets in, but not earlier than 30 days later for late varieties from the end of flowering. During this period, the maturation of planting material occurs. It's not worth the hassle either.
From the moment of cutting the flower stalks, no more than 50 days should pass. Delays in harvesting can lead to damage to the bulbs by pests and diseases. Dig up tubers of plants with green leaves for storage. Some flower growers mistakenly wait for them to turn yellow. This coloration may indicate the presence of a disease. Such planting material cannot be planted. Yellowing of leaves is allowed only in early varieties.
They begin to collect plants for wintering before the onset of frost at an air temperature of +10 to +5. If the flowers are absolutely healthy and the site is not infected with thrips or any diseases, then you can dig up the flowers a little later, when it gets colder and the thermometer drops to +3. You should not delay cleaning too much: a drop in temperature can provoke the development of fungal infections.
If there is a possibility of infection with thrips, gladioli are dug up at a temperature not lower than +8 degrees. With a subsequent cold snap, these pests descend underground and climb under the scales of the bulb, where they successfully winter. The collection of gladioli is carried out in dry weather, then the earth itself crumbles from the tubers and it is not necessary to tear it off, causing damage to the plant. First to dig out of the ground early varieties, then middle, late. Plants for propagation grown from babies are harvested last, but before the onset of frost.
How to properly harvest bulbs
Gladiolus: when to dig and how to store? When collecting gladioli, it is necessary to carefully deepen the shovel at some distance from the plant, so as not to damage the bulb with the children that have grown on it. Therefore, many gardeners dig up planting material with garden pitchforks. When the tool is immersed in the ground, the flower is pulled out by its leaves.
After all the gladioli are dug up, they cut off the upper ground part, leaving no more than 1-2 cm. This measure is necessary to protect the plant from infection with thrips. Then the planting material should be sorted according to the size of the bulbs, varieties and cleaned from the soil. It is then much easier to work with him and, in addition, this approach will help preserve all varieties of gladioli. Bulb sorting does not affect wintering, so many flower growers do not attach importance to this moment.
In adult tubers, it is necessary to cut the roots, otherwise in winter they will evaporate moisture, and remove the mother bulb. Inside its dying scales, thrips and spores of pathogenic infections can hide, which can cause infection of planting material. In young bulbs that were grown from children, you need to cut off the roots, while leaving 1 cm each. Age tubers with a wide bottom are discarded.
When sorting children, the largest ones with intact covering scales are laid for storage: they are preserved and bloom better and faster. After that, all excavated planting material is washed under running water to finally clear it of the soil. Trimmed gladiolus leaves, old, damaged bulbs are removed outside the site and burned.
Preparing for storage
In order for your flower bed to please with bright gladioli, the plants must be properly prepared for wintering. During the dormant period, buds are laid, from which new stems wake up in the spring. In preparation for storage, gladioli are dried and treated for pests. Let's look at how to plant flowers for the winter in order not only to save them, but also to continue breeding this beautiful plant.
Treatment of tubers from diseases and pests
Before laying gladiolus for the winter, the bulbs of the plant must be processed to avoid infection with thrips and viral infections. To do this, the tubers are washed again with warm water or laundry soap, or dipped in a container with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. At this moment, the quality of the selected material is additionally checked: defective children emerge.
Then the bulbs are treated with a disinfectant solution with texicides. For its preparation, drugs such as Inta-vir, Maxim, Hom are used. After that, the tubers are dried first for outdoors, then at home they keep a week at a temperature of +30 and a month at +20°C. The second stage of drying is carried out using gauze bags, where the selected material is placed. If it is not possible to dry the bulbs at a high temperature, then before sending the plant for storage, it “rests” for two months on the windowsill or in any other place.
Ways to store bulbs in winter
Gladiolus: when to dig and how best to store? If everything is clear with the first half of the question, then how to decide where to lay the bulbs for the winter so that they do not die? Depending on the location of the grower (urban or rural) and the conditions available to him, there are several ways to store gladioli. Let's look at each of them individually:
In the basement or cellar
The ideal option to store flowers are a dry basement or cellar. For this, the bulbs are allocated separate place away from vegetables and fruits. This is due to the fact that the latter emit a large amount of moisture, which is detrimental to planting material. In addition, it is necessary to monitor the temperature in the storage, it should be in the range from +5 to +8 degrees, and humidity, which should not exceed 60-80 percent.
How to care for young nodules? Babies need slightly different conditions for wintering. For them, it is recommended to lower the temperature to +3 degrees, and increase the humidity to 90 percent. For storage of gladioli, boxes with a bottom in the form of a grid are used, which ensures uniform ventilation. To further protect the planting material, peeled garlic cloves are placed next to the bulbs.
Containers are placed on racks. If there are no containers with a ventilated bottom, then the flowers are placed in ordinary boxes, in the sand. With such storage, the tubers become overgrown with children over the winter. If there are no boxes, then the bulbs are stored in bags of nylon tights or nets, which must be tied to racks to ensure ventilation. Even if you managed to create ideal conditions for storage, tubers should be inspected several times a month. Damaged gladiolus flowers must be removed to prevent the death of all planting material.
In the apartment
Not all flower lovers have the opportunity to store planting material in the basement, some have to do it at home or in an apartment. It is more difficult to save the bulbs in this case, they will need special care. To do this, you need to find the coolest place in your home. Then put the flowers in paper bags that are made from newspapers or xerox paper. Sometimes corms are placed in cardboard boxes, sprinkled with sawdust. With this method of storage, it is necessary to ensure that the gladioli do not touch each other.
In both cases, the planting material will decrease in size. Before planting, it should be soaked in a solution with a growth stimulant ("Epin", "Kornevin") for 30 minutes. Store the bulbs in the refrigerator. To do this, put them in any sealed container, placed on the bottom shelf. Before putting the flowers in a container, each corm is wrapped in paper. Remove them from the refrigerator in early March to dry. Then they are sent back, but already on top shelf. In some cases, gladioli are stored on a cold windowsill or behind balcony door.
On the balcony
If the climate is not too harsh, gladioli are stored on the balcony in a box. So that the planting material does not die during rare frosts, boxes with bulbs are wrapped with agrospam or an old blanket. The most difficult thing with this storage option is to maintain the required level of humidity, as well as when laying in an apartment. Then the bulbs are stored in a clay shell. To do this, prepare a "talker" of clay and water, which has the consistency of thick sour cream. Each tuber is alternately dipped into it, dried. Then they are placed for storage in sand or boxes.
Video about cleaning and preserving bulbs in winter
Natalya Petrenko, editor-in-chief of the Magic Garden magazine, will tell you how to grow, plant and care for gladiolus flowers, dig up, store the bulbs of these wonderful beauties. She will show you what to do with late flowering plants, how to prepare them for home storage so that they continue to please the eye next summer. Beginners will be able to get acquainted with the features of harvesting early, medium, late varieties of gladioli. The following video clip will help you learn the secrets that will help save not only adult tubers, but also children of especially valuable specimens:
When the flowering of gladioli is over, the preparation of tubers for winter begins. Caring for bulbs in the fall is required condition to keep until next year.
Gladioli are harvested during the period of full maturation of corms. Preparation begins even during the flowering period:
autumn comprehensive care for flowers consists in competent watering, fertilizing and pruning - Peduncles are cut after the flowers wither. Otherwise, the peduncle will absorb the nutrients of the plant that are needed for the ripening of the bulb. The cut must be made at a height of 3-4 cm from the ground, in evening time after 18 hours. The coolness of the night will close the cut better.
- A week before harvesting, it is required to stop watering and feeding the plants.
- Leaves should not be cut along with flowers for bouquets.
Harvesting of gladioli is possible only after the full formation of corms, which continues for the next 45-50 days after flowering.
When to dig
It is very important to correctly determine the timing of cleaning. To make it easier to choose a date, you need to keep a diary or mark on the calendar, the beginning of flowering.
Extraction time depends on the following factors:
- Since the formation of bulbs is different, the time of harvesting gladioli of different flowering periods is not the same. Tubers of early flowers are dug up about a month after the petals wither. Late varieties removed no earlier than 45 days later. In this case, the leaves should have a green color. Appearance yellow color on the leaves indicates the disease. However, in early gladioli, the presence of yellow leaves is allowed.
- Tubers grown from small bulbs are harvested last, without waiting for frost.
- The weather can change the timing of the harvest. The day of collection must be sunny. Rainy, damp weather causes the development of fungus and bacteria on the bulbs.
- Collect seed material is required before frost. Optimum temperature to start work 5-10 0 C heat. The air temperature is +3 0 C, if there are no diseases.
- In the southern regions, cleaning is carried out between October 15 and 20. AT middle lane not later than 20 September.
Don't delay cleaning! Otherwise, damage to corms by diseases is possible.
Cleaning rules
It is necessary to start harvesting gladioli in autumn when the night air temperature is below +10 0 C. The removal of corms begins with the dismantling of pegs and bandaging material. For work you will need a shovel or a pitchfork. The tool should be inserted vertically into the ground. Inclined entry is more likely to damage tubers.
Where does cleaning start?
- With a shovel or pitchfork, gently lift the layer of earth at a distance of about 7 cm from the plant.
- Grasp the stem with your hand and carefully pull it out of the ground. Put on the prepared place. Do not pull out the plant by force, so as not to harm the seed material.
- Check for small bulbs left in the hole.
Stems should be removed immediately after harvesting. Because the moisture accumulated in the tuber will evaporate through the leaves. During the growing season, useful substances have accumulated in the bulb, which will evaporate with moisture. Such planting material will be sluggish by spring and will become unusable.
There are two ways to remove a stem:
- Carefully break off the stem with your hands.
- Trim with garden shears.
The stem should be cut at a distance of about 1.5-2 cm from the tuber.
After excavation, the corms are cleaned of adhering earth, washed in water, and dried.
Carefully remove the mother bulb so as not to damage it. You need to trim the roots through which moisture will evaporate. Damaged and wide-bottom specimens are not left for storage.
In bulbs grown from buds, it is not necessary to completely remove the roots, it is enough to trim them a little. The largest are selected for storage. They are better preserved and bloom earlier.
Treatment for diseases and pests
In order for the flower bed to please with its flowering in the new season, it is necessary to properly prepare the gladioli for the winter. After harvesting, cleaning, the selected specimens of the bulbs are subjected to special treatment to prevent infection.
There are several ways to disinfect:
- Selected specimens are washed in warm water. Then dipped in a warm solution laundry soap. You can use a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
- To prevent diseases of gladioli, they are processed by special means. You can use drugs:
- Maxim - dissolve the ampoule in 2 liters of water, processing takes 30 minutes;
- Decis - the ampoule is dissolved in 5 liters of water, the processing of one batch takes 40 minutes.
- Some flower growers recommend lowering the selected seed material for 30 minutes into the Fundazol solution. With subsequent treatment with a 3% solution of potassium permanganate or boric acid.
You can use another option. It requires two solutions:
- in one container in 10 liters of water dissolve 20 g of chlorophos,
- in another container, dissolve 10 g of potassium permanganate.
The processing time of corms in each solution is 20 minutes. Then water procedures. 20 minutes in water heated to 50 0 C, and in cold.
Only after disinfecting procedures are gladioli ready for drying.
Paraffin
Reliable protection against drying out and the development of fungal damage is paraffin. This method is good for storing damaged bulbs. The fact is that the paraffin film prevents drying out and the appearance of rot. This procedure will require paraffin, which must be melted for a couple and a container with cold water. Each cleaned head is dipped into the solution and then cooled in water. Finish the procedure by drying. To harden the paraffin, the treated tubers are laid out so that they do not touch each other.
Drying corms
Incorrectly or insufficiently dried planting material will not be able to survive throughout the winter It is more convenient to dry processed specimens in cardboard boxes with low sides or in wooden boxes. The entire drying process takes two weeks.
- Corms are placed in boxes in one row. It is recommended to take it outside in sunny weather for only two hours.
- Seven days should be kept warm, at an air temperature not less than + 20 0 C, but better than + 300C. You can place the boxes next to the heater. You should not be afraid of drying out. The drying process can prevent the spread of bacteria and fungus.
Another drying method requires a stem up to 10 cm long. Prepared bulbs are collected in bunches and bandaged. Then hang under the roof, in a well-ventilated place. However, it is necessary to provide protection from both direct sunlight and precipitation.
After two weeks of drying, it is required to check all seed material.
Inspection will identify and remove damaged copies. But if the variety of gladioli is rare, you can cut out the affected areas. And then cover it with green.
bulb storage
Before storing, you can clean the bulbs from scales. Thus, pests and diseases are prevented.
For storage of corms use:
- carton boxes;
- wooden boxes;
- boxes with a mesh bottom;
- cloth bags;
- old nylon stockings, tights.
Each variety must be stored separately.
Boxes, boxes are a more convenient type of storage. Before laying the tubers, a newspaper is laid on the bottom. Bulbs are laid out in one row. This arrangement makes it easy to control the condition of the tubers.
For two months the corms are dormant. You can store them in the apartment, on the glazed loggia, in the refrigerator. The optimum temperature is +2-8 0 C.
It is important to monitor the humidity during this period. It should be in the range of 65 - 80%.
At high humidity decay may begin. If the air is dry, some specimens may die from overdrying.
The best place to store gladiolus is the basement. But gladiolus is not recommended to be stored together with vegetables.
In a city apartment
For this purpose, a glazed loggia is suitable. But you need to carefully monitor the temperature drop. It is recommended to fill the tubers with an adsorbent. You can use sand, ash or charcoal.
In the fridge
For this purpose, a place above the vegetable compartment is suitable. Before laying, the bulbs are wrapped with paper. Check status frequently. When mold appears, the tubers are dried, the paper is replaced.
It is required to check the condition of the tubers at least once a month.
In order for gladioli to delight you with their beauty from year to year, it is necessary to remove their bulbs in a timely manner and properly store them.
When to Dig Up Gladiolus in the Fall
- Light frosts do not harm the aerial parts and corm, however, severe freezing of the soil can lead to their death.
- In this case, the corms soften and then turn brown. Damaged material is not suitable for storage.
5 rules for digging gladioli:
- Dig up gladioli should be 30-35 days after flowering (depending on the flowering period of the variety). At least 3 weeks must pass for the formation of a replacement corm.
- First, early varieties are dug, then with later flowering periods.
- Digging up gladioli, you should try to lose the kids as little as possible. This is a valuable material for reproduction, preservation and "rejuvenation" of varieties. In addition, tubers, unlike corms, can successfully overwinter and clog subsequent plantings.
- It is better to dig up gladioli in dry, clear weather, until the baby has separated from the bulbs. It is better to do this earlier: the health of the flower is more important than the size of the formed corms.
- Plants with visible damage are rejected and destroyed (burned).
How to handle gladiolus bulbs before storage
- The aerial part is cut off (break off) without leaving a hemp and, if possible, the mother bulb is removed. You can remove it after drying, but this is bad for the health of the material. It is important not to damage the daughter bulb.
- It is best to wash the dug bulbs in running water. If necessary, treat with insectofungicides.
- In juvenile bulbs (formed from the baby), the shoots are broken out and left root system intact during the entire drying period.
- The resulting planting material is laid out according to varieties. Small (less than 2 mm in diameter) tubers should be weeded out and discarded.
- For laying individual varieties, it is most convenient to use a vegetable mesh-sleeve, for a baby - with a cell of 2 mm, for bulbs - from twisted, more durable, polyethylene with a large cell diameter. In the future, the processing of the bulbs is carried out without removing them from the nets. Nodules with bulbs are labeled.
- aluminum does not rot, does not break;
- the inscription is not washed off, does not fade,
- The label is reused.
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How to dry gladiolus bulbs before storage
- After washing, processing and a short exposure to the sun, the bulbs are immediately transferred to a drying room.
- For about 2 weeks, the bulbs lie at a temperature of 29-34 ° C. At the end, within 2-3 days, at a temperature of 35-38 °C. In this case, you need to use a fan.
- If you do not have the opportunity to comply with this regimen, you can dry it in a warm kitchen under the ceiling for about 3-4 weeks. At the same time, the humidity in the room drops to 20% or less.
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With the onset of autumn and the first cold weather, all summer residents dig, cover or transfer to heat flowering plants. When to dig up gladiolus? How to keep them until spring? Storing gladioli after digging is an important step that affects their health and flowering next year. Gladiolus is a heat-loving flower that reacts poorly to cold and wind, so its bulbs must be removed from the ground before frost.
Experienced gardeners recommend first digging out gladioli with dark shades of flowers. Purple, maroon, cherry, black, and blue varieties attention should be given first. The reason for this separation lies in the weak immunity of dark species, their insufficient protection against fungal diseases. Those representatives who were grown from baby bulbs, on the contrary, are dug up last.
Novice flower growers or just interested amateurs often ask the question: do I need to dig up gladioli for the winter? The answer will be positive and non-negotiable - yes, it is necessary.
Gladiolus just dug up, photo:
It is advisable to dedicate a sunny and dry day to this process, since digging up the bulbs after rain will be inconvenient (washing the seed, drying, etc.). As an auxiliary tool, it is better to choose ordinary garden pitchforks, the bush should be carefully pry from the bottom and removed from the ground along with an earthen clod. No need to pull the gladiolus by the stems or pull it like carrots or beets, as you can damage the tubers and lose the baby bulbs.
When to dig up gladioli in the fall
For this event, gardeners of the middle lane most often choose the end of September-beginning of October, and in the south this can be done later. According to popular belief, the first cold snap is a signal to dig up gladioli. If you miss this time, hold out until the first frost, the bulbs will inevitably die. For damage to planting material, a temperature of -1 ° C is sufficient.
In any case, always consider individual weather just your region. A popular "gardening" sign says - dig up gladioli after you have harvested potatoes, but be in time before harvesting late cabbage.
In the Kuban, potatoes begin to be dug in July, and late cabbage is harvested in November. So the southerners, rather, need to focus on the timing of harvesting cabbage.
There is also important point- cleaning of gladioli in the fall should be carried out after at least a month has passed since the end of flowering. Approximately 30-35 days are required for the plant to form a replacement corm and tuber buds (baby bulbs). Thus, if your favorite gladiolus has faded on August 5, then around September 5-8, you can start digging up the tubers. By the way, for the same reason, it is better to immediately remove the faded stems (cut off from the bush) so that the plant does not waste extra strength and nutritional components on the already “waste” material. Gladiolus after flowering should accumulate its potential, direct it to the formation of a tuber, and not the ground part. If you did not cut off the top in time, then the digging time should be extended by about three weeks.
Dug and washed bulbs, photo:
If, for some reason, the harvesting of gladioli for the winter is done a little earlier than the due date, in principle, there is nothing to worry about. If the tuber is not fully ripe, it will “reach” the desired condition during storage, but for onion babies, this situation is even favorable. Unripe babies are tightly attached to the tuber, respectively - they are better extracted from the soil, are not lost during sampling, have a light gray shade(it is easier to see in the ground). In a mature child Brown color, it is easily separated from the bulb, but it can not be seen in the ground and "lost" when digging.
Sometimes the summer is too rainy or the owner did not keep track of the flower garden, because of this (due to excess moisture) brown marks may appear on the leaves of the plant. These spots are the fungus Botrytis gray, sometimes called "gray clay." To save the tubers and save the seed, the bulbs are dug ahead of time. After that, gladioli must undergo appropriate processing. But this will be discussed a little later.
Gladiolus - how to dig them up and how to store them?
More detailed description the process looks like this: we calculate about 10-15 cm from the center of the proposed location of the bulb, carefully immerse the pitchfork in the soil and, as it were, dig around the bush in a circle, after which we press the fork handle, extract the root of the plant (corm) together with the ground. Next, select the tubers and children, put them in a suitable container. By the way, two garden scoops can also be used for these purposes, they are very convenient to work with two hands, the process is better controlled, it goes faster.
Bulbs with children, photo:
Harvesting gladioli for the winter necessarily involves a radical pruning of the remaining fragments of the ground part of the plant. Stems should be cut as close to the bulb as possible.
Stem pruning, photo:
Next, you need to separate the new tuber from the mother. But this action is best done after drying, when about 20 days have passed. After these manipulations, the seed should be washed. It is most convenient to do this in a building sieve under running water. Processing (dressing) of bulbs is the next, no less important stage in preparing for wintering.
How to process gladioli before storage? The biggest "fan" of gladioli is thrips, so that it does not remind of itself while the tubers are waiting for the new sowing season, stock up on "Karbofos" in advance. Make the bulbs a 15-minute bath from a solution of this drug, then immerse them in potassium permanganate (water, slightly pink solution) for about 10 minutes. Instead of Karbofos, you can use a tool with a similar effect - "Decis", "Fitoverm", "Inta-Vir". After processing, the tubers do not need to be rinsed with water, but immediately sent to dry.
Storing gladioli after digging is a responsible process that requires constant monitoring, and sometimes reinsurance. For your own peace of mind and confidence, you can carry out a control, re-treatment of tubers after 5 days after the first treatment. This procedure is not mandatory, but the cases are different, as they say - it is better to "overdo it than not do it". In this case, the bulbs are immersed in a solution of the fungicide "Maxim" (4 ml / 2 l of water) or "Fundazol" for 30 minutes. This procedure prevents the appearance of fungi, helps prevent this dangerous disease like fusarium.
In the room where the bulbs will dry, it should be warm (about +25 .. + 30 ° C), storage of gladioli after digging (the first period) takes about three weeks. Sowing material should be laid out in one layer in cardboard boxes or wooden trays. After the expiration of the specified period, it is necessary to conduct a control inspection of the tubers, discard doubtful specimens, remove scales and remaining fragments of roots.
If suddenly you find traces of rot, then, if they are insignificant, cut off the affected areas sharp knife and disinfect the cutting site. For these purposes, an ordinary brilliant green, a solution of potassium permanganate or well-proven fungicides (Vitaros, Maxim) are suitable.
Removing the husk is an additional safety net against thrips, which can hide their eggs in it.
This is followed by the second stage of storage, in which the tubers are transferred to a dry room with a lower temperature (cellar, garage, barn). Storage of gladiolus bulbs is carried out in any way convenient for you - the main thing is that everything is in accordance with the rules.
In addition to wooden or cardboard boxes, you can use the old and reliable "grandmother's" storage method - a dense nylon stocking in which tubers are placed and then hung from the ceiling or shelves in the cellar. It is important to periodically inspect the tubers from time to time, in case of any suspicion, remove defective specimens. It is best to stop any disease at the initial stage than to save the remaining seed later, wasting time and effort. In order not to confuse the varieties, it is better to sign or mark the storage containers somehow.
Storage of gladioli in a city apartment
Cellars, basements, garages are great places for overwintering tubers, but what about flower growers who live in an apartment? They will come to the aid of wooden or plastic trays with wide ventilation holes and shoe boxes. It is better to wrap each tuber in natural cotton fabric or newspaper, toilet paper By the way, that would work too. The most important thing is that in the place of storage the temperature column should not exceed +5 .. + 10 ° C, otherwise the bulbs will begin to deteriorate or sprout.
It is unacceptable to store gladioli in winter in plastic bags or solid plastic trays are taboo. Under such conditions, the seed will inevitably deteriorate.
Suitable plastic storage container, photo:
Each of us has a refrigerator at home, and in the refrigerator there is a compartment for storing vegetables, where the temperature is always higher than in other compartments. This place is well suited for gladiolus tubers. A box placed on the windowsill can also become a storage, but the temperature in this zone must also be appropriate so that the tubers do not “wake up” ahead of time. Make sure that the bulbs do not come into contact with the glass, as they can freeze and soften. Remember that storing gladiolus bulbs involves their monthly inspection, regardless of the wintering place.
A little tip - throw garlic cloves cut into 2 or 3 parts into a container with tubers. Its phytoncides have a detrimental effect on various fungi and microbes, disinfect the air.
Some experienced gardeners it is advised to sprinkle the tubers with dried mint. In fact, this is a very effective, albeit uncommon, method by which you can stop the germination of the bulbs. Essential oils plants contribute to the inhibition of this process.
I would also like to focus on an even rarer method of storing valuable tubers - waxing. Paraffin is heated in a microwave or in a water bath, each tuber is dipped into a warm mass, the scales must first be removed. When the time comes for planting, such bulbs are buried in the soil right in the paraffin shell.
Knowing when to dig up gladiolus, how to do it correctly, and how and where to store gladiolus bulbs in winter is the key to the future lush flowering in summer, a worthy decoration of your site, as well as aesthetic pleasure from the contemplation of bright beauty.
An important task of the grower in the fall before the first frost is to dig up the bulbs. The timing for which you need to dig up gladioli depends on the climate zone and on the varieties of these ornamental plants. In order for the bulbs to be well preserved until spring, they need additional protection from pests and fungi.
When to dig
The time of digging up gladioli in the middle lane begins in the second half of September and continues until the time when constant autumn frosts begin. It is important to take into account the fact that at least 40 days must pass after flowering. Only by this time the bulb will fully ripen.
How to determine when to dig up gladiolus? You need to check on the plant itself. Whether the bulb is ready for digging is determined by the ground part of the gladiolus. If the leaves have wilted and turned yellow, you can start. It is better to start by digging up bulbs of varieties with dark petals (red, cherry, purple). Dark varieties are usually weak and vulnerable to fungal diseases.
Digging up gladioli.
The last to dig and store are the gladioli that were grown from the "kids". It will be better if the digging takes place in dry weather. Dry soil will not stick strongly to the bulbs. It is also easier to get all the kids out of dry soil. Children “lost” in the ground will overwinter and in the spring they will “mix” the varieties in the flowerbed. This is undesirable.
If you have to harvest the bulbs in the rain, they should be washed in running water and be sure to dry thoroughly.
After all the bulbs have been dug out, they must be “cut”: cut off the roots, stems. Carefully, so as not to damage the bottom of the substitute bulb, the old bulb must be removed. After that, all corms are processed for prophylactic purposes after digging. A weak solution of foundationazole, a pink solution of potassium permanganate is used. The bulbs are immersed in a container with a solution and kept for about half an hour.
If the gladiolus has been affected by insects or fungi, the bulbs must be burned. This is the only way to stop the spread of infection.
After a prophylactic bath, gladiolus bulbs must be thoroughly dried. Their drying at room temperature(22-23 C) lasts about a month. Bulbs should be laid out in one layer on a linen surface.
If possible, it is better to speed up this process with improvised means. To do this, you can use a hair dryer, a special dryer or other heating device. If there is a danger of infection with a fungus, forced drying will prevent the disease from developing.
How to store in winter
It is better if the bulbs are stored in a dry basement or cellar. Storage of planting material should be separate, as far as possible to remove from vegetables and fruits.
But if this is not possible, you need to store them on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator. It is better to store them in a paper bag with holes. The temperature for storing gladiolus bulbs should be between 4-8 °C. The moisture that will evaporate from vegetables and fruits is harmful to the selected planting material.
Ideal if the humidity is about 80%. For children it is necessary to create a slightly different conditions. It will be better if they are stored in a room with a temperature of about 3 ° C and with a humidity of almost 90%.
Storage of gladioli.
Storage after digging up gladiolus bulbs should be in special boxes with a mesh bottom. This will allow for sufficient and uniform ventilation. Containers with planting material are installed on special racks.
If there are no special storage containers, you can let the gladioli overwinter in sandboxes. In the sand, the tubers will begin to grow into children.
Another option is storage after digging in nylon bags. The bag must be tied to the rack so that it is ventilated from all sides. You can nearby for the protection and prevention of diseases, put a few peeled garlic cloves.
Periodically, from time to time, the bulbs need to be taken out and reviewed. Even if all bulbs are examined for infection before storage, it is better to review and check them additionally. A sick or suspicious specimen is best destroyed.
During the dormant period, new buds are laid in the bulbs, which will give life to new shoots. Before sending the bulbs for storage, they must be treated with special solutions to prevent infection with thrips and viruses. After treatment with a solution of laundry soap or potassium permanganate, the future planting material is treated with drugs of your choice: Inta-vir, Maxim, Hom.
Preserving bulbs without a cellar is difficult. For their storage, it will be necessary to create additional conditions with special care. planting material need to be folded into paper bags or folded into cardboard box, sprinkled with sawdust, and then find the coolest place. Most often this is the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. It is necessary to make sure that the bulbs do not touch each other.
After winter storage the bulb often noticeably loses in volume and weight. But after soaking in drugs to stimulate growth and good care a healthy and strong flower will grow from the bulb.