Gladiolus: cleaning and storage in winter

It is important for flower growers to know how to organize the storage of gladioli in winter. After all, these plants are killed when the temperature drops below zero or frost for many days. So corms should be removed to ensure their safety and proper care. Planting will be done in the spring.

When and how to clean gladioli?

Cleaning should be carried out after the bulbs are ripe. This occurs one month after flowering in the early varieties and one and a half - in the later varieties. Usually the harvesting period falls on the second half of September, but in zones with different climatic conditions it can shift. If the plant releases the inflorescence too late, it should be cut off. Otherwise, it is necessary to dig an unripened bulb, which next year may not ascend, the landing will be unsuccessful.

Cleaning is carried out before the onset of permanent frost. A slight drop in temperature corms will survive, but at -5 degrees, care is needed: the bed should be covered with mulch. When the necessary time after flowering will pass, you can proceed to dig out the bulbs. Do this in the following order: first, early varieties, then early-middle and middle flowering, then later. Finish bulbs that have grown from the tubers. It should be noted that varieties with flowers of dark shades and lavender blue are deprived of protection against fungal diseases. Therefore, with other equal nuances, the procedure begins with them.

It is desirable to clean the bulbs in dry weather. If the soil is damp, then some of the so-called "children", tubers, will remain in the ground. In a mild climate or provided that the winter is not cold, they can germinate. As a result, a quality planting of a certain variety will be clogged. But in cases when the weather does not go well, do not wait too long, digging gladioli should be on time. Do this with forks with wide teeth or shovels. The tool is picked up by the plants, grabbing part of the soil, and gently shaking off the pre-set film. Thus, the "kids" will not be scattered all over the garden. Patients bulbs should be immediately separated from the rest. They are put in a separate container, and then destroyed.

Preparation of bulbs before drying

Next, you need to process the bulbs to prepare them for storage at home in winter. Care looks like this: first a pruner, pre-disinfected, cut off most of the stem, to get only a small stump, and roots. Then the mother bulbs are removed. Some growers prefer not to do this in order to preserve nutrients. But in this case, the risk of infection of the plant increases. Therefore, it is recommended to leave only the replacement bulb. In addition, if you remove all unnecessary, drying will be faster.

It happens that the mother's corms can not be separated immediately. This procedure will have to return in two weeks. Care will be easier: after drying to do it it will turn out without special difficulties. On bulbs, which have grown from tubers, the roots should not be removed. It is enough to cut a little, otherwise they can dry up and planting them will be useless.

To protect gladioli from various diseases, they must be thoroughly rinsed under running water, and care may include treatment with disinfectants. To do this, prepare two solutions:

• in 10 liters of water, add 20 g of chlorophos;
• for the same amount of water - 10 g of potassium permanganate.

In turn, stand the corms in these liquids for 20 minutes. Still it does not hurt for the same time to leave them in hot water( 50 degrees), then cool in a cool one. After such procedures gladioli are ready for drying.

Advice

Reliably protects paraffin from over-drying and fungi. The substance should be melted on a steam bath and dip into the mass of each bulb.

As recently more and more florists are faced with a pest such as thrips, it makes sense to include in the care of processing bulbs from it at home. This insect infects leaves and flowers, negating all efforts to grow gladioli. It will suck nutrients out of them in winter, which will lead to drying out. Winter thrips in bulbs, so it is important to qualitatively disinfect them. For this, the preparation "Decis" is well suited. One ampule of the agent is added to 5 liters of water, the resulting solution is lowered the tubers for 40 minutes. Tara top should be covered with a film. After 4-5 days, you can use a preparation against fungal diseases, for example "Maxim".One ampoule is dissolved in 2 liters of water and the plants are kept in the mixture for half an hour.

How should I dry the bulbs?

Further care is to dry the bulbs. They are placed in boxes made of cardboard or wood, and take out for fresh air for a couple of hours. Then for a week leave in a warm place, the air temperature should be not less than 20 degrees, even better - 30. It is allowed to place near the heaters and heaters. Corms are best dried, otherwise they are most likely to be infected with bacteria and fungi. As a result, the spring planting will not give the expected effect, many plants will not ascend.

The next 2 months after the bulbs were cleaned, they are stored in a room with normal temperature, 20-22 degrees. Care is also important during this period: they must be regularly stirred and turned over so that they are dried evenly. At the end of this period, all planting stock should be reconsidered. If you find damaged, with signs of disease copies, then they need to be removed and destroyed. In cases where the variety is rare and expensive, and the problem areas on the bulb are small, they can be cut. This place is then greased with a green.

If there is a high probability of infection of the plant with thrips, then it makes sense to break off the stump that remains from the stem. The place where it passes into the cover scales is best suited for pest life. Thus, the insect will remain without protection. But as a result of this procedure, the risk of bulbs drying out increases. Therefore, if the thrips was not noticed, it is worth leaving everything as is.

How to store?

After quality corms are selected, they are prepared for further storage at home. To do this, they are placed in bags of breathable tissues. Well suited for this purpose non-woven covering material, it is very easy to sew the sack by yourself. Each of these stores is labeled with important information: variety, collection time. It is convenient to make it out of thin sheet, then nothing can hurt it. On the tin strip, the handle is caught with data and traces them with an alcohol marker to easily read if necessary.

After preparation, the plants are placed in a cool dry place. The temperature should not rise above 8 degrees. The basement is well suited, but not the one in which the vegetables are stored: they emit moisture. You can store it in the refrigerator on the lower shelves.

The clubbrows do not dry for long, two weeks. Then they are put in sacks, signed and sent to wait out the winter in a cool place, like adult bulbs. Every month, all plants are revised to find out sick specimens in time, if they appear.

Care for gladioli is not easy, especially in winter. But if the cleaning was carried out on time, all storage conditions are met, then the spring planting will be successful and soon the site will be decorated with exquisite flowers.

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