Winter Storage Of Planting Material For Flower Crops. Storage Of Bulbs, Tubers, Root Tubers And Corms

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

Early spring. Only the snow has melted, and already snowdrops and early spring flowers are reaching for the sun, opening their cups to meet the warm rays. But their holiday is not long. Faded and wilted, they go to rest. And other flower aristocrats, princesses and kings are in a hurry to replace them, and all summer until late autumn they delight us with the elegant colors of our native nature. But they also leave the ball of life and retire, so that next spring they will be reborn with a new riot of colors. How to preserve the abundance of the flower world in order to repeat the holiday of life every year?

Content:

• Technology of winter storage of planting material of flower crops
• Winter storage of bulbs
• Winter storage of tubers
• Winter storage of corms
• Winter storage of root tubers

Technology of winter storage of planting material of flower crops

The easiest storage of flower crops is provided by ripe seeds. But they do not guarantee the preservation of the maternal traits of the plants. In some flowering plants, the time of obtaining flowering plants is greatly lengthened. Some groups of plants have adapted to reproduction by modified vegetative organs.

Bulbs, tubers, corms are modified stems. Root tubers are thickened roots with vegetative renewal buds, for which they serve as a nutrient base. Vegetative planting material is dug out before leaving the plants to rest and stored under certain conditions in closed rooms. The room for winter storage is disinfected in advance and the appropriate container and materials for the shelter (sand, sawdust, peat, burlap, etc.) are prepared.

Winter storage of bulbs

Biological characteristics of the bulb

The bulb is a modified underground shoot with a flat stem (bottom) and colorless fleshy leaves (scales), the nutrients of which are consumed to form a new plant. Bulbs can be annual with annual digging (tulips) and perennial (daffodil, amaryllis, tulips). By the type of scale formation, they are divided into 2 groups:

• with filmy scales, like tulips and daffodils,
• and tiled scales, like those of lilies.

The bulbs of the first group on the bottom at the base of a succulent scaly leaf form an axillary bud, which gives rise to an aerial flowering shoot or children. Above, the bulb is covered with dry scales that perform a protective function against damage and drying.

Tiled bulbs have very narrow juicy scales. They are located loosely, do not cover each other and do not form a single protective cover. In the axils of the leaves, small bulbs are formed (they are called airy).

Duration of digging the bulbs

The term for digging the bulbs is determined by the appearance of the stems and leaves. In a tulip, the stem becomes soft, changes color, easily wrapped around a finger, in daffodils and hyacinths, the leaves completely dry out.

Bulb preparation and storage

If necessary, rinse the dug out bulbs in running water. For 0.5-1.0 hours, lower it into a strong solution of potassium permanganate (dark red color of the solution) or another disinfectant and lay it out in the shade for 3-4 hours to dry. For disinfection, you can use biological products harmless to humans "Baikal EM-1", Fitoverm, Iskra, Maxim. Work with drugs according to the attached instructions.

Put the dried onions (preferably in 1 layer) in boxes with legs about 10 cm high. Place the boxes in a column one above the other. The legs of the drawers allow free circulation of air and the necessary small draft. Dry in a dry room for 4-7 days, depending on the maturity of the bulbs at an air temperature not lower than +20 - + 25 ° C.

We sort the bulbs, brought to the ripeness condition, and clean them of old roots, husks and other residues. We separate the clearly sick and those with external defects in the form of wounds, yellowish spots, weeping.

Divide the selected healthy bulbs into size fractions. We separate the babies (only those that can be separated without effort) from the mother's bulb.

We distribute the sorted bulbs in separate boxes in a small layer and put them in a shaded room, but already without drafts.

Do not store bulbs in a tightly closed box. They will immediately begin to soften and rot. Remember! Rotting fungi are everywhere and quickly activate in humid environments.

It is necessary to check the condition of the stored material for disease control on a weekly basis and at least 2 times a month. Ruthlessly destroy all bulbs with whitish or yellow spots on the outer scales or general darkening of the bulbs with the appearance of an unpleasant odor. This is a clear sign of fungal and putrefactive diseases.

Storage conditions for bulbs

The air humidity in the room where tulip bulbs, hyacinths, daffodils are stored is 60% and should not rise above 65%. High humidity leads to an increase in diseases.

Bulbs of tulips and daffodils dug up in summer are stored until September at a temperature of 15-17 ° C and planted in the ground.

Hyacinths need a higher storage temperature - + 25 ° C, so they are located away from the outer doors of the store. 2 months before disembarkation, they are also transferred to storage mode at +15 - + 17 ° C.

- To obtain earlier flowers in the open field, some of the bulbs are transferred 2 weeks before planting to a room with an air temperature of +6 - + 9 ° C.

It should be noted that some bulbous can and should be left in the soil for several years and dug out when the plantings become thickened. During this period, plants develop well in natural conditions and acquire an unusual decorative and flowering charm.

Winter storage of tubers

A tuber is a modified one-year underground shoot that is used by a plant as a storage organ and at the same time has all the features of a vegetative organ. On it are dormant buds with all the necessary vegetative organs in their infancy. Under suitable conditions, shoots with leaves appear from the buds, and the developing young organ begins to function as a full-fledged vegetative shoot. Tubers differ in shape and size. They are elongated, round, flattened and other shapes. The tubers include garden crops: potatoes, earthen pear, artichoke, stachis. The flower group is represented by calendula, water lily, tuberous nasturtium, tuberous begonia, gloxinia, pelargonium, gesneria.

The timing of the digging of tuberous plants

Tuberous plants are dug out until the aboveground mass dies off completely. The yellowed tops of garden plants, half-dried leaves of flowering plants are a signal to start digging tubers and laying them for storage.

To keep the storage organ in good condition, the above-ground stems and leaves are immediately removed from the dug tubers without leaving a hemp.

Preparation and placement of tubers for storage

Tubers, like bulbs, are shaken off the ground before storage.

If the soil is clayey and lags poorly, then the tubers are placed in containers with holes and immersed in a bowl of water for 1 hour. Then, with rinsing movements (carefully), the impromptu sieve is freed from the sodden soil, and the tubers are rinsed with clean water.

Immersed in a disinfectant solution of potassium permanganate for 1-2 hours. After disinfection, lay out in an open place to dry.

The dried tubers are examined, the beaten, cut with a shovel during digging, and the sick are selected. Healthy tubers are placed in a single layer in boxes or baskets and placed for winter storage in a basement or winter pit. All diseased tubers are destroyed, the damaged ones are added to the compost pits.

Storage conditions for tubers

Tubers are stored in a basement or other premises at a temperature not exceeding +9 - + 10 ° C. At zero temperature, the tubers die.

Air humidity is maintained within 70-80%. If the humidity is low, the tubers are stored in sand. Open tubers in dry air quickly lose moisture, shrivel and die.

At high humidity, the room is ventilated and heated.

If the tubers are stored in an ordinary room (in an apartment, in a house), then the boxes are covered with sand and placed away from heating appliances and drafts.

Remember! 2-3 years storage of tubers at room temperature (+ 18- + 20 ° C) leads to plant degeneration. The inflorescences lose their decorative effect and become smaller.

2-3 times a month the tubers are examined, the sick are removed. Rotten ones can be cut off and, sprinkled with crushed coal, stored separately from whole healthy tubers.

In the spring, before planting, shriveled tubers are kept in warm water for 10-12 hours.

Winter storage of corms

Corms combine the characteristics of a bulb and a tuber. They represent the underground stem in the form of a rounded storage organ with buds in the upper part of the corm. The buds form a flowering stem. In the lower part of the corm, there is a compressed section of the stem (bottom), where babies are formed. Outside, the corm is covered with scales, which represent the dried bases of the leaves (gladiolus, crocus, sparaxis).

Cleaning of corms and preparation for storage

Harvesting of corms, like other flowering crops, is best done in dry, sunny weather. If the damp weather has dragged on, and the digging cannot be postponed further, then the dug out corms are immediately washed from the ground in running water, the stem is cut short (stump no more than 0.5 cm) and laid out to dry. Corms are dried under a canopy or in a dry room for 10-15 hours.

In dried corms, the children are separated from the old part of the plants.

If there are several varieties, work is carried out alternately with each variety. The selected material is folded into separate cloth bags and paper bags and provided with a label.

Before laying for storage, each type and variety of corms is cleaned of sick and damaged ones and the selected material is treated from diseases and pests. The planting material is kept in a strong solution of potassium permanganate for 1-2 hours or treated with biologics Fitoverm, Iskra, Maxim according to the recommendations.

Storing corms

The disinfected and sorted material is laid out in boxes or small containers, dried open in an apartment at +20 - + 25 ° C for 1-2 months, and then transferred to a dry room with a temperature of +4 - + 9 ° C.

Monthly planting material is examined and diseased corms are removed.

If there is little planting material, it can be stored in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf or windowsill, monitoring the temperature.

Winter storage of root tubers

Root tubers are also called root cones. It is a modified root that provides the plant with nutrients stored for future use in the bloated vegetative organ. Plants with a typical root tuber - dahlia, clivia, buttercups (ranunculus). Root tubers extend from the base of the old stem, where the bud of the plant's resumption of growth is located. Therefore, when digging, it is very important not to damage the base of the old stem at the end of the root tuber. To protect the kidney when digging root tubers, stumps of an old aerial stem 4-10 cm high are left.

Root tubers of plants perform a double role: they provide the stem and other aboveground organs with nutrients - on the one hand, and are the initial organ for the development of the roots themselves, which, during growth, provide the plant with water and mineral salts - on the other.

Preparation of root tubers and storage

After digging the root tubers, we prepare them for storage in the same way as the corms: shake off the ground, rinse under running water.

We carefully inspect the root tubers, cut off the real roots, separate the old root tubers. We disinfect by completely immersing the planting material in a solution of potassium permanganate. We treat the left stump with a disinfectant. The prepared planting material is dried in the shade or in a closed room for 4-7 days at an air temperature of +20 - + 25 ° C and laid out in 1-2 layers in boxes.

Sprinkle the bottom of the box and each layer with soil, sand or peat. Cover the boxes with thick paper on top. You can stack root tubers in one layer on racks.

The air temperature in the storage should not exceed +4 - + 6 ° С, and the humidity should not exceed 65-70%. Given the high humidity in the room, it is necessary to systematically ventilate the storage and constantly monitor the condition of the planting material in order to timely separate the diseased material from the healthy one.