Gladioli: storing bulbs for the winter

Content

1 Cleaning and storing gladioli
- 1.1 How to prepare gladioli bulbs before winter storage
2 How to store gladioli bulbs at home in winter
3 Conclusion

Gladioli are bulbous flowers, tall, with large voluminous inflorescences. These flowers will definitely not get lost in the garden; they invariably become the center of attention, thanks to their bright colors and exotic appearance. Growing gladioli is not difficult: they are not too demanding, and the plants do not need anything other than watering, tying up and fertilizers. WITHfalsehoods begin at the end of the summer season, when the flowers fade, the question arises of how to preserve the bulbs until next spring.

About how to store gladioli in winter at home, how to properly collect the bulbs, and what is involved Preparation them for winter storage, you can learn from this article.

Cleaning and storing gladioli

To the great regret of gardeners, it will not be possible to leave gladioli tubers directly in the ground for the winter - these flowers are too heat-loving, they will not tolerate Russian frosts. Even in the southern regions with a mild climate, gladioli are dug up in the fall in order to inspect the bulbs, sort and remove diseased specimens, and separate large tubers and children (tuber buds of gladioli).

In the ground, the bulbs become saturated with moisture, begin to suffer from fungal infections, rot and deteriorate. Because of this, every year digging up gladioli tubers in order to replant them in the spring in the same or another place in the garden.

A gardener’s work with faded gladioli can be divided into several stages:

Digging bulbs from the ground.
Trimming stems.
Drying and sorting tubers.
Disinfection of gladioli.
Storing bulbs for storage.

Attention! You don’t have to disinfect gladioli bulbs in the fall. If the tubers look healthy, this procedure is postponed until spring.

So, before sending flower tubers for storage, they need to be dug up and prepared accordingly.

How to prepare gladioli bulbs before winter storage

Preserving gladioli and their bulbs is quite difficult - the tubers are capricious and react too strongly to fluctuations in temperature and humidity. In addition, flower bulbs are a real “delicacy” for insect pests (most often these are tips); they are often affected by rot and fungal infections.

Storing gladioli bulbs is a difficult task, but quite doable. A large percentage of tubers can be saved if they are properly prepared for storage.

So, Tuber preparation is as follows:

The optimal period for harvesting gladioli is considered to be the beginning of October.. In most regions it is already cool at this time, but heavy rains and frosts are still ahead. Different varieties of gladioli differ in their flowering periods, so it is impossible to give an exact date for harvesting the flowers. It is optimal if the bulbs are dug up a month after the last bud withers.If the variety is late and cold weather sets in, you need to dig up the flowers as early as possible, regardless of the recommended timing (frost is much more dangerous than premature harvesting).
It is recommended to dig out the bulbs with a pitchfork, but you can also do this with a shovel. They retreat 10-15 cm from the bush and carefully dig up the ground, lifting it up. Use your hand to grasp the lower part of the stem and pull out the bulbs, being careful not to damage them.
The soil must be carefully cleaned and the stems trimmed with a sharp, clean knife or garden pruning shears. It is recommended to leave the stumps no shorter than 20 cm - this way the bulb will not dry out too much, and you can attach a tag to the remainder of the stem with the name of the variety and the shade of the gladiolus (this will help when creating a flower bed in the spring).
Peeled and trimmed bulbs are inspected, trying to identify all diseased, damaged, rotten or eaten by pests specimens. If the defects are small, you can try to cut them out with a sharp knife, and fill the wound with strong potassium permanganate or cover it with brilliant green. At this stage, different varieties of gladioli are sorted and labeled.
Now you should separate the children and annual unripe bulbs. The babies are stored in the same way as other tubers. The only recommendation: if possible, it is better to create slightly different conditions for the tubers, with a temperature of about 5 degrees and a humidity of 85-90%. Corms that have not had time to ripen are unlikely to survive until spring if they are stored with the rest of the gladioli. It is better to preserve such onions in paraffin. You just need to melt the candle, take the stem of the gladiolus with your hand and dip it into the liquid solution for a few seconds. Then quickly immerse in cold water and place in a cardboard or wooden box.
The basic rule for preserving gladioli until spring is that the bulbs must be thoroughly dried. Dry flower tubers at room temperature - about 18-20 degrees. Do not remove the scales from the bulbs, otherwise the tubers will evaporate the moisture too quickly and wither. Lay out the gladioli in a dry place on a shelf or table, provide them with regular ventilation and a constant temperature. So the gladioli should lie down for about 20-30 days.
After drying, it is better to disinfect the gladioli. This will protect them from fungus, rot, and the spread of infections. You can use a solution of potassium permanganate or chlorophos in a proportion of 20 grams per bucket of water. The corms are soaked in a disinfectant solution for 20-30 minutes. After this, they need to be thoroughly dried again!

Advice! If cold weather comes suddenly, you can stimulate the bulbs to ripen as quickly as possible. To do this, cut off the still green stems with pruning shears or a knife, leaving at least 20 cm. After a week or two, you can start digging up the bulbs.

The preparatory work is completed, you can start storing the bulbs.

How to store gladioli bulbs at home in winter

You can store tubers in different ways, but in order for them to last until spring and be healthy, you will have to adhere to the following regime:

air temperature – within 4-7 degrees;
air humidity – at the level of 65-75%;
complete absence of sunlight;
possibility of ventilation.

Here, a lot depends on the conditions in which the gardener lives, as well as on the number of gladioli. We can recommend several of the most successful ways to store gladioli bulbs for the winter.

Storing tubers in the ground

This method is good for regions with warm winters and mild climates.On the site it is necessary to find a place with low groundwater and loose, well-drained soil.

Here they dig a trench about 80 cm deep, its width should be at least 70 cm. Before the onset of cold weather, you need to put the gladioli tubers in wooden boxes, sprinkling the bulbs with dry sand or sawdust. The boxes are placed in a trench and covered with dry leaves, with plastic film stretched over the top.

Flowers will be protected from melt water, light frosts and precipitation. This method is good for those who do not have a basement on their property.

How to properly store bulbs in the basement

Not every basement or cellar is suitable for storing gladioli. Vegetables or fruits should not be in storage at the same time as flowers, since fruits evaporate moisture, and its excess harms the tubers.

The basement must be equipped with a good ventilation system and maintain constant temperature and humidity.

Boxes or cartons with bulbs sprinkled with sand or sawdust are placed on wooden pallets or grates to ensure air flow from below. In such conditions, the maximum number of tubers will be preserved, they will practically not lose in volume, and will be healthy.

How to preserve bulbs until spring in a city apartment

Many summer residents live in the city, so they have to store flowers in apartment conditions. Of course, the corms here will feel much worse than in the basement, but it is still possible to preserve most of the gladioli in a city apartment.

There are several ways to store corms in an apartment:

On the loggia. The corms are laid out in a single layer in boxes or crates and placed on an elevated place (stool, shelf). When severe frosts begin outside, the boxes with gladioli are covered with a blanket.
The room temperature range from 18 to 20 degrees allows you to store gladioli directly in the apartment. It is better to choose the coolest and most humid place in your home for this (toilet, closet, hallway or vestibule). The bulbs are wrapped in paper and placed in a plastic bag with many holes cut.
You can also store gladioli in the refrigerator, because the temperature and humidity are stable here. They are also wrapped in paper and placed in a bag or canvas bag.

Important! If the bulbs have lost a lot of weight by spring, become sluggish and light, they should be soaked in a growth stimulator.

Conclusion

You need to store gladioli bulbs at home correctly, then the planting material will be safe and sound by spring. Regardless of which storage method the gardener chooses, do not forget to regularly inspect the tubers, remove rotten or damaged specimens, and provide ventilation.