Forcing ornamental plants in winter
Contents ✓
WINTER FORTING OF PLANTS - WHAT AND WHEN
Flowering plants in an uncharacteristic time for it is called forcing. And this is not an achievement of modern agricultural technology.
More than two centuries ago, gardeners used this technique to enjoy the flowering branches of lilac, viburnum, fragrant bouquets of lily of the valley, delicate flowers of bulbous crops in the middle of winter.
Forcing ornamental plants in winter - A fascinating occupation and a wonderful outlet for a yearning gardener.
FAVORITES OF WINTER FREEDOM
For successful forcing, you need to choose the right planting material. The easiest way is to buy specially prepared onions. Usually they are sold in the form of gift sets consisting of several bulbs, flower soil and a decorative container. Of course, you can buy ordinary bulbs.
But in this case there is no guarantee that they are ready for winter distillation. You can use your own material: select the largest and most healthy bulbs from your own plants. But it is important to keep in mind that for flowering out of season, bulbs of only the first analysis are suitable, that is, the largest.
As for the varieties, it is better to give preference to proven, which are traditionally used for distillation.
The dwarf daffodil of the Tete-a-tet variety does not exceed 20 cm in height, therefore it is ideal for distillation at home. A bright yellow flower looks very unusual, it has a long middle of a more saturated color and shortened petals. Unpretentious, easy to breed, when grown in the garden does not require frequent digging, however, it belongs to the cyclamen group, which is not very stable in the climatic conditions of the Moscow region.
Multifloral, or Bouquet, Paperwhite Daffodil on one peduncle, it blossoms from 10 to 20 flowers with a diameter of about 4 cm. The flowers are of a delicate milky white hue and have a bright spring aroma, do not fade until 3 weeks. The flower stalk height is about 40 cm. The variety is notable for the fact that it does not need a cold period and therefore is excellently used for distillation.
Tulip varieties Apeldoorn refers to Darwin hybrids with early flowering. The plant reaches a height of 45-60 cm. The tulip stalk is strong, the flower is goblet with petals of a traditional shape. The diameter of the half-open flower reaches 6 cm, and in the open state 10 cm. The color is fiery red, black closer to the bottom. Pestle light, anthers of stamens black. It prefers sandy, light, nutritious soil of neutral acidity or alkaline.
See also: Forcing flowers at home - photos, steps and tips
Tulip varieties Princess Irene reaches a height of up to 55 cm, peduncle durable. The petals are orange-red in color, while at the base there is a maroon edging that divides the petal into two halves. The duration of flowering is up to 15 days.
Hyacinth varieties Marconi - with leafless erect peduncle, broad-linear leaves up to 20 cm long are collected in a basal rosette. The flowers are pink with a slight purple tinge, form inflorescences of medium density, reaching a length of 15-20 cm. The diameter of one flower is up to XNUMX cm.
Bismarck Hyacinth often used for early distillation. The flowers have a pale violet color and a darker longitudinal strip, while rather large (up to 4 cm in diameter), are located on long (about 2,5 cm) pedicels. Inflorescences are broad-conical in shape, approximately 12 cm high and up to 9 cm in diameter. Each inflorescence has 20-25 flowers. i The variety is distinguished by altitude, reaching a height of up to 25 cm.
Crocus large-flowered varieties Jeanne d'Arc up to 15 cm high. The flower is brilliant, milky white with subtle light lilac strokes, with a diameter greater than 3 cm. Oval-shaped petals. The stigmas of the pistils are large, fringed, bright yellow in color. The variety is unpretentious, resistant to pests and diseases.
Crocus Pickwick blooms with bright two-tone flowers: along the petals of a soft lilac hue pass milky white stripes. In the center of the flower are bright yellow stamens. A flower opens its petals only in sunny weather, but does not lose its decorative effect until 3 weeks. The rosette is formed from narrow basal leaves of a deep green color with contrasting white veins. The variety is practically not susceptible to disease.
Liliya Volkhova refers to Asian hybrids of domestic selection. The height of the plant is about 100 cm. The color of flowers, the diameter of which is 14-15 cm, is golden yellow with a slight blush in the center and on the outside. Flowers are wide-cup-shaped, in the center there are single dark brown spots. In total, in the loose carpal inflorescence, 9-12 flowers are collected, facing up.
Lily varieties Nochka - one of the classic Asian hybrids. The loose broad-cystic inflorescence of the plant consists of 13-18 dark cherry-red flowers of a malovid form. Flowers with a diameter of 11-12 cm are directed to the sides. Plant height 90-100 cm.
Lily varieties Belyanka medium flowering period. Plant height up to 95 cm. Leaves are green. From one bulb appears 2-3 sturdy straight flower stalk. The pyramidal inflorescence consists of 11-14 flowers, while at the same time 3-5 blooms. The flowers are star-shaped, directed upward and slightly to the side, white-creme with purple spots in the center, have a weak aroma. Perianth lobes wide, pointed, wavy.
FORCING BULBS
Traditionally, bulbous plants are used for distillation - tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses. In winter, you can easily make blossoms and lilies - they are most suitable for this variety of Asian hybrids, content with a fairly low temperature and dim lighting during distillation. By the end of autumn, in early flowering species of lilies, the future stem, leaves and flowers are fully formed in the replacement bud, so their bulbs are almost ready for flowering.
"Winter" in the refrigerator
For successful forcing, it is required to properly prepare planting material. Bulbs are prepared specially, withstanding the necessary temperature conditions. They need some time to root: tulips - 3-4 months, hyacinths -2-3 months, daffodils - 2,5-3 months, crocuses - 2-2,5 months, lilies -1,5-2 months.
Bulbs are planted in small pots or boxes filled with light garden soil with added sand. The thickness of the substrate layer above the top of the lily bulbs is 7-8 cm. The tops of the tulip, daffodil and crocus bulbs should be flush with the ground, and hyacinths are buried in the soil mixture by 2 / 3-3 / 4. Then the onions are watered and left to root.
All this time, boxes or pots with bulbs planted for forcing should be in the dark at low temperature. At home, a refrigerator is usually used for this - a compartment for storing vegetables.
In planted bulbs, even a slight increase in temperature for a short period causes physiological changes that lead to the development of short or lodging peduncles, their fragility, and the death of buds.
Smooth transition to heat and light
When the "cold" stage is passed, the onion pots are transferred to the light in the room and begin to water the plants. During distillation, they need a lot of moisture. It is necessary to accustom plants to room temperature and light gradually. With a sharp increase in temperature, a large mass of leaves will develop, and flower arrows will not form or flowering will be very short. So, crocuses at a temperature of 20 ° fade in one day. Hyacinths and tulips flower stalks are underdeveloped, and they also bloom for long.
A positive effect on flowering is a decrease in night temperature up to zero. It is recommended in the first few days of distillation to keep plants out of the light all day, cover for several hours with a dark paper cap or a flower pot. Otherwise, flower stalks will develop weakly, will be short and bloom without rising above the leaves. If the buds have stained, and the peduncle has not yet reached its length, the pots are returned for several days to a cool and dark place. This technique will also help slow down flowering. And vice versa, flowering can be accelerated by increasing the temperature and increasing the illumination.
As for the lilies, they need additional lighting from the moment the shoots appear. Typically, at a temperature of 16 °, plant backlighting should take place over 4-5 weeks. The flowers that open in the room do not fully retain their varietal properties: their color is paler, but they will retain their decorative effect for 3-4 weeks.
Reference by topic: Bulbous - rules of forcing
After flowering
When the plants bloom, watering is gradually reduced, and then when the leaves turn yellow, they completely stop. After a month and a half, when the leaves fall, the bulbs must be removed, cleaned of the remaining soil and pickled in ONE of the available fungicides, and then sent for storage, as is done with bulbs dug in the garden.
This material is no longer suitable for repeated distillation, since distillation depletes the bulbs, during which they only consume previously accumulated reserves. In the garden, being planted at standard times in the fall and with conventional agricultural technology, they will still grow and delight with their flowering.
CLEAR THE DURATION TIME
According to the timing of flowering, early (from mid-December to mid-January) and late (from mid-January to April) distillation are distinguished.
Bulbs of hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, crocuses for early (winter) flowering are usually planted from the last decade of September to the end of October. So that the plants bloomed already in early spring, in March-April, they are planted later in November and even early December. Lilies planted in late November bloom by mid-February, and you can admire the flowers in early March when planting at the end of the first decade of December.
Often unscrupulous firms that distill lilies, after cutting flowers, dig up bulbs and sell them at completely bargain prices, which attracts gullible customers.
Such planting material, as a rule, does not live up to expectations. Plants not only exhausted their supply of nutrients, but also fell out of the normal development cycle: late in the fall they can go into growth and the cavity under frost. Such bulbs are usually light in color (like new), their roots are also light, and it is clear that they are young, and the base of the stem is solid, unripe.
FORCING LANDS
Imagine this picture: outside the window there is frost and a snowstorm, and on the table you have fragrant lilies of the valley ...
To create such a miracle is not so difficult.
Lilies of the valley are easy to distill. Moreover, lush and more beautiful are obtained varietal garden plants, forest ones are smaller, and it is more difficult to drive them out in color.
For distillation, rhizomes with well-developed flower buds are selected, they must be thick, blunt-pointed and directed upward from the rhizome. The buds from which the leaves are formed have pointed tips. Best used for digging forks, so you less damage plants. Try to be careful. During distillation, lilies of the valley do not grow new roots, but receive moisture from existing ones. The plant takes nutrients from stocks deposited over the summer in rhizomes.
Rhizomes need to be put in boxes, sprinkled with moist peat or, better yet, layered with raw moss, while the bottom of the box should also be covered. Then you should water and maintain constant, but not excessive humidity.
Stimulating cold and awakening bath
Keep boxes with rhizomes of lilies of the valley in the shade in the open air. With the onset of cold weather, it is advisable to let the rhizomes freeze at a temperature of minus 5-6 °. This technique will facilitate the forcing and make flowering more plentiful and friendly. Then the boxes will need to be moved to the basement or to the loggia or to the closed balcony. For distillation for the New Year, you need to keep them under such conditions until December. In December, get, cut the rhizomes to 12-15 cm and immerse in a warm (32-35 °) bath in the 12-16 h. During this time, the lilies of the valley will wake from sleep. The cooled water will need to be changed or heated to maintain the temperature at the desired level.
After the bath, the rhizomes should be laid out in containers for distillation on loose warm soil at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other, covered with moss mixed with peat and turfy soil.
Cover with a small layer of clean moss from above and maintain humidity by spraying (but not watering!) Such a “cake” with warm water (temperature around 35 °).
The temperature of the soil during distillation should be 30-35 °, and air - 23-25 °, so it is best to keep containers with plants near the battery and often spray with warm water. Before flower arrows appear, it is recommended to cover the containers with a dark dense cloth.
Flowering can be extended
Lilies of the valley bloom in about 20-25 days from the start of forcing. With the advent of buds, lighting should be full. But for the first time after removing the shading, plants need diffused light, for which you can cover them with gauze in one layer.
If the plants started growing earlier than planned, then the containers with flowers should be placed in a cool place (air temperature around 16 °), but a bright place so that they wait their time without losing freshness. Also, cooler conditions will help to preserve flowers that have already blossomed. Watering can be reduced, but an earthen coma should not be allowed to dry out.
FORWARDING VILLA-LOVE
In winter, you can make the two-leaf love bloom. Popularly, this plant is also called an evening meal or night violet. Lyubka throws a beautiful long sultan, whose strong mesmerizing aroma is most fully revealed after sunset.
From the garden - to the pot
It is advisable to prepare planting material for the winter forcing of night violets in advance, at the end of autumn. However, to find a plant at this time when its flowering has long been completed, and the stems and leaves have dried, is quite difficult. Therefore, often love is dug up in the summer, without waiting for it to wither. This should be done with extreme caution, since the tubers at the night violet are very delicate, one awkward movement can damage them.
Luba has two tubers. One of them is larger, but flabby, dirty brown. This is the mother tuber, it was formed last year and disappears in the fall with the death of aboveground organs. The second tuber (smaller, but juicy) is a daughter tuber of the current year. Its color is whitish yellow. In the spring of next year, a young tuber gives birth to a new plant - a flower-bearing stem and leaves come to the surface, and a new tuber is born to replace the last year.
The dug up plants must be carefully transplanted into small flower pots filled with turf soil. The soil for night violets should be moist and loose, to pass water well. When planting, the soil needs to be slightly compacted so that there are no voids around the tubers. Then the containers are added dropwise in a shady place of the garden and left until frost. If there is no free space in the garden, then you can dig pots with a night violet in a large box with earth.
Cool
With the onset of cold weather, the pots are brought into the house or placed on the insulated balcony or in the loggia. Any bifolia needs an air temperature of 10-15 °. Such conditions can be provided to the plant by placing it between the window frames. It is important not to forget about watering, they should be regular, but not plentiful, so that the soil is constantly in a moderately wet state.
In warm
As a rule, already in January, Lyubka issues two shiny sheets. Soon, flower arrows appear between them. Now you need to wait until the buds on the plant begin to turn white, and then move the pot to a warmer place. This technique will help accelerate flowering. But if the flower stalk is too long stretches, it is better to return the plant for a while in the cool. With the help of such a permutation, flowering can be regulated: to accelerate it, the love is placed in a warm room (22-24 °), but if the appearance of flowers needs to be delayed, they are sent to the cold - closer to the window glass or to the loggia, where the air temperature does not exceed 12- 15 °. Flowering plants need more frequent and abundant watering. To extend the flowering period and preserve the decorative appearance of the love, wilted inflorescences are removed.
To achieve the flowering of the double-leafed love by March 8, you need to bring plants into the room not in January, but in February. It is possible to determine more precisely the start date of the distillation experimentally. To do this, part of the pots with planted plants needs to be put into the room at the same time, and part - with a shift of a week or more.
In order not to work blindly the next time, but to go on the beaten track, all your actions — from collecting tubers to going through all stages of forcing — write to the calendar, fixing by date.
See also: Dedusting of decorative shrubs
And back to the garden
After distillation, the double-leafed love can be returned to the garden again. First, the plant, which has completed its flowering, is transferred (in the same capacity) to a cold place and left there until spring. And with the onset of spring, they are planted in a permanent place as early as possible. Before planting, water the plant in moderation. Since night violet prefers neutral or slightly alkaline soil, it is advisable to introduce some wood ash into the ground before planting.
BULB FORCASTING TECHNOLOGY - VIDEO
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At the end of November, it's time to start distilling hyacinths and daffodils - you will receive flowering in late January-February.
Bulbs are planted in containers with drainage holes in a substrate of high peat and sand (3: 1), buried on 2 / 3. To make the flower stalks stronger, water the plants with a solution of calcium nitrate (2 g per 1 l of water).
Keep hyacinths at a temperature of +24 degrees: the first week - in the dark, then - in the light. At the beginning of flowering, reduce the temperature to + 15 ... + 18 degrees.
Keep pots with daffodils in the light at an initial temperature of + 12 ... + 15 degrees, then increase to +18 degrees, and with the beginning of flowering again return to + 12 ... + 15 degrees.