Winter Worries Of The Florist

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Inspection of flower seeds, inspection of bulbs and tubers, forcing of bulbs

In the middle of winter, when fruit trees and berry bushes are at rest, it's time to take up flower crops.

In this case, first of all, you should conduct an audit of flower seeds and check them for germination in order not to miss the optimal sowing time.

If it turns out that the seeds will not sprout in 10 days or the percentage of seed germination does not even reach 50%, they must be replaced with new ones. The second task at this time is to look at the stored bulbs and tubers.

When diseased bulbs and tubers are found, they are separated from healthy ones, the diseased parts are cut out, and the cuts are sprinkled with crushed charcoal.

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By the end of the month, the summer resident or gardener grows more worries, since it is already possible to sow, for example, Shabo carnations, as well as start preparing for forcing tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. This is the third winter challenge.

For sowing Shabo cloves, either clay enamel bowls or a wooden box with a height of at least 6 cm are used, which are filled the day before sowing with prepared soil, which is lightly tamped and spilled with a pink solution of potassium permanganate so that the soil is moist, but not wet. On top of the soil, washed and calcined sand is poured with a layer of about 0.5 cm, and if it has not become wet from the soil, it is sprayed from a spray bottle.

After that, grooves are made in the sand with a step of 2 cm and a depth of 0.5 cm, seeds are sown in them, which are sprinkled with the same sand, lightly sprayed with water, covered with a double layer of newspaper and placed in a dark place with a temperature of 15 … 18 ° C. To prevent the substrate from drying out, it is periodically watered. When seedlings appear, containers with crops are placed on the windowsill.

In preparation for forcing bulbous crops - tulips, daffodils and hyacinths - boxes with pre-rooted bulbs are first brought into a dark room for 3-4 days at 15 ° C for tulips, about 10 ° C for daffodils and about 22 ° C for hyacinths, after which they are taught to light for five days, and the first 1-2 days are kept without watering.

I can judge from my own experience that successful forcing of these crops can only be expected if the bulbs are well rooted, and the sprouts have reached a height of at least 5 cm in tulips, 10 cm in daffodils and 8 cm in hyacinths. The direct forcing of these flowers, which is the fourth winter task of the grower, is usually carried out in the second half of February.

When forcing the containers are exposed as close to the light as possible, and the temperature is raised for tulips to 20 ° С, for daffodils - up to 18 ° С, and for hyacinths - up to 23 … 25 ° С. At the same time, plants are constantly (up to twice a day) watered with warm water so that the substrate is always in a moist state. In the case when the illumination is still insufficient (due to the orientation of the windows to the north or due to cloudy weather), it is necessary to provide illumination of the sprouts.

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To do this, it is best to illuminate the plants used for forcing, not with incandescent bulbs, but with Reflex lamps, which combine high radiation efficiency with a favorable spectrum for photosynthesis. I checked this on my own experience. In addition, they allow you to adjust the strength and direction of the light flux. Importantly, this light does not irritate the human eye. Under these conditions, tulips, daffodils and hyacinths begin to bloom in 3-4 weeks, and if desired, they can be ready for cutting on March 8.

Unfortunately, when forcing tulips, failures are possible. I also encountered them when I tried to get spring flowers in winter. For example, a peduncle may not appear, or, say, "blind" buds have formed, watery spots have appeared on flowers, etc. In the first case, most often the reason is the wrong selection of bulbs, in the second - the wrong choice of variety or time of selection, and in the third - the use of acidic soil and a lack of calcium in it.

It follows that in order to achieve success in growing flower crops in the winter, the florist must strictly adhere to and perform all the necessary agricultural practices, including those mentioned in this publication. And then on holidays you can please your family and friends with bunches of spring flowers.