The amateur gardener is now faced with the annual problem of digging and storing his tender Summer-flowering bulbs.
He knows that failure to lift them, except for a few varieties that may be saved by adequate protection, will mean certain death to them.
Summer Flowering Bulbs
For storage purposes, the Summer-flowering bulbs may be classified into two groups: those that require a humid atmosphere and a temperature of 400-45∞, and those that require a dry temperature of 50° – 60° degrees.
Proper storage is a simple matter for the professional gardener since he is well-equipped with proper rooms, bins, and the best covering materials. Proper storage for the amateur gardener may be a different story.
Present-day homes are not equipped with the old-fashioned vegetable cellars which were ideal for bulb storage since they were cool and the dirt floor usually provided ample moisture without excessive dampness.
Modern Cellars
Even though modern cellars are warm and dry, adequate conditions can be created by the simple partitioning of an area, preferably where a window exists so that good ventilation and temperature can be maintained.
Control of these conditions requires nothing more than regulating the degree to which the window is opened.
In the absence of a window, a ventilator can be installed at relatively little expense. Should moisture be desired, moist sand may be kept on the cement floor below the storage bins or tier racks.
Good Storage and Proper Covering of Bulbs
Good storage conditions and the proper covering of bulbs alone will not assure sound bulbs next season. Inspection of every bulb and corm for injury or disease is a must.
Throw out diseased bulbs unless they can be saved by treatment. The inspection does not improve the quality of any bulb, but it does enable you to discard infested bulbs that may otherwise infest healthy bulbs.
A convenient and easily obtainable container for the storage of bulbs is the bulb flat. These can be purchased from almost any seedsman or florist.
Flats are generally 18″ long, 12″ wide, and 4″ deep. They can be stacked in tiers and separated by laths to permit ventilation.
Acidanthera
- Dig immediately after the first heavy frost.
- Cut off the foliage about 2″ above the corm.
- Place corms on trays or flats and expose them to the sun for four hours each day for three or four days.
- This is usually sufficient for thorough drying. Then store them in a warm place.
Begonia: Tuberous-Rooted
- Lift the tubers after the foliage has yellowed or after the first high frost has blackened it.
- Leave the foliage intact until it dries off.
- Remove the dried stems and clean the tubers of dried soil that may have clung to them.
- Cover the tubers with dry peat moss and store it in a warm place.
- If tubers are stacked in flats, place wedges or laths between them for easy circulation of air.
Caladium, Colocasia Esculenta: Elephant-Eared, and Caladium: Fancy-Leaved
- Lift after the first frost has killed the foliage.
- Store in a warm place.
Calla Varieties
- Calla Zantedeschia elliottiana (golden yellow)
- Zantedeschia albomaculates (white)
- Zantedeschia rehmannisuperba (pink)
Callas are very tender, so lift and dry before the first frost strikes them. Store in a moderately warm place without covering.
Canna
- Cannes may be left in the ground until after the first frost.
- After lifting, store preferably in a cool place.
- Cover with dry peat moss or sand to prevent the bulbs from shriveling.
Dahlia
- After the first killing frost, cut the tops at a point about 6″ above the ground.
- The clumps may be allowed to remain in the soil for another week or so.
- Lift very carefully with a spading fork since the tubers are brittle and break off easily. Discard any that may accidentally become detached.
- Next, place the clumps stem side down in flats or shallow boxes.
- Dry in an airy shed or garage until the soil will shake off freely. Before storing inspect carefully.
- Cut off fine roots and depleted roots, saving only the healthy, sound ones which developed during the past season of growth.
- As an extra precaution against stem rot, cut the stem back again to within three inches of the crown. They are now ready for storing.
- Put them in a cool room averaging about 40° degrees.
- If it is necessary to store them at a higher temperature, cover them with peat moss or sand. They tend to shrivel if stored in vermiculite.
Dahlias like some moisture. An added precaution is to dust them with sulfur.
Galtonia Candicans: Hyacinthus
This galtonia bulb may be lifted or left in the ground. If lifted, wait until after the first frost. Store in a cool place.
If not lifted, cover well with a mulch of leaf mold or compost after the top inch of the ground is frozen.
Gladiolus
- The corm of the gladiolus is easier to lift if taken up as the leaves begin to turn yellow rather than wait until the foliage has ripened fully.
- If convenient, dig when the ground is dry.
- After lifting, cut the foliage at a point 3″ above the corm and dry the corms in the sun for several hours each day for a period of 3 or 4 days.
- At night shelter them in a frost-proof shed or garage.
- Complete the drying process for a few days more in the shed.
- Before storing in a dry, cool place, clean and inspect each corm carefully.
- Dust with a 5% DDT powder or naphthalene flakes.
Hymenocallis: Ismene
Special handling must be given to this spider lily if the bulbs are to produce blooms each season.
- Lift the bulbs on the approach of cold weather or after the first light frost has blackened the foliage.
- Dig very deep when lifting in order not to break or injure the long, fleshy roots.
- Do not remove the roots.
- Spread the whole lifted plant on the floor of an airy, frost-proof shed.
- When thoroughly dry, remove the withered tops but not the roots.
- Store in a warm place where the temperature does not drop below 50° degrees.
- This temperature is necessary for the proper development of next season’s flower bud.
Montbretia: Summer-Flowering Bulb
Montbretia is another Summer-flowering bulb that may be safely left in the ground. It must be protected, however, with a heavy covering of leaves, preferably oak.
Cover the leaves in turn with boards or heavy branches to prevent them from being carried away by the strong, Winter winds.
Prevent Overcrowding
If left in the ground, montbretia will multiply rapidly. To prevent overcrowding and assure full bloom, lift the bulbs every three years and divide them.
If lifted each year, store them in a cool room or a cold frame protected against frost.
The Soil Should Not Dry Out
Lift in clumps and do not remove the soil. The soil should not be permitted to dry out. The bulbs may be separated in the Spring at replanting time.
A longer period of bloom may be enjoyed by lifting some and leaving the others in the ground since lifted bulbs bloom weeks later.
Tuberoses
The attempt to save tuberose bulbs from one season to the next is of doubtful value in the northern states.
The bulbs pretty well exhaust themselves each year so that they seldom flower the second season.
Bulbs Produces Bulblets
While each bulb produces many bulblets, these require planting in a greenhouse (luring the Winter to advance their growth so that they will flower the next season.
If bulblets are held and planted outdoors the following season, they will not produce flowers. An added year is necessary.
The chances of success with the exhausted bulb or the bulblets are hardly justified in because new bulbs are so reasonable in price.
Tigridia
Tigridia can be harvested and stored in the same way as gladiolus corms.
44659 by John L. Russell