Homemade crocuses can be left in a pot after flowering, but garden crocuses will have to be dug up and stored if you don’t want the bulbs to freeze. Crocuses - flowers for one season? A misconception, most likely - for 3 seasons. Indeed, crocuses do not bloom for long, since the supply of nutrients in the bulbs is enough for several seasons, but when proper care you can stimulate the re-formation of the flower arrow. .
What to do with faded crocuses:
- Remove the flower stem and inflorescence.
- Wait until the leaves dry.
- Remove leaves or help with light pruning.
- Dig up and inspect the bulbs.
- Process if necessary.
- Dry and store.
When to cut off the surface part of crocuses?
The peduncle easily lags behind the neck of the bulb itself, but the leaves often remain after flowering has ended. As long as the crocus leaves are still green and attached to the bulb, there is no need to remove them. Wait until flowering is complete - the crocus leaves will dry out, turn yellow and separate from the leaf. Help the plants by removing them by hand.
How to store crocus bulbs?
The bulbs will be preserved in the basement or cellar with ventilation , in the closet or under the sofa, if there are no drafts. Some gardeners keep in a refrigerator , in the lower chamber. The bulbs are stacked together if all are healthy, or each is wrapped in newspaper. You can also put crocuses in a wooden box, cardboard box, or craft bags. On each one, sign the name, time of assembly, and additional notes.
Early forcing – when to do it?
Crocus bulbs wake up early, so don't miss the start of development. Before planting, it would be a good idea to have time to stratify the crocuses by placing them in cold conditions, then again in warm conditions.
Is it possible to force crocuses at home? At home, crocuses will form small flower stalks, so it is recommended to plant the plants in the ground for stimulation. Purple crocuses of Dutch selection, on the contrary, fit perfectly into home conditions, since they were initially “programmed” to form small buds.
Preparing crocuses for forcing:
- Store for the first two weeks at +20-30° C.
- Then increase the temperature to +34° C.
- Smoothly reduce to +18° C in the 5th week.
- Then up to +9° C and place in the refrigerator (4° C) for a week.
↓ Share your experience of planting and forcing crocuses in the comments.
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Air early spring filled with the aromas of primroses. Crocuses, like multi-colored beacons on the ground that has barely thawed after the cold, let you know that soon nature will come to life and delight people with a riot of colors. Many novice gardeners plant these spring flowers, but not everyone has mastered the rules of agricultural technology. IN this material We will talk about how crocuses behave after flowering, and what the owner should do with them next. When to dig up bulbs and how to store planting material.
General information about the crocus plant
The name of the plant comes from Latin language. Its second name is saffron. Garden crocus belongs to the genus Saffron, the Iris family (Iridaceae), the order Asparagales. The genus includes more than 80 species.
Crocuses in the forest
Crocus is a perennial herbaceous plant, which blooms in spring or autumn.
The bulb of the plant is covered with scales, it is round or slightly flattened, up to 3 cm in diameter, with a fibrous root system. From it, basal leaves develop and, most often, a single flower (sometimes 2-3 flowers appear).
Based on color, crocuses are divided into yellow-flowered (shades from creamy white to bright orange) and blue-flowered (from pale blue to dark purple). Sometimes there are albinos and flowers with white veins.
In nature, saffron grows in high mountain meadows, forests, steppes of Central and Asia Minor, Southern and Central Europe, North Africa, in the Middle East.
Additional Information! Dried flower stigmas are used as a spice in Asian and Mediterranean cuisine and as a natural yellow dye for homemade cheeses, butter, liqueurs.
Growing crocuses: features
The plant grows like open ground, for example, in the garden and indoors in pots.
Features of cultivation:
- Planted in lighted areas, on verandas, balconies, but not under the scorching sun and without drafts.
- The soil is suitable: neutral, light, loose, well permeable to moisture. The best option- loamy or sandy. For heavy soil, drainage is done to avoid infection of tubers with fungal diseases.
- Crocuses are not picky about soil nutrition. But during the period of growth and flowering, it is necessary to apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizers.
- The plant is drought-resistant. Frequent watering negatively affects flowering.
Flowers in an indoor pot
Important! For abundant flowering, spring crocuses are planted in October, and autumn crocuses in August.
Ideal time to harvest bulbs
Having had enough of the flowering, gardeners begin to wonder: the crocuses have faded, what should we do with them next? It should be noted that these are frost-resistant plants, so they are usually not dug up and replanted for 3-5 years. During this period, the mother bulb is overgrown with up to 10 daughter bulbs.
But it is important not to miss the moment when replanting crocuses to a new place is simply necessary.
Attention! Crocuses growing in one place for a long period can degenerate: the tubers become sick, rot, the flowers become sparse and small.
There are cases described when it is recommended to dig up crocuses once a year:
- in regions with cold winters to protect against freezing;
- to prevent the spread of diseases;
- in order to obtain young planting material.
Weather for cleaning
The dormant period for autumn plants is June-August, for spring plants - July-September. It begins when the leaves of the flower fall to the ground, turn yellow and begin to peel off easily.
Exactly this good time when to dig up crocuses after flowering for replanting, propagation and storing tubers for storage.
A dry, cool day is suitable for this type of work.
The process of digging up crocuses
Prepare inventory:
- pitchfork;
- a piece of polyethylene or tarpaulin;
- pruner;
- plastic box;
- household gloves.
- To the side of the crocus bushes, a prepared piece of film is spread on the ground.
- At a distance of 5-7 cm from the bush, drive the pitchfork to the full possible depth and remove the earthen lump onto the film.
- They carefully break it apart and take out all the tubers.
- They are cleared of soil manually or using a water jet. The roots are carefully cut with pruning shears.
- The onions are placed in a box, transferred to a shady place and dried, laid out on a flat surface in one layer.
The problem of how to dig up planting material to replant crocuses has been solved.
Digging up crocuses
Which crocuses do not need to be dug up in the fall: varieties
This season marks the flowering phase of autumn crocuses. Varieties of this variety are almost unknown to amateur gardeners. Here are some of them:
- Crocus Sharoyan has lemon-yellow rounded petals. Blooms in the second half of September.
- Sowing - large purple flower stalks. Its fragrant stigmas are dried and used as a spice. Blooms in September-October.
- Beautiful - one of the early tall varieties. It blooms in early September with large white or lilac flowers.
- Long-flowered - has different colors, late variety, flowering phase in November.
- Pretty - light purple large flowers, forming inflorescences of 5-10 pieces on one bush. They bloom in October.
- Kholmovoy - miniature white, appears in September.
- Banat - lilac flowers resemble the shape of an iris. It pleases the eye with its blooms throughout September.
How to properly prepare crocuses for storage
Dry the onions in a cool, shady place for 24 hours.
Then they carefully inspect for mechanical damage from pitchforks, insects, rodents, as well as for the presence of mold, disease, and ulcers.
The surface must be dry, without peeling scales, stains, and uniform in color.
Poor quality, spoiled ones are rejected and destroyed. Healthy, dense, large, clean onions are treated with phytosporin or a light dose of potassium permanganate and stacked by variety for storage.
How to store at home
The air in the room where the planting material is located should be fresh and cool. The temperature should be +15..+18 °C during the entire storage period.
Storing bulbs in boxes
For spring crocuses, the period of rest and storage is July-September, and for autumn crocuses - June-July.
Indoor crocuses and those for forcing are stored until early spring. At the same time, the lower temperature regime- +10..+13 ° C. They are planted 2.5 months before the desired flowering period.
Important storage rules before replanting crocuses :
- air temperature is not higher than + 18 °C and not lower than 0 °C;
- dry, well-ventilated area;
- cannot be placed in plastic bags, pour in bulk or fold in several layers in one container.
Attention! In cold weather, the onions are stored on an insulated balcony at an air temperature no higher than + 18 °C and no lower than 0 °C.
Cardboard and plastic wooden boxes with holes for ventilation, wide low containers with a layer of sandy soil and drainage and holes in the bottom, a nylon stocking or mesh bag, and paper trays for eggs are suitable.
Crocuses for forcing are placed on the shelves of a dry basement or cellar, where the temperature does not rise above + 10..+15 °C. Use the same container as for storage on the balcony. If the basement is visited by rodents, then the planting material is placed in one layer in small glass or metal jars and covered with a lid with narrow holes.
In the summer months, if there is no basement, each onion is wrapped in newspaper or thick paper and placed on the lower shelves or in refrigerator drawers. Containers and pots with crocuses are also placed there until the time for planting comes.
Treatment of tubers against diseases and pests
The main pests and diseases are presented in the table:
| Pest, disease | Way to fight |
| Mice | Do not leave heaps of grass or leaves in the beds with plants in which rodents build nests. Make a barrier in the ground plastic bottle around the bush. Repel with ultrasound. |
| Cutworm caterpillars | Pick them out of the ground while weeding the area. |
| Wireworms | Make a trap: dig a hole in the ground, pour grass into it, pour water on it and cover the hole with a board. Wireworms will crawl onto food and warmth. Burn this grass along with the wireworms. To completely get rid of the pest, you need to make traps several times. |
| Slugs | Buy special remedy To combat the pest, sprinkle the planting site with coarse sand. |
| Aphid | Treat the planting material with a special preparation, Karbofos. |
| Viral and fungal diseases ( gray mold, fusarium, chlorosis) | Isolate and destroy diseased onions. Fight disease vectors on the site: aphids, thrips, ticks. Fertilize the soil with nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers in a timely manner. |
Rotten and healthy onion
Important! To avoid infection of healthy tubers from sick ones, they are treated with wood ash. Before transplanting crocuses, the tubers are pickled with preparations containing copper or a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Pest damage during storage
During this period, check for blooms, damage and diseases monthly. Spoiled planting material is immediately rejected.
Rodents pose a great danger: mice, rats. Their entry into the room with onions is unacceptable. Complete isolation from rodents can be achieved by placing the tubers in glass or iron containers and covering them with lids with holes for ventilation.
Caring for the quality and safety of planting material is the key to magnificent flowering of crocuses. It won’t take much time, but it will give several months of aesthetic pleasure to the whole family.
Don't rush to throw away your plants. First you need to try to prolong the flowering of crocuses in pots. At warm temperature air, they rather fade, and sometimes simply wither from the rapid change of conditions in which they are kept. If the apartment is hot, then the crocus may simply dry out in 1 or 2 days. Because of this, it is best for you to place the pot on a cool loggia or near a window, if it is cooler there. In such conditions, you can extend flowering by 2-3 weeks, it depends on the stage of purchasing the flower (the bud has grown, the flower has appeared).
What to do after the crocuses have finally bloomed?
Once the crocus has finished blooming, cut off the flower stalks. Forcing destroys the bulb regime. In crocuses, the bulb rots and leaves roots, so they need to grow new bulbs to replace them. Continue caring for the plant: water thoroughly, you can feed it with a solution 2-3 times mineral fertilizer, suitable for indoor flowers. But it is better to feed it with potassium-phosphorus fertilizer, for example, ash or superphosphate and potassium. This is necessary so that the weak bulb after active flowering gains as much strength as possible for the next season.
If the leaves turn yellow, gradually reduce the watering rate, and then stop watering altogether. Then all the leaves will dry out and fall off, and nutrients will only hit the bulbs. After the last leaves have completely withered and dried, remove the bulbs from the pot and clean them of soil. Divide the onion; during this time it should have formed a replacement onion and children. Clean off old roots and scales from them. Dry them, wrap them in napkins or newspaper and place them in a dark, but warm and well-ventilated place for a month. Then store the bulbs. You can put them in paper bag and put it at the bottom of the refrigerator where vegetables are stored, not in the freezer.
Plant them in the fall in the soil summer cottage. Perhaps on next year they will not bloom, but at least they will gain strength and grow. If they have enough nutrients, they will grow normally, and perhaps the crocuses will bloom later, even if the baby bulbs are smaller in size than the mother bulb. After three years they can again be taken from garden plot for forcing.
How to easily remove crocus bulbs at home?
At the end of September, plant the bulbs in a small pot. You can use any loose, air- and water-permeable soil that has a neutral reaction. The content of nutrients in it does not affect flowering. But if you want to continue to use the flower, then plant it in soil, which consists of turf soil, leaf soil and mixed with sand.
Water them intensively and let the remaining water drain. Wrap the flower in a pot in a plastic bag and place it at the bottom of the refrigerator for 3-4 months, place it in the compartment where you usually store fruit. You can occasionally ventilate the plants for 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the refrigerator 2-3 weeks before your desired flowering date.
