Gladioli are beautiful bulbous flowers, but in order for them to please again with their flowering next year, you need to prepare them for winter. Most of their varieties do not need special care in autumn. All work comes down to digging them up on time, in accordance with the weather conditions, and not waiting for the leaves to turn yellow. It is clear that for the early varieties this is done first of all, the later ones can wait a little, but in any case, all manipulations will need to be completed before a strong cold snap. Gardeners are interested in how to store gladioli in the winter at home. In order to understand this issue, you need to know why such storage is generally necessary.

Why and what are gladioli stored for?

Many gardeners are wondering why even dig up flowers for the winter. Especially often this question is asked by summer residents from the southern regions. Indeed, the tuber, often accidentally forgotten during preparation, winters well in the soil, and germinates again in the spring. But in fact, not all varieties of gladioli tolerate frosts well. In addition, the digging is done not only in order to protect them from the cold, but also in order to prevent fungal diseases, to which gladioli are very sensitive. This material must be examined, the affected are removed, processed, but those that remain hibernating in the ground are likely to be infected.

Gladioli

How to prepare gladioli for storage

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There are certain rules - it is recommended to dig out gladioli only in sunny weather, in most regions - from mid-September. It is more convenient to do this with two scoops with rigid handles. So there is less risk of damaging the bulbous structure. Corms are pulled out of the ground together with the children and put into a suitable container.

Important! After digging, the bulbs and children must be rinsed in water - any sieve is suitable for this. Already clean planting material is dried, etched and laid out in textile bags, on which you need to write a flower variety.

Preparation for storage of gladioli in most cases comes down to just this - cleaning, drying and pickling. The fact is that it depends on how well they will survive the winter. If unfinished specimens fall into the basement or refrigerator, the likelihood of infection with fungal diseases will significantly increase.

How to prepare gladioli for storage

So that all the material can be well stored, after the bulbs are washed and pickled, they are still dried for two to three weeks, providing a temperature of 25-30 ° C. Then for another three to four weeks, depending on the situation, they will have to be dried at room temperature. Novice gardeners who want to know how to store gladiolus bulbs in an apartment until spring are often intimidated by such long periods. But one rule applies here - it is better to dry out than to allow the risk of excess moisture.

To better preserve the bulbs, they are treated with preparations such as Inta-Vir, Hom or their analogues.

How to keep gladiolus bulbs in winter until spring at home in an apartment

How to store dahlias in winter

How to store gladiolus bulbs, and most importantly - where, you need to decide in advance. This is due to the peculiarities of the temperature regime.In a private house, a cellar is suitable for such purposes if it has a normal humidity of 80%. But how to keep gladioli in an apartment is a more difficult question.

Important! The ideal temperature for storing the material is + 8 ° C, with a higher rate, they can grow, and then by the spring the gardener will only have seedlings that cannot bloom.

Storing the bulbs

Storing gladioli in the winter at home is possible, for example, on a windowsill, but only if the windows are wooden. Plastic windows are sealed and have such high thermal insulation properties that the required temperature will not be there. Good options are in the hallway at the front door, and in high-rise buildings - in the common vestibule. A winter garden or a glazed loggia will do, but only if there is no severe frost. When they come, future flowers are brought into the room, but they must be kept at the balcony door.

Another option is a refrigerator. There is always a stable temperature or humidity, and you can always check the condition of the planting material. A modern Japanese or Korean refrigerator will keep the temperature for a long time even with a power outage.

Gardening tips

When to plant gladioli

In order for the bulbs to retain moisture, it is recommended to wrap them in a triple layer of newspaper during storage. It is not recommended to take polyethylene for these purposes, since it does not allow air to pass through, and the planting material will "flutter".

Storing gladioli in winter

When stored in a cellar, it is not recommended to put the bulbs together with vegetables and fruits. In the refrigerator, they are kept in vegetable containers, but also separate from vegetables. And the newspapers are regularly changed so that mold does not appear on them.

Spring planting will take place without problems if you follow the rules for storing the bulbs. Of course, before gardening, the material will have to be sorted out again.