Crocus flower - planting and care in the open field

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Crocuses are flowers of the iris family, attracting attention with their unusually bright buds, which, like multi-colored beacons, appear on the ground that has just thawed after winter. These unpretentious plants do not require special care, but you still need to know everything about the rules for planting them and the features of their further development in the open field.

Varieties of flower culture

Plants are conventionally divided into 15 groups, differing in color of inflorescences and height of bushes. The first includes hybrids that bloom in autumn. The rest are spring-flowering varieties, most of which were bred by Dutch scientists.

Another separate group consists of hybrid specimens obtained as a result of crossing the golden and two-flowered crocus:

1. Spring crocus. Reaches a height of 17 cm. The bulb is flattened, covered with mesh scales. Straight narrow-linear leaves with a white-silvery longitudinal stripe develop from the root. The flowers are white or purple, with a long funnel-shaped tube.
2. Crocus two-flowered. Differs in a variety of shapes and shades - from pure white to brownish-purple.
3. Crocus Tomasini. The perianths are painted in lilac-pink tones, there are specimens with a white edging along the edge. The opened inflorescences have the shape of a star with a white throat and a tube of the same shade. One tuber produces 1-3 flowers up to 60 mm long. Flowering begins in April, lasts 18-21 days.
4. Crocus golden. Reaches 20 cm in height, has corms of a flattened spherical shape. Leaves are golden, straight, with shiny perianths. Outside, the petals of some hybrids are decorated with brownish markings or stripes. The stem is red, the anthers are orange.

Hybrids that bloom in autumn are represented by several varieties, including:

1. Crocus Beautiful. The flowers are purple-lilac with burgundy veins, up to 70 mm in diameter. The length of the leaves is up to 30 cm.
2. Crocus Pretty. An incredibly attractive plant with light purple flowers adorned with dark paths. Their height reaches 7-10 cm, in diameter - about 60-80 mm. Blooms in September-October, 5-10 flowers appear on each bush.
3. Crocus Banatsky. It has gray-silver straight leaves about 15 cm long, the height of the bush is up to 14 cm, inflorescences of a light lilac shade with yellowish anthers.

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Dried crocus stigmas are used to make the popular condiment, saffron.

Tuber selection rules

In order for crocuses growing in the open field to please those around them with an incredibly beautiful appearance, you need to take care of the quality of the tubers and organize appropriate care for the plants. For planting, choose healthy bulbs with a whole, intact shell. It is advisable to buy them in late summer or early autumn.

The bulbs purchased must be heavy and firm, without sprouted roots and shoots. Sluggish and loose specimens are discarded, since such an appearance indicates the presence of a disease.

Another important point is the absence of any mechanical damage. Any violation of the integrity of the shell leads to the multiplication of pathogenic microorganisms, which become the initiators of various diseases, which can lead to infection of all plantations.

Healthy specimens do not have black spots and putrefactive lesions. Before planting, remove old scales from the bulbs and disinfect them by sprinkling with ash or soaking in a manganese solution. For the same purpose, fungicides can be used (Skor, Vitaros, Fundazol and others).

Disinfected tubers acquire resistance to various diseases, including gray rot. To activate the growth processes, it is recommended to treat the material with such means as Heteroauxin, Kornevin and others.

Site selection and soil preparation

Crocuses are characterized by rapid growth, so they need a large area for normal development. Flowers need to highlight a well-lit area, although they feel good in partial shade.

Plants do not tolerate excess moisture, and planting in swampy soil will lead to decay of the root system. Depleted soil requires the introduction of mineral fertilizers, without which normal care is impossible.

Spring specimens are planted in open ground in September-October, autumn specimens in spring. To prepare the soil for laying planting material, you must perform the following steps:

• carefully dig up the substrate, add rotted manure, compost or nutrient composition from lime and peat;
• add fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium to the soil;
• treat clay soil with ash.

To avoid moisture accumulation, the soil is drained with coarse river sand or fine gravel.

Autumn planting of crocuses

The most favorable time of day for planting is considered the evening after sunset or a cloudy morning. It is not recommended to engage in planting work on a sunny and dry day. The rule applies to absolutely all garden crops.

What to do:

1. In the selected area, holes are prepared by digging and fertilizing the soil.
2. If necessary, if the soil is heavy, or there is a possibility of stagnant water, sand is poured onto the bottom.
3. The corms are planted strictly vertically.
4. The planting depth is about 5-7 cm, which is about three bulbous heights. Large specimens are planted to a depth of 10 cm.
5. Crocuses are considered family plants, so the distance between them should be minimal: about 3-6 cm from each other. If you plan to dig them out in the future, it is better to make the plantings thicker.

At the end of the work, the ridge is well watered and a layer of mulch is laid, for which spruce branches or fallen leaves are used. This will serve as a winter shelter for the culture.

Spring planting

Many gardeners use the crocus forcing system at home, after which they transplant the plants into open ground. In the spring, the flower stalks are cut off from the bushes, preserving the foliage, and the roots are freed from the pot along with an earthen clod.

Planting is carried out at the same depth and at the same distance as during autumn cultivation. The tubers are covered with a layer of soil, watered abundantly and mulched.

Features of outdoor care

Crocuses are picky culture and do not require special care. It is necessary to water the flowers only as needed, when the soil after snowmelt has received an insufficient amount of moisture, or there is almost no rain in the spring.

It is noteworthy that the height of the bush depends on the saturation of the soil with moisture, that is, the more it is, the higher the plant. Drought-resistant crocuses need regular loosening of the soil with the accompanying extraction of weeds.

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During the growing season, the bushes should be fed, while the introduction of fresh organic matter is best avoided. Saffron has a positive attitude to mineral fertilizers, elements such as phosphorus and potassium are especially important for its full growth and development.

But with fertilizers containing nitrogen, you should be extremely careful, since an excess of this substance in wet weather can provoke the development of fungal diseases.

For the first time, fertilizers are applied in early spring, before the snow melts. During this period, the flower will gratefully accept a complex mineral fertilizer at the rate of 30-40 g per m². The second feeding is carried out during the flowering period, using the same complex of elements, reducing only the nitrogen part.

Rules for caring for crocuses after flowering

Crocuses grow in one place for about 4-5 years. To extract the bulbs from the ground or not - the gardener determines on his own, evaluating the density of plantings. If they have grown too much, the flowers will gradually become smaller and less attractive.

In this case, it is recommended to dig up the tubers when the foliage turns yellow and begins to dry out. This happens about 2-4 weeks after the end of flowering, that is, around May-June.

The extracted corms should be sorted out, the damaged and sick ones should be discarded, and the healthy ones should be left to dry. After a week, they must be sorted by size and sent for storage.

It is best to fold the crocuses into a cardboard box and place them in a well-ventilated dry area. Planting material is stored at a temperature of + 15 … + 20 degrees. In late August - early September, the flowers are ready for planting.

Summarize

1. Crocuses are an unpretentious and undemanding flower culture that has many varieties.
2. Plants are drought tolerant, but need regular loosening of the soil.
3. Crocuses can be transplanted into open ground in early spring or early autumn.
4. At the end of flowering, which lasts about three weeks, the bulbs need not be dug out. If the plantings are too overgrown, it is recommended to remove the tubers from the ground and store them until autumn.
5. Crocuses can be grown in pots and transplanted into open ground.