Planting, growing and caring for crocuses in open ground

Many summer residents try to decorate their summer cottages with beautiful flowers. Most often, saffron or crocus are planted in the garden or flower beds. This herbaceous plant differs from other flowers in its bright colors and long flowering. Before planting a flower, you need to understand the peculiarities of planting and caring for crocuses in open ground.

Features of culture: nuances of application in landscape design

Crocuses are considered one of the most common plants used in landscape design. They are used to decorate flower beds, ridges and mixborders. Many experienced landscape designers recommend combining crocuses with other flowers to create beautiful floral arrangements. The plant goes well with daffodils, hyacinths and even tulips.

Using saffron in landscape design, it is planted next to low-growing flowers. This helps to create a unique and vibrant composition that can decorate any area.

Growing conditions

Before you start growing a plant, you will have to figure out the optimal conditions for its further growth.

Illumination

When growing crocuses, you need to take care of the lighting level in advance. Some people believe that they should be grown immediately in bright rooms, but this is not so. For the first 2-3 weeks, seedlings are germinated in a dark place, without sunlight. After the first sprout appears, the container with the seedling is brought into the light for the first time.

If the surface of the sprout is loose, it means that the light stage has not yet arrived and therefore you should not transfer the flower to the light. We'll have to wait another 5-8 days. When the flowering phase begins, the saffron will have to be moved to a shaded place for a week and a half.

Temperature

The quality of planted seedlings and the duration of their flowering depend on compliance with the temperature regime.It is necessary to maintain the temperature even before planting crocuses in the garden. First, the tubers are stored at 30 degrees for ten days, after which the temperature is gradually lowered to 20 degrees. Then the seed is hardened so that it gets used to temperature changes. To do this, it is stored for a week and a half in a cool room, where the temperature does not rise above ten degrees.

Planted flowers grow best at a temperature of 15-20 degrees.

Optimal humidity

When growing flowers, you need to monitor the humidity level so that it does not rise too much. To maintain optimal soil moisture, you need to take care of high-quality drainage. Experts recommend planting crocuses in loose soil, which allows water to pass through well and ensures normal air circulation.

Required soil composition

Growing crocuses is very easy if you plant them in the most suitable soil for such a flower. Experts advise planting flower tubers in light, well-drained soil that is rich in nutrients. In order for the plant to grow better, overripe manure and a little compost mixed with sand and wood ash are added to the soil in advance.

It is contraindicated to feed a flower bed with crocus bushes planted with fresh manure, as this may cause the plant to dry out.

Neighborhood

Before choosing a place to plant a crocus, you need to familiarize yourself with the plants around which it is best to grow it. Many gardeners plant it near the following perennial plants:

• phlox;
• heuchera;
• hydrangea.

The above perennials quickly grow in width and protect crocus seedlings from the sun. Thanks to this, their leaves are less likely to turn yellow and fall off.

How and when to plant crocus bulbs

In order to plant saffron correctly, you will have to understand the timing and features of its planting.

Deadlines

There are autumn and spring seasons for planting crocus bulbs. Therefore, before planting them, you need to decide when is the best time to do it.

Autumn to winter

Some gardeners plant flowers in the autumn. Most often this is done in October, when the ground has not yet frozen from the nightly drop in temperature. Residents of Moldova, Ukraine and the southern regions of Russia can plant almost until the end of autumn.

Gardeners who live in the Urals will have to plant flowers early. Planting work must be completed before the twentieth of September. You can't plant bulbs in October because of the cold weather.

in spring

People who did not have time to plant seedlings in the fall have to plant them in the spring. In spring, it is necessary to plant pre-sprouted crocus bushes in flower beds. In this case, replanting should be done when the soil is heated to 8-10 degrees. In the southern regions, the earth warms up to this temperature by mid-April. Residents of Siberia will have to wait a little, until the middle or end of May.

Depth and planting pattern

People who have never planted flowers are interested in what depth to plant crocuses. Experienced gardeners advise deepening the tubers 10-12 centimeters deep. To make the first shoots appear faster, the seed can be planted higher - at a depth of 5-6 centimeters.

During the planting process, you need to monitor the distance between the holes. They should be 15-20 centimeters apart from each other. If you plant flowers too close, they will grow slower due to lack of nutrients and light.

How to care for a plant in the garden

Having planted young crocuses in the garden, they must be properly cared for.

Watering and fertilizing

Following agricultural practices for growing saffron will help grow healthy flowers. When caring for a plant, it must be properly watered and fed. If the area with planted plants was covered with a dense layer of snow in winter, watering is not necessary. A large amount of moisture negatively affects the growth of crocuses. However, if there was no snow, you will have to moisten the soil once every 2-3 months.

Fertilizing is applied once - when planting the bulbs. Potassium and phosphorus fertilizers are added to the soil.

Loosening the soil

Some people think that loosening the soil is not necessary, but this is not true. In order for flowers to grow and bloom normally, you need to regularly loosen the soil. This promotes the supply of oxygen and moisture to the top layer of soil. It is recommended to do loosening after each watering and prolonged rains, when the ground is covered with a dense crust.

Flower pests and diseases: prevention and treatment

Often planted crocuses suffer from viral diseases, which cause deformation and cracking of the petals. Also, viral diseases lead to stunting of seedlings and yellowing of leaves. To prevent and eliminate diseases, crocuses are treated with fungicidal solutions.

Popular pests that often attack flowers include:

• aphid;
• slugs;
• scoops;
• rodents.

To prevent pests from appearing on the flowers, they will have to be planted near cultivated plants.

Transfer to a new place

Crocuses need to be replanted every five years. In this case, planting in a new place is carried out at the same time as usual planting of bulbs.

Before planting, all the bulbs are dug up and thoroughly dried in a room at room temperature for about three months. Then the peeled scales are trimmed and the old roots are cut off. After this, the dried and trimmed bulbs are planted in the ground.

Crocuses after flowering

Beginning flower growers do not know what to do with crocuses when flowering has ended.

What time should you dig up bulbs?

After flowering is complete, it is recommended to dig up the bulbs for winter storage. This is done when all the petals on the plant have fallen. Most often, bulbs are dug up during the dormant period, which begins in the twenties of June and ends at the end of August. However, some varieties of crocuses may take longer to bloom and are therefore dug up several weeks later.

How to store bulbs

The bulbs removed from the soil are washed from the remaining soil and dried in a shaded place, protected from the sun. They should be stored at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. After 2-3 months, the bulbs can be placed in a cooler place.

Crocus propagation

Crocuses reproduce in two ways, which you need to familiarize yourself with in advance.

Seeds

The easiest way to propagate flowers is by seeds collected from adult plants. Seeds are planted at the end of summer or in the first half of September. Before planting, the seed is treated in manganese liquid and stimulants, which accelerate the growth of planted crocus seeds.

Bulbs

Some gardeners prefer to plant sprouted bulbs rather than seeds in the flowerbed. The main advantage of this method of flower propagation is that it is possible to obtain healthier seedlings that are resistant to most diseases.

For planting, choose large tubers, the size of which is 5-6 centimeters. There should be no damage or signs of rotting on their surface.

Why don't they bloom

Sometimes planted crocuses stop blooming. There are several reasons for this problem.

Incorrect landing

Problems with flowering may occur due to improper planting of saffron. The plant blooms more slowly if planted too close. Therefore, when planting, you need to ensure that the bushes are at a sufficient distance from each other. Also, flowers do not bloom due to non-compliance with planting dates and improper care.

Excessive division

Sometimes the mother bulb produces a lot of children, which negatively affects the development of the flower. In this case, most of the nutritional components are spent on the development of daughter bulbs, and therefore flowering may be delayed or not begin at all. In case of excessive division, it is necessary to remove all young bulbs so that they do not interfere with the growth of the plant.

Pests

Plants may stop blooming due to being attacked by dangerous pests. Most often, crocuses suffer from rodents that feed on mature bulbs. Due to serious damage, flower buds stop forming on the bushes, and the plant gradually dies. To protect the seedlings from rodents, you will have to plant them in plastic containers.

Incorrect variety selected

There are spring-blooming and autumn-blooming flowers, which are planted at different times. Inexperienced gardeners who have not previously planted crocuses often confuse the varieties, which leads to poor flowering and slow growth of seedlings. Therefore, to avoid confusion, you need to figure out in advance which variety is planted in the garden.

Conclusion

People who want to decorate their area with flowers sometimes plant crocuses. Before planting plants, you need to understand the peculiarities of growing bulbs in open ground and how to properly care for them.