Storage Of Seedlings Until Spring

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

We figured out the purchase and planting of seedlings. But what about those cases when the planting material is purchased, but it is not possible to plant it in the ground for some reason? Is it possible to somehow store the purchased plants and for how long? We will consider all these questions in our article. There are several ways to preserve seedlings until spring

Preparation of seedlings

First of all, you need to inspect the seedlings. Remove all leaves from the crown without damaging the sinus buds. On the roots, we cut off all damaged rhizomes: dry, rotten, frostbitten. We check for the presence of various seals and cones on the roots, remove all processes with such formations.

After that, we put the seedling in the water. If the plant is not dry, with a glossy, slightly shiny and even bark, then its root should be lowered into water for 2-3 hours. If the planting material is overdried, the bark is slightly wrinkled, and the rhizomes are dry, then we lower the entire seedling in water for about a day so that it is saturated with liquid.

In order to save the planting material, we need to dig it in. This method is called garden ditch (or simply: dripping).

We are looking for a place to dig the seedlings

To use a garden ditch, we need to find the highest, well-ventilated and sunny place on the site, preferably not very far from the fence, so that in winter the snow does not blow away from the place where our seedlings are buried. In the area where we will drop our plants in, moisture should not accumulate, otherwise in winter the roots of the seedlings will simply freeze out.

Preparing a trench for seedlings

After the optimal place has been found, you need to prepare a pit for a ditch. We dig a trench, about 2 bayonets deep in the direction from east to west (or from west to east), the length of the trench depends on the amount of planting material. By the way, when digging, we make the southern side of our groove inclined, the angle of inclination should be approximately 45 degrees. This is done to make it easier to lay the seedlings.

We lay seedlings

After the trench is ready, we carefully lay our seedlings into it, obliquely, with the tops to the south. The distance between plants must be at least 20 centimeters. Then we sprinkle the roots with earth, while carefully watching that there are no voids. Then we water, for each seedling you need 5-6 liters of water. Now we add earth to make a small slide, about 15-20 cm high. Everything, our seedlings are ready for wintering.

The method above is suitable if you are preparing a seedling for wintering in the fall. But what if it's winter outside? For this time of the year, there is a special method - snowing.

Snowing

For this method of preserving seedlings, we need a container, a large bag, sand, sawdust, rags or moss. It doesn't matter what you choose, you must first steam the substrate with boiling water. That is, we pour our "soil" into a container, fill it with boiling water, mix thoroughly, close with a lid and leave it to cool completely. By the way, there should not be too much water, otherwise our seedling will die.

After our "soil" has cooled down, we take a seedling and a large package. We lower the plant into a container and carefully fill it with the prepared substrate so that there are no voids left. Further in the bag from below we make several holes for air access. Then we carefully wrap the bag around the trunk just above the root collar.

If there is little snow outside, then we temporarily lower the seedling into the basement. When the height of the snow layer is at least 15 centimeters, we take our seedling out into the street, add it in the snow and sprinkle it on top with a layer of sawdust. This is done in order to protect the snow from melting during the temporary thaw period and to save our plant from sudden changes in temperature.