Originally Published In The Deseret News Wednesday, November 6, 1991

Chores: Bottoms Of Most Should Still Be Salvageable. Store Them In A Coll, Dark Spot. Save Only The Best.

Chores: Bottoms Of Most Should Still Be Salvageable. Store Them In A Cool,

As much as I enjoy gardening, I've never liked to garden with snow on the ground. Perhaps some of you, like me, were caught by the recent snowstorm. I wish I could say I am done with all of my fall gardening and could now relax until next spring. Unfortunately, some tasks in my garden still need to be done immediately, if not sooner.

One important task is lifting the summer bulbs. These bulbs planted in the spring grow throughout the summer and must be dug and stored indoors to prevent frostbite. These summer bulbs are generally not bulbs at all but include corms, tubers and rhizomes. Some common flowers to be brought in right now include cannas, dahlias, gladiolus, ranunculus and begonias. These must be protected from hard frosts, or the plants will be destroyed.

There is really no good excuse for digging through the snow to rescue these bulbs. We try to enjoy their beauty as long as possible and, in some cases, just a little bit too long. None of them require frost before digging, and digging them a couple of weeks ago in 70-degree weather would certainly have been easier than digging them during the recent cold and snow. The tops of most of these will have been killed, but the bottoms should still be healthy and salvageable.

Check the first few that you remove to be sure that they have not been frozen. Depending on location, the amount of snow cover and the cold temperatures received, you may or may not be able to salvage all of them. Save only the best. Most will have produced numerous offshoots, and unless this is a superior variety, you may not want to save them all. Be prepared to compost large amounts of top growth. My canna beds alone will produce several wheelbarrow loads of large (but frozen) leaves and stalks. These are ideal for compost, and they decompose more quickly if run through a shredder.

After digging, the bulbs must be stored in a cool, dark place until spring. Use cardboard or plastic boxes, flower pots or plastic bags. Cannas produce many new rhizomes that can be separated now or in the spring. I prefer to leave the clumps together and bury them in layers of peat moss. This is not difficult but does require a large storage area. You can save space by dividing them now, leaving at least one bud on each division. Cannas are resilient and require little if any treatment to make it through the winter.

Dahlias are best dug in clumps and divided in the spring just before planting. Each division must have at least one bud. The buds are most easily noticed in the spring, just as the tubers start to sprout. Dahlias are more difficult to store, as they shrivel badly if the humidity gets too low, but will rot rapidly if it is too high. Again, store them by burying them in sand, peat moss, vermiculite or sawdust. Keep the humidity high by lining the box with a plastic bag.

Check them at least monthly. If the tubers are starting to shrivel, sprinkle a few drops of water over the top of the container prior to reclosing it. If excess moisture or mold is present, leave the tops open for the tubers to dry out. Tuberous begonias and cyclamen should also be brought in and stored under the same conditions. Divide them very carefully, because each division requires a bud to grow.

Gladiolus are probably the easiest to deal with. With the soil as moist as it is (providing it is not frozen), simply pull them out of the ground and lay them in a warm, dry area to ripen off. Cut the tops away with a sharp knife and allow them to dry further. They can easily be stored in a mesh onion bag or on wire mesh trays. They will store well under a wide range of humidities providing they don't freeze.

Don't overlook the small bublets or cormlets that form around the base of the corms. Gladiolus typically produce a new corm on top of the old corm, which withers away. The small cormlets can be removed in the spring and planted with the regular corms in a nursery row. They will generally not bloom until one year later.

Many growers routinely treat their bulbs before they store them. Fungicide dusts are important if diseases were in the bulbs or if you divide the bulbs in the fall. Insecticides are recommended if you've had an infestation of narcissus bulb flies or gladiolus thrips. All of these damage the bulbs, and a dusting of insecticide or fungicide will prevent problems the following year. Bulb dusts often include captan or sulfur for diseases, and malathion, lindane or thiodane for insects.

In addition to lifting the summer bulbs, plant the winter bulbs. Winter bulbs are not going to bloom in a cardboard box or paper sack on the garage shelf. Despite the cold and the snow, get them in the ground if you want to enjoy early blooms next spring. If weather conditions do not permit planting right now in your area, get them in the ground as soon as possible.

© 1998 Deseret News Publishing Co.