When to dig out hazel grouses after flowering

Description of the flower

Grouse imperial, or royal (botanical name - fritillaria) is a very unusual perennial exotic plant of the Liliaceae family. In appearance, it resembles the ritual hat of an Indian chief, worn on a high pole, or a miniature paradise tree. Large bells in the amount of 5-7 pieces hang in clusters from under the thick cap of green feathers. yellow, orange, and sometimes fiery red.

Grouse imperial - a beautiful, but difficult to grow flower

For your information! Due to the peculiarities of the inflorescence, it is also called the "royal crown". Grouse is a purely Russian name because of the spotted color of the flowers of some species.

In height, the peduncle often reaches more than 1 m, and the bulbs of some varieties, including the royal hazel grouse, can weigh up to 1 kg. It blooms after the winter cold one of the first, from April to May. When the nature around looks still quite gray and dull, this handsome man begins to delight with his fiery, like tongues of flame, flowers.

But now summer comes, hazel grouses have faded, what to do next with them?

Grouse is a bulbous plant, a close relative of daffodils, tulips and lilies. And many gardeners have a question, when should the hazel grouse be dug up after flowering? Should this be done at all, and if necessary, how often? Annually, or much less often?

Features of planting imperial hazel grouse

To get a beautiful and long-lasting flowering of the imperial hazel grouse, you should prepare for planting in advance.

The choice of planting material

Nowadays, buying bulbs is not a big deal. They are offered at a reasonable price in specialized stores and at flower exhibitions. The color of the flowers of the imperial hazel grouse is mainly limited to orange, yellow and red shades. Therefore, you should not believe the pictures with pink, purple, black or pigeons attached to the bulbs.

When choosing a planting material, you should pay attention to its size and quality:

The bulbs must be at least 4 cm in diameter, otherwise it will be difficult to wait for flowering.
Grouse bulbs can weigh from 500 g to 1 kg.
The landing material is a flattened ball with a through hole.
The bulbs should not be soft or cracked, moldy or rotten.
The presence of roots is allowed on the planting material. Dried last year's shoot is not removed.

Choice of place and timing of boarding

For the successful cultivation and reproduction of hazel grouses in the open field, planting should be carried out in open sunny areas. Imperial hazel grouses will grow well in partial shade. Therefore, they can be planted on the southwestern and western slopes, near the gazebo, terrace and country house, under deciduous shrubs.

The site must be protected from the wind, which can break the tall stems of the plant. If it is not possible to find such a site, then you can use special props.

Planting bulbs in open ground can be done in two ways:

If the planting material was stored in a layer of sawdust in the basement, then in the first half of March the plant is planted in large containers under room conditions. As soon as the last frosts have passed, seedlings with developed stems can be planted in open ground.
In areas with a mild winter climate, hazel grouses are planted in the fall at the end of September - mid-October. In the future, they will need a shelter from frost, which is provided with film, compost, sawdust. The disadvantage of this method of planting is that with a protracted spring, partial rotting and damping of the planting material occurs.

How to plant the bulbs correctly?

The hole must be prepared two weeks before planting hazel grouses. Its dimensions should be 40x40 cm in length and width, and the depth of the hole depends on the size of the bulb and averages 30 cm.If a group planting of plants is planned, then the distance between the holes is about 25-30 cm.

After two weeks, sand is poured into the holes, and a peg is inserted into the center of such a length that it rises another 50 cm above ground level. Near the stuck peg, an onion is laid on the sand and sprinkled with compost-fertilized soil.

What are these flowers

Grouse or Fritillaria are herbaceous perennial plants, they are representatives of the Daylily family. In total, there are more than 140 types of such flowers. Natural habitat - East and West Asia. In appearance, hazel grouses resemble corollas, lowered down.

They look like a small flowered palm tree near the very top. Often, hazel grouses are also called paradise plants. The bulbs are renewed every year, they are wide and fleshy. There are no scales on the bulbs, so they must be handled with great care, otherwise they are easily damaged. Ground stems are densely covered with leaves, which have a narrow linear or oblong-lanceolate shape. Leaves are asymmetrical, arranged in a scattered manner.

The inflorescences hang down, their top is lowered to the ground. They can be solitary, bristly, umbelliferous. These plants are ephemeroids - there is a nectary near the base of each leaf. It looks like a small indentation that has an oval, round shape. Grouse fruits are capsules with seeds inside.

The period of peduncle formation begins early, when the air temperature becomes stable. They bloom in parallel with the first spring flowers. Two buds are usually formed on each shoot.

Fritillaria are very fond of growing in a well-sunlit place, but they can also be planted in partial shade. The soil should be fertile, light, neutral acidity.

Do I need to dig imperial hazel grouse every year

This question is still quite controversial, and amateur flower growers with unquenchable activity probably ask their friend - Google: “Hazel grouse: when to dig it out?”. Some admirers of this specimen consider its annual excavation extremely necessary, others that once every two or three years is quite enough. Each grower will decide this for himself. Both methods have their pros and cons.

Imperial hazel grouse seeds

Pros of annual digging:

digging prevents the development of diseases that can develop in the bulbs during the dormant period, especially large specimens are susceptible to them (to which the imperial hazel grouse belongs precisely);
prevention of pest attacks, since during the period of sleep the plants cannot resist them;
each adult bulb forms one or more replacement bulbs, that is, by digging them up, you can increase the amount of planting material for the next year. A good option for small businesses. If the hazel grouse is propagated by seeds, then the first flowers can be expected up to 8 years. This breeding option is suitable exclusively for growing a flower on an industrial scale;
if the bulbs are left in the ground without annual digging, they will become smaller, which will negatively affect the flowering process in each subsequent season;
the bulbs are large enough and, in addition, grow rapidly, as a result, the area of their feeding decreases. Due to the lack of trace elements for the next year, the plant may be frail and bloom poorly or will not bloom at all.

Note! Since the bulbs of this plant do not need a soilless period of rest, they can be planted immediately after digging up, but this option has its negative aspects in the form of the appearance of pests and diseases.An adult bulb forms not only replacement, but also small children, which, when dug up, are very easily damaged, often break off from the mother, are lost in the soil and may not germinate the next year without growing

From this point of view, it is better to dig out hazel grouse bulbs every two years, when the children grow up and gain strength.

An adult bulb forms not only replacement, but also small children, which, when dug up, are very easily damaged, often break off from the mother, are lost in the soil and may not germinate the next year without growing. From this point of view, it is better to dig out hazel grouse bulbs every two years, when the children grow up and gain strength.

So, having weighed all the pros and cons, everyone decides for himself when to dig the hazel grouse after flowering, and what to do next when the hazel grouse has already faded.

Grouse planting and care in the open field

Agrotechnology and transplantation of hazel grouses is performed when the plant ends the growing season.

When to transplant imperial hazel grouse - the best time to transplant a plant is late summer or early autumn. During transplanting or after buying the bulbs, you must immediately plant them in the ground, as there are no scales on the bulbs, and they dry out quickly and lose the ability to grow.

If you are unable to plant the bulbs right away, it is best to place them in a container of damp peat and place them in a cool basement. But a later planting of a plant often leads to a lack of flowering the next year.

The bulbs are planted on prepared, dug soil with many nutrients. It is necessary to immerse the bulbs to a depth of about 20 cm. Sand or peat bog is poured on the bottom. After the onion is planted and its root system is straightened. The bulbs themselves are treated with a light manganese solution before planting, this is necessary for disinfection.

The soil for the hazel grouse does not matter what kind of land you have on the site, before planting the hazel grouse, you need to add coarse sand, peat soil and humus to it. Also, the plant is good for additives in the form of ash.

The soil is moistened without allowing the soil to dry out too much. After the end of flowering, you need to water once every 30 days.

Diseases and pests

If the royal hazel grouse does not bloom, then the reason may be the wrong planting depth and freezing of the bulbs, and there may also be insufficiently fertilized soil.
Why did the hazel grouse turn yellow - after flowering, the lower leaves of the plant gradually begin to die off, gradually striving upward. This is the stage of natural leaf withering away and there is no need to worry.
If improperly moistened, the bulbs may begin to rot, so the plant must be dug out, the bulbs infected with rot must be treated with a manganese solution and then dried at high temperature and the cuts must be sprinkled with fine charcoal. And then plant it in the ground.

Types of hazel grouse and photo of flowers

Grouse Russian - Fritillaria ruthenica Wikstr.

Perennial herbaceous bulbous plant, up to 40 cm tall. The bulb is up to 1 cm in diameter, flattened, consists of a bottom, one storage scales and two membranous scales. The stem is straight, thin, leafy starting from the second third.

Leaves, 11-19 in number, opposite or alternate, slightly stalk-enveloping, linear, sharp, 6-9 cm long and 3-5 mm wide. The upper leaves are opposite, filamentous, close together, with a thin tendril-shaped twisted top. With them, the hazel grouse clings to other plants, receiving additional support to hold the weight of large flowers and set fruits.

This hazel grouse has ordinary flowers, in the amount of 1–4, large, drooping, bell-shaped. The perianth is corolla-shaped, brownish-purple on the outside, with a dark obscure checkerboard pattern, yellow inside. The fruit is a capsule.

It grows on the steppe slopes and bottoms of ravines and ravines, along the edges of steppe oak forests and bushes.The plant mainly uses atmospheric moisture, since its bulb with adventitious roots is located in the uppermost horizon. The early termination of vegetation and the transition to dormancy is an adaptation to the transfer of drought. Prefers humus-rich, fertile soils. In the forest-steppe and steppe, it occurs mainly on leached chernozems, often grows on chalk and calcareous substrates (calciophil). Blooms in May. The flowers are pollinated by the wind. Propagated by seeds and daughter bulbs.

note in the photo - flowers hazel grouse this species is one of the most decorative.

Dagan's hazel grouse - Fritillaria dagana Turcz. ex Trautv.

A species of herbaceous plants of the Grouse genus. Perennial plant, herbaceous bulbous 20 - 35 cm high. The bulb is round, consists of several small scales. Whorled stems. Stem leaves are oblong-lanceolate, up to 8 cm long, rounded at the base, collected in one whorl and located in the upper half of the stem. Tepals up to 4 cm long, brown-violet outside, yellowish inside.

It grows mainly in meadows, grassy slopes of the mountain-forest belt.

Grouse Mikhailovsky.

A low plant, the length of the stem does not exceed 20 cm. The main feature that should be noted when describing the flowers of this species of hazel grouse is beautiful two-color buds, they have a bright yellow-violet color.

Grouse is chess.

It is original with its “checkerboard” flower. On an erect stem in April-May, as a rule, one flower blooms (rarely 2-3) with a characteristic pattern on the petals. In June, the plant dies off. The bulb consists of several white scales. The fruit is a box with flattened seeds. Homeland - Central Europe. It is an endangered species of Fritttilaria flower and is therefore protected by law. A number of varieties have been obtained, for example: 'Afrodite' with white flowers, 'Charon' with very dark flowers, 'Poseidon' with an expressive checkered pattern, and others.

Grouse F. pallidiflora schrenk.

Above the previous species, it reaches 50 cm in height, its bulbs are larger. The stem is densely covered with leaves, and 3-9 bell-shaped yellowish flowers on short pedicels appear from the axils of the upper leaves in April. The bulbs are buried to a depth of 10 cm.

Grouse Persian.

One of the most thermophilic species. A common cultivar is Ivory Bell with an unusual color of petals - they have a yellow-green color, sometimes with a lemon tint.

The hazel grouse is yellow.

A plant with bright yellow large buds, visible from afar. This is a stunted species, the stem height does not exceed 30 cm.

These photos show how the flowers of various species of hazel grouse look:

Care

Despite all the unpretentiousness of the plant, it still needs elementary care, otherwise there will be no flowering, and cultivation will be reduced to obtaining greenery.

The plant tolerates frosts and spring frosts well down to -6 degrees C. If you follow all agrotechnical techniques, then adult bulbs have very little chance of freezing out. But still, if the winter has little snow, but frosty, then it is better to cover the plants with something (for example, spruce branches, straw).

The covering layer should be about 30 cm. Do not forget to remove it in time in the first spring days so that it does not interfere with the emergence of the seedlings. Don't be afraid to peel off the top coat. Spring return frosts, up to -6 degrees, are not terrible for young shoots of hazel grouse.

On a cold frosty morning, the shoots of the royal crown freeze and lean strongly towards the ground, from the rays of the sun the plant warms up and straightens itself. The stem of the plant is strong, so adult plants do not need support. When the plant fades, the peduncles should be removed so that nothing interferes with the development of the bulbs and roots. That's the whole care.

Loosening the ground around hazel grouses should be done with great care, because often their roots are located close to the surface of the earth. It is advisable, without special need, not to loosen the ground around them

Subtleties of care

Although the hazel grouse is called the royal crown, but in care it is unpretentious and is not at all capricious. Some rules, of course, will have to be followed, but they are so simple that even a grower without experience will succeed.

Watering is important for the plant, but you can't overdo it. Abundant moisture will lead to the development of diseases and decay processes. The plant does not tolerate dry summers without additional watering. The soil should not be constantly wet. You just need to avoid strong drying out. After flowering, also do not forget about watering.

Fertilizer is applied three times a year: from mid-April, after flowering and in autumn. Dry mixes show good results. But the ideal option is a combination of humus, complex fertilizers and nitrophosphate. The last dressing is done in the fall, it is better to prepare a mixture of superphosphate and potassium sulfate for it

When fertilizing, it is important not to overdo it. It is better not to report than to add too many useful ingredients.

Weeding should be regular, it is best to do it after each watering.

It is not recommended to loosen the soil, as there is a high probability of damage to the delicate bulbs. It is better to replace loosening with mulching of the site with peat or humus in a small amount. Such actions are best done after planting the plant.

The transplant must be carried out at least once every 3 years. Such care will prevent the development of diseases. It is better to do this in the fall, when the plants have completely faded and are ready for wintering. During the transplanting process, the same rules are followed as when planting bulbs.

Preparation for winter begins in summer, when the stems and leaves begin to turn yellow. You should not wait for the complete withering away of the ground part of the plant. Already in the middle of summer, you can prepare the bulbs for winter. To do this, they need to be dug out, freed from dry scales, rinsed, held for half an hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Places with manifestations of decay processes are removed, treatment with fungicides and wood ash is carried out.

Dry bulbs should be stored in a room with temperatures ranging from +30 to +35 degrees Celsius, with good ventilation. Periodically, the rhizomes will need to be reviewed so as not to miss the development of decay processes.

Grouse care

How to care for hazel grouses in the garden

The hazel grouse is so unpretentious that you can not waste time on it at all. If you are not interested in the result, bloom quality. Planting and caring for hazel grouses is a great learning experience for budding flower growers. But if you want to see a truly masterpiece of floriculture in your garden, you will have to spend some effort on caring for the imperial hazel grouse.

Planting hyacinths and caring for them in the garden - detailed instructions

Grouse watering is carried out in dry summers. Make sure that the soil on the site does not dry out too much. After the end of the growing season, water the area 1-2 times a month so that the bulbs of faded hazel grouses are not in too dry ground.

Growing hazel grouses also involves feeding plants with dry fertilizers:

for the first time in the third decade of April (a tablespoon of Agricola for flowering plants and nitrophoska is mixed with a bucket of humus and scattered in 4-5 kg with a layer of 4-5 cm per 1 m²);
the second feeding is carried out after the hazel grouse bloom: scatter 1 tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate per 1 m², followed by watering.

In the photo: Opening grouse bud

After each watering, weeding is necessary, but loosening the soil is fraught with damage to the roots, so just mulch the soil on the site with peat or humus with a three-centimeter layer immediately after planting, after sprinkling wood ash over the site.

Why are hazel grouses not blooming?

The reason your hazel grouses don't want to bloom may be one of the following:

too cool or very humid summers.Dig up the bulbs after flowering and try to warm them up naturally before planting;
too small onions. If the bulb is less than 5 cm in diameter, the hazel grouse will not bloom, it will increase the mass of the bulb;
growing too long in one place. If you don't dig up the bulbs for the winter, they tend to divide and lose volume. Therefore, dig up medium and large bulbs of hazel grouses after flowering for subsequent autumn planting, and you are guaranteed to get a wonderful flowering next year;
incorrect planting depth: if the depth is insufficient, the plant becomes sensitive to weather changes (it can freeze in frost, and rot if it rains), and if it is planted too deeply, the bulb spends too much energy on germination and survival;
unsuccessful soil. Too light soil freezes in winter, too much moisture accumulates in clayey soil, which leads to rotting of the bulb. Take care of the correct soil composition and good drainage;
frosty winter with little snow: the bulbs can simply freeze over. Cover the planting of hazel grouses for the winter with humus or peat mulch with a layer of 10-20 cm;
preservation of the ovary after the fall of the petals. If the ovary is not removed in time, then all the nutrients will be spent on it, and not on the development of the bulb and preparation for flowering next year.

Reproduction of hazel grouse

In amateur floriculture, for the propagation of hazel grouses, the vegetative method of natural division of the bulb is used. As a rule, one imperial hazel grouse bulb gives no more than two large daughter children, so this method is not the fastest, since the baby, separated from the mother bulb and transplanted, grows in the ground for several years until full flowering occurs. But this method is the most reliable.

In the photo: Blooming hazel grouse

You can "help" the hazel grouse to form a baby: after the summer digging of hazel grouse bulbs on the largest and healthiest bulb in the fleshy part of it, a shallow scraping with a diameter of 2 cm is made with a sterile instrument and, without processing, they allow the wounds to dry in the air. Then placed in clean dry sand and left in a dry room with good ventilation. When the roots begin to grow on the bulb (in late August or early September), it is treated with a fungicide and planted in the usual manner. The ovaries that have appeared on the plant grown from this bulb should be removed, because in this growing season all efforts should be spent on the formation and development of children.

When digging up the onion, be careful: the little baby may not be noticed.

Seed reproduction of hazel grouses is only possible for professionals on an industrial scale.

Planting imperial hazel grouse bulbs in open ground in autumn: rules and main stages

Planting the royal flower outdoors in the fall is quite simple. But in order to succeed, you need to correctly complete each step: choosing a place and soil, preparing a site, planting material, holes. Let's consider each stage in more detail.

Where is it better to plant: choose a place and soil

When grown in inappropriate conditions, fritillaria can bloom poorly and poorly, and its bulbs can be subject to diseases and even rot. Therefore, this issue must be approached responsibly.

The place and soil for planting the bulbs of the imperial hazel grouse must meet the following requirements:

The site should be well-drained, there should be no stagnation of moisture, waterlogging, you should avoid lowlands, areas where moisture accumulates. Otherwise, the bulbs will rot. If you still have such soil on your site, then you need to make an artificial embankment.
The place should be sunny, however, cultivation in light partial shade is also allowed. For this, it should warm up well.
A place on a small hill is well suited.
The site must be protected from wind and drafts.
The soil for planting fritillaria should be nutritious, loose, with a neutral reaction (pH 6.6).

How to prepare the soil

Before planting, it is recommended to prepare the area for planting fritillaria (it is especially important to do this if the soil in your summer cottage or on the site of a private house does not meet the requirements stated above). Thanks to this, the cultivation of the royal culture will be more successful, and the flowering will be more beautiful and lush.

So, the preparation of the site and soil for planting the bulbs of the imperial hazel grouse is carried out according to the following scheme:

First, you need to dig up the selected area (about 50 centimeters deep).
Then fertilizers should be applied: humus or compost (1 bucket per square meter), superphosphate (30 grams per square meter), potassium chloride (15 grams per square meter), as well as wood ash (200 grams per square meter) .).
If the soil in your area is clayey, heavy, then you need to add coarse sand (1 bucket per square meter).
If the soil is too light, sandy, then in addition to humus or compost, add low-lying peat (1 bucket per sqm) or sod soil / leaf humus (1 bucket per sqm).
After applying all the fertilizers and substances, you need to dig the area again.
And then loosen and level with a rake.

How to prepare fritillaria bulbs

Before planting, it is recommended to prepare the bulbs of the imperial hazel grouse. The first step is to remove all old scales and dry roots. And then, as a pre-planting treatment against diseases, soak the bulbs in a fungicide solution, for example, "Maxim Dachnik", "Fitosporin-M".

Planting scheme of imperial hazel grouse bulbs

The following scheme will help to correctly plant the imperial hazel grouse in open ground in the fall:

The first step is to dig a planting hole in the selected and prepared area (it is better to make one large one and put several bulbs in it).
- The pit is about 40 centimeters wide.
- The depth of the hole, as a rule, for large bulbs is 25-30 cm, for small ones - 15-20 cm, but you need to plant the children to a depth of no more than 7-10 cm.However, in order to accurately select the correct depth, you need to multiply the height of the bulb by 3 (for example, its height is 6 cm, so 3 is multiplied by 8 = 16, this is the depth).
At the bottom of the planting hole, place a layer of coarse sand about 5 cm (sand will act as drainage).
Now you need to plant the bulb in the planting pits. It is necessary to put the bulb with the bottom down a little on its side (this position will help to avoid rotting of the bulbs, because moisture will not get under the scales).
The distance between the bulbs of the imperial hazel grouse should be about 40 centimeters.
Now you need to cover the onion with sand on top.
After the sand, it must be covered with fertile soil. To do this, you can use a mixture of garden soil (3 parts) + humus or compost (1 part) + wood ash (a very small handful). Alternatively, you can use a ready-made potting mix for flowers, which you can buy at a garden center or specialty store.
Water.

Features of planting in baskets for bulbous

Despite the fact that fritillaria has a pungent smell that scares off mice and moles, no one can give you a 100% guarantee that the bulbs will be protected from them. Therefore, it is recommended to plant imperial hazel grouse in special baskets for bulbous crops (shown in the photo below).

Planting bulbs in plastic baskets is done as standard:

put the basket in the pit;
pour a layer of sand (about 5 cm) on the bottom;
put the onions on top;
cover first with sand, and then with fertile soil.

Description of the plant

The imperial hazel grouse (royal) is a herbaceous perennial, which is a bulbous plant. Its height can reach one and a half meters. The shape of the bulb is almost spherical, has a rather pungent odor, and its diameter is no more than 10 cm.

Lanceolate leaves are located on the stem of the plant. They sit in 3-4 whorls. The inflorescence is solitary umbellate. There are about 20 bracts above it.As you can see in the photo, the flower of the imperial hazel grouse has a bell-shaped perianth, the length of which can reach 5.5 cm.The color is orange or red, in decorative forms it is often yellow.

Bright flowers form in the leaf axils that line the plant's stem. Large buds sit, as a rule, in groups - 5-7 pieces each. In this case, flowers are not formed at the ends of the shoots - a deciduous mass grows above them.

The leaves of the imperial hazel grouse have an elongated shape, an emerald color and a glossy surface. Some varieties differ in that their leaves are arranged in two rows.

Varieties

Of the whole variety of imperial hazel grouse varieties, only a few are suitable for growing in our climatic conditions. Among them:

"Garland Star". Plants of this variety are comparatively large and give a powerful, strong, resistant stem. During the flowering period, flowers appear - large, bright orange in color. Unlike other varieties, this one is characterized by a luxurious crown of a large number of flowers.
"Rubra". Representatives of this variety are the smallest - their height often does not exceed 70 cm.The flowers are orange or brick-colored, the petals are rather large crimson tones with barely noticeable veins on the inside. Because of this color, the plant looks very interesting and original.
Striped Beauty. For plants belonging to this variety, the golden color of the petals is characteristic. Bell-shaped inflorescences, consist of several flowers. Red stripes are visible on the inside and outside of the petals.
"Raddeana". Incredibly delicate bell-shaped flowers, which can be up to 7 pieces in one inflorescence. The color of the petals is creamy yellow. This variety is distinguished by its high drought and cold resistance. A single plant can bloom for 15-20 days.
"Lutea". During the flowering period, forms racemose inflorescences, which can contain up to 8 flowers. The buds are quite large, yellow in color. In the zone of nectarines, a whitish border is visible, which can turn into a purple or greenish color.