Seedlings purchased in March: how to save them before planting

The question of how to preserve seedlings purchased in March before planting is relevant for many gardeners. Often seedlings are bought back in January or February, but they are not planted in central Russia until late April or even early June. How to save planting material?

Bookmark for storage

Visual inspection, removal of excess

Before you lay the material for storage, it will need to be checked. The quality of the seedling in the future directly depends on this, so do not ignore this event. It happens that the kidneys are already growing, but have not reached two centimeters. If this is the situation, then the seedlings can be safely stored in a fairly cold and dark place.

Advice! When dried or damaged shoots showing signs of fungal infection are visible during the inspection, such shoots are pruned by pruning shears. It is important to remove them on time, otherwise, during storage of the seedling, the problem can spread to the entire plant.

Also, it will be necessary to cut off too long shoots with a sharp and clean pruner. It is recommended that the places for disinfection be treated with brilliant green. The root system also needs to be checked. Long, broken off roots should be shortened or removed. It happens that the roots are dry, then they need to be held for some time in a damp cloth.

If deposited seedlings roh, they must additionally check the place where the vaccination was carried out. As a rule, it is high and does not have a protective paraffin plug. This place needs to be wrapped with polyethylene.

Bookmark for storage

Now the prepared seedlings need to be wrapped in a clean plastic wrap. It is important that the film is thin. It makes several holes. Here it must be taken into account that the tightness must be good, otherwise, seedlings during the downtime can become unusable. From above it is necessary to wrap everything up with a newspaper and secure with elastic bands.

But even that is not all, now it will be necessary to put seedlings in clean and dry plastic containers. It is in this form that they are sent for storage in a cool room.

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Storage Compliance

Further, in the matter of how to preserve seedlings purchased in March, before planting, it will be necessary to observe the conditions of correct humidity and temperature conditions. Here you will have to try and monitor these indicators all those months when the seedlings are stored.

Small seedlings can be safely stored even on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. If possible, they can be transferred to a dark cellar. It is important that the ambient temperature is around zero. At this pace. the plants will fall into a period of natural hibernation and will be able to favorably postpone the waiting period before planting.

Important! Do not bother planting material, open the film and create other worries for a quiet winter. Once every thirty days, you can check the condition of the kidneys, but do it very carefully.

If the seedlings are large

This can be a currant, apple trees, various shrubs of a decorative plan. It’s clear that putting them in the refrigerator will definitely not work. Here you only need a basement, where the temperature is within zero - plus two degrees. Plants can be placed in boxes of sand, but the root system is not even worth wrapping.

As for the branches, they should be sprinkled with sand. But the sand should be moist so that the kidneys do not have time to completely dry out during storage. Sometimes you need to save herbal perennials before planting. This is also done in the basement, and plants are laid out in boxes of sand.

Advice! All the situations described, how to save seedlings purchased in March, before planting are suitable for seedlings in which the buds have not yet developed and have not had time to wake up. If the plant is already in the period of spillage, then the seedlings need to be planted and grown until transplanted into the open ground as an ordinary indoor plant. It is important that the pace. the air was not too hot, and also so that the seedlings had enough light.

Separately about apple trees

In early spring, many buy apple tree seedlings. Many gardeners advise storing them on the site, digging them in. If there is still snow, then the seedlings can be put under the snow. In urban conditions, it will be necessary to place seedlings in a substrate with the ground and keep on the balcony. Also a good way: wrap the roots with a damp cloth and a plastic bag, send to a cool place.

These are the ways to save seedlings bought in March before planting. These are proven methods that work only if each step described is followed. We wish you a good garden season!