Distillation - lily of the valley - Convallaria

Family of lily. Favorite plants are all with elegant, pleasantly fragrant white flowers.45

There are varieties with pink and double colors. Blooming lilies of the valley can be enjoyed all year round. For distillation, they are artificially delayed in development, keeping sprouts in refrigerators. For distillation, only garden lilies of the valley are used, two to three years old. Rhizomes of lilies of the valley should have well-matured apex buds( blunt top and small swelling - rudiment of future flowers).In the autumn, the rhizomes are tied up in bundles and kept in boxes, dug in the open air.

Before planting, they are frozen in refrigerators for 5-6 hours or 24 hours, buried in the snow. With early forcing, rhizomes of lilies of the valley are immersed in warm water( about 35 ° C) for 14-16 hours. A higher temperature intensifies the growth of the leaves.

Landing begins from the second half of October and continues it, if you wish to have always blossoming lilies of the valley, every 10 days. The figure shows how to prune the roots of lilies of the valley before planting. It must be borne in mind that after planting lilies of the new roots do not develop and absorb moisture mainly through cuts of the roots.

With early forcing, the best temperature for lilies of the valley is 30 ° C.The closer to spring, the temperature can be lower. Lily-of-the-valley from the refrigerator with forcing do not require special preparation.

Sprouts of lilies of the valley are placed in pots or baskets so that the tops of the shoots are at the same level and remain above the ground. In pots with a diameter of 9-13 cm, plant from 8 to 15 germs, of which 6-9 sprouts along the circumference, and the rest - in the center of the pot. The earth between the sprouts is necessary, as far as possible, to compact. For planting lilies of the valley, they use the most friable soil, since it best conducts heat.

Sometimes it is practiced forcing lilies of the valley out of bound 46 bunches in moss or in a special pottery,

Fig. Lily of the valley: 1 - rhizome with sprout;2 - the bud of the bud;3 - flower buds;4 - landing;5 - lily of the valley flower;6 pruning the roots of lily of the valley

Fig. Lily of the valley: 1 - rhizome with sprout;2 - the bud of the bud;3 - flower buds;4 - landing;5 - lily of the valley flower;6 pruning the roots of the lily of the valley

where the sprouts are planted in its holes;each row of shoots is covered with soil. Lilies of the valley should be put in a greenhouse or closer to heating. On the surface of the heating pipes are placed a small metal box with moist moss, which is put on pots with lilies of the valley, covered with a small moss on top.

To maintain moisture, the top layer of moss is sprayed or sprinkled with warm water( 35%).When the shoots reach 5-7 cm, the moss cover is removed, and later the lilies are exposed to diffuse light, since in direct sunlight the leaves and floral arrows fade. Sometimes, in order not to muffle the flowers, the leaves are removed, leaving not more than one leaf on each sprout.

With an early forcing for the blooming of lilies of the valley, it takes more than a month, and closer to spring and later - no more than 15 days.

Lily-of-the-valley larvae do not give new roots during forcing, plants are depleted and are not suitable for repeated forcing. Very often in early forcing, leaves do not develop. The blossoming lilies of the valley are set far away from the windows illuminated by the sun. In cool conditions, lily-of-the-valley flowers retain their freshness for longer.