It’s digging season here in West Virginia. What’s your most valuable tips for digging, processing, storing and keeping things sorted?
To get started, my biggest discovery is shade! I use extra large beach umbrellas, with metallic lining and (almost) tip-proof tripod stands. This can turn an impossibly hot and humid day into just an uncomfortable one.
I also need an organized and comfortable work space. While digging I use the pickup tail gate and bed, with a shade umbrella, and can take air conditioned breaks in the cab. I have an actual chair and little table on the deck, also with shade, for bagging, cleaning, drying.
What’s your best idea?
I dig from 6am to 9:30am, catch up on sleep and have a swim for the rest of the day, then maybe go digging again later in the evening. If your climate is humid then appreciate the value of getting your bulbs real dry before storage. We sun dry ours but have to be careful that we don’t cook the bulbs if they stay out in the hot, dry sun for too long. I measured the top soil temperature one year. It was 134*.
It has been hot and humid in this section of eastern PA, so digging has not been a joy, but necessary job. so yesterday, I dug about 8 cultivars that had been in the groung lor the last nine years. got anywhere from 5 to 35 bulbs per cultivar, Pizarro and Pacific Rim being the more prolific. So after washing and cleaning them, I put them in trays to dry in my basement. It was drizzling most of the day. Today, 6/28, I put them in the sun to dry them out, no intention of cooking them. So I decided to measure the temp of several doubles – unbelievable 135 degrees F. They are now back in the basement where the temp is a cool 73 degrees, and I have a small fan circulating the air, and the dehumidifier hums . So much for HWT.
Best Idea to stay cool?
– Move to Western WA. I started digging yesterday in the morning. It was Humid and I was really sweating. Got back indoors, saw it was 62 Deg F. Today I dug some Rockin Goose and Easter Chick. They’ve been down for two years. Rockin Goose got bulb fly two years ago. Most of the bulbs lived and split into 4. Many did not bloom this year. Many are not blooming size but they sure multiplied. The ones that did not get bulb fly two years ago are Huge.
I rinsed each with straight water and have set them in the sun to dry. It is 72 deg today. I plan to HWT once they get a bit more dormant. Most still have lots of roots even though the foliage is dried. Some roots are 6″ long. Does this mean I should have waited a bit longer to dig? I figure once to roots dry I’ll do a HWT and then store in mesh bags in the shade.
Has any one used 3% Peroxide as a disinfectant? Pic
s of some of the Big Ones. The bulbs have never looked better. It’s amazing what fertilizer will do. I got a soil test last spring and found I was really short on phosphorus.