Lecture by Alan Chadwick in New Market, Virginia, 1979
Lecture 12: Anemone Culture, Part 4
An Introduction to Alan Chadwick's Lectures and a Glossary of Terms
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Questions and answers. Anemones love the sun, but with the heat they will go over. You must lift the corms before they dry out completely or you will not be able to find the corms. So, do it while the stalks are still attached. (7:12)
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New Market, Virginia, September 12, 1979, Lecture 12
The Anemone, Part 4
...Put them very carefully in a very technical manner through a particular sieve. A sieve that will allow the soil, all the soil, to go through quickly. But you must remember that the little roots hang on to quite a lot of leaf mold. I am glad you mentioned this. Therefore, do you see, the sift method you can indeed let them die down. But I am warning you because in many instances I have had inexperienced people and they have allowed weeds. The moment you've allowed weeds, there's nothing you can do. Do you follow? You've mixed your soil and your weeds and the weeds take the corms with them, always. And you've lost the lot.
Now, there's one matter that's very important, and it concerns the storage of all such matters: Dahlia tubers, the storage of potatoes, the storage of vegetables. We're going to deal with all of that. Now gladioli is a corm, but it's a very strong corm and it can dry. But the anemone is a very small corm and during the period of summer in a hot climate or a moist climate, or a bad climate, will either dehydrate or even to a degree rot or contaminate. Do you understand? Therefore, you must use certain dried herbs. You already begin to perceive some of them, and you must have ready an excellent peat moss. A really first class peat moss that will not moisten, that will remain dry. And, therefore, you bury all of those corms, and you realize, I mean, you've got twenty thousand in that size, and they are best in a basket. A very close wicker, bamboo basket with this peat moss in. And all your corms are buried in that peat moss. Now, they are not moist at all but there is a prevention of dehydration of air or interference of damp days entering in. And that method of storage is ideal.
Q. What would the best temperature be for storage?
A. Cool, dry. Plenty of air as in fruit stores. America does not understand—forgive my being so vulgar as to put it that way—ventilation. You need ventilators. You see this, in the first place, is impossible: concrete floor. Perspires, does everything it shouldn't. But you want ventilators below and you want ventilators either in the roof such as you've got here, which you would have in a root store, or ventilators as all houses in Europe have to have ventilators up near the ceiling. Every room has to have a number of ventilators according to its size, and you can have those open and shut. Do you follow? So that is the proper manner. Remember that all such matters should also be on slats, rather than placed on a floor.
Oh, it is a technical, practical matter and you are not in the least to worry about it. But, I would imagine that nine people out of ten would not know which way up the corm was when it's dry. It is the most funny looking little thing. It has flanges, and as it grows older and gets bigger, it has more flanges, and is very weird. The first year it's pretty obvious that there is a crown presentment on one end and the other is a point which is the root. That is very obvious at the end of the first year only. The second year, that vanishes and these flanges come and it's quite difficult. The moment that you have been shown, a dozen, which way up they are. And if you plant them the wrong way up they will not come up. So, that's just to remind. Not to worry about it because the whole point is the technique will be shown.
Anything else? Very good. Warren, may I announce that on Monday, the fruit?
Yes.
Very well. We've discussed regarding the program. We're going to work very hard producing an adequate and suitable program for you, that you shall be able to study to the utmost. And that you shall have the utmost information and leadership that's possible here. You realize how tremendously we lack staff. And we're going to try to fill these gaps. On Monday, we will take our first orchard fruit study. This will not be the history of fruit, which is extremely fascinating, or the history of the American fruit orchards. This will be the basic of fruit growing: the formation of the trees, which includes, of course, the pruning; shape of the trees and why, the different shapes and why, and their valuations; and the stock and scion; the principle basic of the formation of the growing of fruit trees. That will be the study on Monday. Now shall this be at 10:00 or 11:00?
11:00 is best for everybody.
11:00, Very good. I have to go to the doctor, but that is all right; it is in the afternoon. So it is at 11:00 as usual. That is the subject for Monday. We will bat it up later with all the histories. Very good?
Thank you Alan