Re: SHOW:Refrigerating Irises



On Mon, 13 Apr 1998, John I. Jones wrote:
> 
> 
> So at what stage can I start to refrigerate a stalk and hope that it will hold
> for the show 6 days hence? I know it is not an easy question. I assume you
> have to refrigerate for a while and then bring it out of refrigeration early
> enough for the bloom to open.
> 
> John                     | "There be dragons here"
>                          |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
>                          |  to indicate the edge of the known world.
> 
> John Jones, jijones@ix.netcom.com

	John, you need to disembowel your fridge.  Take out all the food,
but if you leave anything, put it in the door.  Take out the shelves.
Some fridges are tall enough to leave the crisper intact, but others need
the crisper removed also.

	Set the temp. to about 39 or 40o.

	Cut buds that are swollen, ones that are about to pop.   Depending
on the size of the bottle you use, you can get three to four stalks in a
bottle.  I still use the old green prune juice bottles I have had for
years. You need some crushed newspaper to keep the stalks from touching
each other and from touching anything in the fridge (mainly the sides.)

	Take the stalks out of the fridge the night before the show and
put them in a warm (not hot) room.  They will 'bloom' overnight.

	I have already started collecting stalks for our show on the 25th.
Stalks can be refrigerated up to ten days with good success if the flowers
are in the swollen stage.  Don't expect open flowers to last that long.
Open flowers can melt fast when they meet room temperature after having
been refrigerated.


	I may be overanxious in cutting right now, but since we have had
so much freeze damage, I am going to cut an undamaged stalk whenever I
find one and refrigerate it immediately.

	No, we won't starve to death or have spoiled food during this
period, as I have a spare fridge in the garage.

	Another thing, don't peek to often to see how they are doing in
the cold!


	If you are not sure of the temp. of your fridge, you can test by
putting one stalk in overnight, and if it doesn't freeze, the temp is ok.

	In 1995, I chilled BOOGIE WOOGIE to the max (ten days) and it won
Queen.  The judges commented on how fresh it looked.  Of the several
queens I have won, all had been refrigerated. Last year's LA was not
chilled.  I have found that the beardless don't hold up as well under
refrigeration.


	As to the legality of refrigeration, check the archives.

	Walter Moores
	Enid Lake, MS 7/8
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