So, it may not be as obvious a step as most gardeners think, but only clean, pest/infection-free peonies must be placed in storage. This does include disease prevention in the field before and during harvest. However, there are more steps to clean stock than just a clean field. Let’s look at the essential steps to ensuring and maintaining clean stems in the chill room.

P.S. Thank you to Charles and Kathy Wood at Kashwitna Peonies Farm for teaching us these techniques.

Post-Harvest

It is essential that, immediately after harvest, the field heat is removed from the peonies in the chill room. I move the stems from the field to the chill room almost immediately. However, before we process, we’ve learned it is essential to clean the peonies beforehand.

1. Wash the stems: We wash the peonies in a tub of Clorox water. Usually, a large, 20-30 gallon plastic storage tote is filled with water and 1-2 cups Clorox. The stems are dunked several times and then shaken off.

2. Dry the Stems: The stems must be dried; no moisture is allowed in the chill room. I set up a large, framed screen and lined the washed stems. A box fan is hung above and blows down, and the stems are turned on the screen for optimal drying. I find that on warm days with the box fans on high, the peonies dry in 5-10 minutes.

3. Wipe them Down: Finally, before the stems are placed back into the cooler, I take a Clorox wipe, wipe the buds, and scrub the bud bases to eliminate sooty mold or any other noxious growth. After this, the stems are returned to the cooler to be processed and chilled.

Mid-storage

After the peonies have been washed, processed, and stored, it is important to remember they need upkeep through storage time. Anything potentially missed by or surviving the washing process requires dealing with to prevent infections. There are a few techniques to be used in this process.

1. Inspection: nothing beats keeping a close eye on the stems mid-storage. We usually have a weekly inspection routine, looking stems over for signs of damage or infection. This is done as stems are packed and prepped for shipment; all stems are thoroughly inspected for potential infections.

2. Hygiene: there is proper cooler hygiene that should be regularly enforced. No muddy or dirty shoes in the chill room, no perishable or foreign substances in the chill room, and only washed and clean hands are to inspect and handle the flowers. All work surfaces are regularly wiped down with Clorox rags, the floors are periodically swept, and all cut or removed plant material is dumped in the compost pile. Keeping things clean is always a good idea; keeping the cooler clean is essential for stem health.

3. Sanitation. Again, thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Wood for pointing this out; there should be a means of regularly sanitizing the cooler. By teaching, we’ve begun using an ozone air sanitizer for this step. Size and price depend on the chill room, but generally, we’ve gotten away with a medium size ozone machine. This is run weekly (usually Sunday nights) after the cooler has been closed for the night. Ozone is toxic and can cause respiratory irritation, so we run the ozone machine in the middle of the night so that no one potentially walks in on it.

Conclusion.

Like a restaurant or your own home, cleanliness is essential to farming and peony farming. No one wants moldy apples. No one wants infected flower stems. Practice good, clean routines in the chill room for the best possible performance from your stems.