glads, gladiolus bulbs, Worlds Finest, All-America, Miniature Flowered, gardening

<body> <p>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them.</p> <a HREF="Gladiolus-Bulbs.htm"><img border="0" src="images/bcamper.gif" width="36" height="45" alt="Gladiolus Bulbs Classification Guide">Gladiolus Bulbs Classification Guide</a> <A HREF="Worlds-Finest-Glads.html"><IMG SRC="images/frostywhite.jpg" width="35" height="35" alt="Frosty White - Worlds Finest Glads">Worlds Finest Glads</a><BR> <A HREF="Miniature-Flowered-Glads.html"><IMG SRC="images/anitra.jpg" width="35" height="35" alt="Anitra - Miniature Flowered Glads">Miniature Glads</a><BR> <A HREF="All-America-Glads.html"><IMG SRC="images/starry%20night.jpg" width="35" height="35" alt="Starry Night - All American Glads">All-American Glads</a><br>  <h1>Gladiolus Bulb Culture</h1> <p>Planting: Glads do well in any good garden soil that drains well and that will receive at least half day of sun, The soil should be prepared by spading, digging and/or roto-tilling and the corms planted as a rule of thumb to a depth of about 3 times the diameter of the corm. Plant shallower in heavy soils and deeper in sandy soils. A pesticide bulb dust or liquid drench is recommended before planting. A 11/2” bulb would then be planted about 4 1/2” deep. Plant bulbs from 4 to 8 inches apart according to available space.</p> <p>Cultivating: Avoid deep cultivation so that you will prevent root injury. Frequent shallow cultivation is good for aeration and climbing weeds. After plants are about 1 foot tall, hilling or tilling soil against plants will help prevent them from falling over. Recommended amounts of herbicides such as Treflan, Surfian, Dual II, Deverinol, Post and others can help with weed control.</p> <p>Watering: Glads do not like a wet, soggy soil, but do like plenty of moisture as they near flowering. A well drained soil with an irrigation (watering) source during dry periods is ideal. Heavy clay loam soils certainly need less watering than the lighter sandy loam soils. After the blooming season little or no watering is usually best for controlling diseases as the plants develop new bulbs and bulblets for the next season.</p> <p>Fertilizer: Generally the more sandy the soil, the more fertilizer is required. Glads do not like a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Therefore use a 5-20-20 or 3-12-12(NPK) or a fertilizer with similar analysis at a rate used for garden vegetables. If organic sources are used, make sure they are very well decomposed. Trace minerals are not usually needed for glads grown on average garden soils.</p> <p>Flower Cutting: Glads are there to be cut as much as any other cut flower. Slide a small cutters knife down along the base of the spike to the desired stem length, cut half way thru the stem and then break the flower spike away from the plant. Try to leave as many leaves on the plant as possible to provide food for the developing bulbs and bulblets. Flowers cut with 1 or 2 open florets will usually open very well and cool store. Fresh water with floral preservatives can add to the vase life of most flowers including gladiolus.</p> <p>Digging and Storage: Glads should be dug in the fall about 6 to 8 weeks after flowering. When digging the stem should be removed by cutting or breaking as close to the bulb as possible. Excess soil is best removed from the bulbs by washing them over a screened surface. After digging, bulbs should be allowed to dry with good ventilation at room temperature for about 4 weeks. At that time the old coons can be easily separated at the abscission layer from the new corms and the old corms and root discarded. Then store corms at as near 40 degrees Fahrenheit as possible in open containers with good ventilation until spring planting. Freezing temperatures will destroy the bulbs. Bulb dust or liquid drenches applied after digging will protect bulbs from insects and diseases during the storage months.</p> <p> </p> </body>