Content
Many lovers of these chic and noble flowers every year follow the long-familiar scheme: they sprouted corms on the windowsill, planted them in the ground, enjoyed the flowering, dug up the bulbs in the fall, cleaned them of soil and “everything unnecessary” and, after drying them, put them in storage. After some time, the corms begin to get sick, become affected by pests, weaken, rot during winter storage and, sooner or later, the need arises to purchase new planting material. But real flower growers will, first of all, be interested in propagating any flowers they deal with. And very soon it will become clear that the “extra” that was simply removed every year along with the dirt and soil is an excellent replacement for the old flowers.
After all, one gladiolus corm does not live for a long time, a maximum of about 5 years, and then it begins to “grow old,” which manifests itself in all the above-mentioned symptoms, which are not at all to the liking of any passionate gardener. And the easiest way to find a worthy replacement for it is to grow good planting material from the baby for the next year. After all, gladioli from children, as a rule, grow up strong, healthy and beautiful.The article will discuss in detail all the stages of growing chic multi-colored handsome gladioli from children.
What is a baby and what is it for?
First of all, it is necessary to consider the size of gladiolus corms. Beginners have the most questions when it comes to an incomprehensible word - parsing corms. This term usually denotes the size and the resulting flowering possibilities of the bulb.
- So, if the corm has a diameter of 3.2 cm or more, it is said to be of the 1st variety. This means that when planted, it will most likely produce several powerful peduncles, the coloring will be as intense as possible, and the corrugation will reveal itself in all its strength.
- If the corm has a size from 2.5 to 3.1 cm, then it is called a second-parsing bulb and its flowering will also be quite impressive.
- When a corm is classified as a size from 1.5 to 2.4 cm, it can be called a third-parsing bulb. In this case, flowering will most likely occur with a delay of several weeks; the maximum number of buds on the peduncle will not form and fewer of them will open.
- If the size of the corm is from 1 to 1.4 cm, then it is called a bulb of the 4th parsing. They usually bloom much later and show half the potential of those inherent in the characteristics of the variety. Although a lot depends on care, and even from such small bulbs you can achieve quite decent flowers.
If smaller nodules form at the base of the gladiolus corm, they are usually called corms or simply babies. Gladioli babies, in turn, come in two sizes.
- Children of the 1st category grow from 5 to 10 mm, which can easily produce corms of the first or second selection.
- From 3 to 5 mm is the size of very small children, which usually produce only third-harvest corms in the first year after planting.
That is, the baby is the organ of vegetative reproduction of the gladiolus, which appears at the base of the corm at the end of the growing season. It is usually covered with a dense and dry shell that protects it from all external influences.
So, gladioli babies have three main and very important functions:
- Preserve and update the existing collection of gladioli.
- If you want to significantly increase the number of plants grown (for example, for sale), propagate them with the help of children.
- Adapt newly acquired varieties of gladioli to the conditions of your garden, since it is the cultivation of gladioli from children that allows you to obtain plants that are most resistant to various diseases and best adapt to a new place.
Preservation of children in winter
To do this, they are laid out in a warm and dry, possibly dark place, the main thing is not in the sun. Drying the babies lasts until about mid-November. Then it is advisable to sort them by size and store them in a dry place at any positive temperature, preferably up to +15°.
Preparing gladioli babies for planting
Most novice flower growers quite reasonably ask: “Spring has come, I took the gladioli babies out of storage, and what should I do with them now?”
Of course, plant, but before that you need to do some operations. There are several types of preparing gladioli babies for planting.
If you take the baby in your hand and take a closer look, you will see that it is covered with a dry, but very dense shell. It is this shell that protects the babies from various damages during storage, but it is because of it that the germination of the baby gladiolus can be delayed for a very long time, a month or more. Therefore, it must be removed, or at least disrupted.
Usually the shell is removed manually; this is not very difficult, but it can be quite labor-intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it will be somewhat difficult to process a large number of children in this way. In addition, there is a possibility, due to inexperience, to damage the delicate internal tissues and, most importantly, the future growth point of the flower. Nevertheless, with a small number of children, this method is worth trying, because peeled children germinate much faster and easier, and when planted at a shallower depth, they form a larger final corm.
A much less labor-intensive, but effective way is to germinate gladiolus babies before planting. At home, this can be done both warm and cool.
Then they are placed according to variety and size in jars or bags with zippers. Add a little warm water with potassium permanganate so that it is pink, and close the bags or jars so as to allow air access. There should be water at the very bottom so that the children are not immersed in it. In such conditions, within a couple of weeks the rudiments of roots and the first seedlings appear on them.
The timing will increase slightly, but the seedlings will appear more uniformly.
Growing seedlings from gladioli babies
If it’s winter or early spring, and you still have time to experiment, then the safest thing to do is try to plant gladioli babies as seedlings. Of course, this will take more time and effort, but as a result, 100% of all children will grow. In principle, growing gladioli seedlings is no fundamentally different from the same tomatoes. There are only two conditions that must be met in order to grow gladioli:
- plant in separate containers so as not to damage the roots when transplanting,
- provide the most cool, and even cold conditions for growth. Ideally, the temperature should be from +5°C to +15°C.
Children of gladioli are usually planted in small cups or cassettes and watered from below into a tray. When the first shoots appear, they need the maximum amount of light.If you live in a private house, you can place the planted seedlings in the basement and illuminate them there with energy-saving lamps. These conditions will be ideal for good growth and root formation in baby gladioli.
Small plants grown in this way can be planted in beds in April. Since each baby was placed in a separate container, there should be no problems with planting.
Planting and caring for gladioli babies in the beds
It is advisable to plant gladioli babies in the beds, the sooner the better. But it is necessary that the earth warms up to at least +10°C. To speed up germination and better development of corms, the children can be planted shallowly, to a depth of about 2-3 cm. But it must be remembered that the children at this moment really need constant moisture, so when planting at such a depth, they need to be constantly moistened. As a rule, they are planted to a depth of 4-7 cm. Here, much more moisture is retained in the soil, but there is also less heat, which can delay the germination of children.
After the first sprouts grow, if necessary, they should be protected with film or non-woven material from possible frosts. Although small drops in temperature, gladioli seedlings usually tolerate well.
Within a couple of weeks after the sprouts appear, the planted gladioli children can be fed with diluted mullein or other organic fertilizer. It is advisable to regularly loosen the soil between the rows - this provides the roots with additional air nutrition and helps to form large corms.
After the children have been planted in the garden, they need constant and regular watering until the end of the season. Young bulbs tolerate drought the worst.
This will allow the corms to ripen more fully by the time of autumn digging. And in the fall, from small children you can get full-fledged gladioli planting material.
Conclusion
There is nothing particularly difficult about planting babies and growing them into beautiful flowers. Be sure to try this method of propagating and growing gladioli, and you will never have problems with getting excess planting material.
