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Perennial gladioli are, of course, more difficult to grow than any annuals. But the gardener’s work will be justified - these flowers are truly magnificent! A garden decorated with tall gladioli looks well-groomed and stylish, and the flowers themselves attract attention with their size, colorfulness and beauty of the petals.
About how gladioli are grown in open ground, what care for these flowers consists of, and what diseases these ornamental plants suffer from - all the information for beginning gardeners is collected in this article.
How to grow gladioli from bulbs
To produce beautiful and healthy gladioli from bulbs dug in the fall, you will have to work a little. After all the bulbs need to be able to be properly collected, processed and stored in the winter, and in the spring the gladioli corms are divided for propagation and renewal of flowers.
How to properly store and divide flower bulbs
Digging up gladioli corms in mid-autumn, when there are still no severe frosts, but the flowers have already bloomed and begun to fade. After flowering, the stem must be trimmed, leaving only a couple of leaves.
Carefully dug up bulbs should first be carefully examined to identify whether the flowers are infected with scab, rot or fungal infections. Diseased bulbs will have to be thrown away, otherwise they can infect healthy flower tubers.
The remaining flower bulbs are cleared of clods of earth and washed with a solution of potassium permanganate or treated with antifungal drugs.
Tubers should be stored in sand, sawdust or in any other way, ensuring a constant temperature and humidity level. The main thing in this process is to prevent premature germination of the bulbs and their drying out, so gladioli should have enough moisture, but it is not recommended to increase the temperature.
In spring, flower bulbs are taken out of basements, brought from balconies and placed in a warmer and brighter place. First of all, gladioli tubers are cleaned of scales and carefully examined. Healthy bulbs of adult gladioli should form growths - babies. Large children are separated from the tuber and planted independently. This season, the ones that emerge from the babies will not bloom; even if the inflorescences appear, they must be broken off at the bud stage.
This tactic will help you get a full-fledged plant next season, which will produce large and beautiful flowers, no different from the parent bushes.
Like others perennial bulbous flowersGladioli are also propagated by dividing the bulb.
Buds are found on the tuber and the bulb is divided so that at least one bud remains on each separate part.
After separation, the tubers and flower children are treated with a disinfectant (potassium permanganate can be used) and dried thoroughly. Now the bulbs are ready for planting in open ground.
Planting and caring for gladioli in open ground
Gladioli should be planted in the country in the most illuminated and protected from the wind area. These powerful and tall flowers need a lot of sun, and their long stems can easily become deformed or break under constant exposure to strong winds.
It is not recommended to grow gladioli in the same place for several seasons in a row - the scab and fungi that affect these flowers can remain in the ground for several years.
The depth of the groove for planting the bulb depends on its size. There is no need to deepen the tubers too much, as this may cause later flowering. The ground should be well heated - optimally if at a depth of 10 cm the soil temperature is more than 8 degrees.
To protect the bulbs from scab, sawdust, washed with a special solution, is poured into the bottom of the groove. It is recommended to mulch the soil on top to prevent weed, slugs and prevent the soil from drying out.
In order for the bulbs to germinate as quickly as possible, they are covered with plastic wrap. You need to remove the cover immediately after greenery appears. They also protect gladioli from possible frosts and heavy rains.
The planting of gladioli is over, now all that remains is to monitor the flowers and respond to their needs in a timely manner.
Feeding gladioli
Tall and powerful flowers need not only water and sun, but for normal development and proper formation of flower ovaries, gladioli need to be fertilized regularly.
Fertilization of flowers begins from the moment the first pair of leaves appear on the stems, and continues until the last inflorescence:
- The first feeding of flowers is done when the bulbs have just sprouted and produced two leaves. To do this, use growth-stimulating nitrogen fertilizers, which can be either mineral or organic. For example, a weak solution of chicken manure works well.
- The same fertilizers or other growth stimulants are used at the stage of formation of the third and fourth leaves.
- When there are 5-6 leaves on the bushes, you can feed the gladioli with a complex of fertilizers: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. If the soil on the site is rich in itself (chernozem, for example), the nitrogen component can be excluded from the complex.
- When the inflorescences begin to form, you need to repeat the fertilization with phosphorus and potassium. This stimulates the plants, they will be covered with large and bright flowers (as in this photo).
- In order to prolong flowering, you can add wood ash to the water for irrigation.
- In addition to other fertilizing, experienced gardeners recommend using additional green fertilizer every three weeks.
Fertilizers need to be applied regularly, but it is better to do this in small doses, dissolving nutrients in water for irrigation. High-quality fertilizing will help gladioli grow stronger and please the gardener with abundant flowering.
How to grow gladioli healthy and strong
The problem with bulbous flowers is susceptibility to diseases and frequent damage to tubers by pests. Every year, the bulbs can accumulate bacteria and viruses, which will ultimately lead to the death of the flower (the affected bulb is shown in the photo).
To prevent disease, it is necessary to regularly treat gladioli bushes. For these purposes use:
- in the spring, before planting the bulbs in the ground, cut the garlic into small pieces and dig up the beds. After 2-3 days you can plant gladioli. This will help protect plants from fungal diseases and their pathogens stored in the soil.
- Planting bulbs in sawdust helps against scab. Sawdust is pre-soaked in a solution of nitrophen (a tablespoon of the substance per 5 liters of water). Planting gladioli and viola together, which repel the pathogens of this disease, helps against scab.
- While the gladioli have not bloomed, you can carry out complex treatment of the bushes with copper oxychloride and karbofos. Copper-soap preparation and foundationazole help well.
- After digging up the bulbs in the fall, it is recommended to treat them with a 0.15% solution of potassium permanganate or 0.2% foundationazole.
- Karbofos will help protect planting material from rodents during storage; it should be used in accordance with the instructions on the product packaging.
Secrets of beautiful flowers
It is believed that gladiolus is a capricious flower, and not every gardener can grow it. Perhaps some collection varieties are indeed difficult to grow on your own without knowing the specifics and lacking the skills. And here Even a novice gardener can easily grow ordinary decorative flowers.
In order for gladioli to bloom magnificently and delight the owner and his guests, you need to follow simple rules:
- Plants should not be propagated by seeds. Although, according to agricultural technology, this is possible, the risk of “degeneration” of the gladiolus is very high, when the inflorescences become smaller, their shade changes, and the growth of the bushes becomes smaller. It is correct to propagate bulbous flowers by tubers or children.
- When choosing a flower variety, you must take into account its flowering time. In nature there are both super early flowers and very late ones. For the climate of most of Russia, you need to choose early gladioli, only they can take root in local conditions, fully bloom and produce ripened bulbs for the next season.
- It is quite difficult to create flower beds with gladioli - these tall flowers stand out from the general style. Experienced landscape designers recommend combining them with early tulips, daffodils and crocuses, as well as supplementing them with late hydrangea - this way you can get a flowerbed that continues to bloom from May to October.
- Gladioli in contrasting bright shades look beautiful next to each other. Another beneficial trick is to plant flowers of the same pastel color together.
- You should not plant varieties with large inflorescences and small-flowering decorative gladioli together; large flowers will overshadow the delicate small inflorescences.
- To make gladioli feel comfortable, leave 30-70 cm between them.In addition to the aesthetic component, when decorating a flower bed you need to remember the need for ventilation and adequate lighting of the bushes.
- Gladioli need a lot of water, but at the same time, high humidity is dangerous for them. Plants need to be watered once a week, 10-15 liters of water should be used for each meter of land.
- To protect the stems and leaves of flowers from fungus and slugs, gladioli are watered not at the root, but in a special groove, which is located five centimeters from the stem.
- The ground between the holes is mulched with rotted sawdust, humus, sand, straw or grass. This will protect the bulbs from drying out and overheating, and prevent the germination of weeds and the appearance of slugs on them.
- After each watering, it is necessary to carefully loosen the soil between the rows - the roots of the gladiolus need air.
- When the buds appear, it is time to tie the tall flowers to strong supports. Large inflorescences of gladioli become very heavy after rain, for example, strong winds are also dangerous for them. It’s better not to risk the bush and tie it up in advance.
- Flowers are cut in the morning, while there is no heat. This must be done with a sharp knife, although some gardeners claim that the most painless way for plants is to break off the stem at the base of the leaves. This way the “wound” of the gladiolus will be minimal and will heal faster.
- Dig the bulbs in dry weather at above-zero temperatures. Usually in Russia this is done in the middle or end of September.
- Immediately after digging, the tubers are sorted and labeled so as not to confuse the variety and shade of flowers and to beautifully design gladioli beds next season.
- Store gladioli bulbs in basements with ventilation and constant temperature or in other cool and dark places.In your apartment, you can store gladioli tubers on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator; they are first placed in paper bags.
A flowerbed of gladioli grown by yourself will certainly become the center of attention - it is simply impossible not to notice and appreciate these beautiful and majestic flowers, as evidenced by their photos.
Growing and caring for gladioli seems complicated only at first glance. If you follow the recommendations and follow the above rules, the flowers will grow strong and beautiful.
