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Gladiolus, aka sword lilies, produce showy flowers with sturdy stems, standard for slicing and vase preparations. They develop from flattened bulbs known as corms.
They thrive in full solar with reasonable moisture and wealthy, well-draining soil. Mature dimensions are 18 to 72 inches tall with a diffusion of 12 to 24 inches.
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The corms are tender bulbs which might be winter hardy to Zone 7. In colder areas, gardeners get pleasure from them as annuals and dig them up for winter storage.
Our information to planting and rising gladiolus has all that you must get pleasure from vegetation at your home.
This text discusses easy methods to raise, treatment, and retailer the corms to replant within the spring.
Right here’s what we’ll cowl:
Easy methods to Raise and Retailer Gladiolus
Let’s get began!
Able to Dig
When summer time attracts to a detailed and the nights develop cooler, gladiolus blooms fade and the foliage begins to wither; it’s time to dig up the bulbs.
Whereas a light-weight frost might not hurt them, a tough freeze may very well be lethal.
You’ll want gloves, a long-handled shovel or pitchfork, a hand-held trowel or claw, and pruners.
Sanitize all steel components with an answer of 1 half bleach to 9 components water, rinse, and air dry earlier than use.
Lifting and Curing
Put on gloves when dealing with gladioli, because the corms are poisonous, and speak to with the pores and skin and digestive tract is greatest averted.
You will have a long-handled shovel or pitchfork that lets you use foot strain for straightforward digging.
Use your foot to insert the shovel or fork straight down into the bottom about six inches away from a clump of foliage.
Push the deal with down towards the bottom to softly loosen the soil.
Work across the leafy clump utilizing the identical insertion and lifting motions till you could have indifferent and raised a mound of soil.
Use a handheld backyard trowel or claw to take away the person flattened bulbs rigorously from the soil.
Brush off as a lot earth as you possibly can, taking care to not take away the paper tunics that defend the corms. Don’t wash them to keep away from the chance of fungal improvement.
Use pruners to chop off the foliage, leaving a two-inch portion hooked up to the highest of the corms. Lower off the roots, taking care to not nick the underside of the corms.
As soon as unearthed, the tender bulbs have to “treatment” or dry earlier than you place them in storage. Discard any which might be discolored, mushy, blemished, or shriveled.
Outdated, dried up corms and tiny recent younger ones could also be hooked up to the big “mom.”
Take away any which might be dried up and depart the younger infants hooked up, so you possibly can divide them within the spring earlier than replanting, slightly than danger rotting throughout storage from separation wounds.
Unfold the corms in a single layer on newspaper or screens and hold them out of direct daylight in a dry location with a temperature of 60 to 70ºF for 3 weeks.
Winter Storage
After the three-week curing interval, study the corms rigorously and discard any which might be broken, discolored, shriveled, mushy, or malodorous.
Take away dried up foliage and roots which have fallen off and brush off any remaining soil, taking care to not injury the paper tunics.
Earlier than placing the bulbs into storage, it’s greatest to sprinkle them with a dusting of fungicide to inhibit fungal development throughout winter storage.
I take advantage of Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide and it’s additionally an efficient pesticide for ticks, mites, and fleas.
Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide
Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide is accessible from Bonide through Amazon.
To retailer your corms, you possibly can both use clear, dry cardboard packing containers or buy ventilated plastic stacking crates.
For those who plan to make use of ventilated plastic crates, listed below are some to think about:
These grey plastic crates measure 13.86 by 10.4 by 7.1 inches and have a quantity of 15 liters.
Plastic Stacking Folding Storage Crates
They stack securely and are collapsible for folding and inserting out of the way in which when not in use.
You’ll find them in three-packs accessible from Idotry through Amazon.
When you could have your field or crate prepared, line the underside with one or two sheets of newspaper.
Set the corms in a single layer, guaranteeing that they aren’t touching one another.
Sprinkle your fungicide powder calmly over them.
Lay newspaper over the primary layer and repeat the above course of. Be sure to depart sufficient room in order that the field closes with out urgent on the corms.
The field lid or folded flaps ought to match loosely so air can enter and flow into.
As an alternative of newspaper between the layers, the professionals on the College of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Horticulture Division recommend utilizing two to 3 inches of coconut coir, peat moss, sand, sawdust, vermiculite, or wooden shavings.
Retailer the field or packing crate in a cool, dry, rodent-free, well-ventilated location with a temperature between 35 and 45ºF and relative humidity of about 50 p.c.
Examine the packing containers or crates frequently all through the winter and discard any bulbs that shrivel up or change into mushy and moist. If you’re utilizing newspaper, change it if it feels damp.
Raise, Treatment, and Retailer
Managing gladiolus over the winter months is simple after you do it as soon as and know the drill.
Let’s recap:
- Raise the tender bulbs rigorously with a fork or shovel and take away foliage, roots, and soil.
- Treatment them in a single layer for 3 weeks in a cool, dry location to take away moisture.
- Retailer them in well-ventilated containers with a sprinkle of fungicide and newspaper or absorbent natural media between the layers in order that they don’t contact.
Now you know the way to avoid wasting corms from 12 months to 12 months. Make sure to add “Raise the Glads” to your backyard planner so that you keep in mind to take them out of the bottom earlier than the primary exhausting frost.
Do you raise your gladiolus for the winter? Please tell us the way you retailer them within the feedback part under.
For those who discovered this text informative and would prefer to study extra about gladiolus, we advocate the next guides subsequent:
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