Such majestic, proud flowers are gladioli. Outdoor planting and care has its own characteristics. Every year they bloom in mid-summer, in time for my birthday. Maybe that's why I love them very much. A very important point in answering the question of how to grow gladioli, as I have already seen, is the choice of a place for their landing. It is from him that the magnitude, number of flowers, as well as the time, duration of flowering will depend. Of course, the landing site will also greatly affect the quality of planting material for the next season.
Everyone who breeds these flowers has their own secrets. Someone assures that the most important is the selection of bulbs, someone believes that it is a top dressing. Everyone is right. I had negative and positive points, so let me give some advice to flower growers on caring for these beautiful flowers.
In some regions they are called fenders. Apparently, because the shape of the flower resembles a sword. But the name of the flower in Latin sounds like gladius, or the sword. So it’s immediately clear that the name of the flower is that in Latin, which in Russian is associated with the words “sword”, “sword”.
Under the gladioli, highlight a place under the sun in the literal sense. They are not afraid of the sun. Remember that if the plant is in the shade on the east side, then the flowering period will move by 15-20 days, and if the shadow is on the south side, then you can not wait for the flowers at all.
If you have a problem area, from the point of view of illumination, then you can make high beds for planting gladioli. Or make a bulk flower bed, and at its top plant gladioli.
If the location of the site allocated for gladiolus was on the north or west side, then try to protect them from cold winds, at least shrubs or just tall plants.
Gladioli - care, landing, choice of place
It is best grown on loamy or light sandy loamy soils. On our Kuban heavy chernozems, they can grow low. But there is a way! Add sand, compost to the wells before planting, that is, make the soil lighter. If you have the same soil as mine (heavy chernozem), then pour sand on top of the onion and then the earth.
I would also advise to add nitrophosphate (5-7 granules per each) to the wells before planting the bulbs. Mix the ground at the bottom of the wells so that the nitrophoska granules are 3-4 cm lower than the bottom of the corms.
Remember what you grew up last year in the place chosen for gladioli. If bean - very good! Consider that you will not have a malicious enemy - the wireworm.
Now we proceed directly to the planting of gladioli. Corms should be separated from dry scales 2-3 weeks before the intended planting. And remove the flakes from the children immediately before planting.
Planting material can and should be disinfected, as well as treated with growth stimulants. You can disinfect with improvised materials, such as garlic infusion (100 g of garlic, pass through a meat grinder, pour 3 liters of water), in which corms of gladioli and children are kept for 2 hours. For the same purpose, you can use a well-pink solution of potassium permanganate - soak for half an hour. You can withstand corms in a solution of Maxim, Khom preparations (see dosage on the package).
Of the growth stimulants, you can use heteroauxin (Kornevin), Epin, and others - they will help to form a strong root system.
And here is another detail in the cultivation of gladioli: to reduce the likelihood of diseases and increase flowering - a month before planting, it is necessary to conduct vernalization (germination) of corms, like in potatoes. Spread them sprouts up in the light, but not in the sun. The central sprout should slightly grow. The permissible sprout length before planting is from 1 to 10 cm.
You can plant gladioli in the soil when the soil at a depth of 8-12 cm is warmed up to 8-10 ° C. In the Kuban, this is approximately the end of March-beginning of April, and in the middle lane - the last decade of April-beginning of May. I usually focus on the timing of planting potatoes, as soon as I planted it, you can start planting gladioli.
Gladiolus - landing depth
At what depth are gladioli planted? It depends on the soil. If the soil is light sandy, then to a depth of 15 cm, if heavy, the planting depth is not so great. In general, focus on the diameter of the bulb - the depth of planting of the gladiolus corm is equal to three times the diameter. That is, everything in a row bulbs and children can not be planted at the same depth. Shallowly planted corms after sprouting and ejection of the flower arrow will bend, fall to the ground and raise them without risk of breaking the whole shoot will fail.
I wish you to grow beautiful, tall, unique gladioli! Generous flowering to your gladioli!