Gladioli are bright majestic flowers that are immediately evident in any suburban area. Flowers are able to quickly adapt to any climatic conditions and are not demanding to care for. However, in order to achieve the best decorative qualities, you need to know the most important thing - how to properly plant gladioli and when to do it.

When to plant gladioli

The most favorable time for planting gladioli is mid-spring, or rather, April - early May. This is due to the fact that the soil should already be sufficiently warmed up after winter frosts, have a temperature of about + 10 ° C. In the temperate zone, such warming occurs just in the middle of spring. In the southern regions, where winters are warmer, you can start planting a couple of weeks earlier. In the northern regions, such as, for example, in the Leningrad or Vologda regions, landing time falls on May 10-15.

Active growth of shoots can be expected at an average air temperature in the range + 20 ... + 25 ° С. It is important not to delay the work, as the soil becomes drier at the same time as warming up, and this will inhibit the development of corms and flowering of gladioli, which usually occurs in July, but may come much later.

Often gardeners are interested in the question of whether it is possible to plant flowers in the winter. Such interest is often caused by the upcoming holidays. Beautiful, slender gladioli can be a wonderful and unexpected gift for the New Year, Valentine's Day or March 8th.

The answer is: you can plant, but only if you can provide the plants with greenhouse conditions with the required level of lighting, temperature, sufficient humidity. To do this at home is quite difficult. Typically, this method of cultivation is used in specially equipped flower nurseries engaged in the cultivation and sale of crops.

Important! Gladioli need to be transplanted to a new place every 2 years — This reduces the risk of parasites and provides better flowering.

How to plant gladioli

At first glance it seems that there is nothing special in planting gladioli - I buried the bulb in the ground, poured it and everything is ready. In fact this is not true. In order for the plant to take root, take root, and eventually please with variegated flowering, some rules regarding the preparation of soil and planting material should be observed.

Storage

In September, a month after the gladioli end their flowering period and are cut off, the time for their excavation comes. If after blooming in August the flowers were not cut, the time of digging should be delayed by 15–20 days.Plants are carefully removed from the ground and laid out on a sunny, ventilated place to dry. Then it is necessary to completely cut off all the stems, separate the old corms from the new ones, and prune the roots.

The resulting tubers need to be laid out on a sieve and washed. After this, it is advisable to process the material in order to eliminate the possibility of damage by diseases and pests. More often, gardeners use potassium permanganate and Karbofos for these purposes. First, you should make a solution of potassium permanganate, diluting 1 g of the product in a bucket of water. Dug bulbs are placed here for 30 minutes. Then make a solution of “Karbofos” (30 g per bucket of water) and place the bulbs in it for half an hour too.

If different varieties of gladioli grew on a flower bed, corms should be distributed immediately after digging into different containers so as not to be confused in the future. The processed material is once again dried first 2 weeks at a temperature of + 25 ... + 30 ° C, and then in a well-ventilated room for another month. If the bulbs are not finished, there is a risk that they will be affected by fungal diseases - rot.

Did you know? The gladiolus bulb served as the amulet of gladiators in ancient Rome. They wore it on their chests and believed that it would bring victory.

After that, you need to once again inspect the material for revealing painful specimens. If the affected area is present on the corms of a particularly valuable variety, you can try to save it: you need to cut out the damaged area and process it with brilliant green. Bulbs are stored at a temperature of + 1 ... + 8 ° C. An ideal place would be a refrigerator or a cellar.

Pre-planting

Some gardeners mistakenly think that the larger the gladiolus bulb, the better the flowering. In fact, just from a young planting material strong peduncles grow with a considerable number of flowers. Pay attention to the external condition of the planting material - it should not contain signs of drying out, spoilage or diseases.

Before planting in open ground, gladioli need some preparation. Adult corms are cleaned of scales 2–3 weeks before planting. Manipulation must be carried out very carefully, since under it can be young seedlings that easily break off when cleaning.

This process cannot be neglected, since cleaning helps to identify possible diseases of the bulbs, as well as the presence of settlements of parasitic microorganisms. Children clean the maximum a day before planting so that they do not dry out. If you notice that the material has traces of decay, black dots and other defects, it is better to throw it away.

It is allowed to plant children in the shell without preliminary cleaning, but in this case, the germination will slow down significantly. Pre-treatment will help speed up the process - the material is placed for a day in a 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate, and after planting in the soil, the plantation is covered with a film and removed only after the first emergence.

If the corm has two sprouts, it must be cut along so that the bottom is preserved on both fragments. The place of cut should immediately be sprinkled with crushed coal, and then placed in the ground.

It also happens that, taking out the material before planting, you notice that the corm is dried. It is important to determine the degree of drying. If the material is wrinkled at all, it has become hard, which means that it is affected by some disease, since healthy bulbs of gladioli cannot dry to this state. If the corm is only slightly beginning to dry, you must have stored it at too low a temperature. The material can still be saved - before planting, soak it for several hours in a warm soda solution (1 tsp. Baking soda per 1 liter of water).

Did you know? In the Middle Ages, the gladiolus bulbs were a real treat — they were fried, baked, marinated. In those days, flowers were wild — in order to collect the tubers, it was not necessary to specially grow them.

As a preventative measure, it does not hurt to process the bulbs from pests and diseases. In order not to use chemicals, you can make garlic infusion at home. To do this, grind (in a meat grinder, grater) 300 g of garlic and mix it with 10 l of water. Planting stock is placed in the solution and incubated for 2 hours.

Before planting, it is recommended that the bulbous tubers be treated with a growth stimulant to provoke the rapid development of the root system. Many drugs sold in stores also contain a set of useful trace elements necessary to enhance plant immunity.

For example, it is possible to treat the bulbs of gladioli with "Heteroauxin" - a tool that has high physiological activity and favorably affects growth processes. To do this, dissolve 1 tablet in a bucket of water, place the material there and leave for 12-14 hours.

Outdoor planting

For gladioli it is important to choose the right site. Plants love well-lit areas. Since in small garden areas it is not always possible to find a completely open place for a flower bed, one should take into account at least the fact that the flowering of gladioli will deteriorate significantly if shading is present from the east or south side.

It is also not recommended to plant the crop in places where there are drafts or strong gusts of wind that can harm high peduncles. The best option is to arrange a landing framed by low shrubs.

Most diseases of gladioli occur due to waterlogging of the soil, so you can not plant them in wetlands and where there is a high occurrence of groundwater. If there are no other options, raise the flowerbed artificially, creating a hill from the ground.

For the favorable development and prosperity of gladioli, chernozem or sandy loam soils are needed. Sand and peat are added to clay soil, and peat and garden soil to excessively sandy soil. Ideally, the soil for planting should consist of land, peat and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1.

Also note that gladioli prefer slightly acidic soils. You can check this with the help of special indicators sold in gardening stores. When measuring, it should show a value in the range of 5.5–6.5 pH. High acidity is eliminated by introducing dolomite flour or quicklime into the soil at the rate of 150 g per 1 m².

Before planting, the area under gladioli should be dug to a depth of half a meter, all available weeds should be removed from the root and the soil should be fertilized with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. You can use "Nitrofoska" - a complex fertilizer in the form of granules, which when ingested in the soil are quickly absorbed by plants. The agent is administered at the rate of 30 g per 1 m². Organic fertilizers also do not hurt. For example, you can use urea, fertilizing the soil with a consumption of 15 g of funds per 1 m².

Video: feeding gladioli

For planting gladioli form direct beds. It is advisable that the distance between them be about 1 meter - so the plants will receive more sun and air, and it will be easier for the gardener to carry out the care. Be sure to observe the distance between the tubers: for children and small corms - 15–20 cm, for large specimens - 25 cm. There are two ways of planting - digging a continuous trench and planting the material with respect to the distance or the formation of individual holes.

Important! You can not plant nearby adult and children's bulbs, as large tubers will suppress the children, preventing them from developing normally.

There is much debate about the depth of the landing pit for gladiolus. Some people think that the deeper the better, and they immerse the material to a depth of 25 cm, someone does not really attach any importance to this. It is most correct to calculate the planting depth depending on the diameter of the bulb.

The material must be placed at a depth equal to three diameters (if it is difficult for you to determine this by eye, use a conventional centimeter). Therefore, the smaller the bulb, the higher it should be placed to the surface of the earth. If you deepen it too much, you will have to wait a very long time for the first shoots. The average value can be called 10-15 cm.

To create better survival conditions and protect the delicate roots of plants from contact with the soil, it is advisable to plant bulbs in the sand. To do this, add a sand layer about 1-2 cm thick to the bottom of the groove or landing pit and water it. Then place the bulb with the bottom down and again sprinkle with a small layer of sand, and only then make the rest of the soil and water the planting again.

How to plant gladioli so that they grow straight

So that the flowers do not bend during the growth process, have direct peduncles, some gardeners use a special technique when planting. First, the bulb is planted to a depth of 10-15 cm, but in the process of growing around the peduncle, they add soil to form a peculiar hill, which prevents the stem from tilting.

They also resort to planting bulbs immediately to a depth of 20–25 cm, but, as mentioned earlier, this method will significantly delay the appearance of the first shoots, and it is also dangerous because in the spring the soil at this depth is not warm enough and the planted material may just freeze. This method is applicable only in conditions of southern latitudes.

For individually planted gladioli use stretch nets that provide stability to the stems. If the flowers are planted in rows, you can build supports for them in the form of low wooden fences on both sides of the beds. A simpler option is to drive the stakes at the beginning and end of the landing on both sides and pull on a strong rope or wire.

It is important to pay attention to the introduction of fertilizers, which will strengthen the plants with their nutritional composition. After the first two leaves appear, the soil can be fed with a solution of 1 tbsp. urea and 1.5 tbsp. tablespoons of potassium sulfate diluted in 10 liters of water.

This dose is enough for 1 m² of planting. After the formation of the 5–6th leaf, gladioli are fed with a composition of 15 g of superphosphate and 30 g of potassium sulfate, diluted in a bucket of water (per 1 m²). Also, for gladioli, complex mineral compounds, such as Nitroammofoska, Kalimagnesia, are excellently suited.

Multi-tiered planting of corms

A real decoration of the landscape of a private household will be a gladiolus multi-tiered landing. Its advantage is also that this method helps to save space on small land plots. Properly picking varieties, you can achieve synchronous or alternate flowering.

The design of a multi-tiered flowerbed can be done independently, if you apply imagination. First you need to decide on the shape: often landscape designers design such objects in the form of a pyramid, but you can choose any other shape - rectangular, square, etc.

As a material for home assembly, you can take wooden boards. Of these, you need to knock down drawers without a bottom of different sizes and install a pyramid: the first row is the largest box in size, the second is a little smaller, etc. In parallel with the installation, the soil mixture is covered. When the flower bed is lined up, you can start planting.

Did you know? The name gladiolus was given by the Latin word gladius, which means "sword" in translation. The flower got such a name because of the shape of the leaves, which look like swords.

It’s important to choose the right varieties. If you want a multi-tiered flowerbed to shimmer over a long period of time, choose gladioli of different flowering periods.

It is worth paying attention to such as:

• Velvet - It has large dark burgundy colors with cream touches. It begins to bloom on the 72–74th day after planting;
• Paul Rubens - flaunts with purple-violet buds during the flowering period, which occurs on average 90–95 days after bulb planting;
• Focus - an early variety whose bright yellow color can be contemplated already on the 52–55th day;
• America - the flowers of gladioli of this variety have a delicate light pink color, complemented by purple splashes. Flowering is quite late - it falls on the 95-100th day after planting.

Is it possible to plant gladioli in July, August

Gladioli can be planted in the middle - end of June, then their flowering will fall in September - October. But with such a planting, the gardener will need to be especially careful about soil moisture. Such a landing may be even more preferable for the northern regions, where there is a threat of return frosts. The fact is that at an air temperature of -1 ... -3 ° C, young leaves of gladioli freeze, they still remain green, but active photosynthesis does not occur in them. And in the summer there is no such danger.

To get healthy, seasoned flowers for the next season, some growers try to plant gladioli in August or September. But you need to consider that severe frosts can ruin the bulbs, so this method is good only for the southern regions. At the same time, planted corms will need to be covered for the winter. Nevertheless, experts do not recommend planting gladioli in the winter - there is a very great risk that planting material will die.

Planting gladioli is not particularly difficult. The most important thing is to comply with the terms and basic rules set forth in the article. Add to this a little love, care, and the result will not be long in coming - soon you will enjoy the excellent flowering of this truly royal plant.