The main school flowers, gladioli, have bloomed, and now we have to dig up the corms and properly preserve them until a new planting. It seems that there is nothing complicated here, but the simple rules of gladioli agricultural technology are difficult to apply to specific climatic conditions. You have to retreat from them, and this may ultimately affect flowering next year. In this article we will tell you what members of our portal do with gladioli in September.
And on our portal you can read an article about how to make a school bouquet of gladioli and other country flowers.
When to dig up gladioli
According to agricultural technology, gladioli are dug out 35, and for late varieties - 40-50 days after the end of flowering. In reality, this is not always possible: flowering may end with the onset of stable frosts, and if you wait a month and a half, you will have to dig the corms out of the snow. Therefore, agronomists advise not to be afraid and to harvest gladioli earlier - if you provide them with good storage conditions, overwintering will go well.
It is also recommended not to delay harvesting because in cold and damp soil the corms begin to rot and become sick. This, first of all, concerns varieties with early flowering and dark-colored gladioli, which are characterized by low immunity to fungal diseases. They are the ones that are removed first. The gladioli that we grew from children can be removed later.
All gladioli are dug up before the onset of stable frosts.
The ideal day for digging is dry and warm; the soil should not be wet, but it should not be dry to a stone state, otherwise there is a risk of losing a large number of babies.
Optimal timing
The question of when to dig up gladioli worries many novice gardeners. At this point, several factors should be taken into account: growing area and variety.
Depending on the variety
You should rely on a variety of heat-loving perennial due to the different time of its flowering - each species releases its last bud in a certain period, so it is problematic to determine the exact timing of digging up the crop.
It is important to wait about 30 days from the moment the gladiolus fades. This is enough for the plant to gain strength before wintering.
It is better to dig up the bulbs in an unripe state, which will allow you to preserve the maximum number of children, who are eliminated from the mother bush as they grow older.
When carrying out agricultural work, it is necessary to adhere to some nuances:
- First of all, early and middle varieties are harvested, then late ones and those specimens that were grown from children in the current season.
- Varieties with dark bud colors - red, black, burgundy, purple - have the weakest immunity to diseases and pests, so they are removed first.
- At the end, young corms are dug up due to their long ripening. The same goes for the Japanese gladiolus Montbrezia.
Depending on the region
The timing differs due to different climatic conditions.
In the central zone and Moscow region, gladioli are dug up in September due to flowering at the end of July.
In the Urals and Siberia, it is possible to grow exclusively early varieties, which ripen only by the end of September. Work is carried out until the first sub-zero temperatures are established.
In the south, the time for carrying out agrotechnical activities falls on August-October.
When to dig up diseased gladioli
The leaves of gladioli are often affected by spots, especially if the summer was rainy and not very warm. This indicates that the plant is suffering from a fungal disease and looks like this:
If the lesion is quite large-scale, and not two or three spots on the entire plant, it makes sense to dig up the corms earlier than usual so that they, too, are not affected by the disease.
In what cases can you not dig
When wondering what to do with gladioli in the fall, you should know that there are times when the tubers can be left in the ground and not worry about the safety of the crop. Thanks to modern selection, varieties have been developed whose characteristics indicate that they do not require removal from the soil for the winter.
In this case, there is no question of digging up and storing the bulbs. However, the declared varietal characteristics do not always correspond to reality. Quite often, flower growers mistakenly believe that varieties with small buds are winter-hardy. Only a few varieties of flowers are truly frost-resistant and cannot be found on the market:
- sowing;
- Byzantine;
- tiled;
- ordinary.
How to dig up gladioli
The stems of gladioli can be mowed before digging, or trimmed after digging. The corm is trimmed with pruning shears so that nothing unnecessary remains; both the roots and the entire above-ground part are cut off (but you can leave a stump up to 1 cm in size).
Trimmed corms are placed in a foundation solution (0.1%) for half an hour, then washed and placed in a solution of potassium permanganate (0.3%) for another half an hour. This, of course, is an ideal processing option, but in extreme cases you can be content with the minimum.
GALE Member of FORUMHOUSE
It is imperative to treat with at least a dark cherry solution of potassium permanganate (30 min.).
How to cull corms
Below in the photo we see a fully matured corm.
Signs of maturity of the gladiolus corm:
- Full-blooded root scales; the baby is “dressed” in scales.
- The scales of the baby are dense and dark.
- The baby is easily, without effort, separated from the corm.
During the growing season, one peduncle grows from the corm, and one young (replacement) corm with children is formed. Beginners often worry that they won't be able to figure out where the babies are and how to get them off.
Mariska Member of FORUMHOUSE
The children are impossible not to notice. Association: a large river mother mussel with a bunch of baby mussels clinging to the shell.
It happens that not one bud awakens in the corm, but two or three. In this case, two or three peduncles will grow and two or three replacement corms will form. In the spring, inspect each corm again, and if you notice that there is not one sprout, but two or three, leave the strongest one and break off the rest.
On average, corms of one gladiolus replacing each other live 3-4 years; Every year the corm becomes flatter, and its productivity and immunity decrease. It is because of this that old bulbs are discarded and burned, but unscrupulous sellers willingly slip them to newcomers. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to obtain a good, flowering plant from such a corm. When buying, look carefully, here are the signs of an old onion:
- it is flat;
- she has a wide bottom.
Otherwise, there may be such a sad picture - it looks like there is a flowerbed full of gladioli, but you still won’t get any flowers.
Valucha Member of FORUMHOUSE
This year I have a problem with gladioli - none of them bloom fully, all the buds turn yellow and wither.
We also do not take into storage children whose shells have burst or their corms are damaged.
How to prepare gladioli corms for storage
Treated gladioli are placed on a dry, clean litter and dried for 10-15 days at a temperature of +25 - +30 degrees in the open air or indoors with good ventilation.
GALE
I keep it at the top of the kitchen cabinet near the hood.
After this, we carefully separate the replacement, young corm from the old one and the remnants of the roots. If we have properly cared for our gladioli, the bulb will be wrinkled, small, almost hidden in the roots. We separate the children. Many people do not like to tinker with them, however, it is better to spend time on them if you want to preserve the variety for a long time.
Sveta2609 Member of FORUMHOUSE
It's not difficult to collect children. I choose the largest ones, the size of a pea, and store them in a nylon stocking in the refrigerator. If you save only large bulbs, then after 3-4 years you can lose half of the varieties, because Gladioli bulbs degenerate over time. And the large children will begin to bloom in a year.
We send the young corms for further drying for another three weeks to a month at +18-+22 degrees. Children dry in less time; they cannot be allowed to dry out. And corms need a minimum amount of moisture for successful storage.
How to properly remove bulbs
Choose a time when the soil is dry and the weather is warm. It is better to dig during the day, when the dew has dried, so that there is less moisture. Prepare a shovel, or better yet, a pitchfork, so the likelihood of damage is much less. Carry out work in the following sequence:
- Insert a pitchfork or shovel into the ground at a distance of 15-20 cm from the gladiolus so as not to damage it. Carefully lift the earthen ball. If it is dense, it is better to put the soil on a film and let it dry for half an hour; if the soil falls apart into lumps, remove the bulbs immediately.
- Do not press on the surface of the corms when removing soil, do not hit each other or other surfaces. Be careful not to damage the outer covering.
- Rinse under running water or in a bucket. Remove items that show signs of rotting or damage.
- Separate the bottom, do not press too hard. If it holds up well, put it in the sun to dry for 2-3 days, only then remove it when the bulbs are ripe.
- Tear off the roots along with the stumps. After this, rinse the gladioli well again and place on a cloth to dry.
You cannot cut the roots and leave stumps. They often rot during storage, especially if the humidity level is high.
If the stems were not cut before harvesting, do so immediately after digging. Leave petioles no longer than 2 cm. You should use garden pruners or sharp scissors; you cannot twist or tear off the dried part, as this can damage the inside.
How to store gladioli in winter
During the entire drying time, we monitor the corms and if we see that some are starting to deteriorate, we throw them away. After drying, we place the corms in paper bags (or thin stockings, very convenient!) and send them for storage. Children are kept separately.
It is advisable to store babies in a paper bag. As a rule, all members of our portal store corms in a vegetable drawer in the refrigerator, in a box on the windowsill in a heated country house, or on a glassed-in loggia. The main thing is that the temperature is stable throughout the entire storage period and is +5-6 degrees. Proper storage can, among other things, prevent the development of a dangerous pest - thrips.
Krysya Member of FORUMHOUSE
Here's what I learned today about gladioli: they can be infested with thrips. These are small black or white, flea-like creatures that chew out the flower stalk.
These bulbs are infested with thrips.
These bulbs are infested with thrips.
To get rid of thrips, you need to treat the corms with mothballs. Or do it simpler: add a few heads of garlic to the wintering gladioli. Or here’s another newspaper-dichlorvos method:
Samaritan Woman Member of FORUMHOUSE
After drying and cleaning, I put the bulbs in a plastic bag, along with crumpled newspaper sprinkled with dichlorvos, and tie them up for two or three days. Removes thrips completely.
Bulb storage conditions
After the gladiolus bulbs have been dug up for the winter, dried, and disinfected, they must be properly stored. The conditions for comfortable storage of bulbs are as follows:
- room temperature –4–7°С,
- humidity - 65–75%;
- complete darkness; there should be no sunlight, otherwise the bulb will begin to sprout;
- regular ventilation.
During storage in winter, it is recommended to inspect specimens for the appearance of diseases so that they do not infect other tubers. If all storage conditions are met, the bulbs can easily survive the winter and germinate the next year. The flowering remains just as lush and beautiful.
What to do if the corms wake up in the middle of winter
In winter, gladioli corms go through two phases. The first phase, the natural resting phase, lasts about 40 days. At this time, the corm will not sprout, even if it is warm and humid. Then comes a period of forced dormancy, and here it can already germinate. If this does happen, you will have to take out the corms, lay them out for a week to dry in a room with the heating on, and put them back in a cold place. When there are 2-3 weeks left before planting, the storage temperature will need to be increased to +15 degrees.
On FORUMHOUSE you can find any information on the agricultural technology of gladioli and information on the agricultural technology of other bulbous plants. Check out our gladiolus show: photographs of the most beautiful blooming gladioli grown by members of our portal. Read the article on how to store, root and divide dahlias. Watch our video about forcing, keeping and planting bulbs.
