Secrets of spring planting of gladioli as a guarantee of summer flowering
At first glance, gladioli do not cause much interest, but when huge flowers bloom, densely covering the peduncle, it becomes clear why these plants have earned the love of flower growers. It is simply impossible to pass by such beauty without looking back, because the color of flowers can be very diverse - from the usual yellow or red, to the rare green or blue.
In order for gladioli to bloom already in the year of planting, you need to know how to plant them correctly in spring. In addition, the choice of planting material is also important, since the lack of summer flowering is often the result of the acquisition of "wrong" bulbs.
Read also the article: preparing gladioli for planting in spring!
How to choose bulbs for planting?
In gladiolus, the tuber is arranged in such a way that the stem is formed from the upper central bud, and children grow from the lower one. When buying planting material, you need to pay attention to the size of the bulb. Too large specimens, which have a large bottom and a flat shape, are best avoided. This is how old gladioli that have outlived 3-4 seasons look like. After that, they practically do not bloom, and even if they are planted correctly in the spring, there will be no peduncle.
If you need to gladiolus bloomed in the summer, you should not buy small baby bulbs. For reproduction, this is the most suitable option, but they will bloom next season.
The most suitable bulbs for planting are those that have bloomed once. They are slightly elongated, with well-developed lower dormant buds.
Preparing the bulbs for planting
You can plant gladioli in May, when the ground warms up enough. In April, the bulbs must first be prepared for planting:
- Peel off dry scales.
- Cut out damaged areas (if they have a small area of damage), cover the wounds with charcoal or grease with brilliant green.
- Put on the windowsill to wake up the kidneys.
To speed up the growth of the roots, a week before planting, the bulbs can be put in a box and sprinkled with wet sawdust.
Directly on the day of planting, soak gladioli for several hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This will increase resistance to disease.
How to plant gladioli correctly?
Proud, handsome men love low acid soil, good lighting, and regular watering. This must be taken into account when choosing a landing site. In addition, it is necessary to avoid areas where water stagnates and drafts. In a soil that never dries out, the bulbs will quickly rot, and gusts of wind will simply break tall peduncles.
A flower bed for gladioli should be prepared in the fall: add humus, superphosphate, potassium sulfate and dig it up. In the spring, loosen the soil again and make holes, leaving a distance of at least 30 cm between them.
If the soil was not fertilized in autumn, you can put a little mineral fertilizer directly into the holes, adding sand as well.The bulbs should not be planted very deeply; the optimum depth of the hole should be three times the height of the bulb itself.