Gladiolus - landing and care in the open ground, the basic rules

In ancient Rome, these flowers decorated the patrician gardens, today they want to grow them more and more. Our article will tell you about the colors called gladioli, planting and care in the open ground beyond which there is nothing difficult.

How does the gladiolus look like?

Gladiolus flowers are perennial tuberous plants belonging to the family of iris. Their long narrow sizo-green leaves look like sharpened swords, so he has another name - a sword. The leaves are wrapped around erect stems, from which inflorescences of funnel-shaped flowers of various colorations grow. In one inflorescence there can be up to 25 buds, but simultaneously 10-12 flowers are revealed.

After the gladiolus fades, in the place of the buds fruit-boxes with seeds are formed. Under the ground, the plant has a corm. Every year it is updated. The maternal bulb gives away all the nutrients at the beginning of the development of the plant. Gradually, a new corms are formed and grow over it, around which many small onion cubs are formed. They will be the main planting material for the gladiolus breeding, proper planting and care in the open ground behind which will bring tangible fruits.

Types of gladioli

If you want to buy gladioli, planting and care in the open ground behind which are simple, then you need to choose the right sort of flower. There are about 170 species of this beautiful plant and a variety of gladiolus varieties that combine into two groups:

• decorative , for which the length of the inflorescence is important, the number of buds, the size, color and outlines of the flower;
• economic - the determining factors for them are the height of the plant, its flowering period, sensitivity to transportation and weather conditions, reproduction rate.

Depending on the size of blossoming flowers, all gladioli are divided into:

• miniature;
• small-flowered;
• medium-wavy;
• large-flowered;
• giant.

The edges of the petals on the flowers are smooth and corrugated, fringed and folded. The color of gladiolus can be very unusual. Sometimes it fantastically combines bright contrasts and gradual transitions of shades. The color palette of buds is diverse, ranging from bright saturated colors to pale shades. These plants can be single- and double-row, and also zigzag. It depends on how the flower buds are arranged in the inflorescence. And, depending on the height of the plant, there are undersized, weakly grown, medium-sized and very tall.

When blooming gladioluses?

Florists distinguish seven varieties of gladioli, in which different periods of flowering:

• very early;
• early;
• mid-term;
• average;
• mid-late;
• late;
• very late.

Early gladioluses blossom by mid-July, medium-tinted - by mid-August, and late - in September. However, the flowering of beautiful gladioli is greatly influenced by the weather and climate of the area. In the cold spring or in case of insufficient watering, plant development may slow down or even stop. If you want your favorite plants to blossom as early as possible, a topside and care for outdoors should be adequate to the weather conditions of the region.

Planting gladiolus

In order for flowers to please their beautiful view, one must know how to plant gladioli. First of all, you need to choose a suitable place for their landing. It should be a sunny, well-ventilated area. The soil for these flowers should be chernozem, light loam and sandy loam. The plot should be fertilized by adding nitrogen fertilizers , for example, urea at the rate of 15 g per 1 sq.m. We dig the earth to the spade bayonet and remove all the weeds. Gladiolus, landing and care in the open ground, which will not take you much time, will not burden you.

How to prepare gladioli for planting in the spring?

Before planting bulbs gladioli must necessarily be cleaned from the scales. Thus, it is possible to see signs of diseases on the planting material and take timely measures for its disinfection. For beginners it will be interesting to know what to process gladioli before planting. You can use chemicals for this, but it is better to use the infusion of garlic. To cook it, you need to roll 300 grams of garlic in a meat grinder and pour 10 liters of water. Bulbs and babies are immersed in such a solution for 2 hours. For disinfection, you can use a solution of potassium permanganate .

When to plant gladioluses?

Spring weather is very unstable and volatile. Therefore, if you want to know when you can plant gladioli in the open ground, it is worth listening to the advice of specialists. Florists recommend to orientate to the temperature of the ground when planting gladioli. The optimal planting time will come when the soil at a depth of 10-12 cm warms up to + 10 ° C.

How to properly plant gladiolus?

In order to find out to what depth the gladiolus should be planted, one must heed the advice of experienced people. To plant the gladiolus on the site make a bed with furrows of different depth: 15 cm - for large bulbs, 9 cm - for medium and, even less - for children. At the bottom of the trench, a little sand is poured, the planting material is laid out and the soil is sprinkled with a layer of 2-3 cm. It should be noted that the deep planting of corms will lead to the late blooming of the gladiolus. And if the summer is cool, then such plantings will be more prone to fungal and bacterial infections.

How to care for gladioli?

Planting gladioli and caring for them should be very thorough. When the leaves grow, the soil around the plants will have to be covered with humus up to 5 cm thick. This will protect the soil from overheating and dehydration in hot weather. Appeared peduncles with buds, if necessary, must be tied to pegs, and dried flowers should be regularly removed. Since weeds interfere with the growth and flowering of gladioli, plants should be weeded 3-4 times during the summer. Beautiful flowers gladioli, planting and care in the open ground behind them will turn your garden into a real blooming oasis.

Care for gladioli - watering

Proper growth of gladiolus is impossible without regular watering at least once a week. On particularly hot days, this must be done daily. The best time for irrigation of plants is earlier morning or late evening. Watering should be abundant - 1 bucket of water per 1 sq. Km. m. Only with such a flow of water, the soil will be moistened to the necessary 30-40 cm. Water better in the inter-row, trying not to get water on the leaves of the plants. After that, the ground must be loosened up. If you want to avoid frequent weeding and loosening, cover the soil under the plants with compost or humus.

Top dressing of gladiolus

Growing gladioli in the open ground must be accompanied by their feeding. During the whole period of vegetation gladioli can be fed five times:

1. At the beginning of growth, the flowers need nitrogen. With its lack, the leaves become pale, and the flowering is weak. The first fertilizing with urea should be carried out in phase 2-3 leaflets. Replacing this fertilizer can be an infusion of mullein, chicken manure or green fertilizer.
2. The second fertilizing with nitrogen-potassium fertilizer is carried out in the 3-4-leaf phase.
3. For the third feeding on 5-6 leaves, potassium sulfate is used, which improves metabolism, increases resistance to diseases and cold resistance of plants.
4. For the fourth time, gladioli are fed in the period of growth of the peduncle, using for this nitrophosphate, kemira, nitroamophoska. In order for the flowers of gladiolus to be larger, it is possible to water the soil under the plant with a solution of boric acid.
5. The fifth , the final top dressing, is carried out after flowering. It uses superphosphate, potassium sulfate. In September, you can water gladioli with a solution of potassium permanganate. It will be potassium fertilizing, and disinfection.

Illnesses of gladioli

This majestic flower, like other plants, is prone to various diseases. There are such diseases of gladioli as:

• mushroom - the most dangerous among them are fusariosis, dry black and gray rot. Affected plants grow poorly, the leaves of it are warped, turn yellow and dry up. On the onion, rotting brown-red spots are formed;
• Bacterial are the scallop of gladioli. With it, the tops of the leaves wither. And then they dry. The stem at the base rot and breaks. Corms are covered with black and red spots;
• viral - cucumber mosaic, yellow bean mosaic, ring spot of tomato. These viruses, passing from the corresponding plants, amaze the gladioli, preventing them from developing and blossoming.

Pests of gladioli

Like other plants, gladiolus in the garden can be attacked by various pests:

• thrips - the main pest of these flowers, sucking the juice from the stems and leaves of the plant. Control measures include spraying with Phytoverm, decis, early harvesting of bulbs, storing them at a temperature not exceeding + 8 ° С;
• the wireman affects the underground part of the gladiolus and is the carrier of bacterial and viral diseases. To combat it, baits from root crops, deep summer loosening of the soil and regular control of weeds are used;
• aphids - one of the most common pests that feeds on plant juice. To destroy aphids, plants are treated with chemicals or folk remedies;
• garden scoop also inflicts huge damage to gladioli, damaging the undiscovered buds and flowers of the plant. Against the scoop, plants can be treated with infusion of garlic and laundry soap.