Perfect Care For Gladioli. Growing Gladioli In The Open Field. Photo

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Perfect Care For Gladioli. Growing Gladioli In The Open Field. Photo
Perfect Care For Gladioli. Growing Gladioli In The Open Field. Photo

Video: Perfect Care For Gladioli. Growing Gladioli In The Open Field. Photo

Video: Perfect Care For Gladioli. Growing Gladioli In The Open Field. Photo
Video: Gladiolus Tips and Tricks | Kelly Lehman 2024, March
Anonim

Unlike most root and bulbous crops, which grow practically without leaving, gladioli cannot be called capricious. These charming representatives of the Iris family, which have long since changed the status of a hopelessly obsolete plant, conquer with long luxurious inflorescences and require constant care. But all the efforts made to provide the gladioli with the necessary watering and feeding are fully paid off by the beauty of flowering, tireless, colorful and unrivaled in the second half of the season.

Gladioli
Gladioli

Content:

  • Growing gladioli outdoors
  • The most difficult thing in caring for gladioli is feeding
  • Planting monitoring is the main guarantee of gladioli health
  • Garter or hilling
  • Pruning gladioli

Growing gladioli outdoors

Watering without delay

Gladioli produce strikingly large and tall inflorescences for corms of this size, but they do not form particularly powerful roots that can provide them with moisture from the deep layers of the soil. And that is why, unlike many other bulbous, gladioli need watering. They should be supportive, carried out weekly during periods of drought, or at least once every 10 days.

In order for gladioli to bloom colorfully and profusely, they need regular soil moistening to a depth of about 30-35 cm, where the bulk of the roots of these plants is located. Surface irrigation for gladioli is absolutely not suitable, because it will not only lead to the rapid development of weeds, but also jeopardize the tissue of the root tubers themselves. For this plant, watering is considered optimal in the amount of 1-1.5 buckets of water for each square meter of soil under plantings.

Gladioli are watered not directly near the shoots and leaves, but along furrows or aisles (it is better to lay them in advance, when planting, to a depth of about 3-5 cm especially for watering). During the procedure, in no case should water get on the leaves of the plant, and watering in the grooves will most effectively avoid the risk of spreading rot.

Gladioli
Gladioli

Regular loosening of the soil

Each irrigation procedure should be completed by loosening the soil, which will not allow the formation of a crust and will maintain the air permeability of the substrate, better distribution of moisture in the middle layer of the soil. After loosening, the plants are slightly spud with soil and be sure to re-lay the grooves for irrigation (to the same depth as when planting - from 3 to 5 cm). Loosening is also carried out after heavy rainfall, and with proper care - regularly, with a frequency of 1 time in 10 days. The only way to avoid time-consuming procedures is to create a mulch layer.

Take care of the mulch

Mulching in the early stages of plant development will help protect gladioli from the vagaries of the weather, eliminate the need for loosening up to 3 times a month and will effectively retain moisture in the soil, preventing weeds from spreading. The ideal strategy is to create a mulch layer of humus, peat, compost, pine needles, grass or straw immediately after the gladiolus sprouts reach a height of 10 cm.

Don't forget about weeding

Unlike watering, weeding for gladioli is carried out only 3 or 4 times during the summer, and more often even less often. When these plants include regular loosening or mulching in the care program, they act as a preventive measure against the spread of weeds and reduce the amount of traditional weeding to a minimum. The best strategy for gladioli is to remove young weeds in a timely manner, preventing them from developing and drowning out the growth of the bulbous ones themselves. Even if you do not have time for thorough care according to all the rules, you cannot constantly devote time to gladioli and engage in mulching and loosening, do not let the weeds heavily fill the areas under the flowers - they are amazingly easy to drown out, gladioli do not like competitors. Furthermore,the spread of weeds will also increase the risk of infection with pests and diseases, vulnerability to slugs and caterpillars, which will easily get to the succulent leaves of this plant.

Gladioli
Gladioli

The most difficult thing in caring for gladioli is feeding

Top dressing is the key to success in growing these plants. For the same reasons that gladioli cannot endure drought on their own for a long time and need systemic watering, they are also dependent on the constant replenishment of the level of nutrients in the soil. Unlike many other garden plants, there are no simplified feeding schemes for gladioli. The fertilization schedule for gladioli should correspond to the stages of development, because without feeding the plant it is difficult to move to the next stage and grow and develop normally.

The first feeding for gladioliintroduced at the very beginning of their development, it is necessary for the active growth of shoots from the tuber, the formation of a high-quality leaf mass and the laying of peduncles. In the initial phase, gladioli most of all need nitrogen, but its amount should not be excessive, because an excess of this nutrient can lead to a delay in flowering. The greatest amount of nitrogen in gladioli is pulled from the soil at the stage of the appearance of the first true leaf, but it is better to feed it only at the stage of 2-3 leaves. Accordingly to these requirements, the first top dressing is applied in the form of nitrogen fertilizers in a standard dose or complete mineral mixtures with a low potassium content (25-30 g of nitrogen fertilizers + 15-20 g of potash + 30-40 g of superphosphate) are applied. The mineral mixture can be replaced with a combination of organic fertilizers,for example mullein or chicken droppings with the addition of half the dose of superphosphate and potassium permanganate. If you planted late varieties or carried out planting at the end of May-June, then it is better to postpone nitrogen fertilization until 4 leaves appear, and in unfavorable weather or an excess of organic matter in the soil, carry out the first fertilizing only in June.

When 5-6 leaves appear on the plant, the use of nitrogen in gladioli practically stops, and access to phosphorus is of greater importance for flowering and fruiting, especially before the beginning of budding and at the entire stage of preparation for flowering. The second dressing should also consist of three elements, but with a different ratio of elements. At this time, for gladioli, a standard dose of a phosphorus-potassium mixture or 10-20 g of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers and about 20 g of phosphate fertilizers are applied.

Before the start of flowering itself, the third period of development begins, during which gladioli most of all need potassium. The third top dressing is carried out exclusively with potassium-phosphorus mixtures during the budding period or at the beginning of the peduncle's movement, adding about 30-40 g of phosphate and 15-20 g of potassium fertilizers. Since mid-August, gladioli cannot be fed.

There is another feeding strategy, consisting of 6 procedures, which is often used when growing gladioli for cutting:

  1. After the appearance of the first true leaf, gladioli are fed with nitrogen fertilizers in an amount of 25-30 g with an addition of 20-25 g of potash per 1m2 of soil.
  2. In the phase of 3-4 leaves, 10-20 g of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers and about 2 g of boric acid are applied.
  3. After the release of the sixth leaf, 15 g of nitrogen and 30 g of potash fertilizers are applied.
  4. During the appearance of the peduncle and the beginning of flowering, a full mineral fertilizer is used in the amount of 30 g.
  5. After the end of flowering, 15 g of phosphate and 30 g of potash fertilizers are applied.
  6. In late August or early September, gladioli are watered with a solution of 5 g of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water.

Fertilizers for gladioli should preferably be applied in liquid form; dry dressings are practically ineffective for them. If you have extra time, it is better to halve the standard dose of fertilizers and apply two fertilizing with an interval of a week at each stage.

In addition to conventional dressings, to accelerate flowering and improve decorative qualities, up to 3 foliar dressings can be carried out for all plantings of gladioli, in particular at the budding stage, using aqueous solutions of potassium permanganate, copper sulfate, boric acid or special mixtures of trace elements. Foliar top dressing can be carried out only in the evenings or on cloudy days, using the smallest possible spraying method, trying to apply the mixture in such a way that fertilizers fall on both sides of the leaves.

Gladioli in tubs
Gladioli in tubs

Planting monitoring is the main guarantee of gladioli health

It's not just weeds that need to be monitored. Examine the plants themselves regularly, paying special attention to the leaves and noticing the slightest specks of yellowness. If there are signs of disease, stunted growth, yellowing and drying out, immediately get rid of diseased plants, even if you are not sure that they are affected by a fungal disease. Such specimens should be immediately dug up and burned, without waiting for the problem to spread to neighboring crops.

Garter or hilling

Most gladioli require additional support, because their peduncles are very long and heavy, prone to lodging. There are two support strategies for gladioli:

  1. Garter. For gladioli, they traditionally use not individual supports, but a twine or twine stretched in rows between the columns or around a group of plants, which will hold the peduncles.
  2. Hilling. Gladioli for the first time dig in soil to a height of about 10 cm at the stage of blooming 5 of this leaf. Thanks to the hilling, the soil above the root system warms up better, the plant will feed more actively, stable conditions will be created for active growth and the release of powerful peduncles, which do not need additional support.
Gladioli
Gladioli

Pruning gladioli

Correct cutting of gladiolus inflorescences affects not only their durability in bouquets, but also the process of tuber formation. Cutting the peduncles of these plants should be carried out only in the evenings or early in the morning, when the plants do not lack moisture and do not suffer from heat.

You should not wait for the full blooming of all flowers on the inflorescence and its greatest decorativeness: it is necessary to cut the peduncle when one lower flower is open or two lower buds are painted in colors characteristic of the variety and are preparing to open. Such inflorescences bloom completely in water, are perfectly transported and stand surprisingly long.

When cutting off the peduncles of gladioli, remember that you should not touch the leaves and remove them along with the inflorescences. Only those plants that have kept at least 4 full leaves for the bulb, and ideally 7-10 leaves will be able to develop and grow normally, mature for the next season. It is necessary to cut off the inflorescences only with a sharp knife, at an angle, as low as possible above the leaf, but without asking it. In order to get a longer peduncle, you can not cut, but twist it, slightly cutting it from the flat side of the stem, then breaking and bending the shoot and, carefully holding it just above the point of exit from the leaf, gently twisting it.

Pruning before storage is carried out only after digging. Even if you have already cut all the flower stalks, do not completely remove the greens, because they are very important for the ripening process of the bulbs.

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