Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Gladioli

Q. I have gladioli corms. What should I do?

A. It is best to wait to into April to plant them, and make sure you get them at least 4-5" deep, so that the roots and underground stem will be able to support that tall spike or two of flowers. Boy, I do love them. When I was 12-15, they were my #1 flower, growing and viewing, but never cutting, as I had to keep them there to record all my data!

Glad corms will grow to about 2 1/2 to 3" in diameter the first year. The old corm will be dried at the bottom of the new one. In the spring, it is best to snap off the last year's corm and discard. Any offshoots can be broken off, too, and they may get large enough during the summer to bloom on their own, or at least next year.

Glads are heavy drinkers and feeders, so provide for them well, especially during those hot, dry spells of the heat of summer. Not far away now! A little compost or dried leaves laid on top of the beds, after the first shoots appear, will insulate them throughout the season.

Q. What month can I pull glad bulbs to divide and replant?

A. It is too early to dig up glads in July. You need to wait until they have all bloomed and the foliage has continued to produce food for the underground corms. Do not cut off the foliage except the blades which are yellowed or brown. Continue to water very well throughout the heat of the summer.

Feed them once every two weeks with a 30-10-10 general fertilizer as Rapid Grow or Peters, one tablespoon per gallon water. Make certain to drench deeply to get down into the root systems.

Cut off the entire flower stems after the last flower dies. Discard. In the fall, the leaves will turn brown and wither. Then, before the soil turns too cold, dig them up, carefully far enough away from the stem so as not to slice into their corms, cut the foliage off at 3", knock off the soil after it has died and leave the roots attached.

Place them in a single layer in flats and store in a cool, dry, dark spot with very good air circulation, but where they will not be disturbed. They will now enter dormancy. In a couple weeks, you will be able to break off the dead roots.

In the spring right after the last frost date, take them out, clean well, removing all soil and roots and the old stem, break off any side shoots, or if a corm has split, gently break it in two. Plant as usual and you will have another wonderful season of flowers, more than the year before!

Q. My gladiolas, planted spring of 2000, have a whole handful of little bulbs on their roots. Can I dig them up and plant the bulbs and thereby have a whole big bed of gladiolas? I live in central Oklahoma and it is just now time to plant most bulbs.

A. Well, yes and no. First, yes, you can divide the glads side shoots called corms and multiply your collection But, no, this is not the time in OK or any other spot where the ground freezes to plant glads or other summer flowering bulbs. They will die over the winter.

Glads need to be dug up in the fall, old foliage cut off right at the top of the corms and laid out to air dry. When they are crispy dry on the outside, place them in mesh hanging bags and store in a cool, dry spot, as a basement which gets some heat.

In the spring, after frost, plant them in your garden beds which have been spaded and well-worked up, with added humus or leaf mold, at a depth of 4-6", spaced 1 foot apart. They will send up shoots as the temps rise and the soil gets water. You will continue to get more glads with this method.

Midnight_Wolf writes~
Last year my glads came up, got buds and then the buds turned brown without opening. What could have caused this?

A. I can think of at least three possibilities. It is hard for me to make a call from this distance and not seeing the plants nor watching your care. Many times glads will abort their flowers if the conditions are not right. The factors I see are:

Water. As the buds grow and start to pop through the blades, if they dry out, the flowers may very well turn brown and shrivel and then drop. It is a very crucial time for them, almost as important as the first waterings when the roots are forming and the sprouts coming up through the soil. Make sure that the plants are very well watered and deeply when the flowers are breaking. If rain is lacking, use a slow soaker hose to dribble water down into the soil and all the way down about 1 to 1-1/2 feet. I would do this no less often than weekly and more often if the weather is hot. Then browning will not occur.

Fertilizer. The glads need good food as they start to grow, one high in the first number, Nitrogen, for green. But, it should be switched when the blades are about one foot tall. Give them then a bloom booster, high in the middle number, Phosphorus, for flower. Apply according to the directions. They are not heavy feeders, but I usually give them 1/2 strength every week to 10 days.

Soil type and drainage. I had aborted attempts growing them in rather heavy clay soil. Amend the soil in the spring before planting by digging down 2 feet and turning the soil over and over. Allow to sit for a week and repeat. Add organic material; as dehydrated steer manure, dried leaves, peat moss or compost. A rich well-drained soil will assist the growth of the glad roots and produce more flowers. It is possible that as the buds developed, the roots hit hard soil and some may have rotted, thus leading to bud drop.

Although you can easily save glad corms through the winter, dry inside the house, always buy additional ones as their life span is not too great and they weaken as they age. Older corms are more susceptible to rot and blights which can lead to poor flower production.