Gladioli thrive under correct treatment

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32588, 23 April 1971, Page 11

Gladioli thrive under correct treatment

Gladioli are popular flowers, both in the garden and for display purposes of various kinds. As they are comparatively easy to grow, their requirements are often neglected, with the result that flowering is not as good as it could be.

One often sees gladioli struggling up from the oddest comers of the garden although this may be as much due to the dispersion of the countless cormlets produced each year as to anything else.

After lifting at the end of the season when the foliage has turned yellow the corms should be dried, cleared of all soil, freed from the old corm and cormlets and the loose outer seeds removed. Only sound, well-formed conns should be retained for subsequent replanting next spring, and these are best dipped in a combination of lindane and thiram for 30 minutes. Alternatively they can be dusted with similar materials but in either case it is wise to handle the corms thereafter with gloves. The fungicide (thiram) is applied to give protection against storage rots and the insecticide (lindane) provides a safeguard against aphides and thrips, both of which have a habit of getting on to stored corms.

Before replanting the corms immerse then in a proprietary mercury bulb and corm dip to give some protection against disease. Lysol can be used instead, at the rate of 1$ teaspoons a gallon of water and immersion should be for a period of three hours. Lindane can again be added in either case.

An average garden soil that is well drained and yet moisture-retentive is most suitable for growing gladiolus. The ground does not need manuring provided the soil is reasonably fertile, experiments having shown these plants to be relatively unresponsive to manure under average conditions. However, a dressing of a complete fertiliser worked into the ground before planting is beneficial in less favourable spots. To obtain

quality blooms a dressing of a quick acting fertiliser such as nitrate of potash, one ounce to the square yard, should be given on. appearance of the flower spikes. Rotation is an important aspect of successful culture of gladiolus particularly to reduce the build-up of soilbome diseases, which can severely cripple the plants. Depth of planting is somewhat dependent on the nature of the soil. In heavy ground 3in to 4in is ample but in light soil about sin of soil above the conn may be necessary. Choose a situation which is not exposed to strong winds as they can damage the plants quite readily, especially when they are top heavy with bloom. Tn any case staking is always a wise move and should be attended to at the time of planting. During the season aphides, mites and thrips can all prove troublesome and whereas lindane will give good control of both aphides and thrips it will not affect mites which must be treated with a spray such as kelthane.

Choosing varieties of gladioli for the garden can be both perplexing and timeconsuming as there are a bewildering number of different kinds with attractive descriptions appended to each name in the listings. Large numbers of new varieties each year further swell the numbers. Some of these do not always continue in robustness or maintain their initial flush of attractiveness.

Below is a selection of 12 popular varieties of proven performance but it should be noted that this is by no means an exclusive listing:— Cherbourg (rose flowers); 80-peep (small, salmon pink); Ethereal (pale pink); Forsythia (yellow); Lief Erikson (cream); Firebrand (medium red); Heirloom (lavender); Mrs R. G. Erry (dark red); Prunella (smokey plum red); Lavender and gold (small flowered, lavender shaded gold); Ocean spray (small, creamy white with amber throat).