WHEN LIFTING GLADIOLI

Evening Star, Issue 22578, 20 February 1937, Page 23

WHEN LIFTING GLADIOLI

GET RID OF DISEASED CORNS _ Exhibition growers with choice selections of gladioli know only too well that the risk of keeping even slightlydiseased specimens is never worth while, for in a very short times wilt or scab' will spread in an alarming manner. A great*deal of the trouble arises through the fact that diseased conns will grow and produce further conns, which will flower satisfactorily for a few years. Many growers are loath to sacrifice a specimen which will undoubtedly produce a flowering spike next season, but if it is diseased the folly of keeping it will be amply demonstrated in the course of a few seasons. Actually, _ plants attacked by the fusarium wilt are best destroyed early in the*"season, as it is then readily detected in the almost complete cessation of growth. On no account should the job be left until tho foliage is cub away, as the disease is extremely difficult to detect in the corm itself, with the result that diseased specimens are left to work havoc in future seasons. Scab or neck rot disease is much more easily recognised on the corm, as it gives rise to dark brown, glossy, depressed areas, with a raised and lightcoloured margin. The two rot»—dry rot and hard rot—also appear in the form of dark-coloured spots, which usually increase greatly in size during storage. Unless in bad cases, attack by any of these three does not necessarily moan that the conns must be destroyed.If the affected parts are cut away with a sharp knife and tho corns are then soaked in a 2 per cent, solution of formalin for two or three hours, it is quite possible that the disease may be checked. It must he realised, however, that prompt measures are essential. _ The rots, in particular, spread alarmingly when the conus are in storage, and a specimen which at first may have shown only one or two spots, may easily become practically mummified by the time planting season comes round again. Nor is it advisable to store torms which have been attacked by rot along with healthy specimens. Instead, they should have separate trays, and a little powdered charcoal and sulphur dusted over them as checks to further development