The second name of this beautiful flower is skewer. If you look closely at the leaves, they look like swords. Translated from Latin, "gladiolus" means "short sword".
The main mistake of gardeners
Many novice gardeners achieve good flowering in plants, but, unfortunately, after they make one unfortunate mistake. They collect all available information on how to care for gladioli. They try and put a lot of effort into preparing the soil and choosing varieties, but they miss one point. This is due to the time when to harvest gladioli for the winter.
Many people divide flowers into early, middle ripening and late varieties, but not everyone knows that the color of the plant also plays a role in the formation and development of tubers. This is exactly what happens in gladiolus. In that period of time when it is time to harvest gladioli, remember that dark varieties complete the formation of the bulb a week earlier than flowers with light inflorescences. Therefore, they can be dug up in a month and no more, otherwise the process of rotting of the tubers may begin. The standard time for harvesting gladioli for the winter begins one and a half months afterthe end of the flowering period. Beds planted from children can be left for last.
When to harvest gladioli: recommendations from gardeners
Choose a warm and sunny day. In order not to damage the children on the bulb, they should be dug with a pitchfork that has three teeth. You can use a shovel, but then you have to clean the tubers from a large amount of earth, which does not happen when using a pitchfork. In any case, all extracted planting material should be cleaned from the ground and slightly dried. Many gardeners recommend pickling it from pests almost immediately after the garden bed, suggesting the use of various preparations for this purpose (boric acid, potassium substances, a solution of manganese or karbofos, and many others). Next, you should cut off the entire aerial part of the stem, leaving a stump a couple of centimeters high, and put the bulbs to dry in a ventilated room with a temperature above 20 ° C. The drying process takes a couple of months. During this time, planting material should be reviewed several times to identify diseased tubers.
Measures to get rid of thrips
If thrips are detected, immediate action should be taken. Infected corms are destroyed, he althy ones are placed in polyethylene bags, in which a little aerosol insecticide is added. The package is then tightly tied and left for an hour and a half. The second way to get rid of the parasite is to hold the tubers for five minutes in hot water (above 50 ° C) and dry.
Now the time has come when gladioli should be harvested for the winter. If they are not stored in the refrigerator (in paper bags), they are sprinkled with sand. Here's another good tip for owners of flowers like gladioli: how to cut them without harming the plant. To do this, you can use a knife, an awl. Cutting takes place in cool weather or early in the morning, late in the evening. We find a place in the leaves where the peduncle comes from, and pierce a hole in it through the leaves. Next, cut only the stem from both sides. The remaining leaves will close over the cut and prevent infection or parasites from getting there.
