Beautiful flower beds fill the garden plot with bright colors. Flowers are given the most honorable place. Bulbous plants deserve special attention, the splendor of which is surprisingly combined with the ease of cultivation.
Gladiolus. Short Description
The Iris family has many plants, incomparable in beauty. A popular representative of this family are gladioli, or skewers. A perennial corm plant has been known since ancient times and has a rich history. The natural habitat is the tropics and subtropics of Europe, Asia and Africa. Blades are distinguished by a variety of forms. Tens of thousands of varieties of garden gladioli and at least two hundred natural species are known.
Graceful long plant has vertical stems. Its height is from fifty centimeters to one and a half meters. Rigid leaves, the length of which reaches eighty centimeters, like a sharp sword blade, rush upwards. Funnel-shaped flowers have a different color and shape. Spike inflorescence can be quite dense or loose.
How to grow gladioli? Generallanding rules
To grow a full-fledged gladiolus, which will delight you with abundant and beautiful flowering, you must follow certain rules of agricultural technology. Skewers are moisture-loving and heat-loving plants. For planting bulbs an important point is the choice of site. Gladiolus will be powerful and he althy in a well-lit area, protected from wind and drafts. In poor light, the plants are strongly stretched and bloom poorly. The normal development of the flower is ensured by the fertility of the soil. Its most suitable type is chernozem or light loamy soil. When planting, complex fertilizers will be useful. They are added to the hole for each plant.
Gladiolus - vigorous flowers. The question arises: how to grow a gladiolus so that the stem is stable and does not break? The correct planting depth will contribute to the stable fixation of the plant in the ground. After choosing a site for a flower garden and preparing the soil, corms ready for planting are sorted by size.
Large corms are deepened by ten centimeters, medium - by five to seven. Small bulbs - babies - are planted to a depth of two to three centimeters. The distance between the holes is from five to fifteen centimeters (depending on the size of the planting material).
How to grow gladiolus at home? Choosing planters for growing
Bulbous flowers can be found not only in garden flower beds. The skewers sometimes settle in the most unexpected places. Growing gladioli outdoorssoil is not the only possible option for planting bulbous flowers. In conditions of artificial soil, they will decorate any interior. But before you grow a gladiolus, you need to solve a number of issues. First of all, you need to choose the right container in which the flowers will grow.
Mistakes will not allow you to get a full-fledged flowering plant. In order to solve the problem of how to grow a gladiolus with a normal developed root system, it is necessary to know the degree of its growth. It branches in the soil to a depth of forty centimeters. The full nutrition of the flower can provide a layer of soil with a thickness of at least forty-five centimeters. Based on this parameter, a suitable container for growing is selected. You can use large flower pots or plastic containers, the capacity of which should be at least twelve to fifteen liters.
Gladiolus on the windowsill. Boarding Rules
An unusual sight - gladioli on the window of the living quarters. How to grow a gladiolus in a pot so that it is he althy and fully developed and bloomed? At home, small-flowered and miniature varieties of skewers will be more suitable. They have a stem height of thirty to fifty centimeters. The root system of flowers of these varieties is less powerful. The choice of a suitable container has already been said.
Drainage hole must be present in the pot. Flowers do not tolerate stagnant moisture. Pour into the bottom of the containerdrainage material that will ensure a normal outflow of water. A good drainage system will ensure normal growing conditions. The pot is filled with soil, which should be quite fertile and at the same time moisture-intensive. The success of growing full-fledged plants depends on its composition. Corms in pots are deepened by eight to twelve centimeters, maintaining a distance between them of six to seven centimeters.
How to grow a gladiolus on a balcony. Flower container selection
Decoration of balconies and loggias is impossible without flowers. For this purpose, bulbous plants can be used. When choosing varieties, preference is given to gladioli with a small stem height. In order to organize a miniature flower garden, suitable containers are selected. In this case, containers of the required size can be used.
Flower growers select according to the same principle that is used when choosing pots for growing gladioli. They must have a volume of at least fifteen liters. Usually large containers are used on balconies or loggias, in which more plants can be planted than in pots used for growing indoors.
How to grow gladioli from bulbs to ensure normal water balance? Containers must have holes for water outflow. Before filling them with soil mixture, drainage material is laid on the bottom. The soil must be sufficiently fertile. At home, you can use purchased universal light peat soils intended for growing flowercrops.
Flower garden at home. Cultivation practices
Before you grow a gladiolus on a window or balcony, you should study the conditions for planting and keeping these flowers. In open ground, gladioli are planted at a soil temperature of at least ten degrees Celsius. In closed ground conditions, skewers begin to be planted from mid-April.
When choosing a location for pots and containers on a windowsill, balcony or loggia, it should be borne in mind that gladioli are heat-loving and light-loving plants. Containers with flowers are placed in well-lit places. Plants do not tolerate drafts and low air temperatures. When growing on a balcony, it is necessary to monitor the temperature regime. When the temperature drops to ten degrees Celsius, the containers are temporarily brought into the room.
The first shoots appear two or three weeks after planting. At this time, it is important to ensure that the flowers are properly moistened. The lack of moisture will necessarily affect the growth of the plant. It will be weak and lose its decorative shape. Provide moderate watering, avoiding waterlogging. Moisture can be maintained by mulching with peat. At the same time, it will serve as an additional top dressing for the plant. You should also pay attention to air exchange. The soil in the tank is constantly loosened, thereby providing air access to the gladiolus root system.
The next important point is the feeding of gladioli. In closed ground conditions, you can not do without them. How to grow flowers to ensure adequate nutrition?
Normal development and flowering of gladioli will require three to four foliar top dressings with mineral fertilizers, for the preparation of which the following substances are dissolved in one liter of water:
- ammonium nitrate - 0.5 g;
- superphosphate - 0.5 g;
- potassium chloride - 0.5g
Feeding times are as follows:
- first - the appearance of three leaves;
- second - the appearance of six leaves;
- third - the beginning of flowering.
Preventive measures
The next part of agrotechnical measures when growing gladioli at home is preventive measures. In closed ground conditions, plants develop much weaker than flowers grown in garden flower beds.
How to grow gladioli from bulbs in pots and containers to prevent flower diseases? First of all, he althy planting material should be used, which is disinfected for thirty minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate before planting. For its preparation, 0.5 grams of potassium permanganate is enough per liter of water. During the growth period, the condition of the flowers is monitored and the necessary preventive measures are taken.
Planting material. Cleaning and storage
Gladiolus harvesting in open ground is carried out in late September and early October. The corm matures four weeks after flowering stops. In closed ground conditions, the flowering period lasts a little longer. At the same time, the cleaning periods are shifted accordingly. When harvesting a plantcompletely dug out of the ground. After that, they are dried and the stems are cut.
The bulbs are cleaned from the ground and rinsed with water. Then they are kept in a solution of potassium permanganate and then dried well. Next, remove the old bulbs and root system. The final step is thorough drying, which will last up to fourteen days.
It is necessary to store gladiolus bulbs in a dry room at a temperature of three to eight degrees Celsius. At home, gladioli can be stored in paper bags or cardboard boxes by placing them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
Reproduction of gladioli
Apply several methods of reproduction - seeds and small onion-children. The latter method is more common. How to grow a gladiolus from babies?
Tuber buds are an excellent breeding material for skewer. Children are formed on the main bulb. They are small in size. In order to accelerate the flowering of this planting material, it is sown in containers in March. The sowing depth is from two to three centimeters. The gladiolus baby will grow in a container until September. Plant care is the same as for flowers grown from large corms. At the end of the season, the baby increases in size to three centimeters. Next season, these corms will be an excellent planting material for full-fledged flowering plants.
