How to grow gladiolus? Gladiolus cultivation methods
Gladiolus, whose scientific name is Gladiolus gandavensis. It is not an orchid. It belongs to the Iridaceae family of bulbous plants.
Ecological habits: a light-loving long-day plant; when grown in winter, light must be increased on cloudy days; it is afraid of cold and freezing. The suitable growing temperature is 20—25°C during the day and 10—15°C at night. Corms that have passed through dormancy sprout at 4—5°C; when grown in winter, the plants freeze to death at a low temperature of 0°C. It is not tolerant of waterlogging, and the growing site must not have standing water. It likes fertile, well-drained sandy loam, with a pH of 5.6—6.5 being best.
1. Characteristics and traits Plant height 80-170 cm, corm flattened-round or ovate, with ring-like nodes. Leaves 6-9, sword-shaped. Scorpioid umbel inflorescence, bearing 8-24 flowers, flowers large. Gladiolus likes cool conditions, is not cold-tolerant, and fears extreme heat; it requires loose, fertile, moist, well-drained soil. The optimum growing temperature is 20-25°C during the day and 10-15°C at night. Gladiolus is a long-day plant, with 16 hours of light per day being most suitable.
2. Varieties Gladiolus is a multi-origin, multi-generation hybrid, and there is still no universally recognized unified scientific name. There are many classification methods for gladiolus: by flowering period it can be divided into spring-flowering types and summer-flowering types; by flower arrangement it can be divided into regular types and irregular types; by flower size it can be divided into giant-flowered types, medium-flowered types, and small-flowered types; by flower shape it can be divided into trumpet type, lotus type, swallow type, and so on. Article from: http://www.yuhuagu.com
3. Cultivation management ① In production, planting corms is the main method. In spring, grade the corms by size, soak them for 30 minutes in a 800-fold dilution of 70% thiophanate-methyl powder or a mixture of a 1000-fold dilution of carbendazim and a 1500-fold dilution of captan, then sprout them at 20-25°C, and they can be planted in about 1 week. For varieties with severe virus infection and obvious degeneration, shoot-tip virus elimination can be used to rejuvenate the plants. ② Conventional gladiolus cultivation refers to cultivation under natural conditions, generally selecting seed corms with a diameter of more than 2.5 cm. There are two planting methods, ridge planting and bed planting, with a planting depth of 5-10 cm. When gladiolus produces its 2nd leaf, this is exactly the time of flower bud differentiation, and it is especially sensitive to environmental factors; if it encounters low temperature and weak light, the number of "blind flowers" increases. Generally, when preparing the soil, apply 6-9 kg of nitrogen, 6-12 kg of phosphorus, and 7-12 kg of potassium per mu. During the entire growing season, topdressing is needed 3 times, namely when 2-3 leaves have been produced, when the inflorescence emerges from the leaves, and 15 days after flowering. ③ For forcing cultivation of gladiolus, the dormancy of the seed corms must first be broken. After the seed corms are harvested, under natural conditions, dormancy can only be broken after the low-temperature influence from late autumn to early winter. For forcing cultivation, dormancy must be broken artificially, that is, after the seed corms are harvested, first treat them at a high temperature of 35°C for 15-20 days, then treat them at a low temperature of 2-3°C for 20 days, and then plant them, and they will sprout and grow normally. If flowers are required from January to February, plant from October to November; if planted in December, they will bloom from March to May. That is, from planting to flowering takes 100-120 days. For forcing cultivation, the plant and row spacing is 15 cm×15 cm or 25 cm×7 cm, planting 40-60 seed corms per square meter. After planting, the daytime temperature should be maintained at 20-25°C and the nighttime temperature at about 15°C. ④ Delayed cultivation can also be used. After the seed corms are harvested, store them in a dry cold storage at 3-5°C, then plant them again in a greenhouse from July to August of the following year; the management work is the same as for forcing cultivation.