Gladioli have faded: care after flowering, whether and how to prune, how to cut, whether to water

What to do with gladioli after flowering

These bright, multi-colored corms became especially popular in Europe thanks to W. Herbert, who obtained hybrids of fennel (another name for gladiolus) in 1807. From then on, the history of the selection of this plant began. Summer-blooming gladioli appeared.

The cultivation of fennel is as follows:

perennial bulbs (also called heads) are left in the soil in the southern regions;
in central Russia, it is customary to dig up corms of gladioli planted in open ground and store them in suitable conditions;
after the flowering period, it is necessary to observe the ripening period of the bulb;
digging is carried out, among other things, for the purpose of prevention from pests;
Early varieties should be planted separately from later ones, and children should grow up in a garden area specially designated for them.

The peduncle quite depletes the underground part of the fennel, which is why it should be removed . Most gardeners believe that it is healthier for both the plant itself and the eye of the observer to cut these flowers as soon as possible. If you leave the plant to bloom in the garden, then the corms will require more time to ripen - not a month or a month and a half, but 50–60 days, which is fraught with frost damage and parasite infection.

Did you know? In the Middle Ages, skewer was used to make flour, which was added to dough for baking bread.

So, the gladioli have already faded, which means the flower stalks need to be cut off. It is customary to leave only a small part - no more than five centimeters. Next, the plants need rare watering and subsequent digging of the bulbs. The first to be removed from the ground are those bulbs of the varieties that bloomed the earliest. This is done very carefully - by digging up and carefully pulling out. All damaged fragments of the underground part of the plant are destroyed.

Do not forget that it is important to plant those skewers that you have identified as suitable for cutting into bouquets separately from the rest. During further autumn care and collection of corms, this approach will ensure the absence of unnecessary hassle.

Important! The ideal time to cut the peduncle is when the first lower bud opens.

Digging rules

It is important not only to clean up the planting material in a timely manner, but also to adhere to certain rules for the procedure itself. First of all, you need to choose a suitable day: it is advisable to carry out the assembly on a warm sunny day

Then drying the planting material before storing it will take much less time.

As mentioned above, digging is carried out at least 30 days after flowering.

It is important to be careful so that the sharp edge of the shovel does not accidentally damage the delicate rhizomes of the flowers. To prevent this from happening, you need to try to stick the tool into the ground to the maximum possible depth (Figure 4)

When removing rhizomes from the ground, do not try to remove the husks from them, since this is what will serve as protection during storage. The only exceptions may be specimens with visible mechanical damage. To prevent such imperfect bulbs from leading to damage to the rest of the material, they should be cleaned. However, if the rhizome is severely damaged, it is better to destroy it immediately. Such a bulb is unlikely to survive until spring, but it can become a source of infection for others.

Figure 4

You need to carefully remove rhizomes from the ground so as not to accidentally damage them. All old bulbs must also be disposed of.

If you grow rare varieties of gladioli, and some of their bulbs have been damaged, do not throw them away. It is enough to simply cut off the affected parts, cover the cut with brilliant green, and store such planting material separately from the rest.

All old bulbs must also be disposed of. If you grow rare varieties of gladioli, and some of their bulbs have been damaged, do not throw them away. It is enough to simply cut off the affected parts, cover the cut with brilliant green, and store such planting material separately from the rest.

Caring for gladioli after flowering

Now pay attention to the necessary manipulations for caring for faded gladioli:

Cutting the peduncle. It is carried out with pruning shears or a knife in the evening.
Trimming the length of leaves (up to 20 cm).
Reduce watering. The recommended amount is once a decade (more often in dry weather in autumn).
Plant nutrition. Runs twice. Take 7 liters of water, 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and 150 g of wood ash, calculated per 1 m² of flower bed. The second feeding is done in the same way, but with the addition of 2 g of potassium permanganate. Time: at least two weeks after the first one.
Treatment before digging up bulbs. You can use special preventive agents against diseases and pests.

These simple measures will help gardeners achieve not only normal ripening of corms, but also subsequent abundant flowering.

Also find out what to do to make gladioli grow and bloom quickly.

Nuances of excavation

It is advisable to start removing bulbs from the soil in dry weather. The following stages and nuances of this process can be distinguished:

Stock up on pitchforks or a bayonet shovel.
You need to stick the tool into the ground at some distance from the intended location of the bulb. The forks can be held straight, and the shovel can be held at an angle.
Dig up the plant from 3-4 sides.
Gently press the handle of the tool, and with the other hand, remove the bulb from the ground by the remains of the ground parts.
Lightly shake off excess soil.

Do I need to prune gladioli after flowering?

Trimming fennel flower stalks is the most important stage of cultivation. As mentioned above, this is done in order to provide the potential seed with nutrients, which, if pruning is ignored, will enter the stem and leaves. But making your swords strong, healthy and ready for winter is simply necessary in the conditions of the middle zone and northern regions of the country. Therefore, it is recommended to remove flower stalks.

There are two ways:

or up to 5 cm of the stem is left;
or - up to 20–30 cm, while the size of the peduncle is compared with the length of the leaves (they can also be trimmed).

In the second case, further cutting of the stem occurs when the corm is dug up. Only a small part is left - from 0.5 cm to 0.7 cm.

Necessary parameters for storing gladioli in winter at home

The ability to properly preserve bulbs is the main criterion for the success of further cultivation of swords. Here are some useful tips.

Temperature

The bulbs do not germinate for about two months; during this time they can be safely stored under any conditions, and then you will have to worry. The optimal temperature for long-term storage of corms is from +2°C to +8°C.

Humidity

To properly preserve gladioli bulbs, you need to maintain the ambient humidity within 60-80%. With high humidity, the bulbs will begin to rot, and in dry air they can dry out. A slight drying out of the bulbs is quite normal. Before planting, they need to be wrapped in a wet rag, and they will return to their original shape. “Children” cannot be overdried, so they are kept separately from adult bulbs and constantly in a humid room.

How and when to cut gladioli correctly

First you need to familiarize yourself with the rules and time period for cutting skewer for bouquets:

If the flowers have begun to bloom a little, you can already place the peduncle in the vase.
Make cuttings for bouquets in the morning.
Carry out this task only with a well-sharpened knife so as not to damage the plant.
Immediately immerse the stems in a container of water.
Remember that the flowers are massive - place them in vases with a wide bottom.
Cut flowers should be stored in water in a cool place.
Change the water every 2-3 days.
Gradually remove faded flowers.

The time will come when the swordberry will fade - first the early one, then the late one. While flowering lasts, watering should be carried out. It can be daily (in dry weather) or rare - once a week or even every two weeks. The bulb is located at a depth of 30–35 cm, and the soil must be moistened to this depth.

Important! If you add half an aspirin tablet to the water, the flowers will receive additional nutrients and the bouquet will remain attractive longer.
The ground under planting fennel needs to be loosened; it is useful to lightly hill up the plants. Weeds need to be removed , and to ensure that soil moisture is constant and moderate and that weeds do not grow abundantly, mulching is carried out.

When gladioli fade, they urgently need to be cut off. Removing flower stalks is described above. Don't forget about the cutting rules. Pay attention not only to the condition of the flowers on the plant to determine when to remove the stems, but also to the air temperature. A mandatory rule is to remove the flower stalks before the onset of persistent cold weather. It is important to allow the corm to ripen.

Did you know? In ancient Greece, gladiolus was considered a weed that grew in wheat fields. It was weeded out and burned along with the bulbs.

Preparing tubers for storage

The planned digging of gladiolus tubers is carried out at the end of September, in dry and warm weather. Pre-inspect the bulb to determine whether it is ripe. The end of the ripening process is indicated by dark scales on the surface of the tuber. Mature babies separate easily, and their subsequent care is similar to caring for the mother’s bulb.

If September was rainy and brown spots appeared on the leaves of the gladiolus, you need to dig it up earlier, as there is a risk of the bulbs being damaged by rot or botrytis.

In order to protect the bulbs from damage, you should use a fork and remove it along with a lump of earth. Then the planting material is cleaned. This is done manually, carefully removing the remaining soil. At the same time, low-quality tubers are discarded - those affected by disease or pests, too small, immature.

Bulbs that have passed the selection should be thoroughly washed and treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. To do this, they are placed in a special container, where 1 gram of dry matter is dissolved per liter of water. The material is left in the solution for 10 minutes, then removed and dried.

Stages of preparing corms for storage:

pruning;
removal of roots and bottom;
drying;
storage layout.

The planting material is trimmed, leaving a stump 1 cm long from the stem. Then the roots are manually removed (to the base), and the bottom is removed. This further serves to stimulate shoot germination.

Ripe children are separated from the mother tuber and are used in the future as independent bulbs, but if the children are small, they can be left in place for further ripening.

The bulbs are thoroughly dried, this will help their storage during the winter. For proper drying, planting material is laid out on a flat surface in a room where there is an influx of fresh air and kept for a week at a temperature of 25 degrees. In warm, clear weather, you can dry the tubers outside, under the sun's rays.

Peeled, processed and thoroughly dried tubers are collected and stored in a thick cardboard box, where they should be carefully laid out in one layer. You can use a bag made of breathable fabric or stockings. Gladiolus bulbs should be stored at a temperature no higher than 3-5 degrees, in a room with low humidity, which prevents early germination of tubers.

Do I need to water gladioli after flowering?

If the weather is dry and sunny, you should continue watering. Faded gladioli are irrigated less often than during flowering, when moisture was required to form beautiful flowers. With an approximate frequency of about once a week or ten days, it is necessary to water the skewer so as to maintain a rational level of moisture in the soil in which the corm is located.

Try not to pour water on the above-ground parts of the skewer. In advance, even in the spring when planting, make holes or grooves for watering along the plantings or between them - this method of irrigation prevents gladiolus from rotting.

Brief description of cultivation

Bloom. From the first weeks of summer (early varieties) until the beginning of the autumn period.
Landing. In spring time.
Digging up bulbs. From early to mid-autumn.
Storage. In a cool place (5 to 10 degrees).
Illumination. Needs bright sunlight.
Priming. Sandy loam, structural chernozem or light loam. The soil should be slightly acidic (pH from 6.5 to 6.8).
Watering. Water on average once every 7 days very abundantly (per 1 square meter of land from 10 to 12 liters of water).
Fertilizer. They use liquid mineral fertilizers and organic matter. Foliar feeding is carried out at the beginning of the growing season and during the formation of buds, and root feeding: the first - during the formation of 1 or 2 true leaf blades, the second - during the development of 5 or 6 leaf blades, the third - before the buds begin to form.
Reproduction. Seed method and vegetative method (corms and buds).
Harmful insects. Thrips, meadow mites, cabbage cutworms, wireworms, mole crickets, slugs.
Diseases. Fusarium, gray mold, sclerotinia, septoria, bacterial scab, cancer, penicillosis, curvularia, smut, viral diseases.

Is it possible to cut gladioli during flowering?

Usually, for bouquets, peduncles on which one or two lower flowers have bloomed are cut off. Gardeners, as a rule, place separately the skewer designed for bouquets and the one that will directly decorate the garden space. If flowering has already continued, and it occurs from the bottom up, then cutting will not harm the plant.

Negative effects may appear on flowers in a vase. After all, now you will have to pick off the fading inflorescences one after another every day. To help preserve the appearance of the bouquet, you can pinch the top buds (1-2 pcs.). Then more energy for flowering will be directed to the remaining, lower and middle flowers. Gladioli planted specifically to decorate the area should be cut only after flowering has completed.

You will be interested to know how to make a support for gladioli.

Autumn pruning

Immediately after the end of flowering, the tall shoots of gladioli on which buds form are removed, leaving stubs up to 10-12 cm. This procedure is carried out so that the plant does not spend nutrients on the growth of green mass, but directs the accumulated energy to the ripening of the bulb and the development of offspring (children).

The sooner you carry out this event, the greater the chance that the uterine bulb will become stronger and accumulate more nutrients. Such a root will produce healthy offspring and grow faster after winter.

When pruning, only the peduncle needs to be removed. At least four leaves should remain on each plant, thanks to which the mother bulb will fully develop.

Is it possible to cut off unblown gladioli?

If you notice that the buds are about to open, you can safely cut the stems. The main thing is to keep as many leaves on the plant as possible. Do not cut flowers in the heat, so as not to harm the skewer. As a rule, if one bud has opened on each plant, then it is time to collect bouquets. And this contributes to the proper development of gladiolus, especially its corms.

Do not rush to cut only those varieties whose flowering time is not coming soon. There is no point in pruning too early - the buds have not yet had time to form and prepare to bloom.

Find out whether gladioli need to be tied up.
Gardeners love gladioli so much that skewer can be called one of the most common flowers in garden plots. As autumn approaches, people bring huge, colorful bouquets from their dachas. Large flowers are varied in color and shape; there are a great many varieties and hybrids. It is useful for every owner of a flower bed with gladioli to know how to care for plants, when it is customary to cut flowers, and how to preserve corms in winter for later planting.

Drying correctly

An important point in preparing for winter storage is to dry the gladioli. In autumn, there are above-zero temperatures in the garden at night, but not in any Russian region.

Where it is warm at night, we leave the “harvest” outside for two days. Let it dry, preferably in the sun, to get rid of the unpleasant smell.
If it gets cold, immediately take it home to dry.
Gladioli love warmth. The room temperature is needed from + 20°C to + 25°C. The kitchen is undoubtedly the warmest place in an apartment, cottage, cottage, hut.
We dry the gladioli for a month and a half. How well we dry it depends on a lot. For example, the bulbs will not rot and infect others.

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Gardeners! Remember that not everyone was able to immediately trim the roots and separate the old bottom? Now is the time to do this. Dry tubers are easier to process.

At this stage, cut off all the roots and separate the bottom.
After final pruning, carefully inspect the flower heads.
Sick specimens will be visible in the palm of your hand. Down with them! Do not regret that good, healthy tubers are not spoiled.

For gladioli, these are alpha and omega, i.e. the main condition for storage at home.

Garter or hilling

Most gladioli require additional support, because their peduncles are very long and heavy and prone to lodging. There are two support strategies for gladioli:

Garter . For gladioli, they traditionally use not individual supports, but string or twine stretched in rows between posts or in a circle around a group of plants, which will hold the flower stalks.
Hilling up . Gladioli are first dug with soil to a height of about 10 cm at the stage of blooming 5 true leaves. Thanks to hilling, the soil above the root system will warm up better, the plant will feed more actively, and stable conditions will be created for active growth and the production of powerful flower stalks that will not require additional support.

Basic nutrients added along with fertilizing

At the initial stage of growth after planting the bulbs, you should feed the gladioli with nitrogen to ensure normal growth due to the formation of protein substances. As the plant grows, nitrogen deficiency can be determined by changes in leaf color. In gladioli, with a lack of nitrogen compounds, the leaves become pale green, while an excess of nitrogen leads to the acquisition of a dark green color, which is also harmful (excessive development of green mass, decreased resistance to disease).

The rate and quantity of bud formation depend on the availability of phosphorus, which ensures hydrocarbon metabolism. With its deficiency, few buds are formed, gladioli bloom poorly, and development is delayed. Young gladioli are fed with phosphorus-containing compounds in the spring when 5 or 6 true leaves are formed.

Feeding with phosphorus becomes especially important during budding, when this element is actively consumed in preparation for the formation of flowers.

During the formation of buds and throughout flowering, fertilizing with potassium is important, which promotes metabolism and the formation of carbohydrates. The addition of this element strengthens resistance to various diseases and increases cold resistance. With a lack of potassium, the supply of microelements to the corms deteriorates.

Features of cultivation

After planting, careful care of gladioli is necessary. Caring for them after planting includes:

fertilizer;
spraying to protect against diseases;
watering when there is not enough rainfall.

Feeding

Flowers accumulate nutrients in the corms, so it is important to fertilize them systematically. Gladioli collect supplies from the beginning of flowering until the end of the growing season

The differences between fertilized and unfertilized bulbs become apparent after planting the following season. Fertilized ones will germinate earlier, producing earlier flowers.

During the growing season, when you feel the flower shoot under your fingers when you feel it, you should feed the gladioli with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers:

phosphorus - for beautiful flowering;
potassium - for the rapid formation of a large tuber.

Under no circumstances should nitrogen fertilizers be used during the season; they delay flowering and slow down the growth of tubers.

Watering, weeding, pruning

The soil should be weeded and loosened, creating better conditions for air access, especially on heavy soils, preventing moisture loss. The lack of moisture in the soil at the moment when gladioli form flowers negatively affects the height of the spike-shaped inflorescence.

Diseases and pests

Gladiolus is susceptible to fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases that cause rot and fusarium. Caring for gladioli includes treatment with fungicides. The drugs described above are suitable.

The most common pests of gladioli:

thrips,
root mite (Rhizoglyphus echinopus).

It is important to choose the right place in the garden, in the flower bed. Bad predecessors can transmit diseases and pests to the fennel

Planting at time intervals, such as every 7 or 14 days, will allow you to enjoy the flowers longer. It is worth removing faded flowers to preserve stored substances. The plant will use reserves for seeds and accelerate the growth of tubers. Additionally, we will get the aesthetics of the garden bed. Since the tuber grows most intensively immediately after flowering, only that part of the stem where there were flowers is cut off, the rest is left untouched for feeding the tuber.

Drying corms

Incorrectly or insufficiently dried planting material will not be able to survive throughout the winter. It is more convenient to dry processed specimens in cardboard boxes with low sides or in wooden boxes. The entire drying process lasts two weeks.

Corms are placed in boxes in one row. It is recommended to take it outside in sunny weather for only two hours.
It should be kept warm for seven days, at an air temperature of at least + 200C, but better than + 300C. You can place the boxes next to the heater. You shouldn't be afraid of drying out. The drying process can prevent the spread of bacteria and fungus.

Another drying method requires a stem up to 10cm long. The prepared bulbs are collected into bunches and tied. Then hang it under the roof in a well-ventilated place. However, it is necessary to provide protection from both direct sunlight and precipitation.

After two weeks of drying, all seed material must be checked.

Inspection will allow you to identify and remove damaged specimens. But if the variety of gladioli is rare, you can cut out the affected areas. And then cover it with brilliant green.