To enjoy the beauty of gladioli for several seasons in a row, planting requires attention and care. In most regions of Russia, the climate for these flowers is too harsh, so before the first frost they need to be dug up and stored until next spring. It is also important to know what care for gladioli in the fall and their preparation for winter is.
How to care for gladioli in the fall
Watering is combined with loosening the top layer of the soil, weeding and hilling of gladioli
In autumn, gladioluses do not require special care. Only late-flowering varieties need to be watered - take 1.5-2 buckets of warm, previously defended water per square meter of plantings. Together with watering, the topsoil is loosened, weeding and hilling of plants. Watering is stopped in early autumn before preparing gladioli for winter.
Once a season (in early September), flowers should be fed with potassium permanganate - 5 g of substance per bucket of water. Such top dressing will not only give plantings the necessary nutrients, but also serve as a disinfection that will destroy pathogenic microorganisms and fungal spores.
Preparing flowers for the winter
Preparing gladioli for the winter includes pruning flowers, digging up bulbs and storing them until the next season.
Experienced gardeners also recommend preparing the soil in the autumn and enriching it with useful substances.
Pruning gladioli
Before the onset of the first frosts, gladioli should be cut so that there are no more than 1-2 cm long shoots at the base.This will protect the bulbs intended for winter storage from infection by pathogenic microorganisms, as well as give them the opportunity to form well and reduce the drying time of planting material. The procedure is carried out with a clean sharp secateurs in the morning or after sunset, and the remaining parts of the peduncles should disappear under the mass of foliage.
It is allowed to mow the aerial part of the bushes immediately before digging the bulbs or after, but it is better to give preference to pruning.
Digging up plants
You can not use manure to feed gladioli - it can cause fungal diseases
Dig bulbs about a month after the appearance of the flowers. To do this, you need a shovel or pitchfork with flat teeth, and the procedure is best done in sunny weather - with severe dampness, there is a risk of skipping small bulbs. You need to dig carefully, trying not to damage the mother's bulbs and children. Each lump of earth should be smashed and checked for bulbs, the tip of the tool should be buried in the ground away from the bushes, and the excavated planting material should be pulled out by the leaves.
Treatment
After digging the bulbs, they need to be cleaned of soil residues, separating the children from large specimens. Be sure to divide the planting material by size and variety - mixing different types of crops is not recommended. You can leave for subsequent planting only healthy bulbs no more than 4 years old, of the correct round shape - the height and width should be approximately the same. Damaged, rotten or flat specimens should be discarded and replaced with older ones.
The selected bulbs should be washed with warm water with the addition of disinfectants (potassium permanganate, Maxim, Khom or ordinary household soap). To determine low-quality specimens that remained after rejection, you need to immerse the bulbs in a container filled with water. Planting material, which is suitable for storage and subsequent planting, sinks in water, and inferior remains on the surface.
Leaves after collecting bulbs of gladioli destroy
The next step is drying the bulbs. At a temperature of 30 ℃, it takes several days, at 20 ℃ - about a month.
To protect the bulbs from drying out and damage, it is best to paraffin them - lower them in molten paraffin for several minutes, and then let them congeal.
Bulb Storage
Prepared gladioli bulbs are stored in cardboard boxes or nets for vegetables, laying them out so that neighboring copies do not touch. Plastic bags for storage are not suitable, since they block the access of air. To protect them from fungi and moisture, you can sprinkle planting material with wood ash or dry, minted into powder, and also shift with cloves of garlic. the containers are placed in a cool place with a temperature of 3 to 8 ℃ (refrigerator, cellar, glazed loggia) and they are periodically checked for rot and damage.
Soil preparation
In the autumn period, you need to prepare the soil for the spring planting of gladioli. The site needs to be cleaned of weeds, dig into two shovel bayonets and fertilize, depending on the composition of the soil. Too acidic substrate can be improved with dolomite or lime flour, humus or compost can be added to the sand. It is useful to feed the soil with phosphoric or potassium mixtures - about half a glass of superphosphate per square meter of land and a quarter cup of potassium chloride or potassium salt.
Features of autumn care for gladioli in different regions
The most unpretentious variety for central Russia is a shperedchaty fennel
The bulbs of gladioli are very delicate and do not tolerate low temperatures, so it is important to dig them out before the ground completely freezes. If the procedure is too early, the planting material will be poorly formed and immature, therefore, it may not germinate in the next season.
You need to focus on the variety of flowers and climatic features of the region. Gladioli should be excavated 30-50 days after the inflorescences wither, but not earlier than a month. In the northern regions, the procedure is performed at the end of September, in the southern - at the beginning or in the middle of October.
In the southern regions of Russia (Krasnodar Territory, Crimea), frost-resistant varieties of gladioli can not be dug up, but grown as perennials. For the winter they are simply covered with a thick layer of dry leaves or spruce branches, but in regions with severe winters they can freeze. Cold-resistant varieties of culture include the Byzantine gladiolus and the tiled gladiolus.
Properly prepared bulbs are stored without any problems all winter, and in the next season they can be planted in the ground and enjoy the beauty of lush flowers.
