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Gladiolus: How to Plant, Grow, Harvest, and Store Gladiolus Corms

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Hi everyone, it’s Adam for Yard of Paradise and today I want to share with you how to plant and grow gladiolas. Gladiolus are beautiful summer-blooming flowers that produce elegant three-foot flower spikes on each stem. They have multiple orchid-like blooms that come in a rainbow of gorgeous colors, are very easy to plant and grow, and as an added bonus they make excellent cut flowers.

What are Gladiolus Corms

Gladiolas are grown from corms and these corms contain all the necessary food and energy to put on that glorious spike for you that can sometimes have even 20 florets on each bloom stalk.

How to Plant Gladiolus Corms

So you want to start by first selecting a site that receives full sun and has fertile, well-draining soil. You can either choose to dig a whole bunch of individual holes or you can dig out one large planting area and then place multiple corms in that planting hole. Either way, you want to be sure to plant the corms four to five inches deep and leave three inches of space between each corm. Now for a truly spectacular display in the garden, I like to plant mine in groups of seven or more. I think planting gladiolus in mass gives the look of a beautiful living bouquet in the garden.

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After digging up a hole, place the corms pointy side up and flat root side down in the hole, and then cover them with soil. Once all your corms are planted, be sure to water them in a well. After a few short weeks, the strong and spiky foliage will emerge from the soil. At that time give them a light layer of mulch to help suppress weeds and maintain even moisture levels during the growing season.

Watering Gladiolus

Gladiolas appreciate consistent water. During dry weather, water the plants deeply to supply the equivalent of one inch of rainfall per week.

Supporting Gladiolus Stems

If you notice that the blooms are becoming heavy and starting to lean, give them a little support by placing a slender bamboo cane next to the stem and using twine to secure the bloom stock to the cane. If you need to support a large section of gladiolus, you can corral them with multiple canes and twine and circle the entire planting area. I personally love to use my gladiolus as cut flowers, and when you use them for cutting, you tend to avoid the leaning altogether because you harvest them before they become chop heavy.

When to Harvest Gladiolus

Now the gladiola blooms from the bottom to the top, so you want to go ahead and harvest them when the bottom two florets on a stem are open. You should also remove the tip of the flower to encourage all the other flowers on the stem to open in the vase. As the lower flowers fade, simply pull them off and enjoy the new ones that will continue to open.

Succession Planting Gladiolus

I also find that it’s a nice idea to succession plant gladiolas so that you can have continuous blooms all throughout the growing season. So start by planting gladiolus corms after all danger of frost has passed in the spring, and then continue to plant a wave of corms every week or two for continuous blooms all season long.

What to Do With Gladiolus After They're Done Blooming

Gladiolus corms are hardy in zones 7 through 10, so growers in those zones can just leave the corms in the ground to perennialize. You just let them die back naturally in the fall, snip them at ground level once they’ve turned brown, and they will return for you next year with no additional work on your part. However, if you’re a grower in zones 3 through 6, you want to either treat your gladiolas as an annual and replant the corms every year, or you can dig them up and store them over the winter.

How to store gladiolus corms over winter

In this case, after the first frost, dig up the corms and allow them to dry in a warm, dry, well-ventilated area for about two to three weeks. When thoroughly dry, remove and discard the old dried-up mother corm located at the base of the new corm.

You can either remove the tiny cormlets from around the base of the new corm, or you can use them for propagating purposes. Once dry, place the corms in mesh bags or old nylon stockings and hang them in a cool, dark, well-ventilated location with an ideal storage temperature of 35 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Next spring, simply remove them from storage and replant them.

Conclusion

Well, I sure hope these tips on how to plant and grow gladiolas were helpful.If you found this article helpful, please give it a review and share it with your friends. Stay in touch with us for more fantastic gardening tips and outdoor inspiration. Your questions and thoughts are always welcome, so feel free to leave a comment below.

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