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Gladioli in the fall: care, preparation for winter
Gladioli in the fall require a kind of care. It is important to properly prepare them for winter, so that next year the grower can plant healthy and strong bulbs in his garden.
Care for gladioli in autumn
At the beginning of autumn, it is not difficult to care for these flowers. At this time, they bloom, and you just need to create suitable conditions for them.
Gladioli delight in autumn with beautiful flowering
Do your usual procedures until mid-September:
- Water the shrubs in sunny weather. To do this, use warm, settled water. After September 15, the plant does not need watering, as preparations for winter will begin.
- After watering, shallowly loosen the soil, weed it, and remove the weeds.
- Hill up the bushes if necessary.
- In the fall, fertilize the soil with phosphorus and potash fertilizers. You can use potassium permanganate, which will serve as a good disinfectant.
- Prepare the soil in advance for planting flowers in spring: remove weeds, dig up the ground, add lime flour or a mixture of peat and sand to it. If the soil is sandy, then add humus to it.
Even a novice gardener can follow these rules. Proper care is the key to the health of flowers.
Caring for gladioli flowers in autumn to prepare for winter
Preparation of gladioli for winter begins in mid-September, when they are still in bloom. During this period, it is necessary to remove them from the site. To do this, first cut off the inflorescences, leaving a small part of the stem with a few leaves. When the leaves begin to dry out, the bulbs should be dug up for storage in sunny weather. This must be done in such a way as to capture the children, so retreat at least 10 cm from the stem. It is better to pull the bulbs out by pulling them out by the stem.
The preparation of the bulbs is done in this way:
- Remove the earth from them, select healthy specimens of the same size, rounded. Divide them by grade.
- Rinse them with water and disinfect them using special products “Maxim” or “Hom”. In addition, you can dip them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
- Dry the bulbs in gauze or nylon for 2 months at room temperature. Before that, it is advisable to dry them for several days at a temperature of about 30⁰С.
The planting material is ready for storage. The bulbs can now be placed in a large cardboard box with holes and placed in a cool place such as a balcony or basement. The holes are needed so that the planting material can breathe. In this case, the heads should not touch each other.
You can arrange the bulbs, depending on the color, that is, according to varieties, in paper bags and send them for storage in the cellar. Refrigeration is another option. In this case, you need to wrap each head in paper.
Inspect the bulbs twice a month, as they can get sick or deteriorate. Remove damaged heads so that they do not infect the rest
Follow all the rules and tricks related to growing gladioli and storing their bulbs, and then they will decorate the garden with flowers of incredible beauty.