The greatness and beauty of gladioli force gardeners to invent effective, simple and inexpensive methods of propagation. Today, about 2 thousand varieties of this plant are known. Despite the impressive figure, getting the necessary planting material is sometimes difficult. But the neighbor in the country often has one. How do garden gladioli reproduce? Several methods have been invented for this; all that remains is to choose the appropriate one.
Reproduction of gladioli by children (tuber buds)
The most reliable, but at the same time simplest way to propagate a flower you like is to collect tubers from it. Garden gladioli of any variety form them in sufficient quantities after the end of the flowering period.
What it is?
Corms form the basis of bulbous plant species; it is from them that the growth and development of the future flower begins. Depending on the variety, a different number of children are formed on the mother bulb.
Sometimes you have to resort to stimulating this process by cutting off the peduncle just before the end of flowering.
Propagation of gladioli by tuber buds allows you to quickly propagate your favorite variety, as well as rejuvenate your own plantings.
Winter storage
It is recommended to dry the small onions thoroughly before storing them. The drying process takes several weeks (usually 2-3). After this, the planting material is sorted again and only healthy children are sent to storage. If small foci of decay are found, they are cut out with a sharp knife, filled with brilliant green and left for further drying.
Wooden boxes for vegetables are suitable for drying, in which the gladioli babies are stored for 1-1.5 months at room temperature, covered with newspaper, which will absorb the moisture released. After drying, the onions are wrapped in dry, clean newspaper and stored in a cool room or in the lower section of the refrigerator. If the necessary conditions are met and the temperature is maintained, gladioli babies retain their qualities for 2-3 years.
Growing seedlings from gladioli babies
Preparing children for boarding involves carrying out certain activities. The collected planting material is taken out of storage, cleaned of dry husks, and, if necessary, soaked for a day in warm water. This way the rhizomes are stimulated to start growing. After this, the children are planted in prepared soil, poured into a flower pot or box, and wait until they germinate. Next, the plantings are moistened and left for a week in a warm, well-lit room, waiting for the sprouts to appear.
Planting and caring for gladioli babies in the beds
After the bulbs are planted in the soil, they are irrigated and the ground around is mulched. Throughout the entire growing season, young gladioli are watered, loosened, and fed. As soon as foliage begins to form, a complex mineral fertilizer containing nitrogen is applied. After a couple of weeks, the plants are fed with preparations containing iron and manganese. Emerging flower stalks from young plants must be cut off.
Dividing the bulb
More experienced florists and summer residents risk propagating gladioli by dividing the bulb. This will require certain skills and a supply of theoretical knowledge, otherwise the experiment will be unsuccessful.
Features of the method
By dividing the mother gladiolus bulb into several parts, you can obtain not only a larger amount of planting material, but also stimulate the formation of children. For manipulations, material from the second or third year of life is selected without signs of any diseases or pest damage.
How to do it correctly?
Before you start cutting the onion, prepare your tools and equipment. The knife is well sharpened and fired over a fire. The head section is made vertically.The number of parts obtained depends on the size of the original onion.
On each piece there should be not only part of the bottom for the formation of new roots, but also living buds.
The cutting areas must be disinfected and treated. Wood ash and brilliant green are used for such purposes. After this, the onion pieces are left to dry for some time, and then planted in the prepared nutrient soil. In the fall, ready-made, formed corms are dug up. Already next year they will produce a large number of children, which will later be used for reproduction and renewal of planting material. It is necessary to care for divisions planted in open ground in the same way as for an adult plant.
It is advisable to plant the bulb segments upside down. Ground shoots with this method develop more slowly, flowering often does not occur, but the formation of children is stimulated.
How to work with seeds?
Over time, gladioli bulbs lose their properties:
- become flat;
- give fewer children for reproduction;
- They throw out weak peduncles in small quantities.
In this case, some gardeners resort to propagating gladioli by seeds. This technique is considered risky, costly and unjustified, but still takes place. When growing bulbs from seeds, all varietal properties of the mother plant are often lost, and cross-pollination that occurs during the flowering period has a strong effect. The result of such processes is unpredictable.
Most often, the method of growing gladioli from seeds is used by professional breeders for their scientific works and the development of new varieties.
In gladioli, after pollination, seed pods are formed, in which the seeds then ripen.In terms of external characteristics, they resemble small flat plates, the size of which is 2 mm. After ripening, the seeds become brown in color. Under the shell, a barely noticeable embryo of the future gladiolus can be seen. Up to 200 seeds are formed in each seed capsule. After ripening and harvesting, they are successfully stored indoors, but the storage area should not be allowed to be too dry. In this case, germination greatly deteriorates.
In March-February, the collected seed material is planted in containers or boxes. During this period, flowers need to be provided with a sufficient level of lighting using fluorescent lamps. If this is not possible, sowing dates should be postponed to the end of March.
Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in a growth stimulator for several hours. Containers and soil mixture are prepared in advance. The ideal option would be to mix in equal proportions:
- turf soil;
- humus;
- river sand.
Flower growers also use a ready-made purchased mixture, but in this case calcined sand should be added to it. Gladioli seeds are germinated and then sown in boxes or pots. Subsequently, they will only need regular moistening and careful loosening of the soil.
With the onset of warm weather, boxes with young shoots of gladioli gradually begin to be taken outside and hardened. Initially, they are left in the fresh air for a couple of hours, and then this time is gradually increased. To prevent the sprouts from getting sunburned, they are covered from direct rays.
After the threat of night frosts has passed, you can plant gladioli in open ground. Although some florists leave them in boxes all summer, while implementing standard care procedures.As a rule, in the first year of life, a flower grown from a seed does not bloom. All his strength goes into the formation and development of a strong and healthy bulb.
In the fall, gladioli planted from seeds are dug up, small bulbs are separated from the stem and prepared for storage. The timing of harvesting flowers depends on climatic conditions, but most often this is done in September. The next year, the collected bulbs are planted in furrows on the plot. They may well already bloom, although professionals recommend cutting off the peduncle so that the plant has enough strength to further form the bulb. Caring for gladioli grown from seeds is no different from that carried out when growing them from bulbs or children.
