Content
- Excavate gladioli for wintering
- When will the bulbs be dug up?
- Do not dig up too soon
- Dig out tubers
- Dry onions
- Tips
In autumn, the gladiolus bulbs are dug out for wintering
Excavate gladioli for wintering
Gladioli belong to the heat-loving flowering plants and are usually not frost hardy. Therefore, the bulbs must be dug up in the fall and wintered in the house. How to do this, we have summarized in this article for you.
When will the bulbs be dug up?
After the gladiolus has flowered, the flower stem is first cut off. Be sure to leave the leaves, as the onion plant needs them to store nutrients and trace elements in the tuber. The leaves turn yellow in autumn and turn brown. Now is the time to cut the leaves to about ten inches and dig up the onions.
Do not dig up too soon
Although the gladioli with the deciduous foliage are not very handsome, you should not make the mistake of digging out the bulbs too early. Only the shorter days and the cooler temperatures stimulate the gladiolus onion to grow vigorously. The longer the tubers remain in the soil, the more power they can save for the next year and drive off the more beautiful again.
Dig out tubers
Be careful when digging the bulbs so they are not damaged. Proceed as follows:
The gladiolus bulbs form many small tubers, which you can separate from the mother plant immediately after digging and use for propagation.
Dry onions
Before the final storage, the onions must dry in an airy room. To do this, first roughly remove the soil and lay out the gladioli loosely on newsprint paper. Once the adhering remains of soil have dried completely, they are removed and the gladioli can be stored and winterized.
Tips
The excavated bulbs can be transplanted directly into flowerpots. Gladioli need two to three years to flower. This time, you can maintain your own offspring well in the pot and plant out in the third or fourth year together with the onions.