Gladiolus in containers: growing and care

Increasingly, gladioli become an ornament not only of the garden, but also of the balcony, open terrace or veranda, arbors. Grown in containers, pots or pots, flowers with original bouquets refresh windowsills, loggias, and garden paths.

Planting procedure for gladioli in pots

To grow gladiolus in pots or containers, you need to choose suitable varieties for this. Most suitable species with medium and small flowers, as well as varieties of miniature gladioli.

Optimum landing times

Planting gladiolus begin in April - early May. Immediately the plants will not bloom, it should be two months after planting. Crops need to be covered for the first time with a film or a plastic bottle trim.

How to choose a pot for planting gladioli

Before you put the gladiolus in the spring in the pot, pick up a container with dimensions of 30 cm in depth and the same in diameter. Since several onions are planted in a container or in a pot for a lush bouquet, the planting containers must contain a sufficient amount of soil. At the bottom of the tank, put a drainage: pebble or expanded clay.

How to prepare a substrate for planting

Remember, when planting gladioli in pots or vases, the soil in them will dry out more often than open ground. With this planting, use the hydrogel and grumble the soil, it will not dry out much and become covered with mold.You can use the purchased substrate, while you need to know that gladioli like loose and fertile soil. Soil for flowers in pots should be structural and moisture-consuming.

How to choose a place for growing gladioli

Two weeks after planting shoots appear, now you need to find a good place for planting in a container. Gladioli like light and heat, categorically do not accept drafts. The place should be open, lighted and without drafts. The main secret of how to grow gladioli on a balcony is a heated balcony. If this room is cold, do not try - ruin the flowers and lose time. On a cold balcony, gladioli can only be in the summer and if your balcony is not blown. In the cold period of time, it is better to transfer the flowers to the room on the windowsill. The window sill can be insulated with foam.

Caring for gladioli in containers

For the cultivation of beautiful and healthy plants they need good lighting, regular, but moderate watering, feeding.

Watering the soil

To obtain lush beautiful flowers, you need the right watering mode.Do not allow water to stagnate so that the roots do not rot. With a lack of moisture, the stem of the plant may be bent. In extreme heat, water a little two or three times a day, gently loosening it so that the flower does not suffocate.

Mulching and fertilizer soil

Gladioli require three meals a day during the season. Before the leaves appear, feed them with a nitrogen compound, then with nitrogen-potassium. At the time of the appearance of the peduncle, the composition should include nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, with twice as much phosphorus. So that the soil does not dry out, you need to mulch. Gladioli in containers can be mulched with peat. Feed home flowers alternating mineral and organic compounds. Such complexes will strengthen the plants and ensure active development. Treat weakened flowers with growth stimulants (Zircon).

Garter plants

Gladiolus has large, elongated inflorescences that are hard for the plant to hold. There are two methods to help flowers in this matter: garter and hilling. For the garter, a rope stretched between the plants is used, on which the gladiolus can rest without the risk of breaking the trunk. When hilling, the plant is not only supported by an earth mound, but also breathes and feeds better.

Care for gladioli after flowering

Cultivation of gladioli involves care not only before or during the flowering period, but also after it. During this period, gladiolus is fed with phosphate-potassium fertilizers. Due to this, there is a good flow of nutrients from the stem to the bulb.

During this period, watering provides an accumulation of beneficial elements in the bulb and lays future buds. When the gladiolus has faded, do not cut the seed pods, but break them. So you will provide the bulbs with good nutrition and full passage of all biochemical processes. If this is not done, some of the nutrients will be wasted or the nutrition of the seed pods.

Digging and storage of corms

Gladioli are excavated at the end of October. If you dig up earlier, the bulbs will not be stored well. It is undesirable to remove leaves when digging.Flowers gently raise a shovel, trying not to catch the tubers, and the stems hold their hand. After that shake off the sticking clumps of soil, cut off the large roots and lay on the film. It is better to cut the yellowed parts of the stem, and leave the green ones - for some time the bulbs will receive food through them.

Flowers for a day dry in a dry place. Crowded babies are collected and cleaned, they are usually the most durable. When you decide to plant gladiolus in the spring, use these specimens for a start. They are treated with a solution of fungicide and dried, then sent to storage.

Prepared flowers are placed in boxes and placed in a warm (up to 25 ° C) room for two weeks. At the same time they need to be turned, so they are enriched with oxygen. After drying, the bulbs are separated from the mother and dried for about a month at + 22 ° C.

The best option for storage in the winter is a cardboard box with holes for air access. Wooden boxes are also suitable.

Store best in the cellar, there is the most suitable conditions.Carefully reading this article, you will find tips and recommendations for growing handsome gladioli, as well as the answer to the question of whether it is possible to grow gladioli on a balcony and how to do it.