How to Lift and Store Gladiolus Corms for the Winter

Gladiolus, aka sword lilies, produce showy flowers with sturdy stems, in style for reducing and vase preparations. They develop from flattened bulbs referred to as corms.

They thrive in full solar with average moisture and wealthy, well-draining soil. Mature dimensions are 18 to 72 inches tall with a variety of 12 to 24 inches.

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The corms are tender bulbs which might be winter hardy to Zone 7. In colder areas, gardeners get pleasure from them as annuals and dig them up for winter storage.

Our information to planting and rising gladiolus has all it’s worthwhile to get pleasure from vegetation at your home.

This text discusses the right way to carry, remedy, and retailer the corms to replant within the spring.

Right here’s what we’ll cowl:

Let’s get began!

Able to Dig

When summer season attracts to a detailed and the nights develop cooler, gladiolus blooms fade and the foliage begins to wither; it’s time to dig up the bulbs.

Whereas a light-weight frost might not hurt them, a tough freeze might be lethal.

You’ll want gloves, a long-handled shovel or pitchfork, a hand-held trowel or claw, and pruners.

Sanitize all metallic components with an answer of 1 half bleach to 9 components water, rinse, and air dry earlier than use.

Lifting and Curing

Put on gloves when dealing with gladioli, because the corms are poisonous, and call with the pores and skin and digestive tract is greatest averted.

You’ll need a long-handled shovel or pitchfork that lets you use foot stress for straightforward digging.

Use your foot to insert the shovel or fork straight down into the bottom about six inches away from a clump of foliage.

Push the deal with down towards the bottom to softly loosen the soil.

Work across the leafy clump utilizing the identical insertion and lifting motions till you have got indifferent and raised a mound of soil.

Use a handheld backyard trowel or claw to take away the person flattened bulbs rigorously from the soil.

Brush off as a lot earth as you’ll be able to, taking care to not take away the paper tunics that defend the corms. Don’t wash them to keep away from the chance of fungal improvement.

Use pruners to chop off the foliage, leaving a two-inch portion hooked up to the highest of the corms. Reduce off the roots, taking care to not nick the underside of the corms.

As soon as unearthed, the tender bulbs have to “remedy” or dry earlier than you place them in storage. Discard any which might be discolored, smooth, blemished, or shriveled.

Outdated, dried up corms and tiny recent younger ones could also be hooked up to the massive “mom.”

Take away any which might be dried up and depart the younger infants hooked up, so you’ll be able to divide them within the spring earlier than replanting, slightly than threat rotting throughout storage from separation wounds.

Unfold the corms in a single layer on newspaper or screens and maintain them out of direct daylight in a dry location with a temperature of 60 to 70ºF for 3 weeks.

Winter Storage

After the three-week curing interval, look at the corms rigorously and discard any which might be broken, discolored, shriveled, smooth, or malodorous.

Take away dried up foliage and roots which have fallen off and brush off any remaining soil, taking care to not harm the paper tunics.

Earlier than placing the bulbs into storage, it’s greatest to sprinkle them with a dusting of fungicide to inhibit fungal progress throughout winter storage.

I exploit Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide and it’s additionally an efficient pesticide for ticks, mites, and fleas.

Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide

Bonide Sulfur Plant Fungicide is accessible from Bonide by way of Amazon.

To retailer your corms, you’ll be able to both use clear, dry cardboard packing containers or buy ventilated plastic stacking crates.

For those who plan to make use of ventilated plastic crates, listed here are some to think about:

These grey plastic crates measure 13.86 by 10.4 by 7.1 inches and have a quantity of 15 liters.

Plastic Stacking Folding Storage Crates

They stack securely and are collapsible for folding and putting out of the best way when not in use.

Yow will discover them in three-packs accessible from Idotry by way of Amazon.

When you have got your field or crate prepared, line the underside with one or two sheets of newspaper.

Set the corms in a single layer, guaranteeing that they aren’t touching one another.

Sprinkle your fungicide powder calmly over them.

Lay newspaper over the primary layer and repeat the above course of. Be sure to depart sufficient room in order that the field closes with out urgent on the corms.

The field lid or folded flaps ought to match loosely so air can enter and flow into.

As a substitute of newspaper between the layers, the professionals on the College of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Horticulture Division counsel utilizing two to a few inches of coconut coir, peat moss, sand, sawdust, vermiculite, or wooden shavings.

Retailer the field or packing crate in a cool, dry, rodent-free, well-ventilated location with a temperature between 35 and 45ºF and relative humidity of about 50 p.c.

Examine the packing containers or crates repeatedly all through the winter and discard any bulbs that shrivel up or turn into smooth and moist. If you’re utilizing newspaper, change it if it feels damp.

Carry, Remedy, and Retailer

Managing gladiolus over the winter months is straightforward after you do it as soon as and know the drill.

Let’s recap:

• Carry the tender bulbs rigorously with a fork or shovel and take away foliage, roots, and soil.
• Remedy them in a single layer for 3 weeks in a cool, dry location to take away moisture.
• Retailer them in well-ventilated containers with a sprinkle of fungicide and newspaper or absorbent natural media between the layers in order that they don’t contact.

Now you understand how to save lots of corms from yr to yr. You’ll want to add “Carry the Glads” to your backyard planner so that you keep in mind to take them out of the bottom earlier than the primary laborious frost.

Do you carry your gladiolus for the winter? Please tell us the way you retailer them within the feedback part beneath.

For those who discovered this text informative and would prefer to be taught extra about gladiolus, we advocate the next guides subsequent: