Growing Gladiolus in New Mexico

How an amateur grower handles gladiolus in an arid climate

Years ago I started growing glads in New Mexico. At that time, I had never seen a gladiolus growing, and as far as I know I was the only landscape gardener in the area around here growing them.

At that time I ordered 40 bulbs, 10 each of different varieties and still grow the first three. Now I grow 4,000 in my garden plot in some 300 different varieties. I hybridize and grow seedlings, too.

If I had space and water, I’d grow twice as many in our small community there is a place for every spike that I could cut. The pleasure to me and to others has been endless. After the first year I realized that I would have to make my own rules for growing gladiolus in this climate.

For an inexperienced person, that has not always been easy. Glads can be grown in a hot, dry climate such as we have. In fact, I have found that glads grow better than anything else.

• There must be space enough to plant without crowding.
• There must be plenty of water
• There must be a will to work, a strong back, (I have neither!)
• There must be time… it is a twelve month job.

I buy small bulbs or bulblets from many of the reliable dealers. Bulblets are cheaper than a number one bulb, but that isn’t all. I have found that bulbs must be acclimated here.

A number #1 bulb may or may not give perfect bloom. Number five or six bulbs will bloom as quickly and 75 per cent of bulblets will bloom the first year if given plenty of water.

The second year they’ll all come through with flying colors. I have found that small bulbs are healthier and they help to keep my glad patch in the best possible condition as far as freedom from bugs and diseases is concerned.

In January the catalogs come thick and fast and I choose the varieties I want according to the money I have to spend and the space I can afford.

Some I choose for beauty, some to be used in hybridizing and I order some novelties every year just for fun.

Getting Ground Ready

In February we have some balmy days that make me wonder if it would be safe to plant a few glads. This is a good time to get the ground ready.

After I finish digging in the fall (the mulch for that summer is left on), I add any available compost lot to a depth of three or four inches on my glad patch. All of this is turned under and watered well during one of these late winter balmy days.

All old tops and roots of the glads destroyed. Due to a shortage of space, my glads have always been planted back on the same ground and I cannot tell that this bothers them.

Three or four weeks later I again turn the ground, lay off permanent rows and start planting. Planting is begun during the early part, or by the 15th of March and continued until the first of May. This gives succession of bloom, and almost all bulbs will get a good start before the heat of June comes.

I plant in two rows six to eight inches apart, then leave a 24-inch space, then plant two more close rows.

Large bulbs are planted zig-zag fashion in the two close rows and eight to ten inches apart, according to size. I plant small bulbs first and bulblets of cutting varieties. These are given no special attention, but planted thickly where I can water freely.

These small bulbs will bloom by the first of July and the bulblets bloom in September. Then medium bulbs are planted and before the first of May larger bulbs, special bulblets and seed.

I have always felt that seed could be planted earlier, but I’ve never had the time to try.

Special bulblets are peeled and dusted with rootone before planting. I plant large bulbs four to six inches deep, smaller ones two or three inches deep, and the bulblets one inch deep.

This deeper planting keeps the bulbs from drying out so badly - there are few surface roots to scald when watering, and the deeper planted bulbs stand up better and there is less staking to do. I discard bad looking bulbs before planting, and any diseased-looking plant is pulled out.

My glads were very healthy last year; all bulbs are given a bath in Lysol solution as soon as dug and before planting. (One-half teaspoon Lysol to one gallon of water is sufficient.)

Thrips No Problem

I have never found it necessary to spray for thrips. Perhaps this climate doesn’t agree with them. During the summer I try to keep the rows free of weeds and grass. I mulch between the rows with what I can find available, and I water them thoroughly once a week.

• The tall ones must be staked and the old bloomed-out spikes cut.
• Bouquets go to churches, weddings and the hospital.
• Pollenized spikes are carefully tagged.

One year I grew nearly three hundred varieties and five hundred seedlings. Many will be discarded and new ones added. I grow all sizes and all colors. Whether it be a small two-inch floret or an eight-inch one, they all give me a thrill.

If a variety does not come up to par after the second or third year, I discard it. That is always hard to do, as I feel perhaps it might have been all right under less trying conditions.

By the middle of September or the first of October I am digging bulbs. They are immediately washed and spread in a dry, shady, airy place, up off the ground to dry.

Screens are ideal for this. Tops are cut out an inch or so from the bulb and after a couple of weeks the old bulbs, roots and bulblets can be removed.

When bulbs are thoroughly dried, they are labeled, and stored in an open container, so that air can circulate around the bulbs. I store them in a cool place with an average temperature in the 40’s.

Two or three times during the winter I go through and check for any diseased bulbs. After the last bulb is dug and stored I sit down, relax and enjoy the new catalogs or old ones and plan on all of those beauties which I didn’t get last year, but surely will this season.

Contributed by Terry Dillard

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