Soil : Gladiolus produces the best spikes when grown in deep, well-drained sandy loam soil. A heavy clay soil, with poor drainage, is unfit as the gladiolus root system is easily damaged by excessive soil moisture. However, mixing of 5-8 cm thick layer of river sand along with the manure will make the clay soil cultivable. For best growth they require slightly acidic soil of about pH 5.5 to 6.5 where most of the nutrients become available to the plants. There are numerous gladiolus bulb varieties in the market, each of which produces an assortment of gladiolus flowers in a variety of colors, like pink, red white, yellow, and rare white or blue gladiolus blooms. Gladiolus (from Latin, the diminutive of gladius, a sword [3]) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae). [4] It is sometimes called the 'sword lily', but is usually called by its generic name (plural gladioli ). [5] The genus occurs in Asia, Mediterranean Europe, South Africa, and tropical Africa. The size of the corms has a positive correlation with the height of the spike and number of florets per spike. Medium-sized corms of 4-5 cm diameter each are selected for planting to obtain quality blooms and uniform flowering. The bigger corms called 'Jumbo', 6-8 cm diameter, are good for getting top quality spikes for exhibition purposes. Smaller corms, of 2-5 cm diameter each can also be planted as flowering stock but corms and cormels having diameter less than 2.5 cm are mainly used as a ...
