Gladiolus (Gladiolus spp) ; Iridaceae

Tropic Sea, White Prosperity, Priscilla, Summer Sunshine, Pusa Swarnima, Jackson Ville Gold, KKL.1, Archana, Basant Bahar, Indrani, Kalima, Kohra, Aarti, Arka Kesar, Darshan, Dhiraj, Agnirekha, Archana, Bindiya, Shree Ganesh
Subtropical and temperate climatic conditions are suitable. The crop performs well under a temperature range of 27 – 30°C. It requires full exposure to sunlight and performs well with long day conditions of 12 to 14 hour photoperiod.

Well drained sandy loam soil rich in organic matter with pH of 6 to 7.

Commercial propagation is through corms. Cold storage of corms at 3 to 7°C for 3 months or treatment with Ethrel (1,000ppm) or GA3 (100ppm) or Thiourea (500 ppm) is adopted for breaking corm dormancy
Beds of size 6 x 2 m are prepared and corms are planted at a depth of 5 cm adopting a spacing of 40 x 25 cm (88,888 plants/ha) or 25 x 25 cm (1,60,000 plants/ha).
October for plains and March-April for hills.

Irrigate at 7-10 day intervals in sandy soils and at less frequent intervals in heavy soils. Irrigation should be withheld at least 4-6 weeks before lifting of corms.

120 kg N, 150 kg P2O5 and 150 kg K2O per hectare is recommended, of which 60 kg N and entire dose of P2O5 and K2O is applied as basal dose. The remaining N is given in two split doses, 30 and 60 days after planting.

Staking
Large flowered varieties should be staked to avoid lodging.

Pests
Thrips
Spray any one of the following:
 Dimethoate 30 EC @ 2 ml/lit.
 Malathion 50 EC @ 2 ml/lit.
Semi looper and Helicoverpa
Spray any one of the following:
 Dimethoate 30 EC @ 2 ml/lit.
 Methyl Demeton 25 EC @ 2ml/lit.

Leaf spot: Foliar application of carbendazim @ 1 g/l or mancozeb @ 2 g/l
Core or spongy rot: Foliar application of benomyl @ 1 kg/ha
Bacterial scab blight and spots: Dipping the corms in 1:100 mercuric chloride solution for 12 hours before planting

Gladiolus takes 110-120 days to produce spikes. While harvesting, at least four basal leaves should be retained on the plant to ensure proper development of corms and cormels.

2.0 – 2.5 lakh flower stalks/ha/crop.

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