Gladiolus flowers are liked by the people all over the world. It is a perennial flowering plant which has sword shape leaves, funnel shaped perianth and spoon shaped branches. The flowers bloom mainly in the month of October-March. It produces wide range of flower color ranging from pink to reddish, light purple to white, or white to cream or orange to red. It is also used to cure various ailments or diseases such as common cold, diarrhoea, fungal infections, and meningitis and to get relieve from constipation. Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are the major growing states in India.

It gives best result when grown under loamy soil which has good fertility and has good drainage system. Avoid cultivation in heavy sticky and acidic soils and avoid water logging conditions in the field. Ideal pH of soil around 7.

Yellow color varieties:

Aldebaran, Topaz, Vink’s Glory, Jester, Top Brass.

Nova Lux: The variety gets mature within 110-120 days. The spike length is 79cm which produces yellow color flowers. Every single plant produces approximately 47 tubers.

White color varieties:

White friendship, White prosperity, American White.

White prosperity: The variety gets mature within 110-120 days. It has 17 florets on a single 75 cm flower spike.

Pink color varieties:

Spic, Friendship Pink, Span.

Suchitra: The variety gets ready in 90-95 days. It has 15-16 florets on a single 83cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 85 tubers. It produces pink color flowers.

Red color varieties:

Oscar, Red Majesty, American Beauty

Purple color varieties:

Red Beauty, Interpid, Trader Horn, Mayur, Marvellous and Blue Lilac.
 
Other state varieties:

Urovian: The variety gets mature within 110-120 days. It has 16 red color florets on a single 84cm flower spike.

Golden Melody: The variety gets ready in 90-100 days. It has 15 florets on a single 87cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 67 tubers. It has light yellow color flowers.

Snow Princess: The variety gets ready in 80-90 days. It has 11-14 florets on a single 65cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 15tubers. It produces white color flowers.

Silvia: The variety gets ready in 120 days. It has 13-15 florets on a single 75cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 15 tubers. It produces golden yellow color flowers.

Sansray: The variety gets ready in 120 days. It has 15-17 florets on a single 75.5cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 91 tubers. It produces white color flowers.

Mayur: The variety gets ready in 100-110 days. It has 14-16 florets on a single 76.6cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 88 tubers. It produces purple color flowers.

Punjab Pink Elegance: The spikes of this variety are used as ornamental purposes. The variety gets ready in 86 days. Every single plant produces approximately 39 small sized tubers. It has light pink color flowers and has long spikes.

Punjab flame: The spikes of this variety are used for ornamental purposes. The variety gets ready in 114 days. Every single plant produces approximately 60 small sized tubers. It has pinkish red color flowers which are red from the centre.

Punjab Glance: The spikes of this variety are used for ornamental purposes. The variety gets ready in 78 days. Every single plant produces approximately 14 small sized tubers. It has orange color flowers and has long spikes.

Punjab Lemon Delight: It used as ornamental purposes. The variety gets ready in 80 days. Every single plant produces approximately 11 small sized tubers. It has light yellow color flowers and has long spikes.

Punjab Glad 1: The variety gets ready in 90-100 days. It has 15 florets on a single 84 cm flower spike. Every single plant produces approximately 44 tubers. It produces orange color flowers.

For gladiolus plantation, land should be well ploughed before sowing. To bring the soil to fine tilth, ploughing must be done. Application of FYM@20-25tonnes is mixed with the soil.

Time of sowing:
Optimum time for planting cormels is January-March month. Where as in hilly areas, complete sowing is done in August-October month.

Spacing:
For planting on flat beds use spacing of 30cmx20cm. In areas, prone to water logging sowing should be done on ridges made 30cm apart.

Sowing depth:
In nursery, sow seeds at depth of 2-3cm where as in main field, for good growth, sow cormels at depth of 7-8cm.

Method of sowing:
Transplanting of cormels in main field.
 

Seed rate:
Use 60,000-63,000 corms for sowing in one acre land.

Seed treatment:
Before sowing tubers are dipped in Bavistin solution for one hour and then it is shade-dried to protect them from soil-borne diseases.

It is propagated through seeds, corm and cormels and also through tissue culture. Propagation through corm and cormels is common method of propagation.
 

From mid-September to end-March, irrigation is given twice a week with running tap water and from start-April to End-June irrigation is given thrice a week and then from start-July to mid-September irrigation is given after 15 days interval depending upon weather conditions.

Iron deficiency: Yellowing of leaves are the symptoms of iron deficiency in the Gladiolus crop. Spraying of ferrous sulphate @1kg/acre should be done when seedling has 3-6 leaves is done to cure iron deficiency. 

Hand weeding or weedicide spray is done to control weeds. Hand weeding should be done once in fortnight for weed control. Use of Atrazine @500gm/acre or Pendimethalin@600-800gm/acre as pre-emergence spray or use of Paraquat@600-800ml/acre or Glycel@800ml/acre is used as post emergence spray for weed control. Do not spray Paraquat and Glycel on the main crops, because it is harmful for the main crop. Apply only on weeds.

Nutrient Requirement (kg/acre)

Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

Before 20 days of seed sowing, mixed FYM @5kg/ m2 in the soil. At the time of land preparation, apply fertilizer dose of Nitrogen @57kg (Urea@125kg), phosphorus @8-9kg (DAP@50-62kg) and potash @30-37kg (MOP@50-62kg) as a basal dose. At 5-6 leaves stage, application of nitrogen is done @30gm/m².

• Disease and their control:

Corm rot: The symptoms are premature yellowing of leaves, stem collapsing and reddish brown color dry rot on corms.
Treatment: If infestation is observed take spray of Zineb 75WP@400gm or M-45@400gm per acre in 150 ltr of water.

Hard rot: It is caused by Septoria gladioli. The symptoms are dark brown or black color and sunken lesions are appearing on the corms.
Treatment: Dip the corms in Thiophanate methyl solution at 85-120°F temperature or in iprodione at suitable temperature for 15-30 minutes to get rid of corm rot.

Root knot nematode: It is caused by Meloidogyne incognita. The symptoms are stunted growth, wilting and yellowing of foliage and galling of roots.
Treatment: Treatment with oxamyl solution is given to the infected fields.
 

Mosaic virus: The symptoms are yellowing, stunted growth, mottling and ring spots are seen.
Treatment: If infestation is seen, then spraying of Acephate@600gm in 150ltr of water in per acre of land is done.
 

• Pest and their control:
  

Aphids: The aphids destroy the growing young parts of the plants.
Treatment: Spraying of Rogor30 EC or Malathion 50 EC @3ml/ltr of water is done at the time of flowering to get rid from aphids.

Thrips: The thrips affect the plant by feeding themselves on sap of leaves and flowers.
Treatment: Spraying of Rogor30 EC or Malathion 50 EC @3ml/ltr of water is done at the time of flowering to get rid from thrips.
 

Harvesting is mainly done after 3-4 months i.e. 90-120 days of transplanting. Harvesting is mainly done by retaining at least 4-5 basal leaves of the plant for adequate development of corms and cormels. It gives an average yield of 100,000 spikes/acre and 95,000 corms/acre.

Tuber harvesting: After 6-8weeks of flower harvesting, corms and cormels should be harvested. Stop irrigating the field 2-3 weeks before harvesting. After harvesting the corms are air dried. Clean the corms by removing the leaves from it. After drying they are stored in plastic bags in cold storage at 5-10^oC.
 

Freshly cut flowers are stored in card board boxes. These boxes are sold to nearby markets or to flower sellers.