CARE OF GLADS AND OTHER GROWING THINGS By Peter and Steven J. Welcenbach

II 102 W. Calumet Road Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53224

By the first day of summer most of you beginners should be able to punctuate your glad gardening with exclamation points!!!! rather than question marks????

You have persistently kept the weeds under control by frequent but shallow cultivation. You have faithfully been hilling the plants following each cultivation. You also may have been watering the glad garden during periods of less than needed rainfall. Having that one inch of water per week is very important until blooming time.

With all this hard work behind you, a few additional chores remain to assure you of achieving reasonable success with glads. Those healthy green plants will more than likely continue looking that way until spikes and blossoms have been produced. If, however, you feel that you must fertilize to keep them growing, please do so with great care.

A well balanced fertilizer will do; one with a low nitrogen content, if available, is even better. Take a handful, at a time and sprinkle lightly down the center between the rows. Remember, it is far better to under rather than to over fertilize glads. Rake the fertilizer into the soil and your glads are fully on their way to satisfy your anticipations.

As mentioned previously, an effort at mulching is easily worth the time and expense. Right now, then, is the time to begin this phase of good care for glads. We purchase bales of straw, as needed, from a nearby garden store. As more and more of our many rows come into this stage of care, we are able to spread out the work and the cost with little concern for either. Before long, all the rows are completely mulched and need no further attention for weeding. So, to, it can be with your planting of glads if you see fit to go along with mulching.

Not long after the mulching is completed, spikes will begin showing their signs of growth. The plants will have five to six leaves and will be about two feet tall. The spike, itself, may be felt at the tip of the plant before it actually emerges from it later on. At this stage and even prior, we have resorted to dusting the plants with an all-purpose garden dust. In recent years, however, we have found Sevin to be very effective at keeping insects from the glad plants. Early morning, while the dew is on the plants, is the best time for dusting. Be sure to have the excess dust blow away from you if windy conditions exist. By all means, wash up thoroughly following the use of dust.

Note, we do not use any type of spray since it is very costly and is not that convenient to our size of planting. The handling and use of the equipment has not been that attractive to our needs. If, however, you already use sprays in your other gardening activities, you certainly may want to use the proper materials for glads. As usual, great care to follow the manufacturers instructions must be exercised whether using dusts or sprays. A good neighbor of ours and a world famous rose grower, almost completely ruined his entire garden with one tiny slip-up. Failure to completely clean out his spray equipment prior to its next use almost destroyed a lifetime of hybridizing. Take care'

You are now at the stage of care where observation rather than hard work prevails. If there are signs of insect damage, your dusting program should be kept at weekly intervals. Of course, if rains interfere, dusting should follow to compensate the wash- off.

Alertness to diseased plants must be constant throughout the growing season. Plants with off-colored foliage - mottled. streaked, yellowing or brown leaves - must go. Dig them out and destroy them promptly. If you find plants that are stunted, growing in a circle or some direction other than upright, they too must be "hooked". At bloom time, check for poor coloring, comparing the flowers to other blooms of the same variety. All flowers with an unusual appearance when contrasted with the others, should be removed at once and discarded in the trash bin. Under no circumstances should any of this gladiolus debris lay around your garden.

SUMMER 1983