What is the best size? 
Bulbs are graded into 6 standard sizes for the 
wholesale trade. No. 1 is 134” and up in 
diameter. If they run 2” or so they are called 
Jumbos. No. 2 is 14%4-114"’; No. 3 1s 17-114"; 
No. 4 is 34-1”; No. 5 is 14-34"; below 4” 
are No. 6’s. At retail the No. 1 and 2 are put 
together and called Jarge, No. 3 and 4 are 
medium, and 5 and 6 are small. 
Many people think that only large bulbs will 
bloom or at least give good flowers. This is all 
wrong. Usually very large bulbs seen in a chain 
store are ones that are past their prime and are 
not so good as a smaller young bulb. Commercial 
growers plant millions of small bulbs that bloom 
beautifully. But customers have called even 
No. 4 bulblets. If you have grown only large 
or jumbo bulbs previously you will be amazed 
at what you get from even 6’s. 
For show purposes, where you want to grow 
only the very finest, large bulbs are best, at 
least theoretically. 
5 
2) 
Fertilizer 
About the first question a beginner asks is 
“avhat fertilizer to use.” Fertilizer is less im- 
portant than plenty of water, tho glads must 
have good drainage. The best way is to get 
your soil built up in previous years. Yet I have 
grown the most wonderful spikes on poor sand 
with very little fertilizer, but plenty of water. 
some use ground bone or other fertilizer in the 
trench before planting, so deep the bulbs will 
not touch it. Some sidedress during the grow- 
ing season. Go easy with fertilizer, especially 
nitrogen. 
Blooming Dates 
Blooming dates where a definite number of 
days to bloom is given may be very mis- 
leading. They vary tremendously in different 
parts of the country and with early or late plant- 
ing and with various other conditions. Further- 
more many varieties will bloom over a period 
of 3 to 4 weeks or more. (The best anyone can 
do is to tell if a variety in general is early, 
midseason or late, very early or late as the cat- 
alog does). 
Number of blooms open 
This varies tremendously under different 
weather and climatic conditions. Glads will 
usually open more at a time in cool weather and 
sometimes will vary from year to year. Some- 
times I can get only 5-6 open on a certain 
variety while others have no trouble getting 8 
64 
or more. I think catalog descriptions usually 
give the ultimate number a variety will open, 
but not always. Under good conditions that 
the variety likes, it will no doubt open as many 
as the cataloger says it will or even more. 
How to increase stock 
Glads naturally increase by bulblets that 
grow around the bottom of the bulbs. Plant 
these and in 2 years you should have large or 
medium bulbs from them. Old bulbs and 
certain varieties split and so increase in that 
way. But by increasing them from bulblets 
you have young stock coming along. Some- 
times bulblets will bloom the first year but not 
unless they have good growing conditions. 
What about seeds? 
Every seed will produce a different kind of 
glad, usually worthless unless hand pollinated 
with other first-class varieties, and even then 
only a very small proportion are worth saving. 
What is a sport? 
A sport in glads is one that suddenly blooms 
another color, usually a lighter one than the 
original tho sometimes darker. It can sport in 
other characteristics, but usually it is only in 
color or shade. Sometimes these sports revert 
to the original color (especially the white sports 
of Picardy) but when a white Picardy like 
Leading Lady reverts, the revert is a better and 
healthier Picardy. 
Do gladiolus change color? 
Positively NO, except in the very unusual 
case of a sport. No matter what anyone tells 
you they do not change in wholesale quanti- 
ties. What happens is that some varieties are 
strong propagators and others rather weak, so 
the first you know some have passed out and 
you have only the strong ones left. 
Why do glads have crooked 
stems? 
Sometimes it 1s a variety characteristic. Then 
again it may be very hot weather when they 
wilt and may not be able to straighten up again. 
Or it may be too much nitrogenous fetrilizer. 
Shallow planting may cause them to crook or 
bend over. Too much rain followed by hot 
weather will often crook them. 
How long is a bulb good for? 
It depends on variety and conditions. Under 
good culture some varieties will be past their 
