CULTURAL SUGGESTIONS 
When?—tThis depends on your individual locality. When the ground is fairly warm 
and you can pick up a handful of soil and it won’t cake up, then you can start planting. 
Some growers say a good rule to go by is to watch until the maple leaves begin to 
open, then start planting. Here in N. Y. State, we usually start planting from the 
first to the fifteenth of April. Sometimes we are able to get our bulblets in the 
latter part of March. We stagger our plantings about 10 days to two or three weeks 
apart to insure a longer blooming period. We make our last planting avout the mid- 
dle of June. If we have a late fall, like last season, we get a fine crop of late blooms. 
Of course you are taking a chance with mother nature as frosts are apt to catch up 
while these late ones are spiking. But, it’s worth a try. 
WHERE?—tThey must have sun all day to do their best. Do not plant near shrubs, 
trees, stone walls, ete. Even the shadow from a tall building, a part of the day, will 
show its bad effect. Plant in soil where there is good drainage. Glads like lots of 
water, but they don’t like wet feet. Glad bulbs will do O. K. on the same type ground 
as you’d grow potatoes. Keep the soil slightly acid. 
HOW ?—First, be sure your ground has been properly prepared. Use well-rotted cow 
manure plowed or spaded under the fall before, if possible. Spade or plow soil deep. 
Peat moss makes good humus and if you combine this with a good commercial 
fertilizer such as 4-8-8 or 4-12-8 you will get nice blooms. For better production 
of bulbs, try a mixture of 4-8-12. Green cover crops are very helvful in building up 
your soil. Planting of the bulbs will vary, according to soil conditions. If the soil 
is light and inclined to be sandy, plant about 6 inches deep. Otherwise, when your 
flower heads start to appear, the heavy spikes will tip over. On the other hand, if 
your soil is heavy, then you might plant about 4 to 5 inches deep. This is for large 
bulbs. Smaller bulbs need only be planted about 3” deep and bulblets 1% to 2” deep. 
Give them plenty of water before and during the blooming season. If the rainfali 
isn’t sufficient, and you can use the garden hose, water thoroughly once a week, 
rather than just sprinkling lightly every day or so. This only wets the top of the 
ground so that the root system stretches up toward the sun to get the water and that 
leaves the tiny roots so near the top of the ground that they are apt to burn. 
For exhibition blooms in our show garden, we plant the bulbs about 6 to 8 inches 
apart. In the commercial fields we plant more closely, using the rule of leaving the 
space of another bulb of same size in between. . We make a trench and sow our 5’s 
and 6’s sparingly. The bulblets are also sown in a shallow trench, much the same as 
peas are planted. 
DISINFECTING—Dip all bulbs and bulblets in a disinfectant to kill thrips and to 
prevent possible disease infection on the bulbs. There are many dips available. 
(See formulas for Dips and Sprays.) 
THRIPS—A sucking insect that has ruined many a glad patch before its owner knew 
what it looked like. It is very tiny. You can just about see it with the naked eye. 
The adult ones are black, while the young ones are a lemon color, which makes it 
very difficult to see them. They live in the sheaf of the leaf, which is about the same 
color as the young thrip. Don’t wait until you see signs of thrip, such as drying up 
of the buds before opening, streaks of grey on the foliage, etc., before doing some- 
thing about it. An ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure, in the case of 
thrip. To be on the safe side, when your foliage is 6 to 8 inches in height, start 
dusting with a 5% DDT dust and do this every ten days until blooms appear. This 
should keep your glads free from the troublesome pest. If it should rain the dust 
off in a few days, then you should dust again real soon. 
WHEN TO CUT?—Blooms will be at their best if cut early in the morning with from 
1 to 2 florets open. Place in cool water immediately and put inside artd allow to open 
slowly. <A dark cool cellar is excellent for this. Always leave 4 to 5 leaves on the 
plant when cutting. You need this for good development of the bulb. Ends of 
spikes (stem end) should be cut about %” every day, a little bit on a the slant. The 
blooms will last much longer if taken care of in this manner, and will open clear to 
the tip. 
DIGGING—Bulbs should be dug from 4 to 6 weeks after they have bloomed. On 
some of the real late varieties, it may be necessary te dig them immediately after 
blooming, as it is best to get them dug before a cold, wet fall sets in. We use a 
spade to loosen the varieties, then lift out and cut tops off with pruning shears, close 
up to the bulbs. Where there is an increase of bulbs and they are grown together, do 
not separate until bulbs are thoroughly dry (3 to 4 weeks). 
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