Gladiolus - from seed

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Last fall I got the idea that I wanted to grow some of the South African types of gladiolus, and found the seed on E-Bay. Than came the challenge of how to get them to sprout. There isn’t a lot that I could find on the net, so I followed some vauge guidelines. They are supposed to be winter growing, so I put them in a well draining soil, about 1/4" deep, and covered them with vermiculite. I watered them, and covered the containers with plastic wrap, and put them on the heating mat. As suggested I turned the mat off at night, and back on when I got up in the morning.
Finally, in January, nothing had happened, and I needed the space to start my daylilies. I put them outside in my shed/cold greenhouse to sink or swim. The plastic wrap was removed, and I just made sure the soil stayed moist. During the day, the temperature got up to the very low 60’s(F), and at night to the low 50’s. After a month of this, I was suprised to see the very fine, grass-like leaves coming out of the seeds and getting taller every day. I was also suprised that they all came up within 3 days.
What I now have are Gladiolus alatus, G. cardinalis, G. orchidiflorous, and G. watermeyeri. I look forward to posting some photos in a few years.

• 6 Mar, 2011
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