Expert: Long Island Gardener - 5/17/2007

Question
Hello, I planted gladioli bulbs last spring and forgot to remove the bulbs in the late fall.
Now they are growing again and look very healthy However each one has between 6 to 10 'baby' ones sprouting near their bases. Are these the 'corms'? Should I pull them out. What should I do?
I live in South Easten Virginia.

Thank you

Answer
Yes, the Glads are full of surprises.

If you had lifted them last year, you could have divided them then.  Dividing is an exercise we do in the Fall after digging up the Glads.

You would have seen a 'mother corm' and old roots attached to a new corm.  The Glads would be stored cool around 35 to 40 degrees F until Spring.

Any plant that makes plantlets can be divided.  The important thing to remember is that the new offshoot must grow healthy roots before you slice it from the mother plant.  Premature dividing would to make it hard, and probably impossible, for your new Glad to survive without roots.

University of California at Davis posts a cheat sheet on Plant Propagation on the internet at its website (http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/freeform/slomg/documents/Propogation5073.htm).

This is something you should plan on doing at the end of the Summer, from what it sounds like to me.  The location of these in the garden is apparently perfect -- keep growing them there and you may not have to ever worry about such a tedious end of season garden chore again.  Pity the rest of us.