Newspaper should work fine. I used to start mine in 3" round pots; they don't grow big root systems. I think the only reason to plant them so deep is just so that they don't fall over (yeah right!). You could plant them deeper in May using good judgement of course that you are not planting too much leaf.

A friend of mine starts her's 2 or 3 weeks early in a swallow pan of water (about an inch of water)..she would set them outside during the day and bring the pan in at night..it took up a lot less room for her ..savona

I start my glads in cell paks. The cell pak that is only one cell but the same size a regular 6 pak. I put two corms in one pak. I don't bury the corm...just nestle it in so its covered to the top. When I plant outside I plant them deep...4 to 6 inches deep. By then the leaves are tall enough to still stick out of the ground quite aways.

I wouldn't use the pan of water method as that could make the corms rot. Just wouldn't want to risk it.

Newspaper pots should work fine...just slightly bigger than the corms.......again the starting depth is your own judgement. I also have 60 corms to plant. LOL!

Sierra

I use larger peat pots for mine, planting them close to the bottom of the pot. When i plant them out, i cut the bottom of the pot off and bury the whole thing. The newspaper pot idea is good, though, and i might try that this year.

the pan of water wouldnt work if you were starting them weeks early...but only 2-3 weeks the glads had sprouted nicely and no sign of rot..here is a recipe to use on glads for thrips I got off a glad site a couple years ago...4 teaspoons lysol to 1 gallon of water soak corms for 6 hours and plant imediately afterwards...there are so many differnt lysols any more for different cleaning purposes I just used the "regular" one...savona

Sorry Savona wasn't trying to override you...just was worried someone might try the water and loss all their corms.....I use a bleach water solution for thrips.

Did you see in the gallery we are all posting our plants pics by alphabit? We are on letter "C" now. Just thought you might want to play too. :-)

Sierra

I've also been starting my glads for years in a shallow pan of water. Like Savona said, only about 2-3 weeks before they are due to be planted out. I keep only about 1/4" of water in the pan, just enough to keep the roots wet and the whole bulb is never totally under water at any time. By planting time a lot of the bulbs have 5-6" of growth on them. Works like a charm and saves space too.

Laurie

This is great information - I ordered glads from Veseys this year, and since I haven't grown them before this is most welcome. I may try the water method. I'm assuming they only need like an inch or two between the corms?

Pudge, an inch between them will do, as they do swell a bit once they're in water for a few days. The only few that I've had rot were the ones that didn't look so good before they went in the water.

Another thing that I've always done is to completely remove any dried "skins" so that only the fleshy part remains. I think if you put them into dirt it wouldn't matter, but for the water method, I don't think you'd want the water wicking it's way up the bulb and possibly rotting underneath. This is just my theory anyway, can't say that it's proven because I've always removed the skins like my momma told me too ;)

You all are wonderful! Thanks for the ideas and suggestions. I think I might try half and half -- half the water tray started in May and half newspaper pots started at the end of March, and see which works best. Thanks again!

My grandpa always said to start your glads outside when the buds swell on the poplar trees. They always had an amazing garden. When I want to start mine inside, I usually put them in a in a plant tray full of dirt, not bothering with the cell packs, and just water them until they're sloppy before moving them out of the tray - little root damage that way. My mother-in-law always started hers in a cake pan and kept the water about half way up the bulbs. If I get them planted outside as soon as I should, I have nicer glads that when I start them inside.

No problem Sierra..we are all trying and finding out what works for us in this forum..and how to get a jump on our short season...I remebered after posting the recipe for thrips that in the information it said that the thrips are already in the corms when you buy them and that was why soaking them for 6 hours was important..hope this helps..savona

Hi Folks--Just a note on growing Glads. We(my husband and I) have been growing glads for about 6 years now. We planted 2800 plus bulbs last year. Now instead of going through all that trouble of planting in pots and pans, try planting early outdoors. We always like to get them into the ground the last week of April, and start getting blooms in early July. Works great evert time. We had a disastrous last year because of extreme wet weather conditions in mid July. About 90% of the blooms were no good and had to be destroyed. Very disappointing, but that's part of the joy of gardening. We live in the Brandon area, and can get frost (or snow) in May, but haven't lost any Glads yet. So, PLANT OUTDOORS EARLY. Marg.

I planted mine out about a week and a half ago and they are all up and about 4" high. This is the second year I'm doing them and I've just put them straight into the ground. I can see a benefit in starting them early indoors but I just don't have the room.

Shauna

Marg, how tall are your glads already?

I also planted mine straight into the garden and did so about 2 weeks ago. They are about as tall as Shauna's glads...4 inches. I also do not have the room to start any glads indoors.

Brenda

I had a couple of bags of end of the season gladiola clearance bulbs. I decided they had to be planted to green up and feed the bulb. About half of them have sprouted so far (its now Sept 18 with first frost coming usually mid October.) cant decide what to do next. Dig up before frost and let plant dry down in the cellar? Or cut plant back to almost ground level and mulch deeply to go thru winter in the raised bed. They are about 5 inches deep; plus 2-3" of mulch. What would you do?

I would dig them but then I am in zone 2a LOL. If there is any chance of them freezing I am not sure they would make the winter.

Not sure where you live, brenmerrick77, but glads most likely will not overwinter in the ground. It happened to me once that a forgotten-in-the-ground bulb came back the next year, but that was after an unusually mild winter. I would either leave them and chalk it up to experience or dig them up and hope that the premature growing cycle doesn't affect them for next year.