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The most serious of the Gladiolus diseases are:
Fusarium Yellows, Fusarium Basal Dry Rot, usarium Dry Rot and Scab, let's discuss these one by one.
First of all, Fusarium Yellows is primarily a field disease and it causes the plants to become stunted and the leaves will develop a blanched or yellowed appearance that will change quickly to a brown color. Notice if you will on the top of the leaf as this is where the yellowing occurs and then it will work down to the entire leaf and then the plant. By this time the core of the corm usually is discolored near the base and this discoloring will then extend onto the flesh. You can treat this with Ceresan, I use one half pound plus five tablespoons of spreader sticker to 25 gallons water for l5 minutes. Some varieties of the Gladiolus are not susceptible to this disease.
Fusarium Basal Dry Rot will affect only the corms and usually is confined to the basal part only, this is a disease that makes the tissue that is diseased really rough, scale and hard and it will either destroy all or parts of the roots. If the corms are affected I have seen them only produce weak, slow growing plants, or if it is really bad I have had plants that did not even develop.
Please be very careful with the plants that you buy or even transplant as this disease can live in your soil for many years, if you get any of these symptoms you may want to change your soil and even move the rest of your gladiolus to another location, I usually just move the ones that aren't affected or just buy new gladiolus to make certain or as much as I can that I have ridded myself of this problem.
Next we have the Fusarium Dry Rot, and this will appear as small, water-soaked spots on the sides or the base of the corm. Sometimes after the corms have been in storage for some time you can notice this on the corms, you will see lesions that are sunken and wrinkled in concentric zones, tan colored and solid, tough and leathery. I would
recommend you rotate your crop rotations as this disease is carried over in the soil Dipping in the new improved Ceresan, or calomel, one pound to eight gallons of water will help, but any badly infected corms should be buried or discarded off the property, some people decide to
bury I toss out in the garbage in a bag.
The last of these diseases is called Scab and this is a bacterial disease that causes sunken, circular, depressed lesions with a raised margin.
These spots are covered with a varnish-like sticky
substance and the soil will stick very readily to it. During the wet season is the worst time for this disease in if your soil is poorly drained so be careful and check the drainage in the area that you are planning to plant your gladiolus. Soaking the corms in the Ceresan or Calomet as recommended on the package is the best idea. Now your local nursery may have many different products to be used instead of these I am suggesting and perhaps better products, I tend
to use the same old standbys for years, others try new products and that's your preference.
Now we will talk about the pests of the Gladiolus and the most serious is the Gladiolus Thrip, straw colored, turning black as they get older. I tend to use the sevin dust on these as I see them coming around my plants, but then I find so many uses for the sevin dust in my garden. Also sometimes you will find white grubs, that can be very troublesome, and the sevin will help rid them from your plants also.
Now don't be discouraged by the disease and pests of the beautiful gladiolus, they are very popular and also easily grown and make your garden beautiful and think of the cuttings of those beautiful flowers you might bring over to a friend or relative for them to enjoy.
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