How to Care for Potted Gladiolus

Provide your gladiolus with well-drained soil. The quickest way to lose the plant is to force it to sit in soggy soil. If the soil is less than ideal, remove the gladiolus from the pot, dump the soil and fill it with a combination of fresh potting soil and sand in a 3 to 1 ratio. Replant the gladiolus to the same depth at which it grew in the old soil. Add water until the pot begins to drain.

Place the potted gladiolus in an area with full sun. Western exposure is ideal.

Water the potted gladiolus to deliver the equivalent of 1 inch of water a week. The soil should be moist but not soggy. Glads needs plenty of water to bloom.

Fertilize the glad when it reaches 8 inches tall and then monthly with a liquid houseplant fertilizer. Follow the instructions on the label to determine the correct amount of fertilizer.

Wait until the leaves turn yellow to cut them. While they are green, they're supplying nutrients to the corm for next season, so continue to water the plant and allow the foliage to die back on its own. When it does, dig up the corm and snip the foliage back to within a half-inch of the corm.

Brush the soil off the corm and place it in a warm area for two to three weeks. Pull off the stub of foliage and break off the old corm from the bottom of the new one. Discard the old corm.

Place the corm in a bag with fungicide powder. Shake the bag gently to coat the corm, then place it in a mesh bag and leave it in a dark area that remains dry and where the temperature is between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit until you can replant it in spring.

Plant the gladiolus corm with the pointed side up, 6 inches deep, in fresh potting soil and sand mixed in a 3 to 1 ratio.