GLADS IN RUSSIA
| *Climate | * History | * Club | * Glads in other countries |
Gladiolus is one of the most favourite flowers in Russia . In the USSR (before 1990) the large-scale production of the cut flowers was not sufficiently developed and demand for cut flowers was satisfied at the expense of small (very small !) private growers who produced high-quality cut flowers in small amount and could deliver them for sale in a good condition.
However at present with the import of the cut flowers and planting material from abroad continuously growing and available assortment enlarging, domestic small production with high prime costs has great difficulties. So the number of growers and, to some extent, popularity of the culture drops.
Brief characteristics of climatic conditions of planting gladiolus in the middle zone of Russia:
Average |
Earliest |
Latest |
|
| Date of the latest spring frost | 10.05 |
14.04 |
12.06 |
| Date of the first autumn frost | 29.09 |
28.08 |
2.11 |
| Duration of frost-free period (days) | Average |
At least |
At most |
141 |
98 |
182 |
|
| Average number of days with the temperature higher than 5° С | 135 |
||
| Average number of days with the temperature higher than 10°C | 77 |
||
Amount of temperatures: |
higher than 0°C |
higher than 5°C |
higher than 10°C ( amount of active temperatures) |
2470 |
2365 |
2055 |
|
To put it simply, it is possible to plant gladiolus from May 1 till May 20. The years with strong frosts (below -5 …- 7°C ) at the beginning of June are rather frequent and early frosts at the beginning of September are quite typical. The summer is moderately warm and damp . It is necessary to dig gladiolus from August 15 till October 10. At this time cold and rainy weather comes already and on October 15 the first snow falls that really quickly melts. And at the beginning of November the snow already covers earth for a long time.
Before the 90's cultivars created by American and Canadian originators : Roberts, Walker, Carl Fisher, Summerville, MacKenzie and others were very popular in Russia . A bit later many Czech and Slovak cultivars with a typical heavily ruffled and sturdy structure of petals made a good showing. They were created by Kovarik, Ryznar, Adamovich, Repcik, Konicek. At the same time commercial Dutch cultivars having high cut qualities were not widely spread because of thin petals and weak ruffling .
Unfortunately due to quite cold climate not all cultivars became widespread. Often many varieties with splendid decorative characteristics have not sufficient time to bloom till frosts unless grown using film covers, and their bulbs badly ripen . From longstanding experience we can see that cultivars breeded in the USA having middle-late or late blossom season are absolutely unsuitable for the local climatic conditions. Most varieties created at the Ukraine , Moldavia and the south of Russia behave the same way.
The new varieties with novel attractive coloring in the cut cost more and their bulbs were in great demand as well. That's why in the former Soviet Union in the 80's the selection of gladiolus started developing rapidly. The first serious success in the selection was achieved by Andrey Gromov who introduced in 1984-88 a plethora of highly decorative varieties with good commercial parameters. In 1994-96 Valentin Dybov's varieties became popular. Dybov staked on the varieties with good growth qualities, propagation and strong ruffle . After him some other breeders gained good results. The section “Russian gladiolus” tells about those who today works on creating new varieties.
In Russia large-flowered gladiolus (size classes 400 and 500) are popular; miniatures (parviflorous) are grown by few amateurs. At present cultivars that have clean coloration or contrast spots, ruffled or heavy ruffled and necessarily have thick style of petals are the most popular. Generally a variety when grown on an average agricultural background has more than 20-23 buds and is able to open simultaneously 8-10 florets . Local varieties have high decorative qualities, stable blooming, good growth characteristics and are quite resistant to diseases.
The biggest companies-sellers of domestic gladiolus are: “Flos”, “Delios-Agro”, “NK”, “Sredi Tsvetov” .
Since 50's in Moscow a society of gladiolus-growers has been functioning as an affiliate to the club of flower-growers . In 1992 the society became an independent Club of gladiolus-growers that currently includes about 120 members.
Popularization of the gladiolus culture and new domestic varieties and also the best foreign varieties is the main activity of the Club.
During the last 50 years an exhibition of gladiolus was held annually in Moscow by the Club. To be precise, there were several exhibitions following each other where the visitors could see up to 1200 exhibits in favourable years. The results of the most recent exhibition can be seen in the section Show-2009 and the schedule of new exhibitions – in the section Show-2010 .
For more than 40 years SYMPOSIUM of the members of the club has been conducted that helps to identify the best varieties. In the questionnaire is the respondents are offered to specify 5-6 best varieties (decorative) in the colour classes (white, yellow, salmon, pink, red, etc.) based on the results of the previous growing season. Besides top ten varieties, top five miniature varieties and five “exotic” varieties are determined.
Each year starting from 1993 informational BULLETIN has been published where the results of exhibitions (held in Moscow , St.-Petersburg, the Ukraine , Latvia ), articles on agrotechnics and hybridization , information on the new varieties are provided. Translations of the most interesting materials of NAGC are also used.
Those who are fond of gladiolus in Russia try to grow foreign varieties with great interest. Unfortunately, the originators of the elder generation from the former Soviet Republics have already retired or are about to retire: Georgiy Korkishko(Moldova, deceased), Anatoliy Murin (Moldova), Nina Miroshnichenko (Ukraine, deceased), Petras Bal'chikonis (Lithuania), Aldonis Verinsh (Latvia), Adolf Volfovich-Moller (Uzbekistan)(deceased) – those whose names used to be famous all over the Soviet Union.
Nowadays the successful work on creating new varieties is continued: in Latvia by Visvaldis Vinkelis, Laimonis Zakis, Alexander Muhinkins, Yanis Dipans, Jiris Base; in Slovakia – by Igor Adamovich (deceased in 2006) ; in Czechia – by “Lukon-Glads” company (Jaroslav Konicek), Petr Memranek, Ivan Sharan, Irji Vaclavik, in Lithuania – by Paulis Ciplijauskas, Antanas Markevicius.
In the USA, interesting novelties can be purchased from the companies “World Wide Glads” (Summerville), “Pleasant Valley” (Adams), “Noweta gardens”, “Alleman glads”, “Gruber glads”, “BloomingPraieriegardens”, in Canada – from the “Peeters Enterprises” company.