Effect of corm size on growth and flowering behaviour of gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida) hybrids under different plant spacings in midhill areas of Himachal Pradesh

An experiment was conducted to find out the effect of corm size and plant spacings on growth, flowering and corm production of newly-developed gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrida L.) hybrid, Hb 1–8, during 2009–10 at the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Three corm sizes (3.0–3.5 cm, 3.6–4.0 cm and 4.1–4.5 cm) and three spacings (30cm × 6cm, 30cm × 10cm and 30cm × 14 cm) were tested in a randomized block design replicated thrice. The hybrid, Hb1-8, with S₃ and P₃ showed better performance for number of days taken for sprouting (13.11 days), plant height (88.23 cm), number of days taken for bud break (100.29 days), number of days taken for first floret opening (104.45 days), spike length (73.44 cm), number of corms/plant (1.69) and number of cormels (33.76).