Hi everyone,

I'm pulling up some gladiolus that didn't give me much pleasure this last season to make room for new things. Some of them have strange little round things growing on the underside of the bulbs. I'm wondering if these are some type of disease that needs to be dealt with before I plant my new bulbs (lilies and daffs), and if it's something dangerous that might spread?

In truth, most of the glads didn't do well this season but I attributed that to them being overcrowded by wildflowers and the fact that I bought them in a discount store where they might have been shipped because they were more than a year old. Now I'm wondering if there's something else wrong? Pictures below--the things are the little, roundish, white things that look like miniature seaweed pods. Hoping it's nothing...

Hi Joanna-

Those are cormels or cormlets, little new offspring bulbs (corms) that are forming! All is well there.

http://extension.missouri.edu/...

Pistil said:Hi Joanna-

Those are cormels or cormlets, little new offspring bulbs (corms) that are forming! All is well there.

http://extension.missouri.edu/...

Oh! Thank you! relieved. So that means that if I replant them, they'll eventually grow all new bulbs that I can plant too? And actually have them grow and flower?

They grow a new bulb every year, Joanna, from the foliage that the old bulb grew. So the big, pink Mama bulb is a brand-new fresh gladiolus bulb. You can store them for the winter in a cool, dry place and re-plant them next spring.

It's a nice big healthy looking bulb so I'd be very surprised if it doesn't bloom for you next year. Full sun, some fertilizer and enough water, they should do fine, and yes, eventually grow new baby bulbs for you as well from the little cormels.

dyzzypyxxy said:They grow a new bulb every year, Joanna, from the foliage that the old bulb grew. So the big, pink Mama bulb is a brand-new fresh gladiolus bulb. You can store them for the winter in a cool, dry place and re-plant them next spring.

It's a nice big healthy looking bulb so I'd be very surprised if it doesn't bloom for you next year. Full sun, some fertilizer and enough water, they should do fine, and yes, eventually grow new baby bulbs for you as well from the little cormels.