Effect of gibberellic acid and growing media on vegetative and floral attributes of gladiolus

The present experiment was conducted to find out effect of GA(3) and sand on growth, flowering and corm production in gladiolus cv. Nova Lux. Pre-planting soaking of corms in gibberellic acid as well as planting with or without sand dressing significantly affected the most of characters studied. In both the media, the higher levels (100 or 150 ppm) of GA(3) increased the number of sprouts per corm, girth and height of plant, number and width of feat, length and placement of florets, number of flowering spikes per mother corm, number of opened fresh florets at a time, longevity and vase-life of spike, yield of spikes, weight of daughter corm, total yield of corms and number of cormels per plant. Between two media, corms planted with sand dressing delayed corm sprouting and spike emergence, increased height and girth of plant, width and number of leaves, diameter of spike, compactness and number of fresh florets, vase-life of cut spike, weight of daughter corm and total corm yield. Planting of corms in soil only enhanced corm sprouting and spike emergence, increased the number of sprouts, flowering spikes and cormels per mother corm, placement of florets on rachis, width of full opened floret, longevity of spike and total yield of spikes per unit area.