The planting date is an important factor affecting the developmental cycle and quality of final product. Indications from the literature are that gladiolus is a species that can be cultivated throughout the year, but in some periods, adverse conditions may occur, reducing the quality of the flower. Two field experiments (Experiment 1: August 2011 to July 2012 and Experiment 2: August 2012 to July 2013) were conducted in Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, to quantify the influence of planting dates on the duration of the developmental cycle and on the quality of flower stems in gladiolus, identifying possible damages by high and low temperatures in the final product. It is concluded that it is possible to cultivate gladiolus throughout the year, but the duration of gladiolus cycle is higher when planting is carried out in periods of low temperatures, and this is important for scheduling the planting date, mainly for meeting specific market demand (commemorative dates). Extreme temperatures (above 35 ºC and below 0 ºC) reduce the commercial flowers quality and even cause the death of plants.

The objective of this study was to determine the cycle duration in days and the quantitative parameters, i.e. stem length, spike length and stem diameter of gladiolus floral stems as a function of the planting date and locations in the Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. Field experiments were established between 2014-2015 in three locations (Frederico Westphalen, Itaqui and Santa Maria). The experimental design was a complete randomized block, with six gladiolus cultivars in three distinct planting dates at each location as treatments. The shift from vegetative to reproductive stage, the stem length, spike length and stem diameter were evaluated. Data was statistically analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey test. When planted during late July and early August, cultivars of early cycle(‘Purple Flora’, ‘Rose Friendship’ and ‘White Friendship’) and intermediate cycle (‘Green Star’ and ‘Jester’), produced floral stems of gladiolus in the desired patterns besides as well as having a shorter growth cycle than late cultivars (‘Gold Field’), being recommended for commercial cultivation in Southern Brazil.

Flower crops are an alternative for diversification in small farms, being gladiolus an option of cut flower. The objective of this study was to disseminate the gladiolus crop as an alternative for diversification and profit for small farms through an extension project where crop management practices were demonstrated during its development cycle. An extension project was carried out in partnership with a rural extension agency, EMATER/RS-ASCAR, to identify the farmers interested in diversifying their production system for growing gladiolus. The extension project was developed in four counties in the Central region of the Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. Together with the extensionists of EMATER/RS-ASCAR, farmers were assisted during the entire production cycle and learned the management practices from planting to harvesting. Altogether, approximately 2,400 gladiolus spikes were produced, which were marketed one week before and during Mother’s Day week at local fairs. In all the counties, the demand and consumption of the flower stems were high, demonstrating acceptance of the consumers of gladiolus stems on Mother’s Day. The gladiolus production has proven to be profitable for small family properties. This system encourages the production in short-chains, contributes to the growth of local flower production and may contribute for decreasing rural exodus and sustainability for future generations

Gladiolus (Gladiolus x grandiflorus Hort.), also called as Palma-de-Santa-Rita, is culturally known in Brazil as the All Soul's' Day flower. In recent years, it has also become popular in other special dates due to its robustness, liveliness, and magnificence. However, there are challenges regarding the cut flower production, since the largest producer investment is the corm acquisition. Due to the insufficiency of technical information, there are no fully established corm production protocols for gladiolus. Therefore, this technical article has the objective of bringing information related to the gladiolus corms production technique, in view of the sustainability of the production.

The objective of this work was to develop a climate risk zoning for the gladiolus (Gladiolus x grandiflorus) crop in the 497 municipalities of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The PhenoGlad model was used to simulate crop development and the occurrence of damages. The model was run for four developmental cycles of gladiolus over 34 years and in 23 locations in the state. The probabilities of 10, 20, and 30% damages due to low and high temperatures were used to define periods suitable for planting. Rio Grande do Sul is adequate for growing gladiolus during most of the year. In the coldest areas of the state, the inadequate planting dates are from March until mid-May due to frost damage. In the hottest regions, the inadequate planting dates are greater from October to January due to heat damage. Because it is stricter, the 10% level of damage is considered more appropriate to define the periods recommended for planting.

Dahlia is an ornamental plant well adapted to open field cultivation and is one of the crops in the “Flowers for All” Project, a nation-wide extension project. High temperatures and the duration of extreme heat waves are expected to be more frequent in the next decades. Therefore, understanding and determining the high temperature that causes irreversible damage in Dahlia flowers is of high interest for preparing farmers to mitigate and adapt their crop to climate change. The objective of this study was to determine the upper lethal temperature that causes irreversible damage on buds and flowers on open field grown dahlia. Commercial open field dahlia crops in five locations in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) State, Southern Brazil, during two growing seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23) were used in this study. During the period from 20 December 2021 to 30 January 2022 and from 14 January 2023 to 20 January 2023, daily observations were made in the dahlias in the five locations in order to identify symptoms of heat stress on leaves, buds and flowers such as leaf rolling, wilting, dry leaf edges, sunscald, burning and rotting. The appearance of those symptoms was correlated with maximum daily air temperature in order to estimate the lethal temperature. Irreversible heat injury in buds and flowers of open field grown dahlia start when air temperature reaches 35 ^oC. Artificial shading, irrigation and planting date are management practices that can help farmers to protect dahlia flowers from heat stress.