Calla is a plant native to South Africa, a member of the araceae family. Even beginners can easily cope with its breeding. Multi-colored and bright calla flowers are undoubtedly oh, they will decorate any garden. Their tubers are planted in early May, and after 30 days the first buds can be seen. The question of how to store calla lilies at home in winter requires special lighting so that the beds will delight you with beautiful flowers in summer.
Is it necessary to dig up garden calla lilies for the winter?
These flowers, despite their southern origin, are not too capricious even when grown in more northern climates. But it is recommended to dig up the tubers for the winter - a small disadvantage, not to mention severe frosts, can easily destroy the plant. Plus, for tuberous calla lilies to bloom, a mandatory period of “cool dormancy” is required; this also applies to many indoor varieties.
In the southern regions, some gardeners leave rhizomes and tubers to overwinter in the ground, covering it well with mulch. But this technique usually does not bring anything positive. It's like playing roulette. In recent years, winters have been unpredictable even in the south. It is safer, and more effective, to remove calla tubers for the winter. Moreover, this agricultural technique allows you to examine the bulbs after digging and identify the onset of diseases in time. The harvesting of plants from the garden itself takes place in several stages.
Storing callas during the dormant period in a pot
Before digging up the plant, trim only dry leaves and flower stalks at the very root. Plant the trimmed plant with a ball of earth in a pot. The storage temperature should be no higher than 12 - 15 degrees. This could be a cool veranda or attic, loggia. Water the flower periodically, about once or twice a month.
Calla can also be located in a lighted room near the balcony door. Under such storage conditions, the buds will ripen very well, which will subsequently produce good strong flower stalks. When spring comes, it is necessary to gradually increase the amount of watering so that the plant wakes up. Two weeks before planting in the ground, the plant is fed.
When to dig calla lilies from open ground in the fall
For successful wintering, tubers must be dug up on time. If you dig up a vegetative plant too early, it will not be able to successfully overwinter, and delaying the deadline until the onset of frost can simply destroy the flower.
Depending on the variety
There are 8 types of calla lilies in nature. They are divided into two main subspecies – rhizomatous and tuberous. Calla lilies Elliot and Remani are called tuberous. These species shed their leaves during the dormant period. The rhizomatous species include Ethiopian calla, which does not shed its leaves during the period of “hibernation” and does not have a pronounced dormant period.
Tuberous callas, which are more susceptible to low temperatures, are dug up first. But rhizomatous plants can tolerate a slight disadvantage. But you shouldn’t delay digging them up either.
Depending on the region of growth
The timing depends on the growing region and how early in the fall the cold weather arrives. Typically, excavation is carried out in the southern regions from the beginning of October, and in the central zone, including the Moscow region, from the second half of September. And in more northern regions, preparations begin at the beginning of the month.
Drying callas
Having dug up calla lily tubers that you have grown yourself, you will most likely be surprised by their striking difference from the planting material that you purchased before planting in your own garden. Now these are strong, large and beautiful specimens. Before setting aside the root tubers to dry, you need to carefully inspect them.
It is advisable to discard tubers with signs of rotting. If this is a particularly valuable variety and the damage is minor, you need to strip the damaged tissue to a healthy base. It is best to do this with a teaspoon or a sharp garden tool.
Damaged and peeled tuber tissue must be disinfected with a solution of ordinary brilliant green or sprinkled with crushed coal. You can use activated carbon for this purpose.
Rejected material must be disposed of, but under no circumstances should it be placed in a compost heap. Such actions can contribute to the spread of the disease to other plants. Low cardboard or wooden boxes are best suited for drying root tubers at home. You can use plastic fruit boxes lined with cardboard or old newspapers.
Conditions for high-quality drying of calla lilies:
- dark and cool place;
- good air circulation;
- lack of sunlight;
- temperature not higher than 15-20⁰С.
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The best premises may be a garage, a ventilated dry cellar or basement, or a barn. It is better to place boxes with calla lilies rhizomes in one row. After a few days, you need to completely remove the dry leaves, and after another week, the roots, which by this time will be removed very easily. When the roots are not removed, the plant may not begin to grow in time, without going through a full dormant period.
During this period, you should not separate the “babies” from the mother plant. They have not yet fenced themselves off from it with a special film - there is a great danger of causing injury to the plant. It is rational to separate the “babies” in winter. Then they ripen and can serve as full-fledged planting material. If this happens, the damaged area is dried and again disinfected with brilliant green or charcoal. The drying period can take from two to three weeks, depending on the ambient humidity.
Stages of preparation for wintering
Callas need to be prepared for digging in stages. To preserve a plant in winter, a gardener must clearly know what to do and when.
Preparing the flower and the digging process itself
The onset of frost signals the flower about the end of the growing season and preparation for hibernation. After frost, all dried leaves are cut off, leaving only petioles of 5-7 centimeters. Autumn is the time of rain, so be sure to protect flowers from unwanted moisture. Typically, lightweight shelters are constructed from sheets of iron, slate, and greenhouse film. Gardeners stop watering callas 2-3 weeks before digging.
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When digging itself, it is best to use a pitchfork. When using a glander or shovel, there is a high probability of damaging, cutting or leaving some of the tubers in the ground. In order to get the bulbs as safely as possible, dig a hole slightly larger in diameter than the size of the root calla.
Drying the tubers
After digging, the tubers are cleared of soil. The best way is to place them in a container with liquid, and after a short soaking, rinse them under a gentle stream of water. It is necessary to clean the dirt in this way carefully so as not to break off poorly formed children.
After cleaning, the tubers are inspected, spoiled, diseased, and rotten ones are rejected.
If the damage is minor, the tubers are trimmed back to elastic, healthy tissue. The cleaned areas are powdered with charcoal, and all the bulbs are placed to dry. The tubers are laid out in a thin layer in small cardboard, foam or plastic boxes. The bottom of the boxes is lined with newspapers or old agrofibre, which absorbs excess moisture well. Drying is carried out in a dark, cool, well-ventilated area.
It is necessary to maintain a constant temperature of +20 C, +25 C degrees, only then will they dry thoroughly. The tubers are dried for about 2, maximum 3 weeks. After the bulbs are dried, they are placed in permanent storage until spring.
The dormant period for tubers lasts until the end of March. During storage, periodic inspections of planting material are carried out. This will help to detect diseased, rotten bulbs in time and protect all others from damage. In the case of rhizomatous callas, they are placed in a cool place along with pots. When digging from open ground, they are sprinkled with a damp substrate and also placed in a cool place for the winter.
The calla has faded, what to do next. Watering
Proper watering is a key condition for the growth and development of calla lilies at home. For these flowers, it is important to organize regular watering and constantly moist soil in the pot.
If the soil is dry, it will stop the growth of the plant for a long time. White stool, which naturally grows in swamps, places special demands on watering.
It needs to be watered when the top layer of soil in the pot dries 1 centimeter. After a quarter of an hour, it is necessary to drain the water that the plant did not absorb.
Colored callas are less demanding when it comes to watering, but in any case you need to carefully monitor the lack of water in the tray of the flower pot. Water should be watered with soft, settled water when the soil dries a couple of centimeters deep.
The optimal humidity level for these flowers is 70-80%; this level can be maintained by spraying 2 times a day and wiping the foliage with a damp cloth, as well as by placing nearby basins and trays with expanded clay or moss.
After flowering is complete, watering can be reduced for all types of flowers. For colored callas, after a couple of months, watering can be stopped altogether. The plant's dormant period occurs from October to February.
Illumination. Callas require high levels of indirect sunlight all year round. If there is not enough light, then flowering may not occur, and only the stems of the plant will grow.
White callas require lighting even during dormancy. Without sufficient light, colored calla lilies may experience fading in color intensity.
Temperature. During the growth period, it is important for white callas to maintain a temperature of 18-20 degrees; after flowering is completed, the temperature can be gradually reduced to 10-12 degrees. The rest period is about two months.
For colored callas, it will be optimal to keep them at a temperature of 20-24 degrees. After flowering has completed, the tubers ripen for about a month without watering at a temperature of 25 -27 degrees. Then they are taken out without leaves to organize dry wintering at a temperature of 3-5 degrees, covered with sawdust.
The soil. Acidified soils are optimal for these flowers. The substrate for planting can be prepared independently on the basis that for 2 parts of turf soil you need one part of leaf soil, sand and peat.
Feeding. In the summer, it is possible to plant plants in open ground in garden soil, in which case they will receive additional feeding. When kept at home, it is necessary to feed with complex fertilizers once every 2 weeks. During the flowering period, it is imperative to feed the flowers with urea, and you can also add an infusion of egg shells.
Necessary conditions for wintering the plant
For proper and safe wintering, several conditions must be met. Moreover, fulfillment of these conditions by the gardener must be mandatory.
- In winter, when storing tubers, the temperature should be in the range from +5 C to +10 C degrees.
- Carrying out humidity control. Storing tubers and rhizomes in dry rooms will prevent the appearance of rot and possible death of plants.
- Storing plants in well and regularly ventilated areas.
- Periodic sanitary inspections help keep planting material healthy and detect the onset of the disease in time.
- When storing calla rhizomes in a substrate or pots, it is necessary to monitor its moisture content.
- For rhizomatous callas, care comes down to periodically lightly moistening the substrate.
- In tuberous callas, to prevent premature growth, the leaves and roots are removed.
- The tubers must be properly dried before storing. The safety of planting material in winter depends on this.
For successful wintering, it is advisable to sprinkle the tubers (bulbs) so that they do not come into contact with each other with one of the following materials:
- peat;
- small wood shavings;
- sphagnum moss;
- sand.
Let's wake up the callas with the arrival of spring
In order to complete wintering, the best time for the middle zone will be the beginning of April, for the southern regions - the beginning of March. Calla lilies root tubers are taken out, carefully examined, and treated with a solution of manganese or any fungicide against fungal diseases. If you didn’t separate the “babies” from the calla lilies in winter, you can separate them now.
Advice
“Children” are not cut off from the mother plant, but broken off. The separation area must be disinfected, treated with brilliant green, and sprinkled with ash.
In order for these beautiful plants to safely endure the period of winter dormancy, you need to properly dig them up, dry them and ensure they are stored in a dry and cool place.
Methods for storing plants after digging at home
There are several ways to store calla tubers until spring. An important point is that before planting for the winter, all roots are cut off, otherwise the flower may begin to grow.
Contents in the basement
Boxes with tubers are placed in the basement. Successful storage depends on maintaining the correct temperature, which ranges from +5 C to +10 C degrees. Under no circumstances should the temperature be allowed to increase; this will lead to premature, early germination of the bulbs.
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High humidity is detrimental to planting material, so storage must be “dry”. The basement itself must be ventilated, with a constant flow of fresh air. Otherwise, the bulbs will simply be sprayed.
Winter accommodation on the loggia
This storage method is suitable for gardeners growing calla lilies in pots. In the fall, watering is gradually reduced, and after the first frost and the leaves die off, the pots are transferred to a glazed balcony or loggia. There the callas remain until spring. It is important to control the temperature - in severe frosts it is advisable to additionally cover the pots. And vice versa - it is advisable that there is no heating on the balcony, otherwise the callas will grow.
Common mistakes made by newbies
It is extremely important to follow small gardening tricks so as not to spoil the flower and not harm your flowerbed in the new season with weak and small plants. Not fully understanding how to store calla bulbs in winter, a large number of gardeners make a number of mistakes that lead to severe consequences.
To avoid trouble, you must comply with a number of conditions:
- You should not put too much pressure on the shovel when removing tubers from the ground - they are very delicate and break quickly.
- If there are unseparated children on the root, you just need to wait until they are separated by thin scales on their own, and only then tear them off from the main bulb.
- All roots from the tuber must be cut off. Otherwise, the plant will begin to germinate during wintering.
- And finally, certain temperature conditions must be maintained. The storage temperature should always be from +3 to +7 degrees, and the humidity should be as low as possible.
Is it necessary to dig up callas for the winter? This is, of course, a very important question. After all, the future flowering, and, therefore, the beauty of the site depends on his correct decision. The tubers of these plants, of course, need to be dug up, otherwise you can say goodbye to flowering in spring days. And if you follow these rules, then you can justifiably hope for beautiful and healthy flowers in the new season.
How to store calla bulbs in an apartment until spring
If there is no other choice, but it is necessary to preserve the bulbs, then you can use an ordinary apartment as a storage place. With this method, the box with tubers is placed in the coolest place, near a window or balcony door.
But it is necessary, if possible, to isolate the bulbs from the warm air of the room; it is important to place them away from radiators. At temperatures above +20 C degrees, the tubers can overwinter, but they will dry out and wrinkle, and this will affect the health of the plant in the future and the abundance of flowering. And at elevated temperatures and high humidity, the tubers will quickly grow.
In a refrigerator
If there are only a few tubers, you can use a regular home refrigerator for storage. The bulbs are wrapped in paper or newspaper, sprinkled with sawdust, and then placed in the lower compartment of the refrigerator, where vegetables are usually stored. With this type of storage, periodic inspections of the condition of the tubers are also necessary.
How do tubers overwinter?
It is very important to check each individual root for rot and damage. When answering the question of how to store calla tubers in winter, competent gardeners focus on the integrity of the planting material. If black spots appear, they should certainly be scraped off with a regular teaspoon or a special tool. After this, the tuber is left for 3-3.5 hours so that the damaged areas dry out a little.
Afterwards, each “scratch” must be treated with crushed activated carbon or brilliant green for disinfection. The same is done when it is necessary to break the mother root in order to separate the “children”. At the end of the procedure, the tubers are placed in napkins made of natural materials and stored in this form, packaged in cardboard boxes. From time to time it is necessary to inspect the planting material for integrity and monitor whether it has any rot or infection. However, if handled correctly, such “complications” should not arise.
The box is placed in a fairly cool and dry place. The container must have a tight lid. When deciding how to store calla lilies at home, you should not forget the time when to take them out. This is usually done in the spring. This method of keeping tubers allows the plant to be viable and healthy for quite a long time, until the time comes for planting in the ground.
Spring planting of tubers
After winter comes the favorite time of gardeners - spring, the time of planting seedlings and seedlings. Calla lilies are no exception. Planting begins after the threat of severe frost has passed. In the central zone, callas are usually planted in early May, in the southern regions - from mid-April.
Before planting, a preventive inspection is carried out after storage. The tubers should be healthy, dense, and elastic. All diseased, severely rotten, dried out tubers are discarded. If the damage is minor, the sore spot is cut out to healthy tissue, and the cut site is crushed with charcoal.
Before planting, it is advisable to disinfect the planting material. Use a pink solution of potassium permanganate, where the bulbs are placed for 30 minutes. You can use special preparations that are usually used to treat planting potatoes. These are the already proven Prestige and Maxim .
The bed is first dug up and granular complex mineral fertilizers are applied, 25-30 grams per 1 square meter. The depth of the planting hole is 5-10 centimeters. The distance between plants is from 30 to 50 centimeters, depending on the growth vigor of the variety. There should be enough space around for calla lilies to grow. It is advisable to plant in shaded areas; they should be protected from direct, scorching rays of the sun.
Directly when planting, the tuber is placed in a hole, covered with soil and watered well. If there are no sprouts, there is no need to worry prematurely and try to dig up the tubers - the first sprouts of calla lilies appear only after 2-4 weeks.
First, their root system begins to grow, and then the above-ground part begins to actively grow. Some gardeners first plant the tubers in pots. In March and early April, callas are placed in pots with a substrate, and then in May they are transplanted with a lump of earth into open ground.
Premature growth
When one of the tubers begins to germinate ahead of schedule, it is planted in the soil and grown in a pot as an indoor flower. And with the arrival of spring warmth, it is transplanted into open ground. After which the calla lily will again become a garden plant.
To ensure that calla lilies bloom as early and luxuriant as possible, the tubers of this plant should be dug up every autumn at a certain time and stored in proper conditions. And those who decide to leave them in the soil may be left without this beauty in the new season.
Storing callas in winter is not at all difficult, you just need to follow the tips given in this article.
Choosing a storage location
The storage location can be any cool, dark place.
- Many summer residents choose basements or cellars to store bulbs. And this is the best option.
But we must not forget about one more very important rule: the room where the tubers are stored must be dry, and there should not be any dampness in it. After all, if high humidity prevails in the basement or cellar, then the plants may germinate ahead of schedule or, even worse, begin to rot.
You need to inspect the tubers for rot and sprouting at least once a week.
In autumn, basements and cellars must be dried and treated with a disinfectant solution. The best way to dry and disinfect is to use a smoke bomb.
The first step is to clear the basement of leftover vegetables.
If fungus appears on the walls and ceiling, then it urgently needs to be removed. Then lower the lit smoke bomb and close the door. Wait about 3 hours and open the basement. If there are windows, they should also be opened for thorough ventilation.
- A good place to store calla lilies may be the refrigerator, namely the compartment for vegetables and fruits. But before that, each tuber must be wrapped in newsprint and then placed in a plastic bag. The shelf life of planting material in the refrigerator is not as long as in a dry basement, and is only a couple of months.
- Another way is a regular cardboard box. Place the prepared tubers in a box and put them in a closet or under the bed. This method will allow the plants to rest for no more than one month.
If suddenly the calla lily begins to awaken prematurely, it needs to be planted in a large pot and grown as a houseplant. But as soon as warm spring days arrive, it can be planted in open ground and cared for like a garden flower.
As a result of improper storage or improper preparation for wounding, damage may occur on the plant.
Such planting material should not be thrown away, because it is also suitable for planting. Just cut off the damaged areas with a thin knife, while capturing the healthy part of the plant. Treat the sections with a solution of ordinary brilliant green. Let the greenery dry a little and you can plant it in the prepared soil.
