When to dig and how to properly store callas at home in winter

How to store callas in winter

They are washed thoroughly and dipped in a solution of potassium manganese for half an hour. Then the tubers must be washed again and kept in a dark place until they dry. The tubers are then placed in paper bags and stored in a cool place, for example, in a vegetable drawer in the refrigerator.

How to deal with pests?

The dug up rhizome should be stored in a cool place, but it can also be stored as tubers. However, it must first be slightly dried and the foliage removed. You need to check how the planting material is doing once a week. So, if the temperature is too high, it will begin to dry out, and if the humidity is high, rot may appear.

A houseplant is usually left in a container during its dormant period. It is transferred to a cool loggia or veranda. In the case when calla lilies are deliberately deprived of a period of rest, provoking its further growth, this leads to a lack of flowering.

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.

Features of growing calla lilies in pots

Calla prefers shady and semi-shaded places, where if there is sun, it is only in the evening. To grow calla lilies, it is better to use a spacious container: tall (above 60 cm) and wide (within a radius of 15-20 cm from the plant’s growth point). The substrate is made from ordinary garden soil. Add a little clay, a little vermiculite, as well as sand, rotted manure and peat. Add mineral fertilizers to the resulting substrate and mix everything thoroughly. The nutrients contained in the substrate are only enough for the first year of calla lily's life. Subsequently, as the plant grows, it requires enrichment of the substrate: replenishment of the supply of organic fertilizers and minerals.

The shoots of a growing calla lily will not shrink if you feed it with organic matter in a timely manner. To do this, I carefully dig a groove along the edge of a heavy and voluminous calla pot and add any organic matter available in the house. You can use, for example, fruit peels (bananas, kiwi apples, etc.), seed husks, tea leaves, etc.

Sprinkle the added organic matter with the substrate and water the plant with water at room temperature. In the future, calla lilies fed with organic matter can be watered with mineral fertilizer dissolved in water (according to the instructions on the package).

Periodically, the top layer of soil in a pot with calla lilies can be replaced (with care not to damage the rhizome) with a more nutritious substrate. Then the plant will grow successfully in the pot for quite a long time without replanting.

Calla is very moisture-loving, so the substrate must be kept moist and never dry out. This is also a necessary condition for the development of beneficial soil bacteria that process organic matter into plant-available nutrition.

Also, calla lilies are not afraid of the presence of earthworms in the pot; this is even welcome. Thanks to the presence of earthworms in the substrate, the processing of added organic matter into humus is accelerated. And the worms also loosen and enrich the soil with oxygen.

When a flower stalk appears on the calla lily, you can slightly (so as not to burn the roots of the plant) increase the dose of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer. You can use urea, which improves soil acidity, which is beneficial for callas.

When the calla inflorescence is at the beginning of dissolution, add calcium to the substrate (for example, an infusion of egg shells is suitable). Then the half-blooming calla peduncle, when cut (or if the plant blooms in a pot), retains its freshness longer and does not fade as quickly as it does in nature.

Protection from diseases and pests follows the same principle as for other potted plants. Sometimes calla lilies are damaged by powdery mildew.

Calla can be propagated by offspring. The lower part of the young plant has a nodule, where nutrients accumulate.

Before planting calla lilies in a pot, pour boiling water over the prepared substrate and mix the cooled, wet substrate with a tablespoon of complex mineral fertilizer that has an acidic reaction.

By following these simple rules for caring for calla lilies, you can successfully grow and propagate this graceful plant for many years, enjoying its flowering.

Callas are beautifully flowering perennial plants; they can be grown as a potted crop or planted in the garden. With the arrival of the first frosts, the question arises: how to store callas in winter? For a productive winter they need a temperature not lower than -2ºС. Not all climate zones have such mild winter weather, so these perennials need to be dug up for the winter to create optimal conditions for them.

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.

Attention, TODAY only!

Callas are a very beautiful and unusual plant that evokes admiration. However, it is usually grown for cutting. At the same time, these beauties grow in most cases in winter gardens or in rooms. But few people know that calla lilies feel great in open ground. Therefore, in order for them to delight you with their beautiful appearance and decorate the yard, provide the plant with proper care.

When purchasing calla lilies, make sure that they are already adapted to our conditions. Thanks to this, you will be sure that you will not have problems with rotting, drying out and spring fall of planting material. As for imported material, it takes several years to adapt it.
When digging up and cleaning its tubers, you should not put in a lot of effort, as this can damage the immature sitting nodules. In winter, these nodules mature and are fenced off from the so-called mother plant by a special partition. It is after this that they can be easily separated. At the same time, if the tubers are damaged during this procedure, lubricate them with brilliant green.
After digging, calla lilies should be stored in a cool, dark room. They will fit perfectly in basins and drawers. But keep in mind that the leaves need to be cut off two weeks after digging, when they wilt a little and the nutrients go to the root.
We should not forget that calla lilies need to be dug up in September. The thing is that light frosts do not damage the root system of the plant.
The optimal temperature for storing tubers is 5-12°C. If the air temperature is higher, the plant will lose its moisture.

We should not forget that if you grow calla lilies in pots, then with the arrival of autumn, watering should be stopped. Thanks to this, the leaves will begin to dry, and you can quickly prepare the plant tubers for rest.

And finally, if you were unable to save the plant, there is no need to be upset. Plant the sprouted plants in special pots with nutritious soil. When they appear, treat them with ferrovite. But keep in mind that the instructions on the package must be followed, otherwise it will harm the plant. The plant should be planted in early May. But it won’t bloom as profusely as you would like.

Callas are delicate, beautiful flowers that will be an excellent decoration for the landscape of your summer cottage. This plant is mostly grown in pots, but they can also be grown in the garden, in open ground. How do calla lilies survive winter? In order for frosts to pass without negative consequences, they need to be dug up, since temperatures below -2 degrees are contraindicated for them.

Popular varieties and hybrids

In order to have at least some idea, the list offers the best varieties of garden calla lilies that feel great in a temperate climate:

Eliott
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- the ancestor of modern colored hybrids that fill specialty stores. The plant blooms profusely, with large bright yellow blankets. The leaves are heart-shaped, dark green with white spots. Reproduction occurs by tubers, which are dug out of the ground in the fall and stored in a cool room until spring. The variety is demanding on lighting and frequent watering.
Remani is a compact tuberous variety that will fit perfectly into the interior of any room or will delight you with a riot of flowers throughout the summer in the garden. The bright pink-red coloration has given rise to many hybrid varieties with purple, lilac, red and other shades of bedspreads.
The Ethiopian calla lily can be found most often. It is used to decorate the window sills of houses, work desks in offices, loggias of apartments and flower beds of suburban areas. The plant is grown for cutting for sale and creating incredibly beautiful bouquets, and is used as decoration at weddings and celebrations. The height of the stem is quite large, up to 1 meter, the leaves grow up to 45 cm in length and 25 cm in width, and have an arrow-shaped shape. The spadix and spathe are also not far behind in size and represent a large white flower with a delicate aroma.

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.

With the onset of autumn, gardeners should take care of their flowers. Today you will learn when to dig up calla lilies and how to properly process and store calla lily tubers. And also some tricks for growing and flowering this beautiful garden flower.

There are 9 species of Callas in nature. The most common and quite widely represented on our market is Calla Tsantedeschia Ethiopian - Z. aethiopica (L.) Spreng. It is presented in a fairly wide range of colors.

Calla lilies are native to tropical Africa. In culture since 1687. Widely known as “calla” or “cantedeshia”.

Calla belongs to the araceae family. The plant has been renamed many times over its long history, alternately receiving the names Calla, Richardia, Zantedeschia. As a result, the plant is called differently - calla lily and zantedeschia.

Callas are divided into two groups. Larger plants, reaching a height of 150 cm and having a mostly white “flower,” are descended from the Ethiopian calla lily (Calla aethiopica).

Another group includes varieties with a colored blanket, descended from the golden-yellow Calla Elliott (C. Elliottiana) and the pink-red Calla Rehmani (C. rehmanii). “Colored” callas do not exceed 50 cm in height.

The “flower” of a calla lily is the covering leaf (veil) in which the yellow “candle” of the inflorescence-cob is wrapped. Real calla flowers are small and inconspicuous, but extremely fragrant. Their aroma is reminiscent of vanilla.

Having bought a package with a Calla tuber, and in our region only tuberous Calla can survive, we can read that it blooms from October to April. But in fact, this is a huge mistake, which often leads to the fact that many gardeners cannot achieve tuber longevity - the tuber dies due to an artificial disruption of the natural cycle of dormancy and growth.

Flower growers are trying to make it bloom at home. The fact is that December, January and February in South Africa are summer, hot and dry. It is during this period that calla lilies go into a dormant state. And it stays there until autumn, when the air temperature does not exceed +20 +22 o C, and it rains. And this is just the beginning of our spring and our whole summer!

Calla, in fact, is a completely unpretentious flower!!! It only requires you to “listen” to its biorhythm and preferences for places of growth!

If you have grown gladioli, you can easily grow calla lilies in your garden: both plants come from South Africa and their life cycles are very similar.

Like gladiolus, calla lilies need a winter dormancy period, but there is one important difference: calla lilies are stored at lower temperatures (+3...+7 °C). In the autumn, when the first frosts down to –2 °C have passed, calla lily tubers are dug up

In the autumn, when the first frosts down to –2 °C have passed, calla lily tubers are dug up.

Do not delay digging, because although frosts are not dangerous for the leaves, the tubers die even at slight negative temperatures.

Dig carefully: calla tubers are juicy and very fragile, young children easily break off from the mother tuber. There is no need to trim leaves and roots right away.

Place the dug plants in a dry, warm (+15...+20 °C) place for two weeks, until the leaves dry completely. During this time, there will be an outflow of nutrients from the leaves into the tuber, it will fully ripen and become covered with a dense shell.

Varieties and types

Street calla lilies may differ from their relatives in the type of root system and bud color. In the first case, the plant is divided into rhizomatous and tuberous. Based on the color of the flower, the division occurs into two groups:

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The first type of plant originated from an Ethiopian species of impressive size (up to 150 cm) with huge leaves with large, white flowers.

The colored type originated from the pink-red variety Remani and the yellow Eliotta, and is distinguished by its compact size (up to 50 cm) and bright colors of the bedspreads.

Each variety and type of plant is good in its own way and requires the attention of the gardener, especially with regard to watering and soil selection when growing in the garden. There are many rules for caring for a flower and how many times a week to water it.

Storing calla lilies after digging them up in the fall - Cottage, garden, vegetable garden, indoor plants

Callas are beautifully flowering perennial plants; they can be grown as a potted crop or planted in the garden.

With the arrival of the first frosts, the question arises: how to store callas in winter? For a productive winter they need a temperature not lower than -2ºС.

Not all climate zones have such mild winter weather, so these perennials need to be dug up for the winter to create optimal conditions for them.

How to dig up callas correctly?

The time for this technological operation is after the first frost, approximately:

early October in the middle zone,
early November - in more southern regions.

There is no need to be afraid that the first small frosts will damage the plant. On the contrary, this will be a signal for him about the end of the vegetative period. The plant will stop using nutrients to produce leaves as it begins to prepare for dormancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9REblwYUm4

Before digging up calla lilies, you need to prepare the plant. To do this, stop watering it if the weather is dry, about 2-3 weeks before the expected harvest for the winter.

This advice is relevant for the southern regions, where a dry climate in the fall is far from uncommon. Before digging, you need to cut the calla lilies leaves above the soil level by about 7-8 cm.

After the first frost, the foliage has already dried, and this operation is easy to carry out with ordinary scissors.

Advice

It is best to dig up calla lilies with a garden fork. This way there is less chance of damaging the delicate parts of the plant.

When digging calla lilies, it is advisable to leave a fairly large distance around their roots. It is better to play it safe and dig a hole of a larger diameter than to treat a plant injured by a shovel or pitchfork.

After digging, you need to carefully remove the soil from its roots, being careful not to damage them. You can wash off the remaining soil with running water under a tap or a garden hose. Try not to let the stream be too strong.

High water pressure can damage the “children” of calla lilies that have not yet separated from the adult plant.

Storing callas for winter storage

So, what do you need to prepare for wintering? First of all – suitable containers. The best option for this would be thick paper bags or cardboard boxes with ventilation holes.

If you store a large collection of various varieties, you need to label them so that in the spring you do not make mistakes in choosing the color scheme when composing a composition of calla lilies.

The best material for this would be thick foil - a material that does not rot or deteriorate.

Advice

The main condition for proper storage is the isolation of root tubers from each other and air circulation between them. In order to isolate the tubers from each other, a substrate is poured into a bag or box between the tubers, which can be used as:

moss;
sawdust;
vermiculite;
shavings.

If a sick specimen ends up in such a storage facility at home, the insulation will reliably protect other tubers from rot.

Advice

Although high humidity is not welcome, wrinkled and overly dried tubers should be sprinkled with water from a spray bottle to prevent them from drying out.

The optimal temperature for storing calla root tubers is 5-7⁰C. Ideal conditions for storing them are a fairly dry room that has good ventilation. If this is a basement, then the harvest should not be stored in it.

During storage, fruits and vegetables release moisture and ethylene gas. These factors provoke the awakening of tubers too early, as well as their rotting.

If it is impossible to allocate a separate room, then you should at least try to equip a separate compartment in the basement with an exhaust or supply ventilation.

It is advisable to have no lighting so as not to provoke the plants to start the growing season too early. The rest period takes two months or more. This is exactly how long the plant needs to fully recover. All this time you need to closely monitor their health, periodically inspecting the tubers.

Overwintering a potted plant

When calla lilies are grown as a houseplant, they also need a period of rest. To do this, the pot with the plant after flowering is moved to a cool and dark place in order to stimulate the end of the growing season. Watering the plant also needs to be reduced. You can dig up the tubers and process them using the above technology, or you can leave them to overwinter directly in a pot or container.

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.

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.

How to store calla lilies in winter at home after digging them up in the fall should be studied in detail by those who are fans of these flowers. In order for the plant to overwinter well, optimal conditions must be created. Experienced gardeners help beginners avoid common mistakes and share secrets on how to preserve tubers until next spring.

Watering and caring for calla lilies

The biggest challenge in growing a tropical resident is creating optimal conditions and further care. If everything is clear with the choice of site and land, problems may arise with maintenance.

In order for the plant to take root well in a new place and acquire buds, it must be watered regularly, but only after the first shoots appear. After planting, the bulb forms roots and does not require abundant watering; it begins after greenery appears. Another unusual requirement is the receptivity of the tubers; watering is carried out around the bush, bypassing the bulb.

In general, planting calla lilies, growing and caring for them in the garden do not pose any special problems, but they require attention. The standard procedure is to loosen the soil and weed out weeds as needed and fertilize.

The first fertilization of the soil is carried out before planting the sprout. In this case, you will need sand, peat and mineral fertilizers (30-40 grams per 1 square meter). This will be enough for the plant to fully grow and flower throughout the entire summer period, until the arrival of cold weather.

To create comfort, the soil is oxidized with a solution of water with citric or acetic acid in a ratio of 1 tablespoon of acid per 10 liters of water. This must be done 2-3 times during the summer.

The main stages of preparing for winter

Experienced gardeners do not have a question about whether they need to dig up callas for the coming winter. The plant is stored exclusively indoors; the necessary conditions are created for this. Tubers must be properly prepared for storage. The timing of this work also differs. You should focus on the onset of the first frost.

In the middle zone they begin in mid-October.
In the southern regions, persistent cold snaps occur in early November.

How to dig calla lilies correctly

Digging of calla bulbs begins with the first drop in temperature to sub-zero levels. They will not damage the plants. The process of ending the growing season will begin. The nutrients of the flower will not be used to maintain leaves or form new ones. Gardeners have several recommendations for properly preparing the plant before digging it up.

Watering must be stopped approximately 2-3 weeks before the tubers are removed.
The leaves need to be trimmed, leaving them at a level of 7-8 cm. After the first frost, this can be easily done with pruning shears or scissors.
It is better to dig up tubers with a pitchfork. This reduces the risk of damage to the part that is underground.
It is better to make the hole around the root system larger. After completing the process, carefully remove the soil from the tubers.

Note!

Tubers must be handled carefully after digging. The root system is easy to damage even with a strong stream of water. It is not always possible to cure a damaged plant.

Drying callas

Planting material needs to be thoroughly dried. The tubers should first be inspected and damaged tissue or parts should be removed. A healthy foundation must remain. To remove individual areas, it is better to use a garden shovel or a teaspoon. After removing the damaged tissue, healthy areas must be treated with a solution of brilliant green and sprinkled with crushed activated carbon. This will eliminate the risk of developing diseases that affect the root system. Dispose of removed areas. They are not used for future fertilizer that will be applied to the garden bed. So, the disease can easily spread throughout the area.

It is better to dry the bulbs in low cardboard boxes or plastic boxes that are used for storing fruit. The bottom of the container should be lined with paper. Drying is carried out:

in a dark and cool place;
subject to free air circulation;
in the absence of sunlight;
The temperature in the room should be 15-20 degrees.

Gardeners prefer to place boxes with tubers of harvested calla lilies in the basement or well-ventilated garage. After a week, you can easily remove all remaining leaves. In another week, the roots will completely separate from the tubers. Young “children” should not be removed from the mother plant. They do not have a separate partition. When dividing, it is easy to injure the plant. This process is carried out in winter, when the “kids” are already mature.

If the mother plant is damaged at the time of separation, the injured area must be treated with brilliant green and sprinkled with coal. On average, drying time for planting material takes from 2 to 3 weeks.

↑ Diseases

When placed in a humid environment, calla lilies can be susceptible to various diseases:

rotting of the rhizome: brownish spots appear at the base of the root and stem;
wet rot: the roots and rhizomes of the stem begin to rot, a white coating appears;
spotting: spots and stripes appear on the leaves.

Pathogenic microorganisms develop at elevated temperatures and high humidity. Therefore, experts recommend sterilizing the nutrient mixture before planting tubers. Air circulation must also be ensured around the plant. The onset of diseases is most often promoted by heavy, impermeable soil and excessive watering.

Zantedeschia diseases also include the appearance of a fungal formation on the leaves and inflorescences due to infection by fungi of the genera Phyllosticta, Coniothecium, Alternaria. The fungus occurs when foliage is over-sprayed at high temperatures.

Callas are sensitive to leaf mosaicism. The disease is caused by mosaic viruses: Zatemchia Mic Mosais and Dashene. Due to viruses, leaves become discolored, necrosis and death of callas occur. Areas on the plant that are very heavily infested should be removed and burned to prevent the spread of pathogens.

If calla lilies are grown at temperatures above 30 ºC, especially when there is little sunlight, the plants “stretch out”. As a result, unnaturally elongated and thin petioles and flower-bearing arrows are formed.

Storing callas during the dormant period in a pot

Callas are an ornamental plant, widely known among gardeners, attracting the eye with large, “solemn” flowers of various colors. If you do not have a summer cottage, you can grow callas in pots. Caring for these flowers at home is easy to master.

Cannes storage

In the basement or cellar

To store in boxes, the leaves should be cut to a height of 20 cm, and then dried under a canopy with access to fresh air.

After this, the wooden boxes are filled with peat mixed in equal proportions with sand and sawdust, the mixture is moistened and dried rhizomes are placed there. Store in a cellar or basement at a humidity of no more than 60% and a temperature from +5 to +8 degrees.

Watering and inspection should be done at least once a month.

At rest

Storing in a pot does not require trimming the stem, and the plant, together with the dug out earthen ball, is placed in a flower pot of suitable size.

You can store the flower on the veranda, loggia, or closed balcony at a temperature not lower than +12 and not higher than +15 degrees. Canna should be watered once every two weeks. Care should be taken to ensure that the soil is not too moist, as this can lead to rotting of the roots.

No pruning required when storing in a pot.

Wintering

Just before the onset of cold weather, callas need to be dug up. After this, they are dried for half a month, and then the leaves and roots are cut off. This is necessary so that the nutrients are in the tubers.

It is recommended to store callas at a temperature of +5 to +10 degrees. For wintering, the tubers can be wrapped in paper or newspapers and placed in a fruit container in a household refrigerator. The Ethiopian variety of calla lilies is characterized by the fact that its leaves do not die off completely, so this particular type, after digging, should be planted in a container with soil. There is no need to remove the remaining foliage.

While watching the video you will learn about growing calla lilies.