How to store callas in winter? Five tips on how to store calla lilies at home in winter How to store calla tubers in winter.

Beautiful calla flowers are attractive with easy breeding, which even a novice grower can do. But everyone is concerned about one question - is it necessary to dig up callas for the winter? The answer will be strictly yes, since this flower will not endure severe frosts. But if you properly dig and save the bulbs, then he will please with a riot of colors next year.

When to dig up callas in the fall?

A clue when to dig up callas in the fall will be the yellowed leaves of the flower. This means that their biological cycle has come to an end. In order not to miss the moment, the period is marked on the calendar when it is allowed to dig bulbs. The time comes at the end of September, as soon as the threat of frost appears.

How to store callas in winter at home?

The dug up flowers are left for 10 days to dry. The plant retains every leaf and every root.
At the end of the term, the tubers are cleaned from the ground. Then dry leaves and roots are removed. If at least one root remains, then the flower will begin to grow again.
Prepared plants are left to dry for another 2 weeks. In this case, the temperature should be about 25 degrees.
After all the preparatory moments have been completed, they move on to the question of placing calla lilies for storage. To do this, stock up on paper bags or newspapers, in which the plants are placed. Where exactly the blanks will be located depends on the possibilities. It should be noted that callas should not be kept in rooms with high humidity. Many are interested in whether it is necessary to store callas in the refrigerator. This is one of the possible places. They can be kept in the vegetable drawer at 5 to 7°C. If there is a basement, then use it. Other possible places are a loggia and an apartment.

Thus, it is very important to comply with all necessary requirements regarding when to dig up callas and how to store them, since the next year's crop depends on this.

Needs digging in the cold season. Many novice flower growers who have grown a handsome man in their own flowerbed are thinking about how to store callas in winter. What are general rules, allowing to save the tubers of this plant and what mistakes can beginners make?

The main stages of preparation for wintering

In order for the tubers to be well preserved throughout the cold weather, they must be carefully and correctly dug up. There are a few simple steps to grow amazing flowers in the new season without any hassle. To learn how to store calla tubers, you need to follow these steps:

How do tubers winter?

It is very important to check each spine for damage and rot. Answering the question of how to store calla lilies in winter, experienced gardeners focus on the integrity of the tubers. If black spots appear, they must be scraped off with a special tool or an ordinary teaspoon. After that, the tuber is left for 2-3 hours so that the damage sites dry slightly. Then each "scratch" must be treated with brilliant green or crumbled activated carbon. They do the same when it is necessary to break the maternal root and separate the children. After the procedure, the tubers are wrapped in paper napkins and stored in this form in cardboard boxes. Sometimes you need to check planting material, whether a new infection or rot has started on it. But with proper processing, such "complications" should not arise.

The box is placed in a dry and fairly cool place, the container must have a loose lid. When deciding how to store callas in the winter, do not forget when to take them out in the spring. Fortunately, this way of keeping tubers allows the plant and viable long time until it's time to land on the site.

Common rookie mistakes

It is very important to follow small tricks so as not to damage the flower and not spoil your flower bed in the new season with small, weak plants. Knowing perfectly well how to store calla lilies correctly in winter, many gardeners make a number of mistakes that often lead to serious consequences. Firstly, you do not need to press hard on the shovel when removing the tubers - they are very tender and break easily. If there are unseparated children on the root, you just need to wait until they fence themselves off with a thin scale, and only then tear them off from the mother bulb. Secondly, all roots from the tuber must be cut, as indicated above in the article. Otherwise, the plant will germinate during wintering. Thirdly, the temperature in the storage should always be between +3 o C and +7 o C, and the humidity should be minimal. By following these rules, you can hope for healthy, beautiful callas in the new season.

When making a flower bed for a country or personal plot Increasingly, unusual tropical plants, trees, shrubs and all sorts of decorative elements. Such popular plants include delicate and romantic callas, planting and care in the open field, which will not bring special trouble, but will delight with thick, long flowering.

For those who wish to grow a garden calla, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic rules for planting and caring for a plant.

Description and features of the flower

Calla (Zantedeschia) comes from the tropical part South America and Africa, it is close to a sultry, humid climate, but it easily adapts to life in areas with drier and cooler air. The closest relative is the marsh calla, which grows in swamps and coastal areas. Having created suitable conditions, the plant can be grown in the garden or decorate flower beds, in addition, the flower is in demand for decorating window sills and wedding bouquets.

The flower got its name from Carl Linnaeus, and it looks quite original: on a thick stem there is an ear, covered with a white (or other, color depends on the variety) veil with a sharp tip looking up. The leaves are basal, long, oval, 20-30 cm in height, and 11-15 cm in width, they look like an arrowhead. The color of the leaves depends on the variety and species, but most often they are dark green or green with cream patches. unusual flower exudes a pleasant and delicate aroma of vanilla.

The root system is of two types: tubers and rhizomes. The height of the plant can vary from 30 to 150 cm. The flower propagates by seeds and tubers or by dividing the root.

Varieties and types

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

White type.
Color type.

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 color type originated from the rose-red variety Remani and yellow Eliotta, it 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 a grower, especially when it comes to watering and selecting soil when growing in a garden. There are many rules for caring for a flower and how many times a week to water it.

Popular varieties and hybrids

To have some idea suggested in the list the best varieties garden callas that thrive in temperate climates:

Planting garden callas

To grow a beautiful calla, you need to purchase its tubers or a potted plant in flower shop and plant in the garden. Experts, sales assistants or informative videos on the Internet can tell you how to care for calla lilies. But before buying planting material, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for choosing high-quality rhizomes.

Selection of planting material

Before buying, you should consult with a specialist, get acquainted with the features of the species you like, find out in what conditions the plant grows and how to properly care for it. If a particular climate, soil composition or irrigation regime is not suitable for a variety, then it will not bloom or disappear altogether, so it is very important to select a plant for growing conditions.

In the temperate zone, varieties such as Ethiosky and Rehmanni take root well, it is best if these are tubers from a local nursery adapted to temperature regime. Bulbs brought from the tropics will take root for a long time and painfully.

When choosing planting material, you should pay attention to such factors:

Tubers must be healthy, free of defects, fungus and mold.
Shriveled and sluggish bulbs are not suitable.
Each bulb should have a kidney, be juicy, smooth and large in size.
Material that has a non-uniform shade and damage should be left aside.

If the tubers are in sealed packaging, mandatory requirement sawdust is considered.

Selection of land

For lush flowering and healthy plant growth, you should choose sunny areas protected from wind and drafts. If there is no open sun, then partial shade will do, but the “yield” will change slightly for the worse. We must not forget about natural conditions growth is the tropics, which means it must be warm, sunny and humid.

Soil cover and transplant time

Growing callas in the garden requires fertile soil with minimal acidity. If the earth is dominated a large number of clay, then before planting it is necessary to make equal parts of peat and sand, and then dig the site. Organics should be less, nitrogen negatively affects the bud during the flowering period.

The optimal period when you can transplant a plant is May, there will no longer be a threat spring frosts at which young shoots can freeze slightly.

Planting tubers in open ground

When the air temperature does not fall below zero, you can plant the bulbs. To do this, dig holes 5-10 cm deep, place the planting material and sprinkle with earth. Each hole is placed at a distance of 30-40 cm, because in the summer there will be an abundance of foliage. Compaction of the surface of the bed is not recommended, it will complicate the germination of young shoots.

Bulb sprouting before planting

If the spring is long and cold, you can germinate the tubers in a pot, and after the weather normalizes, plant them on the site. When growing a plant in a house, you can wait for the first flowering and transplant it to a new place with leaves and inflorescences. To achieve this, the tubers are planted at the end of March, sprinkled with ordinary soil for seedlings or other indoor plants, and put on the windowsill for germination. Watering the seedling is carried out regularly in small doses.

Transplant young plant possible after preliminary hardening, which is carried out a week before planting in open ground. It is desirable to plant in a flower bed by the method of transshipment, without injuring the root system.

Watering and caring for callas

The biggest trick to raising a tropical dweller is creating optimal conditions and further care. If everything is clear with the choice of a site and land, problems may arise with the care.

In order for the plant to take root well in a new place and acquire an ovary of 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 starts after the greens appear. Another unusual requirement is the susceptibility of tubers, watering is carried out around the bush, bypassing the bulb.

In general, planting calla lilies, growing and caring in the garden do not pose any particular problems, but require attention. The standard procedure is loosening the soil and weeding from weeds as needed and top dressing.

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 sq. meter). This will be enough for the full growth and flowering of the plant throughout the entire summer period until cold weather arrives.

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

Digging and storing tubers in winter

Many novice gardeners are interested in how to store callas in the winter at home in order to maintain their viability. Tropikanka is very sensitive to frost, so with the onset of autumn, it is necessary to prepare the roots for wintering outside the ground.

Depending on the characteristics of the climate, bulbs begin to be dug from September-October. The procedure is carried out very carefully, trying not to damage the roots, removing the tubers, they are freed from the earthen clod and washed with water.

For two weeks, the rhizome is stored together with the stem and greenery in a cool room, where the air temperature ranges from +5 to +10 degrees. After the foliage is completely dry, you can cut it off, and put the tubers in a box with sawdust or in separate paper envelopes. In this form, they can lie all winter. The best room for such purposes would be a basement, balcony or cellar.

Potential Growing Problems

The plant is considered fairly resistant to pests and diseases, but other problems may arise. One of them is the lack of flowering, this is due to an incorrectly chosen planting site or an excess of fertilizers. If there is a lot of nitrogen in the soil, then the number of buds may decrease, and the foliage will begin to fatten and bush, which is why calla lilies do not bloom.

A snow-white beauty can become a victim of gray rot or aphids. All this is easily solved with the help of improvised means, for example, a soapy solution will help against aphids.

At proper cultivation and creating optimal conditions, calla lilies can bloom for a very long time and stand in the form of a bouquet.

Gallery: varieties of Calla flower

Most tubers and bulbous plants needs to be dug up in the cold season. Many novice flower growers who have grown a handsome man in their own flowerbed are thinking about how to store callas in winter. What are the general rules for saving the tubers of this plant and what mistakes can beginners make?

At the very end of September, immediately after the plant wilts, tubers are removed from the soil. During this procedure, you will need to leave the aerial part of the plant intact.

Then comes the drying period - for two weeks, the calla tubers, along with the stems, are placed in cardboard boxes and left in a dry room.

As soon as the leaves are easily separated from the dried stem, drying can be stopped. The tubers are freed from the aerial part and kept in a cardboard box for another week.

How to store callas further? Very simple - after seven days, the roots should be easily separated from the tubers. After cleaning and checking each planting copy, it will be possible to stack callas for storage.

How do tubers winter?

It is very important to check each spine for damage and rot. Answering the question of how to store calla lilies in winter, experienced gardeners focus on the integrity of the tubers. If black spots appear, they must be scraped off with a special tool or an ordinary teaspoon. After that, the tuber is left for 2-3 hours so that the damage sites dry slightly. Then each “scratch” must be treated with brilliant green or crushed activated carbon. They do the same when it is necessary to break the maternal root and separate the children. After the procedure, the tubers are wrapped in paper napkins and stored in this form in cardboard boxes. Sometimes you need to check the planting material for a new infection or rot. But with proper processing, such "complications" should not arise.

The box is placed in a dry and fairly cool place, the container must have a loose lid. When deciding how to store callas in the winter, do not forget when to take them out in the spring. Fortunately, this way of keeping the tubers allows the plant to be healthy and viable for a long time, until the time comes for planting on the site.

Common rookie mistakes

It is very important to follow small tricks so as not to damage the flower and not spoil your flower bed in the new season with small, weak plants. Knowing perfectly well how to store callas correctly in winter, many gardeners make a number of mistakes that often lead to serious consequences. Firstly, you do not need to press hard on the shovel when removing the tubers - they are very tender and break easily. If there are unseparated children on the root, you just need to wait until they fence themselves off with a thin scale, and only then tear them off from the mother bulb. Secondly, all roots from the tuber must be cut, as indicated above in the article. Otherwise, the plant will germinate during wintering. Thirdly, the temperature in the storage should always be between +3oC and +7oC, and the humidity should be minimal. By following these rules, you can hope for healthy, beautiful callas in the new season.

Try removing your calla bulbs from the soil to overwinter them indoors. If you live in a colder climate but are growing in a garden, consider removing your calla lilies' rhizomes or bulbs over the winter to give them a better chance of survival. For this:

Wait after the first frost. Cut the withered foliage back three inches (about 7.5 cm) above ground level.

Dig up your bulb. Carefully dig out the calla rhizome. Be sure to dig a much wider hole than you think you need. This will help you avoid damaging the bulb with a shovel.

Remove the soil from the bulb. Gently knock off as much soil as possible from healthy bulbs without damaging the roots. Rinse the bulbs in cool running water(for example, water from garden hose) to remove the rest of the soil.

Check your rhizomes carefully for rotting or any signs of disease. Do not keep rhizomes that are diseased or damaged. Throw them away with the trash.

Avoid composting diseased plant material as this can spread the infection to other plants.

Put the rhizomes on a tray and let them dry for a few days. They should be well spaced out to allow air to circulate between them. Lay in a dark, cool place such as a garden shed or garage. It's best to avoid having them in a heated home, as the heat can be a shock, which can lead to mold on your bulbs.

60 to 70 degrees F (about 15.5 to 21 degrees Celsius) is the ideal temperature for storing the rhizome. Try not to let them be exposed to sunlight.

Put the roots in paper bags. After they have dried for a few days, place the rhizomes in paper bags with a little dry peat moss or vermiculite. Having moss or vermiculite in the bag will help prevent one bulb from infecting another if it develops mold.

You can also use cardboard box if you do some ventilation holes to allow air circulation. Don't let the bulbs touch each other and put moss or vermiculite between them.

Try to keep your roots dry. Moisture and rot are a big threat to overwintering rhizomes, so try to keep them dry where possible and store them in a dark, dry place. However, they should not dry completely. If the bulbs seem dry or shriveled, spray with water from a spray bottle to prevent them from drying out too much.

Give your rootstock time to recover before repotting it. Callas need to rest for a few months before they grow back. Try planting them in mid or late spring, once the danger of frost has passed and the ground is warmer.

Your callas are more at risk of rotting due to winter rain than frost, so avoid planting if the ground is waterlogged, even if the weather is mild.

Consider planting calla lilies in a pot. You can plant your calla outdoors in a container and move it indoors during the winter. When planting, use a decent quality compost and make sure the container has good drainage holes. Plant the rhizomes with the "eyes" up so that they are barely visible above the soil.

After the calla lilies bloom, stop watering your container of grown callas and move the pot to a cool, dark place after the foliage has died down. A dark corner in the garden shed will do. Don't water your plant again for three months and avoid cutting the foliage until it has withered.