Calla flowers - growing and care at home

Callas are a beautiful and elegant flower that organically fits into almost any interior of a house or apartment.

Growing and caring for callas at home

The flower is also called the wing-wing. In the natural environment, it is common in South America and Africa. Ethiopian calla lilies or Zantedeskia are grown in indoor floriculture. The plant got its name in honor of the Italian botanist Giovanni Zantedeschi.

White and colored callas are grown. Exquisite bouquets are made out of her flowers.

Calla room

For calla lilies, growing and caring at home is not particularly difficult. It is necessary to create favorable conditions for the development of a flower: constantly moistened soil and lighting for 10-12 hours. However, he does not like exposure to direct sunlight. Diffused light is best for a plant. Water the flower in spring and summer 1 time per day.

Water poured into the pan after watering is drained. This is necessary to prevent root decay.

If the house is hot enough, then the flower is sprayed with water from a spray bottle. In the case when the room has high temperature and dry air, callas in pots are sprayed 2 times a day. Zantedesci with white flowers like more humid air. For them, the optimum humidity will be 80%, while for color, the figure will be 50%.

Soil Composition and Pot Size

To create favorable conditions for plant growth, it is necessary to choose the composition of the soil mixture. Fertile, slightly acidified soil is best suited. Peat must be present in the soil mixture. In specialized stores, you can buy ready-made substrate for aroid plants.

Zantedeschia aethiopica

For independent soil preparation take 2 parts of turf and 1 part of peat, leaf soil and sand. You can add clay to the substrate.

To eliminate stagnation of water in the flowerpot, a drainage layer is arranged, which can be made of broken brick, river pebbles, expanded clay or foam.

The capacity for growing should not be deep and wide. For the pot, you need to pick up a deep pan in which water is poured when watering.

Optimum temperature

Zantedesci - thermophilic flowers. One of the main points of care at home for a calla flower is a properly selected temperature regime. It is selected depending on the time of year. During the growing season, the temperature is set in the range from + 22 ° С to + 24 ° С.

Fertilizer and fertilizer

In the activities for caring for calla flower during the growing season, plant fertilizer is also included. It is carried out every two weeks. Usually alternate organic and mineral fertilizers.

When nitrogen is added, the flower will build up green mass. However, he will not throw out flower stalks. Only after the buds have appeared on the flower can urea be introduced into fertilizer mixtures.

Calla care during the rest

In late autumn, callas begin a dormant period, which ends in February. Caring for a flower at this time is also necessary. The temperature in winter drops to + 15-18 ° C. During this period, the zantedescias either cease to grow, but retain the leaves, or the leaves completely die off.

Home Calla Disease

Zantedesia can be affected by aphids, scale insects, pseudo-scabs and spider mites.

Damage to the leaf with a false scab and a scab.

If these insects are found on the plant, the leaves and stem are washed with a soap solution. You may need to repeat this operation.

If this method does not help, then the flower is treated with insecticides.

With waterlogging of the soil, a sharp increase in the likelihood of fungal diseases is possible. The most common diseases:

• rot: gray, brown, root and bacterial;
• anthracnose.

When affected by gray rot, leaves and stems are covered with a grayish coating. This disease can be transmitted with contaminated soil and plants. For treatment, the plant is treated with fungicides Rovral and the like.

If the leaves dry, then brown rot may have appeared on the flower.

Bacterial rot is manifested by rotting of leaves and peduncles at the base. Roots, weeping and rotten, brown spots appear on the bulbs. The affected flower must be destroyed. Such a disease is not treated.

A plant affected by bacterial rot

Anthracnose damage can be determined by brown spots that appear on the leaves. These spots increase in size over time and become similar in shape to reddish circles with a bright center, crack and dry. For processing, systemic fungicides are used.

When the root rot is affected, a general wilting of the flower is observed. You can identify the disease by the affected bulb.

If this is caused by waterlogged soil, then watering is stopped, a hydrogel is added to the soil.

Why do calla lilies turn yellow and dry

Yellowing of the leaves occurs in the following cases:

1. For the plant, a dormant period begins. If the leaves turned yellow in late autumn, this means that the flower is preparing for wintering. This is a natural process. It is necessary to lower the temperature or take the plant to a cooler room.
2. If the leaves turn yellow during the growing season, this is possible with a lack of moisture. It is necessary to water the flower. If the earth is moist, then the flower is sprayed with warm, standing water.
3. It can also happen when the soil is very waterlogged. In this case, watering is stopped until the top layer of the earth dries out by 1 cm.

Yellowed Leaves of Zantedesia

4. The room may be hot. If this happened during the heating season, then plants are placed away from heating batteries.
5. Leaves turn yellow in the event of direct sunlight.
6. Cold water, which is used to water the plants, can provoke yellowing of foliage.
7. Nutrient deficiencies can also cause yellowness on the leaves.

Flowering conditions

Zantedescia has only two flowering periods: spring and autumn. If at this time the home calla lily does not throw flower buds, then this can happen for the following reasons:

• a flower pot is often transferred from place to place;
• tubers have grown greatly;
• frequent changes in growing conditions, for example, permanent transplants;
• Calla loses light energy;
• lack of nutrients due to bad soil or insufficient nutrition.

This explains why capricious calla lily does not bloom.

If the callas rhizome has not been divided for a long time (usually divided once every 3 years), this may be the reason for the lack of flowers. To make the plant bloom, you need to get the bulb, carefully separate the children and transplant the uterine tuber and children into different pots.

For proper cultivation of a calla flower, its annual transplant is required. You can use the same pot. It is important to replace the land with more fresh and nutritious. It is not recommended to transplant zantedeskia more often, as this will negatively affect the flowering of the plant.

Calla propagation

A flower can be propagated in several ways:

• by seeds;
• tubers;
• division of the rhizome.

The easiest way is breeding with tubers and dividing the rhizome.

How to grow a flower from seeds

After the flower has bloomed, testes are formed in its place, from which seeds can be obtained. They can also be purchased at the store.

Calla seeds

Plant growing order:

1. Seeds are soaked for 6-8 hours in warm water. You can additionally treat them with a growth stimulator.
2. To accelerate the emergence of seedlings, seeds need to be germinated. To do this, they are placed in a bowl on a damp cloth, covered. The container is placed in a warm place before germination, for about 1 week.
3. Prepare the container. To do this, small flower pots that fill with a mixture of turf, leafy earth, peat and sand, taken in equal parts, are suitable. You can use the finished substrate.
4. Before planting, the ground needs to be moistened.
5. Germinated seeds are placed in pits 3 cm deep. Several seeds are planted in one pot, which will then allow you to choose the strongest seedlings.
6. On top of the pots are covered with polyethylene, which will create the effect of a greenhouse.
7. Until the seedlings emerge, the greenhouses are periodically aired, the soil is kept moist.
8. After the seedling has strengthened (approximately 2 months), picking seedlings is performed. Some gardeners plant hatched seeds immediately in a permanent place. This should not be done, since in this case it is more difficult to arrange proper care for the landings. In addition, picking will allow you to get the best rhizome.
9. Strong and strong young callas should be transplanted into glasses. In one glass plant one plant.

Bulb cultivation

In calla lilies, small bulbs or children are formed around the main bulb, which are used as seed material. The tubers are selected so that they are resilient, smooth and intact.

Zantedescia tubers

Be sure to have at least one kidney on each baby. If the bulbs were injured during the separation of children, then these places are sprinkled with charcoal powder and dried for several hours. Before planting, keep in containers at 6 ° C.

Before planting, you can hold the bulbs for 2 hours in a weak solution of manganese. For germination, wide, spacious pots with soil for aroid plants are prepared. Bulbs need to be planted to a depth equal to its three diameters. The room temperature is maintained at 20 ° C. After a week, the first watering is carried out.

Saplings of Zantedesk

Further care is to maintain moderate soil moisture. A young plant blooms in a year.

Thus, using simple agricultural technology, you can grow beautiful callas in the garden and in the apartment.