How to grow calla lilies at home from seeds?

Calla - a flower that came to us from Africa... He will not leave anyone indifferent. These flowers look somewhat unusual and have a certain mystery. Despite the fact that the plant is quite whimsical to care for, many growers are engaged in growing it. From the article you will learn how to care for calla lilies at home, how to plant and grow this flower, how to propagate it and what to do if the flower is sick.

Description and varieties

Calla is a perennial flower of the Aroid family that grows naturally in Africa and South America. Plant is a close relative of calla - the only representative of its kind that grows in the Northern Hemisphere. Many people confuse calla and calla flower, calling them the same. In fact, calla and calla lilies are different plants, although they look very similar.

Calla combines nine species of perennial plants, which in natural conditions can reach quite large sizes. Only three of them are grown at home:

• Ethiopian;
• Elliot;
• Remani.

The flowers of the Ethiopian variety have long, dark green leaves, elongated upward, and large white flowers. This variety is one of the largest calla flowers. The Ethiopian variety also has several subspecies: Green Goddess, Childsiana.

Calla Elliott - is also a rather large plant with heart-shaped speckled leaves and a yellow-orange flower cover. Flowers often reach a height of 15 centimeters.

Also

Calla Remani - the most popular type, suitable for growing at home. The flowers of this variety are smaller, multi-colored. The most common are pink flowers, however, they are also purple, black, red. For example, black calla lilies are rare and highly prized.

Gallery: calla flower (25 photos)

Landing

Callas are loved by many growers also because cultivation can take place both at home and in the open field, for example, in a garden.

Before planting at home, you need to buy a calla bulb or split an existing root. This must be done carefully, breaking off the daughter tubers from the mother. If rhizome separates poorly, you need to break it off. Cutting the root with a knife is not recommended.

Optimal soil composition:

• turf land 2 parts;
• deciduous soil 1 part;
• sand 1 part;
• peat 1 part.

This is the composition of the soil that the plant prefers, however, it will survive in any soil. The flower is quite unpretentious to the ground, but there is one prerequisite: the soil must be drained. Otherwise, the bulb may rot.

The landing site should be sunny and well lit. However, if the climate is hot, then it is better to choose a place in partial shade. Bulb is planted in a hole to a depth of 10 centimeters. If there are several bulbs for planting, then they must be placed at a distance of at least 12 centimeters from each other. So they can grow and they will have enough space.

Water the flower abundantly after planting. If there are severe frosts in your area in winter, it is better to transplant calla lilies from the garden to the pot for the winter. Planting in a pot is carried out in exactly the same way as in open ground. In any case, every year the flower must be dug up, the overgrown roots must be separated and transplanted.

Calla flower care at home

Caring for calla lilies at home is significantly different from caring for other indoor plants. It includes watering, lighting, temperature control, top dressing and timely transplantation. Let's figure out how to care for room calla lilies.

Watering

Proper watering is one of the main requirements for growing calla lilies at home. As for the white calla, it is a fairly moisture-loving flower that naturally grows in swampy areas. During the growth period the plant especially needs abundant watering. The procedure is carried out at the moment when the soil in the pot has dried out to a depth of 1 centimeter. Then the flower is poured with water and allowed to wait 15 minutes. Then the excess moisture is drained.

Colored calla lilies do not require as much water. Here, water stagnation in the sump should not be allowed, and the ground should be watered when the soil dries out to a depth of 2-3 centimeters.

Besides watering, the plant loves spraying. Ideally, flowers should be sprayed twice a day. But not such frequent procedures will be enough. You can wipe the leaves with a damp clean cloth, put moss or wet expanded clay in the pallet. In a word, create all the conditions for the air next to the calla lily to be moist.

The described irrigation schemes are necessary only during the period of plant growth and flowering. With the onset of a dormant period, watering should be cut back, and then completely stopped for a while. It is impossible to abruptly stop watering. The dormant period usually falls between October and February. At this time and need to be guided.

Lighting

Light is another of the most important conditions for caring for a flower. Calla indoor loves good bright lighting. But direct sunlight should be avoided. The flower requires a lot of light in the winter, when it is so lacking. Due to lack of lighting colored varieties can lose their color, fade. The culture may stop blooming and only the stems will grow. That is why you need to take care of good lighting for the flower in winter in advance.

Temperature

White calla lilies feel good at a temperature of + 18-19 degrees during the growing season. After flowering is complete, the temperature can be lowered to + 10-12 degrees. This must be done gradually, since a sharp temperature drop can lead to no flowering at all. This is followed by a rest period, which should last at least two months.

Colored calla lilies have slightly different temperature requirements. The optimum temperature for them is 20-24 degrees. After flowering, the tubers of the flower are kept at a temperature of 25-27 degrees for ripening. Calla lilies need to be stored in a special way in winter.... So how to store calla lilies in winter? After ripening, the tubers without leaves are placed in a container with sawdust for the winter and kept at a temperature of 3-5 degrees.

Top dressing

For the flower to develop properly, it needs nutrients. Some growers in the summer plant calla lilies in open ground, for example, in a garden, so that they are saturated with natural nutrients contained in the soil. But if the flower is kept in a pot all the time, it simply has nowhere to take food. Fertilizer is needed here. Calla lilies are fertilized with urea and nitrogen, alternating them every 10-14 days.

During the growing season with nitrogenous fertilizers, you need to be careful. If you overdo it, the leaves can stretch out a lot, which will negatively affect flowering. During the appearance of peduncles, the plant is fed with urea, and at the beginning of flowering - with an infusion of eggshell.

Transfer

A calla plant transplant is necessary at the end of the dormant period. Thus, the flower needs to be replanted every year. However, if you regularly pinch the shoots and change the top layer of soil in a flower pot, you can not transplant it for two years.

Pot diameter choose by the size of the rhizome. The pot should be at least 15 centimeters in diameter, shallow. A drainage (5 cm) is placed at the bottom, then the substrate. Any substrate suitable for indoor flowers can be used. After the transplant, you need to gradually raise the temperature. After two or three weeks, you can start active watering and feeding.

Reproduction

Calla can be propagated by dividing the tubers and seeds. Let's consider both options in more detail.

Reproduction by dividing tubers

The calla rhizome is a bulb. Over time, from year to year, it grows, as a result of which several accrete bulbs appear. Every year, the plant is dug out of the ground, the roots are divided and some parts are thrown away. Instead, the divided bulbs can be planted in pots. When choosing a bulb to plant, make sure it has at least one bud.

Seed propagation

Calla seeds are propagated very rarely and breeders are mainly engaged in this. Before planting, they soak the seeds in potassium humate for six hours. Then, the seeds are spread on a damp towel, covered with another damp towel on top and placed in a warm place for about a week. During this period, care must be taken to ensure that the towels do not dry out.

After a week, the seeds should germinate. Sprouted seeds planted in trays with soil and put back in a warm, bright place until shoots appear. Seeds that have not emerged can be thrown away and the seedlings transplanted into pots.

Calla lilies

Not a single living creature is immune from illness, which means that calla lilies can get sick. Her diseases are usually caused by fungi and bacteria. So, the plant is susceptible to the following ailments:

• Gray mold is a fungal disease that can spread to all parts of the flower. It manifests itself in the form of a gray coating. The plant can become infected with gray rot due to soil, humid air, wind. A sick flower is treated with Viratox, after which the room is ventilated.
• Root rot manifests itself as a slow decay of the plant. To detect this disease, the flower will have to be dug up, then rot can be seen on the roots. To recover, treat calla lilies with fugnicides, replace the soil and limit watering, since it is waterlogging of the soil that causes the disease.
• Anthracnose is a disease that manifests itself as gray spots on the leaves. You can get rid of it with the help of a fugnicide. Infected leaves must be removed as they appear.

Callas are plants that are not easy to care for. but if you follow all the recommendations and rules of care and growing a flower, then it will delight you with its flowering from year to year.

Attention, only TODAY!

Calla is an exquisite and incredibly beautiful flower. Most often it can be seen in a sophisticated and romantic house. This flower is a representative of the aroid family, which came to us from distant South Africa.

The main feature of calla lilies is its unpretentious attitude to the place of its growth. She feels equally well in the wild and at home.

Flowers of death

It is very common to hear that calla lilies are the flowers of death. The sources of this opinion are unknown. According to one of the versions of its origin, calla lilies are very often brought to funerals in some countries. Therefore, they began to be called the flowers of death.

But in real life, they have nothing to do with death. In many states, these flowers are a symbol of love. They are often used in the preparation of wedding bouquets in European countries.

Varieties of calla lilies

In the modern world, there are more than a hundred varieties of calla lilies, which differ from each other in the color of the buds and their shape. All these flowers have been divided into two types by professional florists: terrestrial and wetland.

The care that calla lilies require at home (photos of the plant are posted in this article) is not particularly difficult. It must be planted in a wide, small container. In order for it to grow well, it is necessary to build drainage in the pot, provide the plant with regular watering and timely fertilization.

Breeding features

Reproduction of calla lilies at home can be done in three ways:

• tuberous;
• shoots;
• seeds.

The first method of how to grow calla lilies at home and propagate them involves separating minor tubers from the mother's root. This planting material can be seen in almost every flower shop. Daughter nodules are small (5-15 millimeters), so they should be grown before planting. To do this, they must be buried in the nutrient soil.

To carry out reproduction with the help of shoots, it is required to separate them from the main stem and root them in the nutrient soil. And only after that they are transplanted into a pot filled with fertile and drained soil.

Seed propagation

The most troublesome is the propagation of calla lilies from seeds at home. This is due to the low level of their germination. Therefore, sprouts very rarely appear even in experienced professionals.

Before propagating calla lilies at home by planting seeds in the soil, they must be kept for about six hours in a growth stimulant solution. After that, they are placed on a damp cloth in a warm place for about seven days. After this period, the seeds should sprout. Only then can they be planted in the ground.

Open soil is not the best option for growing calla flowers at home, as they most often die in it. To prevent decay of planting material, watering should be reduced to a minimum. The best way to replenish calla seeds with moisture is through a small hole at the bottom of the pot.

Air temperature and humidity

When growing calla lilies at home, you need to pay attention to some of the characteristic features of this process. This flower is a light-loving plant, so it is necessary to provide the place of its growth with good lighting both in summer and in winter. In addition, in the spring, it is necessary to gradually accustom the plant to the fact that the length of daylight hours increases.

These flowers are lovers of warmth. Therefore, they develop very poorly in cold conditions. The temperature regime in the room where they grow should be in the range of 18-23 degrees Celsius. Airing the room must be done very carefully, excluding the formation of drafts.

The air in the room must be humid. To do this, you can plant plants in pots with pallets, which will eventually function as water tanks. As the moisture evaporates, it will saturate the air while simultaneously increasing the humidity in the room.

How to transplant calla lilies at home?

The first transplant should be done only after the seedlings have hardened. A tall and wide pot is suitable for this. Sand drainage is placed at its bottom and filled with nutrient soil. After that, holes must be made in the soil, into which sprouts with roots are laid.

During this operation, it is advisable to process seedling roots with a growth biostimulator. But this must be done very carefully in order to avoid harming the immature flower sprouts. After transplanting, the plant is carefully watered with distilled water.

If the calla was purchased in a store, it should be immediately transplanted into a larger pot at home.The most optimal for this flower is a slightly acidic soil. You can do it yourself using deciduous soil, peat, and a small amount of sand. Mature plants are best replanted in late autumn, in November.

Watering and spraying

Calla has fairly wide leaves that require regular maintenance. Dust must be especially carefully removed from them with a damp, soft piece of cloth. In addition, they need to be sprayed regularly.

An important condition for good growth and development of calla lilies at home is watering. It was already mentioned above that these flowers love moisture. Therefore, watering them should be carried out regularly and often. If the soil in their pot dries up, a variety of diseases can develop, which often lead to the death of the plant. Particular attention should be paid to watering during the hot summer months.

It is especially important to keep the soil moisture in the container at the correct level during the growing season of the plant. After the flowers have ripened, watering can be reduced. They should be carried out only after the topsoil has dried.

Top dressing and fertilization

Many people are interested in how to make calla lilies bloom at home. When growing these flowers, one should not forget about periodic feeding. In order for these plants to please you with their flowering year-round, you need to significantly increase the amount of dressings. But too much will not do him any good. For example, nitrogen in large quantities can provoke the appearance of blackening along the edges of the leaves.

The best time to feed calla lilies at home is January - March. In order to ensure full flowering, fertilization should be carried out once every 5-7 days.

For these plants, those types of fertilizers are suitable that stimulate growth and flowering. These include superphosphate and potassium nitrate. In the assortment of flower shops there is a large number of special dressings containing the optimal amount of trace elements and nutrients.

Also, calla lilies must be fed with organic fertilizers at least once a year.

Houseplant diseases

The main pathogens of domestic calla lilies are fungi and bacteria. However, you will never come across them if you know how to care for calla lilies at home. The best way to fight disease is prevention.

It is necessary to very carefully monitor the condition of the soil in the pot, excluding its drying out or waterlogging. You also need to protect the flower from direct sunlight and drafts.

The key to a successful fight against emerging ailments is knowledge of their features and symptoms. The most common diseases of this indoor flower include:

• anthracnose, accompanied by the appearance of brown spots on the leaves. Over time, they crack and dry out;
• gray rot that forms on all parts of the plant due to improper care, high humidity or soil;
• bacterial rot, which is very difficult to treat and quite often requires immediate destruction of the infected flower to prevent spread to other plants;
• root rot, which contributes to the gradual wilting of the plant and appears as a result of abundant watering and waterlogging of the soil;
• lack of flowering as a result of frequent rearrangements or transplants of calla lilies, poor lighting or insufficient fertilization, and so on.

How to care for calla lilies at home is not a very difficult process. But do not forget that the varieties of these plants require different care. For example, white calla lilies at home require more moisture. But at the same time, they do not stop growing during dormancy or lack of flowering.

Calla lilies "mix" at home are unpretentious to humidity and soil.But at the same time, good lighting is required for their good development. In addition, during the dormant period, such a flower sheds its foliage. Therefore, you should not panic - the plant is just sleeping. And with the onset of summer, its leaves will grow back again.

I completely forgot that I collected the seeds of the "Picasso" calla, I must say that this is my first time when the calla gave seeds, so I could not resist seeing the formed

the testes, did not remove them. In the fall, I dug up the tuber along with the leaves and testes, dried and separated them. The seeds turned out to be some kind of green, maybe not ripe. Then I peeled the green shell and got a round, rather strong seed, so as not to suffer with each seed soaked them in warm water and easily cleaned the swollen shell. Now the question is how to grow calla from these seeds?

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Peonies
Tulips Irises

Few of us know the second name of the beautiful calla flowers - Zantedeschia. The homeland of Zantedeskia is the South African continent. The perennial flower was named by the second name from the botanist from Germany Kurt Sprengel. Kurt named the plant in honor of his friend and colleague from Italy - Giovanni Zantedeschi.

Calla attracts with its large leaves, twisting into extraordinary color inflorescences. An unpretentious plant is perfect for growing both in a summer cottage and in ordinary pots on the windowsill.

According to popular beliefs, these flowers contribute to happiness and a strong family.

Planting calla flowers

One of the features of growing wonderful plants is their shallow planting. All roots should be lightly covered with earth. This will minimize the appearance of rhizome rot.

If you have planted Zantedeschi and cannot wait for the shoots, be patient, the plant must first form a rhizome system. Only after that will it begin to grow intensively.

When digging up tubers, be careful - they are quite fragile and tender.

Calla lilies are considered a living barometer - before the rain, water droplets will appear on the leaves.

To grow Zantedeschi in a pot, use a porous container in which moisture can evaporate without any problems.

Calla flower has its own period of life - about one month.

The top layer of soil in the pot must be periodically replaced with fresh substrate with nutrients.

What are the varieties and types of calla lilies

There are only 8 types of calla lilies. The most common for cultivation are only three types: Ethiopian (in the photo the calla lilies of this variety are always white), Reman (short) and Eliott (up to 50 cm in height).

Varieties not common for cultivation include the following types:

• white-spotted;
• fragrant;
• powerful;
• joyful.

They grow mainly in the wild.

Growing plants at home

Calla lilies on the site are quite common. They look elegant, look like a painting from a distance. On an open plot of land, flowers grow well. Periodically, they require a little shading - in sunny areas they have much fewer peduncles. Plants up to one and a half meters high. Bloom almost all summer.

The following composition is considered the optimal soil for calla lilies: soil with turf (2 parts), leafy soil (1 part), some sand and peat (one part each).

Before planting the tubers of an already appeared sprout, do not forget about cleaning and disinfecting the rhizome. This can be done in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Occasionally calla lilies can be propagated using seeds.

The most common planting option for calla lilies is tubers. Be sure to make sure they are tight and resilient. If you have chosen the right tubers, calla will be able to delight you with arrows-peduncles this year.

For planting in pots, you will need a pot, soil, and firm tubers with a small tubercle.Starting from April, you can plant the bulbs in the ground and increase the room temperature to + 22C. Watering is necessary no earlier than a week after planting.

It is necessary to plant plants in open ground no earlier than May. Disinfected tubers must be immersed in holes (their depth should not be more than 10 centimeters) and buried and watered.

The peculiarities of the plant include the waywardness of the calla - until the underground part is formed, the calla will not rise.

Before freezing calla lilies must be sent to the so-called "rest". To do this, you need to remove the ground side of the flower, dig up the rhizomes, do not forget to leave a couple of leaves on the handle and send it for storage.

After a few weeks, the leaves on the rhizome will dry out on their own and will need to be removed. It is necessary to dig calla lilies from open ground annually.

How to care for a plant at home

In summer, the ideal temperature for growing calla lilies is + 22-25C. In winter - from 14C. Choose a well-lit area, but avoid direct sunlight on the plant. Make sure that the plant is not in a draft.

In a pot, the soil should be of medium acidity. For forcing, choose a tuber with a diameter of 6 centimeters or more. It is necessary to plant with the convex side down at a depth of no more than 5 centimeters. After the tuber is planted, pour the fungicide solution over the soil.

Seed for propagation

Breeders use mainly seeds for propagation of calla lilies. If you want to feel like a breeder, be sure to pre-soak the seeds in a potassium humate solution for about six hours. Potassium humate is a natural plant biostimulant.

After that, the seeds are laid out on a tray specially covered with a damp cloth. Cover them with an extra napkin. Move to a warm place for a week. Be sure to keep the wipes damp.

Seeds that have sprouted can be sown in the ground and kept indoors until the first shoots appear. After that, the plants are ready for planting in open ground.

Unfortunately, most of the seedlings of these beautiful plants die when transplanted into the open ground due to non-compliance with this point - the seedlings are moved too early into the ground.

Photo calla lilies