How to store calla lilies in the winter at home

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Callas are beautiful flowers that perfectly decorate the garden. But the plant does not tolerate the cold period well. Therefore, it is important to know how to store calla lilies during the winter.

Features of calla lilies

These plants of the Aroid family are characterized by simple agricultural techniques and long flowering. It is necessary to choose for them a sunny, open place with fertile land. Calla lilies naturally grow on the shores of stagnant water bodies, so they need good watering in the garden. The tubers are planted to a depth of 5-10 cm.

You should not wait for flowers to sprout before roots are formed. Often this process takes a long time. Calla lilies cannot hibernate in the weather conditions of Russia, therefore they must be dug up in the fall and ensured proper storage until spring.

Storage Preparation Tips

It is required to carefully dig them up. Simple rules on how to store calla lilies at home in winter will help you grow beautiful flowers next season without much difficulty:

1. In the last days of September, after the plant wilts, the tubers must be removed from the ground. Part of the plant above the soil must be preserved.
2. After digging, drying begins - for 2 weeks, tubers with trunks are placed in cardboard boxes. Transfer them to a ventilated and dry room.
3. After the leaves have detached from the stem, drying can be finished.
4. The upper part is removed from the tubers. Then they are transferred to the box for 7-8 days.

After the petioles are separated from the tubers, the planting material is removed for storage.

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Winter storage

You can store calla lilies in the winter at home in an apartment, but first you need to check all the roots. They should be free of damage, rot.

Florists are advised to pay attention to the integrity of the planting material. If black spots appear, they are removed using a special tool. Then the tubers are left for 3 hours to dry the damaged areas.

Then the places of damage are treated with crushed activated carbon or brilliant green. This ensures disinfection. The procedure is also performed when the maternal root is broken to separate the "children".

After work, the tubers are placed on napkins, transferred to cardboard boxes. Inspection of the planting material for integrity is periodically required. It is important to watch out for rot. But with proper processing, it does not form.

Place the box in a cool, dry place. The container is closed with a lid. You need to take them out in the spring. This way of storing calla lilies in the winter at home ensures the viability of the plant for a long time.

A suitable storage space, where the temperature is maintained, is considered a guarantee of good flowering in summer.

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Basement storage

You can store the plants in the basement or cellar, this is a fairly easy way:

1. To preserve the planting material placed in boxes or bags, a temperature of + 5 … 10 degrees is needed.
2. An increase in temperature should not be allowed, otherwise it leads to sprouting of tubers.
3. Peace lasts until the end of March. Then the tubers are taken out, placed in pots.

To store calla lilies in the cellar in winter, the room must be dry. Very high humidity can damage the plant.

In fridge

If you need to save some planting material, a refrigerator is used. The tubers must be wrapped in paper or newspaper. Then place it in a compartment for vegetables, where the temperature is 5-7 degrees. No additional procedures are needed. In this form, the planting material is perfectly preserved until spring.

On the loggia or in the apartment

Storage on a balcony or loggia is another effective method. It is ideal for anyone who grows calla lilies in pots at home. If this method is chosen, then it is worth considering the following:

• in the fall, watering is reduced over time;
• when the leaves die off, the containers are sent to the loggia or balcony, where they remain until spring.

This procedure allows you to keep the plants viable. If the balcony is not glazed, then the plants can be left in the apartment for the winter. The storage procedure is simple: boxes with calla lilies are left in a cool place, for example, near the balcony door.

Temperatures from +20 degrees can be suitable for wintering calla lilies, but you need to make sure that in spring the tubers do not dry out and do not begin to wrinkle. Because of this, they will bloom weakly in the summer.

The main mistakes of novice florists

Many beginners make mistakes that have negative consequences. It is important to adhere to a few rules:

1. Do not put too much pressure on the shovel while digging out the tubers from the soil - they are delicate, so they can break.
2. If there are undivided babies at the root, it takes time until they themselves can separate with the help of thin scales. Only then can they be pinched off the onion.
3. All roots from the tuber must be cut off, otherwise the calla lilies will germinate in winter.
4. It is necessary to adhere to temperature indicators. The storage should be + 3 … + 7 degrees, and the humidity should be low.

Calla tubers must be dug up for the winter, otherwise you should not wait for flowering in the spring. Compliance with simple rules will help you get beautiful flowers that will definitely decorate the site.

Outcomes

1. Calla lilies do not survive outdoors, so they need to be dug up.
2. Before storage, the planting material must be prepared.
3. You can choose any of the ways to store the plant: in the basement, apartment, refrigerator or on the loggia.
4. It is important to provide suitable conditions.
5. Compliance with the recommendations of experienced florists will help to get excellent flowering of plants in the spring and summer.