How to maintain calla lily?
First, the habits of calla lily
If you want to raise calla lily well, you must first understand its basic habits, and then raise it. Only by knowing its preferences and taboos can we know what kind of growth environment and maintenance methods to provide it. Habits of calla lily: calla lily is native to southern Africa, and likes warm, humid and sunny environment, and is afraid of cold and extreme high temperature, and does not like drought. The optimum growth temperature is 15 ~ 25℃. When the temperature is lower than 10℃ or higher than 25℃, the stems and leaves of calla lily wither and the bulbs hibernate. Calla lily likes water, so it is necessary to keep the soil moist in the growing season and spray water in the dry season. Water should be controlled after tubers enter dormancy at high temperature in summer. The soil requires fertile sandy loam with good water retention and slightly acidic soil.
Second, the cultivation of calla lily
① Planting time:
Because calla lily will wither in summer and hibernate in winter, it is necessary to avoid these two seasons and plant calla lily in spring or autumn. Spring is in March-April and autumn is in August-September. The timing must be chosen, neither too early nor too late. It's too early to germinate, and it's too late to plant flowers.
② Selection of seed ball:
The shape of calla lily seed ball is very similar to the calla lily that we often use to make food. When we choose the seeds, we should choose the ones that are firm and firm, moderately soft and hard to the touch, shiny in appearance, free from mildew and many buds. The diameter of the seed ball is preferably 3~5 cm (because it will take three years for the seedlings of calla lily to bloom, and if the seed ball is too small, it may not bloom that year).
Calla lily bulb
③ Cultivation soil:
Calla lily likes slightly fertile, soft and weakly acidic sandy loam. Mix pine needle humus soil, vegetable garden soil and river sand according to the ratio of 6:4: 1, and then mix the whole soil of1/5 ~110 as base fertilizer. After preparing the soil, choose a deep flowerpot and fill it with half of the soil, then put the seed ball in the middle of the flowerpot with the bud tip facing up, and then cover it with about 10 cm of soil. Remember: the bulbs of calla lily should be buried deep. Unlike Zhu Dinghong, which is also a bulbous plant, Zhu Dinghong needs dew 1/3, but calla lily doesn't. It should be protected from light. Just bury the bulbs in 10 cm soil, but be careful not to compact the soil to avoid germination.
Calla lily has sprouted.
④ Germination management:
After the calla lily is planted, spray the soil with a watering can and put the flowerpot in a place that avoids direct sunlight but has plenty of light. Before the calla lily germinates, it is necessary to decide whether to spray the soil again according to the wet and dry conditions of the basin soil. If the soil dries quickly, it should be replenished immediately after the surface layer is completely dried, so as to prevent the bud tip from wilting due to over-drying of the soil. A week or so, when the buds of calla lily are unearthed at 1 cm and appear green, immediately move the flowerpot to a sunny place to prevent it from growing white. When the seedlings grow to about 7 cm, you can grab a handful of slow-release fertilizer and sprinkle it on the soil surface.
The bamboo shoots of calla lily began to spread their leaves.
⑤ Mid-seedling maintenance:
When the bamboo shoots of calla lily begin to grow leaves one by one, they will immediately enter the rapid growth period. At this time, on the one hand, we must ensure sufficient sunshine, on the other hand, we can also give some water and fertilizer management appropriately to ensure its nutritional supply. When calla lily grows leaves, nitrogen and potassium should be applied. Nitrogen can promote the broad and green leaves, and potassium can promote the stout branches and petioles.
⑥ Maintenance of budding:
After the leaves of calla lily grow for about a month, the flower stems will be pulled out from the center of the base. If there are round bags such as flower buds and flower bone buds, it is time for calla lily to get pregnant, and the fertilization should be changed to phosphorus-based flower-promoting fertilizer. If we continue to apply nitrogen fertilizer, it is possible that the buds will not open and only the long leaves will not bloom. Common fertilizers for promoting flowers are potassium dihydrogen phosphate and Huaduoduo No.2.. So you can choose one of them.
Calla lily should also have enough light during pregnancy, so it must not be moved to the shade, otherwise there will be few buds. Adequate light is the most important condition for calla lily to grow healthily and reproduce more buds. Other fertilization and watering are based on adequate light. Without good lighting, everything else can be avoided. Sufficient light can make the fertilizer reach the highest utilization rate, otherwise, it is useless to apply more fertilizer because of insufficient light, and the plants are still weak with few or no buds.
⑦ Flowering management:
The buds of calla lily don't come out all at once, but are slowly pulled out one by one, so the flowers that come out first wither first, and the other buds are pulled out again. Therefore, if it is found that a flower has passed its full bloom stage and entered its withering stage, it is necessary to prune the withered residual flower immediately to ensure that the nutrition is reserved for the bud that has not yet opened.
Therefore, it needs to be added, including fertilization management in bud pregnancy and flowering period. In order to ensure that the continuously extracted flower buds have sufficient nutrition supply, you can water the pot soil with potassium dihydrogen phosphate once every half a month or so, but don't fertilize the flowers for nutritional appreciation.
8 pest control:
Because the stem juice of calla lily is poisonous, few insects bite its leaves and stems, and there are few pests. However, calla lily often suffers from bacterial invasion, which is soft rot. There are many reasons for the soft rot of calla lily stems. The most common reason is that entering the rainy season is particularly prone to soft rot. Therefore, the main reasons for the soft rot of calla lily are that the soil moisture and air are too humid, the plants are thin and the disease resistance is low.
Methods to prevent soft rot of calla lily: soak the seeds in carbendazim solution (or streptomycin 200 times solution or benzene Shuang Ling, thiram and copper hydroxide solution) for several minutes before planting to remove the germs carried on the surface of the seeds; 2. Water less in rainy season, and there is no need to spray water on the leaves when the air is wet; 3. The cultivated soil does not accumulate water; 4. The maintenance environment should be ventilated; 5. Don't apply nitrogen fertilizer alone, and trace elements such as potassium fertilizer are also very important. It is best to apply compound fertilizer to make the stems strong and not easy to rot; 6. The seed ball should be buried deep, but not too deep, about 10 cm, and the upper soil should not be too solid.
When calla lily suffers from soft rot, it is difficult to find it at the initial stage. Once the disease is found to be basically fixed, it is too late to save it. When a diseased plant is found, it should be pulled out in time and kept away from it to prevent it from infecting healthy plants. If only a small part of calla lily bulb is soft rot, the rotten part can be cut off with a sharp knife, dried, soaked in 1% peracetic acid solution for 15 minutes and then planted separately.
Pet-name ruby plant after withering maintenance:
After the calla lily has been raised for several months, when the temperature gradually rises into midsummer or drops into severe winter, the stems and leaves of the above-ground parts of calla lily will gradually wither and fall off, leaving only the seeds in the soil to sleep. At this time, fertilization should be stopped, water should be controlled, branches and leaves should wither naturally, watering should be stopped after local withering completely, soil should be loosened after the soil is dried thoroughly, and seed balls should be taken out of the soil. Put the seed balls in a cool and ventilated place, air them for a few days, wrap them in newspapers or paper towels, put them in a dry and cool place at home, or store them in a refrigerator at 6~7 degrees Celsius. Wait a month or two until the temperature is right again, and then take it out for planting.
The bulbs of calla lily keep growing, and new balls keep growing around them. Its old light bulb has its life. When the old bulb epidermis is found to be aging and there is no bud, it can be eliminated. Put the ball around and plant it next time when the temperature is right.
Other matters related to calla lily.
① About lighting
Calla lily is a plant that likes sunshine, but too strong sunshine in summer will burn the leaves of Calla lily. Therefore, except in hot summer, when the temperature is higher than 35 degrees continuously, calla lily should be shaded by 50%, and calla lily can be placed in a sunny place in other seasons.
If the calla lily is raised indoors, it needs to be raised on a sunny windowsill or balcony in order to avoid keeping the environment cool, which will lead to yellow leaves and thin plants.
② About temperature
Calla lily likes warmth, but is afraid of cold and heat. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a cool environment for calla lilies in hot days, and to move to a warm place for maintenance in cold days. When the temperature is extremely high or extremely low, calla lily will automatically enter the dormant state. What we have to do is to stop fertilization, control water and maintain seeds.
③ About humidity
Calla lily likes humidity, and about 30% air humidity will make its leaves look moist and shiny. The requirement of humidity for calla lily flowering will be higher, reaching more than 50%. Therefore, in addition to returning to Nantian, at other times, you can take a watering can filled with clear water and spray water on the leaves of calla lily. Especially when the air is dry, especially in autumn, spray water on the leaves of calla lily several times a day.
④ About ventilation
The maintenance environment of calla lily should be well ventilated, otherwise calla lily who likes humidity will easily get stem and leaf rot.
⑤ calla lily is poisonous.
Like the dripping Guanyin of Araceae, the milky juice that flows out after the branches are broken is poisonous. Its toxicity is stored in tubers, spathes and spicules, and it contains a lot of herbal calcium crystals and alkaloids. Eating by mistake can cause poisoning symptoms such as drowsiness, and chewing a small tuber can cause swelling and pain in the tongue and throat. Fruit juice comes into contact with the skin, especially people with sensitive physique, and the contaminated parts will be red, swollen and itchy.
Therefore, in the process of pruning branches, leaves and residual flowers of calla lily, or in the process of planting bulbs, it is best to wear leather gloves to prevent its juice from getting on the skin. Children at home should also pay attention to avoid children playing with calla lily plants.
⑥ Large-caliber flowerpot planting
Calla lily has many colors. If I have difficulty in choosing and don't know which color to choose, I might as well buy all of them, and then choose a large-caliber flowerpot and plant all the balls in it, so that the colorful calla lilies will be beautiful. A long flowerpot can plant three I-shaped seed balls, and a wide-caliber flowerpot can plant three pin-shaped seed balls.
⑦ Breeding model
There are three main breeding methods of calla lily: first, seed sowing, second, plant division, and third, ball division is the most important breeding method.
Sowing and reproduction: Many flower lovers are so obsessed with seed sowing that they may get new colors and varieties after sowing because of genetic uncertainty. Calla lovers generally use this method to breed. Because after the seeds of calla lily are sown, the plants have to grow for at least three years to reach the standard of flowering, so the average flower lover will not spend that long to cultivate a pot of calla lily. Propagation by plants: There are many buds on a calla lily bulb, and each bud will grow an independent plant, which will blossom and bear fruit. You can cut its bulbs with a clean knife, separate the plants and plant them separately. This operation requires high aseptic operation environment and mode, otherwise the bulbs of calla lily will rot easily. Therefore, flower lovers have little choice in this way of reproduction. Sub-ball propagation: this is the most common propagation method, which is simple and easy to operate. The seed balls of calla lily sprout around them every season. This ball can become an independent seed ball after it leaves the mother ball. Moreover, as time goes on, the old ball ages and the flowering ability of long branches weakens, so it must be replaced by small balls. Concluding remarks
Generally speaking, the maintenance of calla lily is not too difficult, but it likes to be warm all year round. If you want to plant calla lilies in the south, friends in the south can choose, and friends in the north should plant them honestly.