Calla is a perennial herbaceous plant with large leaves and elegant flowers of white, yellow, red and other colors from the Aroid family. The calla is found in the natural environment on the African continent, where it can grow up to 2.5 meters, the leaves are dark green, wavy at the edges. The calla flower is unusual, resembling a cob that gently wraps a fragile cover. Indoor calla flowers practically do not smell, but garden calla lilies in warm, sunny weather pour out a delicate aroma.
These flowers convey exclusively positive energy of joy to the owners and help to establish harmony in the room.
WARNING!
All parts of calla lilies are poisonous and when ingested can cause acute vomiting, swelling of the throat and mouth. Keep indoor calla lilies away from children, and we recommend wearing gloves when planting and transplanting this plant.
Types of calla
Zantedeschi, Ethiopian
(Zantedeschia aethiopica) at home, in the vast majority, only Zantedeschia Ethiopian (Zantedeschia aethiopica) is grown. This is a large plant with heart-shaped, gracefully curved leaves and tall (up to 1.5 m) peduncles, the inflorescences are wrapped in white blankets.
Calla Eliot
- low-growing up to 50 cm “colored” calla lilies with golden-yellow inflorescences.
Calla remania
- low-growing up to 50 cm with pink-red and lilac covers, the color of which is monotonous or with transitional shades.
How to care for calla lilies
Caring for indoor calla lilies is not difficult, and does not require the creation of any special conditions.
Brightness of light for calla lilies
The calla plant is shade-tolerant, grows well in bright diffused light and partial shade, but it needs enough light and a small amount of direct evening or morning sunlight to grow.
Watering and air humidity
The calla plant is moisture-loving, especially the Ethiopian calla. In its natural environment, it grows near swamps, where the humidity of the soil and air is very high.
Low-growing callas are less demanding on watering. Indoor calla lilies need to be watered often during the flowering period, and when the top layer of soil dries out during the rest period. It is impossible to overdry the plant, it is harmful for it. The air humidity should be high enough (70-80%), and it should be sprayed often.
Low-growing calla lilies are less picky about humidity: they need humidity of 50 – 60%.
Spraying should be carried out less often and very carefully, or at all replace them with wiping, so that moisture does not run down the leaf shoots and does not cause rotting of the tube.
Air temperature for call
The most favorable air temperature for the normal development of callus is 19-25 degrees C. In winter, the temperature should not be lower than 8 degrees C.
Garden calla lilies need to be dug up before the temperature drops.
When to feed calla lilies
For active growth and long-term flowering, calla should be fed in a timely manner.
Indoor calla need organic and complex mineral fertilizers for flowering plants. Feed, alternating organic and mineral fertilizers, once every 12 days. It is useful to combine root feeding with foliar feeding, but at the same time, you cannot spray the inflorescences, otherwise they will be covered with spots and quickly fade. When calla lilies lack fertilizers, their leaves lose their luster and fall down (with a lack of nitrogen), the pointed ends of the leaves rise up.
What pot to choose to plant calla lilies
For calla lilies, the pot plays a big role. For the Ethiopian calla, the pot should not be small, the calla will not bloom in such a pot. Ethiopian calla likes to grow alone. For one flower, the pot should be at least 20 cm in diameter.
It is better to choose a natural pot so that excess moisture evaporates and the roots of the plant breathe. For low-growing tubers, the capacity of the pot is not so crucial. A pot with a volume of 2.5 – 3 liters will be enough.
Soil for calla
Universal soil for calla lilies is suitable for flowering indoor plants. And you can prepare the soil yourself. Take in equal parts: compost, sheet soil and clean river sand, and add to them 1/4 part of clay, 2 parts of soil and superphosphate (a tablespoon of fertilizer per 3 liters of mixture)
How to transplant calla lilies
When calla lilies end their dormant period, all indoor calla lilies need to be transplanted into a new substrate. This especially applies to the Ethiopian calla, when transplanting, it is necessary to separate the daughter sprouts (which significantly weaken the plant and may cause the absence of flowering) from the mother tuber. If you regularly cut off the young side shoots and periodically replace the top layer (up to 5 cm) of the soil in the pot, then the calla can be left without transplanting for up to 2 years.
When transplanting calla lilies, it is not recommended to deepen the adult rhizomes very much, it is necessary to plant them so that the leaves of the plants do not lie down. Young tubers are planted at a depth that is 3 times greater than their diameter.
Reproduction of calla lilies
Ethiopian calla is propagated by shoots.
When dividing the rhizome, a bud must be present on each separated part.
Cuts are treated with charcoal and shoots are planted in separate pots.
Colored low-growing calla lilies are propagated by seeds and tubers, which are simply separated from the mother plant. If the tubers are difficult to separate, do not touch them. These tubers are not yet ready for independent life.
Diseases and pests
The reason for the appearance of pests and diseases is errors in care.
Insufficient air humidity can lead to calla damage by spider mites. In addition to mites, calla lilies can also be affected by aphids.
Care after flowering
In order to continue the flowering of the calla, the inflorescences are cut when the cover turns green. In this case, the plant does not spend nutrients on the formation of seeds, but new flowers grow.