How to cultivate colorful calla lilies
Today's sharing: experiences in cultivating colorful calla lilies, how to cultivate colorful calla lilies, please refer to the detailed introduction below.
There is not much difference in cultivation and management between colorful calla lilies and white calla lilies. The suitable growth temperature for both is between 15°C and 25°C. During the flowering period, the daytime temperature should be between 16°C and 19°C, the nighttime temperature for white varieties should not be lower than 13°C, while for colored varieties, it should not be lower than 16°C. If the temperature is higher than 25°C or lower than 5°C, the plant will enter dormancy. It prefers a warm, humid, and sunny environment and is not resistant to cold and drought.
After the colorful calla lilies finish flowering, the amount of watering should be gradually reduced, and when the leaves turn yellow and wither, watering should be completely stopped. During the growing season, apply a thin liquid fertilizer every half month, and increase to once a week after the flower scape emerges, until the end of the flowering period.
For potting colorful calla lilies at home, you can apply multi-nutrient slow-release compound fertilizer granules, or use a mixture of 0.2% urea and 0.1% potassium dihydrogen phosphate. The cultivation soil can be mixed with garden soil, decomposed leaf soil, and peat soil in a ratio of 2:2:1, and then add a small amount of multi-nutrient compound fertilizer granules.
When caring for calla lilies at home, the following three points should be noted: first, the heart leaves should not be wet, as careless watering may cause污水 to drip into the leaf heart, easily leading to soft rot; second, when fertilizing, apply from the edge of the pot, and avoid splashing fertilizer solution into the leaf stalk or into the plant heart, as it may cause yellow leaves or rot; third, calla lilies are afraid of smoke, otherwise it will cause yellowing of the leaves and dropping of flower buds.
The cultivation techniques for potting colorful calla lilies are as follows:
Key points for potting
Pre-treatment: After the bulbs arrive, you can use gibberellin or cinchonidine to increase the number of flowers. Soak in 50-100ppm gibberellin or cinchonidine for 5-10 minutes, then dry in the sun. The treatment with gibberellin has little effect on the length of the flower scape but can make the leaves narrower, affecting the ornamental value; soak in a mixture of 500ppm chlorothalonil and 500ppm metalaxyl for 2 minutes, then dry in the sun. This step is particularly important for the prevention and control of rhizome rot and soft rot; plant with the growth point facing up; cover with about 5 cm of soil; water thoroughly after planting.
Water management
The bulbs require a lot of water. Regular watering is needed in the early growing stage, but do not let the soil get too wet. When the leaves sprout and enter the vigorous growth stage, pay attention to drying and wetting. Generally, water in the morning, and if the weather is too hot, water in the afternoon.
Using drip irrigation can maintain moisture well and is more suitable for windy conditions. If using spray irrigation, the distance of the喷头 must be accurate to ensure even distribution of water. The喷头 must be 1 meter higher than the plant, and the spray irrigation system must have sufficient pressure (at least 4 kg of pressure). The plant's resistance to disease will decrease when there is too much or too little water, especially resistance to soft rot.
Fertilizer management
Colorful calla lilies require a low level of fertilizer, with different types requiring different fertilizer levels. Use a balanced fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 20-20-20 or 12:10:10, applied at a nitrogen concentration of 100ppm once a week or 200ppm twice a week.
Usually, pot-grown colorful calla lilies are 30-50 cm tall. Whether to dwarf the plants depends on the size of the pot and market demand. Pyriminol and paclobutrazol are effective for colorful calla lilies. Dwarfing treatment has a significant control over leaf length but not on the elongation of the flower scape.
Disease and pest control
A detailed pesticide plan must be in place throughout the growing season, mainly using systemic insecticides. The main pests of colorful calla lilies are thrips and aphids, and controlling them is particularly important because aphids can transmit viruses.
Start spraying after the seedlings emerge, every 7-10 days, and after flowering ends, spray every 3 weeks. The following pesticides are suitable for use on colorful calla lilies: diazinon, fenvalerate, flucythrinate, acephate, and dimethoate granules (systemic fungicides). These pesticides start to work in humid conditions, are absorbed from the roots and transported upwards, and can control aphids and thrips. These products are hazardous and should be used with extreme caution. Using a combination of different pesticides or alternating them can prevent pests from developing resistance. Make sure the entire plant is sprayed.
Disease control of bulbs
Colorful calla lilies are easily infected by Phytophthora and Rhizoctonia from the roots, and symptoms only appear on the above-ground parts two weeks after infection, such as yellowing, wilting, and curling of the leaves. In humid conditions, bacterial soft rot can easily occur. After planting, use rootzone and metalaxyl at a concentration of 0.5 grams per liter of water every 2-4 weeks.
Fusarium can be controlled with fludioxonil, but ensure it is harmless to the plant, and do not spray insecticides within a week after spraying. Pathogens can be transmitted through irrigation and water contaminated by ground pollution, so the water source must be strictly checked and treated accordingly if contaminated.
Disease control during flowering
In humid or rainy seasons, it is common to see disease spots on the flower heads. Vulnerable diseases include gray mold and alternaria wilt. Spray protective fungicides (such as chlorothalonil, captan, thiram, mancozeb, and thiabendazole) every 7-10 days to ensure there is a drug residue on the flowers.
When the disease is more severe, spray a therapeutic fungicide (which can withstand light rain and can be used at night when it is cooler). These fungicides include rootzone, iprodione, and prochloraz. However, only 2-3 applications can be made per season, and spray 2-3 days before rainy weather in the wet season. In addition to the flowering period, spraying every 10 days with copper hydroxide can provide good protection (100 grams/100 liters).
Bacterial soft rot is a particularly serious problem in colorful calla lilies. Good bulb management will help control the occurrence of bacterial soft rot, especially during harvest and storage. Plants are easily infected when the soil temperature is higher than 23°C.
During the growing stage, when the plant's resistance is weakened, it is easily infected with soft rot. Many factors can lead to weakened plant resistance, such as initial pathogen infection, over-wetting or over-drying, herbicide damage, high soil salinity, damage from pre-emergence herbicides, high soil temperature, or unsuitable climatic conditions. Once infected with bacterial soft rot, the pathogen is difficult to eradicate. Use a protective "BTAPO" solution and spray copper hydroxide regularly. Studies have shown that weak resistance and bacterial soft rot are the two main problems in the cultivation of colorful calla lilies. Bacterial soft rot occurs easily in high humidity and high temperature conditions, and there are many practical experiences available to prevent these problems:
Use cultivation soil or substrates with good drainage and high oxygen content, as bacterial soft rot is a facultative anaerobic bacterium;
Do not plant too sparse to use the leaves for shading and reduce soil temperature;
Keep the soil slightly acidic and the bulbs high in calcium concentration, use gypsum to increase calcium content without increasing the pH, and avoid damaging the bulbs with people and animals.
After the calla lily plant finishes flowering, gradually reduce the amount of watering, and by the end of April, move it outdoors to a slightly shaded area for maintenance, water once a day, and sprinkle water near the pot to increase air humidity. After June, the leaves gradually turn yellow and enter dormancy. At this time, cut off the withered leaves, control watering, stop fertilizing, and move the pot to a ventilated and cool place to induce dormancy. In the fall when the weather cools down, turn the bulbs out of the pot, remove the large bulbs, and plant them in fresh and fertile potting soil. When the bulbs sprout leaves, gradually increase the amount of watering and resume fertilizing to make them continue to flower.
The above information on how to cultivate colorful calla lilies is provided for your reference and hope it is helpful to you!