Caladium Bulb Blog

Planting Caladium bulbs: From Rooting to Watering to Storing

Green Finger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:45:08 +0000

Caladiums are spectacular plants that can adorn any shaded garden or dark indoors. Colorful and vibrant, they are gorgeous plants which attract the eye with their heart-shaped or lance-shaped leaves and tissue-paper like texture. Growing caladiums are easy, but planting them can be a bit difficult. Once well planted, the caladium tuber grows almost on its own when given the adequate water, moisture and fertilizer.

Rooting Caladium bulbs: Caladiums are originally plants of the Amazon basin. They are tropical plants which survive only in warm and moist conditions. Rooting happens only if the soil is warm and moist, not if it is wet or excessively moist. When you buy Caladium bulbs from nurseries or plant centers, you need to first let the tubers take root and then, grow them in the proper way. Rooting is slow unless the soil is warm. Experienced gardeners use soil heating cables in a glass covered box to get quick results.

The tubers are irregularly shaped and need to be activated from their dormant states. To get the tubers started, you need to plant them topside down in damp moss or coarse leaf mold. The tubers are placed upside down because roots come from the top of the crown and only such a placement would make the tubers active very quickly. Once you have placed the tubers, check from time to time to see how rooting is happening inside the soil. Remove the tubers once the roots are an inch long. Be careful while removing as you can hurt the new roots. Now, plant the tubers in a rich soil with good humus. Keep the soil warm and moist to help the tuber germinate further.

Watering Caladium bulbs: Watering is an important phase in the growth of Caladium bulbs. Caladiums grow only when provided with adequate water. However, you need to check if the soil is not wet or soggy. Do not place your garden sprinkler nearby your caladiums. Also, supply your caladiums with liquid fertilizer high in nitrogen once a month. Once the bulbs break ground, watering them will be easier as you need to water only if the leaves droop or show signs of thirst.

Storing Caladium bulbs: Caladium bulbs bloom from frost to frost. They cannot survive winters and hence need to be removed and stored in warm temperatures for re-plantation the next Spring. When you remove the bulbs, use a trowel to dig along the sides of the plant and then, use your gloved-hand to reach the base of the bulb and remove it carefully. Remove any dry leaves on the bulb and place in warm temperature above 50 degrees. For better results, you can keep in some dry material like peat moss.

Red Caladiums: Add bright accents to your flower beds, borders, gardens

Green Finger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:41:38 +0000

Red Caladiums are such a striking variety of Caladiums that furnish any garden or shade with the brightest and most remarkable of hues. They come in combined colors of greens, pinks, whites and sparkling reds with tones that vary from light shades to dark shades. These tropical foliage caladiums are popular for their ability to add texture to any border, container or flower bed in your garden.

How to plant Red Caladiums: Caladiums grow well in soil that is not wet or soggy but well-drained and moist. Plant your reds only when you are sure that the night temperature of your region is above 60, because your reds will not survive in a temperature below 60. You can use single-hued reds or combine various caladiums to try different colors. Whatever be your choice, gauge the leaf size and height of your plant before you choose a place for it in your garden.

There are several popular red caladiums around. A few of them are:

Brandywine Red Caladium: Burgundy-red caladium. Dark-red centers. Large leaves. Medium sun tolerance. Short in height. Ideal for placement in borders or in front of taller plants. These burgundy-reds are certainly an adornment to any border.

Freida Hemple Red Caladium: Medium-sized, this caladium comes with a crimson background with deep green color on the edges. Since it has only medium growth, it works well with borders or containers in shade.

Postman Joyner Red Caladium: Tall. Stately. Black stems. Scarlet veins. This red caladium is a sheer beauty in any garden. It grows 2 feet tall and works well with any area of your yard. Sun-tolerant, it has a narrow green border in the leaves.

Fire Chief Red Caladium: Medium in height, this caladium has large red leaves with green edging. Though a bit sun-tolerant, the foliage should not be exposed to full sun and is better to be placed in shade.

Red Flash Caladium: Ideal for growing indoors during the Christmas season. The stunning red background of the caladium is set against white and fuchsia spots and green borders. An amazing piece of beauty, this caladium has heart shaped leaves that grows up 20 inches tall.

Fannie Munson Red Caladium: Tall and less sun-tolerant, this caladium prefers shaded or partially shaded area. It comes with large red leaves set against green colors.

Florida Cardinal Red Caladium: Dark green edges with dark green center, this Florida caladium is 12 to 18 inches in size.

Need for careful handling of Caladiums: Caladium bulbs are poisonous and can cause skin irritations when handled alone. Wash your hands after handling caladiums and for the best reasons, do wear gloves while handing the bulbs. Ingestion should be avoided at any cost, especially with regard to children and pets in the household.

Planting and Storing Caladium Bulbs

Green Finger — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:08:10 +0000

You can plant in sun or shade in a well drained location. Partial shade is best. Bulbs should be covered with one or two inches of soil. Water frequently to keep soil moist, but never soggy. Soil MUST be WARM and MOIST for them to germinate rapidly. A light application of any good garden fertilizer two or three times during the growing season is sufficient.

If storage is attempted for the Winter months, bulbs should be dug before cold weather and spread in flats in a location with good ventilation and temperature of 70º to 80º. Remember, warmth and moisture are Caladiums’ best friend.

How to grow Caladium bulbs indoors: From choice of plant, soil, fertilizer to re-pot time

Green Finger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:09:04 +0000

Caladiums are plants that offer great beauty and excitement to any setting, outdoors or indoors. Tropical plants with a South American origin, Caladiums thrive only if they are grown in a simulated tropical setting. Plants of dark shades, borders and flower beds, caladiums brighten up any indoors. Growing caladiums indoors is not as difficult as growing it outdoors, yet there are a few hiccups you may face along the way.

Versatility of Caladiums: Caladiums are versatile when it comes to colors. Their large, arrow-shaped or lance-shaped leaves allure the eye while their brilliant colors lit up any dark corner. There are various kinds of cultivars around – Fanny Munson, Pink Beauty, White Queen, Red Flash, Candidum etc. and much more. You need to choose the caladium variety which fits your growing zone. If it is indoors, choose depending on where you are going to keep your caladium containers. See to it that the color, tone and setting of the room complements the caladium’s beautiful leaves.

Caladium Flowers: Caladiums are less known for their flowers. They are popular only for their leaves. Caladium flowers – greenish white in color – are generally plucked off as they are said to drain the energy of the tuber. The leaves, however, are nourished and grow from 12 to 24 inches long.

Planting Time: Ideal caladium planting time is spring or early summer. You can either buy fully grown caladium plants or yet to be cultivated tubers. Buying tubers saves money. When you opt to buy tubers, go for firm, large tubers that look healthy.

Planting Tubers: Plant the tubers you have bought in an 8-inch pot and cover them with one inch of potting soil. Plant three tubers in a pot and then water them. See to it that the pot’s soil is not soggy or wet. Just keep it moist.

Sunlight, Water, Humidity: Strictly, no direct sunlight. Bright filtered sunlight is ideal. Keep the pot in shade to avoid drying up of tubers. Water in such a way that the soil inside the pot is moist enough for tubers to take root. Keep the humidity high as these are tropical plants. Make sure the tubers do not stand in water.

Temperature: Ideal temperature for caladiums is a room temperature of 65-75 degrees F. However, if you plan to plant the tubers outdoors, you should check if the night temperatures are higher than 60 degrees.

Fertilizer: Fertilize once a month. An all-purpose soluble houseplant fertilizer like 10-10-10 will do. If you want to retain certain colors in certain caladium varieties, you need to fertilize them less. So, check with an expert before fertilizing your caladium plant.

Repot: When propagation happens and tubers divide into tubercles, you need to repot your caladiums to a container. If you had planted the tuber upside down to facilitate growth, when you repot it, you need to plant it right way up.

Other nuances: Remove flowers on tubers as they will drain the energy of the caladiums. Remove dead leaves that emerge during dormancy period of tubers. Steer clear of aphids and spider mites.

Removal of caladiums during Fall: Caladiums survive only from winter to winter. After 6 to 8 months of summer, you can remove the caladium bulbs and store them in dry materials like peat moss or vermiculite if you intend to re-plant them the following Spring. While storing in such a way, keep the room temperature above 50 F as too much of cold can rot the tubers.

Caladium De-eying and Propagation Techniques

Green Finger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:06:39 +0000

Caladiums bought from the growers come with large tubers and hence, bloom with large number of leaves. Since tubers from growers are shipped fresh, they have large number of visible growing points or eyes. But some tubers lack in visible growing points and may have only one dominant ‘eye’. In such cases, we can increase the number of leaves grown on a caladium by a process called de-eying.

De-eying a Caladium tuber: De-eying is a process wherein you scoop out the dominant eye or main growing point of a tuber to allow other auxiliary or dormant eyes to grow into mature leaves. It works like this: Every tuber has its primary growing point or eye which exerts apical dominance over other surrounding buds, suppressing them from growing into leaves. This is because there is a high concentration of auxin, a superior plant hormone in the terminal bud. This hormone suppresses the growth of other buds, favoring only the terminal bud to shoot out. When you de-eye the terminal bud, you pluck it out of the tuber and thereby, stop its dominance of other buds. Owing to this, the plant’s hormonal climate shifts in favor of another strongly concentrated hormone called cytokines. Cytokines favors the growth of all buds. Result: There will be more leaves in the tuber than expected.

Why de-eying? As doubted by many, de-eying will never damage a caladium tuber. It only pushes forward the growth of leaves. It propels dormant buds to come out of their dormancy, and allows the plant to have large number of leaves. When the main growing point is damaged or de-eyed, several auxiliary buds are prompted to grow to make the plant survive. Since only leaves make the plant survive through photosynthesis, tubers shoot out as many leaves as possible. These leaves were initially the plant’s back up mechanism to counter damages to the terminal point. Now, with the main growing point destroyed, these leaves have to shoot out to keep the plant living.

How to choose tubers for de-eying: You need not de-eye all tubers. Most of the tubers bought from growers are large in size and have more than one growing point. If a tuber has more than one growing eye, it can be called a composite tuber and allowed to grow on its own, without any de-eying process. You can choose small tubers for de-eying. To mimic the effect of large tubers, you can plant two or three small tubers in a single pot. If you buy tubers from stores, they maybe dehydrated and the eyes in them may not be visible. So, it is better to let them grow a little and then, find out the dominant growing point and remove it.

How to de-eye tubers: De-eying is easier said than done. You need to be very careful while de-eying tubers. When you scoop out the main growing point, you should see to it that you do not affect other auxiliary buds in the process. Scooping out the dominant eye should NEVER harm other eyes in anyway. This is how you have to scoop out the dominant eye: First, identify the dominant eye. Then, take a knife and dig into the tuber for say ¼ inches and then, scoop the eye out. If you want to experiment further, you can grow the tuber indoors to force the main growing point out and then, de-eye the growing point.

Propagation of Caladiums: You can propagate caladiums by simply pulling or cutting the tubers apart, dividing them. However, make sure to leave a few eyes on each division so that there are a large number of leaves all over the plant.

5 things you should be careful about while growing a Caladium

Green Finger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:03:56 +0000

Caladiums are great houseplants and garden shade plants. They add décor to any garden area, thanks to their bright foliage and large leaves. When grouped together, they look like they are in full bloom though only their leaves dominate the show. Though growing caladiums can be a hands-down job for experienced gardeners, it is not so for novices. This is why is it important to be careful about certain things when you are cultivating these plants.

Below are five things you need to be careful about while growing caladiums:

Known for their large, paper-thin leaves, caladiums offer a bold splash of color to any garden or backyard. Unlike any other garden plant, caladiums go dormant in winter and then, sprout again in spring.

1. Light: Caladium is a tropical plant and hence needs ample sunlight. But that does not mean it should be left to bask in direct sunlight. Doing such a thing will dry out your caladium and rot it. The leaves are very delicate and may burn if exposed to unfiltered sunlight. Ideal light for the plant would be bright, filtered sunlight. If kept indoors, the caladium container should be kept in a well-lit room or in front of a window with a light curtain.

2. Humidity: Caladiums are tropical plants that grow only in humid climates. Keep the bulbs in a temperature that is between 70 to 85 degrees F. If you are keeping the bulbs indoors, keep a humidifier handy to support and nurture them. Keep your caladium container in a draft free area, away from air conditioners, open windows etc. If you need to keep them, put a light curtain on the window.

3. Soil: Soil should be moist and well-drained. It should never be overly wet or soggy. A soggy soil would rot the bulbs and push them towards death. Make sure you plant your bulbs only when the soil is warm at nights. Say, only when the night temperature is above 60 degrees F. Anything less (even with escalating daytime temperatures) can turn the bulb yellow and gradually rot it. If you are not comfortable with the outdoor temperatures, try planting the caladiums indoors for a while. Repot them or plant them in soil outdoors after the last frost. Keep the soil sufficiently nourished with water. Make sure your soil has not dried up outside. Check with your hands the soil’s warmth and then water the plant if necessary.

4. Fertilizers & Pests: Caladiums do not need fertilizers several times every month. Instead, you can use small portions of fertilizers all through summer. Your fertilizer should be high in nitrogen content and should be fed to the plant every 2 weeks. Better if you use a 6-6-6 fertilizer every 6 weeks. Insects can be a great problem if caladiums are not properly cared for. Use insect repellents in case of any insect attacks.

5. Dormancy: Winter is a period of dormancy for caladiums. The leaves fall and dry in the Fall and the plant is dormant throughout winter. If you want to make your caladiums annual plants, let them die in the winter frost. Instead, if you want them to be perennials (that is what they are), remove the bulbs from the soil, clean them and store them in a warm, dry place for the whole of winter. You can take them out the following spring and re-plant them in the soil. Use materials that are dry – peat moss or vermiculite do well. Also, store the bulbs in a warm place above 60 degrees F in temperature.

A to Z of Caladiums: Plant profile, bloom time, maintenance

Green Finger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:00:07 +0000

Caladiums are tropical plants that are grown for their bright and colorful foliage. Although plants of the Amazon basin, they grow fast as houseplants and fit well into summer beds, borders, shade and humid places.

Caladium – Plant Information: Caladiums are one of the most common plants grown all over the world. As they are of the tropical kind, they survive only in dry and humid conditions, and die during winter.

Botanical Name: Caladium X Hortulanum/Caladium bicolor

Common Name: Caladiums, Elephant Ears, Angel wings etc

Plant Category: Perennial bulbs that grow in tropical climates, especially in zones 9 – 11. They do not survive winters beyond zone 7.

Size: 18-24” H, width varies with cultivars and age of the bulb. Dwarf varieties of cultivars are sized between 8 – 12”

Bloom Period, Color, Shape: Caladiums are grown from frost to frost. They are grown specially for their foliage which come in different colors – green, white, salmon, pink, red and almost every possible combination. The leaves can be arrow-shaped, lance-shaped or even triangular.

Growth Habit: Caladiums are available from only one feet height. They grow up to three and a half feet and can spread for about 2 feet. As mentioned earlier, caladiums grow from frost to frost, with summer being the prime bloom time.

Maintenance: If you want to treat them as perennials, then you need to dig out the bulbs and store them in warm temperatures for winter. Else, the bulbs will rot and the plant will die as annuals. Caladium bulbs can rot if the weather is too cold or if the soil is too soggy or wet. They need moist conditions and well-draining soil to grow properly.

Problems: Caladiums do not grow properly if the conditions are not adequate. Gardeners should aim for the ideal conditions. Fertilizer can be applied once a month for keeping away spider mates and other pests.

Caladium – Design Tips: Caladiums are spectacular plants for decorating indoors, gardens and flower beds. With their vibrant and lively colors, they add excitement to any place they occupy. They work well when placed in shade gardens, dark corners or in places where they can enhance already existing plant varieties. They grow well in containers. They go well with ferns and other textured plants like spiky-leaved plants, ornamental plants, tall grasses, irises, fuchsias and impatiens.

Caladium – Varieties: Caladiums come in various types. There are white caladiums, red caladiums, green ones, pinks that come in combination of red, green, cream and white shades. Some popular white caladiums are Garden White, June Bride, White Queen, Aaron Caladium, White Christmas, Candidum etc. A few popular red caladiums are Brandywine Red, Freida Hemple, Postman Joyner, Fire Chief, Fannie Munson, Florida Cardinal, Red Flash etc.

3 potential problems in Caladium cultivation and how to overcome them

Green Finger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:56:40 +0000

Caladiums sport some potential problems to gardeners. Some of them are soil-related while a few others are weather and pests related. Whatever be the problems, caladiums can be grown successfully if adhered to a proper planting, watering and storing process (during winter). A few of the potential, cankerous problems in caladium cultivation are:

1. Tuber Rotting: Caladium tubers rot if they are not kept in proper soil or weather conditions. They may decay during storage or during the growing season, after plantation. Several micro organisms cause this tuber rotting. While bacteria cause a soft, slimy rotting of tubers, fungi cause dry and chalky rotting of the same. Reducing tuber rots can be difficult, but such a situation can be prevented in advance – during the choice of tubers. Choose tubers that are large, disease-free and perfect in health. Do not choose anything that looks deficient and lacking. Store tubers properly to avoid high humidity and cool temperatures. If you bought your tubers in early spring, plant them indoors, in room temperatures before you reach the ideal climate for planting them outdoors.

2. Spots in leaves: Leaves are the assets of any caladium. Caladiums are grown primarily for their rich foliage and the vibrant hues they lend to shade gardens or indoors. If you are not careful, your caladium’s leaves can develop spots and look frail and worn out. A fungus named anthracnose can cause lower leaves to develop light tan to brown spots. These brown spots can develop all over the plant’s leaves and make them look ugly and unkempt. Since this leaf spotting is not a severe disease in caladiums, there are no chemical repellents for it. All you can do is detect early and pluck the affected leaves from the plant. Better if you check the plant thoroughly every once in a while for such diseases.

3. Leaf Burning: This occurs when your caladium is exposed to direct sunlight. Earlier varieties of caladiums were completely sun intolerant. But the new cultivars are different. They have resistance to sun at least for a maximum of two hours. However, the more under sunlight, the more the caladium grows into a plant with large green leaves. Only humidity, shade and partial sunlight can give a caladium the kind of colors for which it is loved. Other than these, there can be burning of older leaf margins and scorching of leaves. This maybe due to foliar application of fertilizers, lack of water or too much dryness. If your caladium has thin leaves it can be highly prone to such problems due to lack of phosphorous or potassium. Older leaves can suffer due to lack of water.

4 simple, do-it-yourself ways to nurture Caladium bulbs

Green Finger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:54:56 +0000

Caladiums are a special treat to any garden or summer flower bed. As tropical foliage plants, they accentuate your growing zone’s beauty with a riot of colors. They grow well in shaded areas, containers, hanging baskets, borders, flower beds and even indoors.

Caladiums invigorate any landscape with their bright hues of red, pink, green and white. They also enhance the look of other plants when planted in the right places. Caladiums can be grown by anyone in any climate during summer. Ideal time for planting caladium bulbs is late Spring. However, caladiums cannot stand winters and hence need to be removed during Fall if you plan to re-plant the same bulbs the next season. Basically, the bloom time of caladiums is between frost to frost, but they peak in summer.

Caladiums are simple to grow and can be handled even by inexperienced or novice gardeners. Below are some 4 simple, do it yourself ways to plant, grow and take care of your Caladium bulbs.

1. Choose bulbs with care. Choice of bulbs is the first step. You need to choose your Caladium bulbs with care, depending on your weather conditions, desire for colorful leaves and also depending on where you plan to plant your bulbs. Take into account the supposed height, the sun tolerance and color of leaves of the caladium bulbs before you pick one. You can buy the bulbs in early Spring and plant them in late Spring or at the start of summer. You can even try planting them in indoor containers before you take to planting in the soil. Buying a bulb is easy – you can get it in your local nursery or order from an online store.

2. Check soil’s warmth. Soil should be warm enough for planting caladiums. Noel Durrant, owner of Caladium World says, “The most important factor when planting caladiums is temperature. Ideally the night temperature should be 68 degrees or warmer on a consistent basis before planting caladiums.” She opines that caladiums will rot if they are planted when nights are cool in spite of high day time temperatures. As the soil should be moist and not wet, choosing the right season to plant your caladiums is important.

3. Water your caladiums at the right time. Of course, caladiums should be kept moist all the time, but that does not mean they should be kept wet and soggy. Check how cool your nights are and how is the moisture of the soil during night time. Excessive wetness can lead to rotting of caladium bulbs or can slow down the process of germination. However, when the plant breaks open the ground, you will know when to water it – water it only when its leaves droop. Do check the amount sunlight the plant receives and water accordingly.

4. Start indoors if you’re an amateur. If you are new to caladiums, start indoors. Find containers and plant your bulbs in them. Start with indoors first. Once the night temperatures become perfect, take them out and keep them in the place you have chosen. Keeping caladiums in containers can be helpful as you can shift the containers from place to place, depending on the sunlight your bulbs receive. Also, container-plantation would avoid rotting of the bulbs in case of any mishaps.

How to choose White Caladiums for your growing zone

Green Finger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:52:18 +0000

White Caladiums, like the red ones, are instant eye-catchers. With white leaves characterized by mostly green accents, white caladiums stand out of the crowd, enhancing the beauty of even the other plants in your garden. The white color on the leaves indicate the age of the caladium bulb, soil fertility and fertilizer used for caladium growth. White caladiums are a great way to furnish your gardens, flower beds, borders and shade zones. They look well on containers too.

How to plant white caladiums: Like every other caladium bulb, white caladium bulbs should be planted in soil only if you are sure the night temperature is greater than 60 degrees. As always, keep the soil moist and not soggy. Plant the bulbs 2 inches below the soil and nourish them with fertilizers for about six weeks. If your white bulbs are non-resistant to the sun, plant them indoors and then shift outdoors.

There are various kinds of white caladiums in the world. Most of them come with large heart-shaped or lance-shaped leaves of white backgrounds tinted with accents of green. Some popular white caladiums you can choose for your growing zone are:

Garden White Caladium: One of the most sun-tolerant varieties of caladiums derived from a cross between Aaron and Candidum Junior. The leaves of this caladium are 13 inches long and 7 inches wide.

June Bride White Caladium: A stunning caladium that emerges with pure white leaves the second year if you use less fertilizers. The first year of the plant will however see white leaves with green tinges. Another great sun tolerant caladium.

White Queen Caladium: A sun tolerant white caladium, this variety emerges with pure white leaves with pink/red veins in the center. Since fertilization can cause more pink in the leaves, avoid it if white is desired. The bulb of this caladium offers so many varieties in color and hence accompanying plants should be carefully chosen.

Aaron Caladium: Aaron is not very amicable with the sun and should be grown in filtered sunlight. The caladium leaves have green border and are hardy in zones 9-11. This can be mixed with large white impatiens for beauty and contrast in your growing zone.

White Christmas Caladium: A great favorite before the Christmas season on account of its color, this caladium should be largely grown in filtered sun or shade. The white leaves of this caladium have deep green borders and veins and are hardy in zones 10-11. Better to remove the bulbs and store during Fall.

Candidum and Candidum Junior Caladium: Candidum is the tallest of the two – can grow up to 24 inches, while Candidum Junior is a shorter plant. These caladiums have large white leaves with green accents.

Choose Caladiums for your growing zone: Caladiums need little care after plantation. But they demand more attention during the plantation of the bulbs. Check your region’s growing conditions, including weather conditions, before you decide on where to place your white caladiums. Note where your garden’s sprinkler systems are, as caladiums cannot survive in wet conditions and will rot if kept in soggy atmosphere.