Caladium belongs to the Aroid family and is a herbaceous plant similar to a vine. Caladium has about 15,000 species and is distributed mainly in Brazil along the banks of the Amazon River. The name literally translates as "a plant with edible roots." The plant can reach about 5 meters in height, and the leaves are so large that people hide under them during the pouring rain. The leaves are arrow-shaped, thin with a wide variety of shades and patterns. The leaves have multi-colored spots.
The combination of colors and their number is so amazing that all colors can be found in the caladium color, except for blue and blue shades. In addition, each leaf of this plant is painted with a unique pattern. But the flowers are deprived of such splendor. They are collected on the cob and inconspicuous. But the leaves on the caladium are found only in the spring-autumn period. In winter, the plant hibernates. The leaves fall off, and the plant stores the entire supply of its vitality in the roots-tubers, so that in the next season, let the shoots grow again.
Indoor plant lovers have a hybrid version of Caladium. It is a crossed type derived from several natural caladiums. In terms of the beauty of its leaves, caladium can compete, perhaps, only with decorative-leaved begonia.
Caring for Caladium at Home
According to the conditions of keeping, caladium is considered to be a very capricious plant, since it is difficult to remove it from dormancy at home.
Location and lighting
Caladium can grow well in the shade, but it can show the beauty of its leaves only if it is in bright diffused sunlight. Best of all, windows facing northeast or northwest are suitable for its location.
Temperature
During the growth period, the caladium should be in conditions that ensure a constant temperature of 22-25 degrees. When the plant goes dormant and sheds its leaves, the tubers should be stored at 16-18 degrees until the next growing season.
Air humidity
The birthplace of Caladium assumes a constant high humidity of the ambient air - about 70%. Dry air in a short period of time will lead to the death of the plant. Spraying water around the caladium is ideal, but without getting moisture on the leaves. If the drops do settle on the plant, then you should expect the appearance of brown spots. It will be useful to place a pot with a plant on a pallet with constantly wet expanded clay.
Watering
Watering Caladium should be regular as the topsoil dries out. The soil ball in the pot must be kept moist, as the surface of the large leaves evaporates a lot of water. For watering, soft water at room temperature or slightly higher is suitable.During the growing season, Caladium actively grows new shoots, so the air around them must be irrigated with a spray bottle.
As soon as the plant begins to enter the hibernation period (August-September), watering is gradually stopped. During winter storage of tubers, the earthen lump needs to be moistened occasionally in order to prevent their death. With the onset of a new growing season, watering is gradually increased as the green mass and young shoots grow.
The soil
It is better to prepare a substrate for growing caladium on your own at home, based on the following proportions: mix one part of peat, one part of leafy soil, one part of humus, half of a part of sand. The result is a substrate with an acidity level of no more than pH 6.
Top dressing and fertilizers
Caladium should be fed during the period when new shoots have stopped growing and until the onset of a state of dormancy (approximately until the first days of August). Mineral fertilizer is diluted in water and watered with it once a week. In the top dressing, such chemical elements as phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen should be in equal proportion. In August, feeding Caladium must be stopped so that the plant is prepared for the winter dormancy period.
Dormant period
It is important to properly prepare Caladium for hibernation. To begin with, it is necessary to gradually reduce watering from August, and then stop it altogether. Strawberries are not removed from the substrate, but stored in the same pot that the plant was in during the growing season. The safety of the tubers is guaranteed by keeping them in a room with a temperature of about 18 degrees and maintaining a light moisture content of the substrate.
In the spring, the tubers are taken out of the pot, cleaned from the soil, formed roots, leaves and shoots and transplanted into a new, inexhaustible substrate. From this point on, regular careful watering should be started until a new root system begins to form on the tubers. Further, the caladium will start up the first shoots. After the appearance of the first growths, watering begins to increase. As soon as new leaves begin to form on the shoots, watering by this time should be abundant.
Transfer
As soon as the dormant period ends, you can start the Caladium transplant. This procedure is repeated every year. The most suitable months are March or April. There should be only one large rhizome in one pot. In the other, two small roots can be cut off and planted together. The diameter of the pot is selected based on the size of the root. There should be a free space from the rhizome to the edges of the dishes (about 4 cm on all sides). If several small tubers are planted in a pot, then a little space should be left between them, since in the process of growth and development, the tubers will increase in size.
It is necessary to take care of good drainage for the plant, it should be laid out on the bottom of the pot. Next comes the substrate, and the tubers are already placed on it with the eyes of future sprouts up. The tuber is completely covered up to the last and uppermost eye. After the first shoots appear in the pot, you can add a little substrate, thus deepening the tuber.
It so happens that the tuber does not have eyes and it is completely impossible to determine exactly which side up to place it in the pot. In this case, the tuber is placed on top of the substrate and a mini-greenhouse is formed for it. They keep it in such conditions for about 2.5 weeks or until the first emerging shoots appear. Then it is planted according to the rules discussed above.
It is important not to over-water the planted tuber, and also not to expose it to temperatures below permissible. The substrate must be kept slightly moist, and the temperature must be at least 25 degrees.
The planting depth of the tuber affects the decorativeness of the plant. A shallow planted caladium forms many children during the growing season, but to the detriment of the beauty of the leaves and the number of shoots.
Reproduction of caladium
Caladium is propagated by tubers, but there are two peculiarities: for planting, babies formed from the main tuber are used, or the maternal tuber is divided into parts. When dividing on each bulb, it is important to leave at least one or two buds. The cut area must be treated with charcoal to exclude the possibility of rotting. For germination of tubers, I use a substrate consisting of a mixture of sand and peat.
There is another way of reproduction of caladium - by seeds. But here it is important to remember that a plant obtained from seeds will differ from the original in terms of external characteristics and color of the leaves.
Caladium seeds are sold both in specialized stores and are obtained by flower growers independently by artificial pollination of a home plant. The artificial seed has a period of approximately two months. Ripe seeds can be immediately planted in a previously prepared container with a substrate to a depth equal to their diameter. A pot with planted seeds is kept in greenhouse conditions at high temperatures (about 25-30 degrees) and substrate moisture. The higher the temperature, the faster the first shoots will appear. This usually takes about 3 weeks. Seedlings are sprayed with warm water, dive several times, and by autumn they will begin to develop an independent tuberous system.
Diseases and pests
The main pest of the caladium root system is fusarium and wet bacterial rot. It is possible to fight these diseases with the help of fungicidal powders, with which the roots are treated after being removed from the pot.
Among the insect pests that can affect Caladium, the most common are aphids, mealybugs, and spider mites. To combat them, it is advisable to resort to the use of insecticides.
The appearance of yellow leaves can be associated with both inappropriate conditions of the plant, and with its infection with late blight. The latter can be fought with fungicides.
During the dormant period of the plant, it is important not to allow excessive moisture of the substrate, otherwise rotting of the roots cannot be avoided.
If the edges of the leaves begin to dry, then here you should adjust the amount of fertilizer applied (reduce) or put the plant in a shaded place.
and my tubers are yellow, they look like truffles (sweets), it's a pity you can't load