Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for Potted Calla Lily Cultivation

  In recent years, potted colored calla lilies have become a best-selling category in the Beijing Lunar New Year flower market. Colored calla lilies are loved by people for their elegant and unique flower shape, rich and brilliant colors, and diverse leaf colors and shapes. Potted colored calla lilies have obvious production advantages, with controllable production costs. Compared with mainstream potted flowers such as Anthurium, Bromeliads, and Phalaenopsis, their cultivation techniques are simple, making them suitable for both large and medium-scale enterprises as well as small-scale growers.

  Soil:

  1. Deep plowing: Preparing the cultivation bed involves 4 steps, namely deep plowing the soil, disinfection, making the bed, and applying base fertilizer. First, plow the soil deeply to 20-30cm.

  2. Disinfection: After deep plowing, expose the soil under the hot sun for several days, or disinfect it with steam, chloropicrin, methyl bromide, quintozene, etc. The cultivation bed is generally a raised bed, with a bed width of 80cm and a path of 40cm, or a bed width of 40cm and a path of 40cm. It is 10cm above ground level and about 20cm above the path. The base fertilizer rate is generally 400Kg of expanded chicken manure and 50Kg of diammonium phosphate per 667 sq m of greenhouse; or 2000-3000Kg of disinfected decomposed farmyard manure and 50Kg of diammonium phosphate.

  Transplanting:

  Planting time: Most varieties are planted at the end of August, with the flowering period from November to May. Calla lilies can also be planted in March, with the flowering period from June to August. If greenhouse conditions are good, they can be planted in spring and autumn, producing flowers year-round. However, even for year-round flower production, the plants should be given a leaf-upright dormancy period in winter or midsummer, so that the plants can receive nutrient supplementation and rest, ensuring a relatively high flower yield.

  1. Planting density: Taking tubers with one growing eye per 4cm as an example, a bed 80cm wide can be planted with 4 rows, with a row spacing of 20cm and a plant spacing of 12-20cm; a bed 40cm wide is planted with 2 rows, with a plant spacing of 10cm. The former plants about 25-40 plants per sq m; the latter plants about 50 plants per sq m. Each 667 sq m of greenhouse is planted with about 17,000-17,000 plants. If the tubers are multi-eyed or larger than 4cm, they should be appropriately spaced more thinly. They must not be planted too densely, otherwise ventilation and light penetration will be poor, pests and diseases will be likely, and flower yield will also decline.

  2. Planting depth: In winter, cover with about 5cm of soil; in summer, the covering depth should be about 8cm.

  3. Hormone treatment: If tubers are treated with gibberellin GA3, GA4, GA7, or cytokinin Ba before planting, it is beneficial for flower bud differentiation, promotes yield, and can also make the tubers develop better. The concentration of gibberellin and cytokinin is 500-100mg/L; soak the tubers for 10-30min, then remove and dry in the shade.

  Water:

  Calla lilies prefer moisture. During the vigorous growth season, water frequently to keep the soil constantly moist. The air humidity in the growing environment should also be high, so the surrounding ground should also be sprayed with water frequently. However, if using sprinkler irrigation, just moisten the leaf surface, to prevent water from accumulating in the leaf sheaths and causing rot. After the peak flowering period, reduce water to promote dormancy.

  Nutrition:

  In the early growth stage, the amount of topdressing should be small. If the soil is fertile, topdressing may be omitted, but once the flowering period begins, topdressing is required. Inorganic fertilizers and organic fertilizers can be applied alternately. For inorganic fertilizer, mix nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in a 1:1:1 ratio, prepare a 0.5%-1% aqueous solution, and apply it with irrigation water once every 15d, applying 10-15Kg per 667 sq m of greenhouse each time. Immediately after irrigation, rinse the leaf surface and leaf base with clean water, to prevent fertilizer water from flowing into the leaf sheaths and causing "fertilizer burn". For organic fertilizer, decomposed pig manure, chicken manure, etc. can be used. Dig a hole below each plant 5cm from the root crown and apply it, about 50g per plant. Organic fertilizer can be applied 2-3 times throughout the growing season. Stop topdressing after the peak flowering period to promote dormancy.

  Temperature:

  Spring-like temperatures year-round (12-25°C) can make calla lilies bloom all year. In northern winter production, heating is needed, and in southern summer production, cooling is needed.

  Light:

  When summer sunlight is too strong, shade appropriately. Generally, a shade net with a shading rate of 30%-50% can be used; in autumn and winter, relatively sufficient sunlight is needed, so no shading is necessary. In northern winter cultivation, if additional supplemental light can be provided, growth and flowering will be better. Continuous lighting for 3-5h after lowering the straw curtain in the afternoon gives good results.

  Peeling old leaves:

  During the vigorous growth and flowering period, if the leaves are too lush, crowded, and poorly ventilated, promptly peel off the old outer leaves that have already produced flower stems, cutting them off from the base. The purpose is to avoid excessive leaves affecting light and ventilation, promote flower stem growth, and increase yield. If there are not many old leaves but the new leaves are too vigorous, internal ventilation is poor, and there are few flower stems, leaf-pulling treatment can also be carried out, gently pressing the leaves toward all sides to make the plant clump spread out. Combined with reasonable water and fertilizer measures, this can increase flower yield.

  Ventilation:

  The entire greenhouse must have good ventilation measures. For example, solar greenhouses can use front lower feet or rear windows for ventilation in spring and autumn, greenhouse tops for ventilation in winter, and stronger convection ventilation measures in summer, otherwise diseases will be severe and flowering poor.

  Key points for cut flowers:

  1. Binding into bunches: The slender flower stalks make calla lilies most suitable for making bouquets. During production, try to arrange the flowers in a graceful and relaxed natural way, and the tie should not be too tight to avoid bruising the flower stalks. After decorating the tied area, the uneven base may be left exposed to make the bouquet look more natural. Before inserting into a vase, be sure to trim the base evenly, which helps the flower material absorb water and stay fresh.

  2. Fixing with a pin holder: The stems of calla lilies are relatively thick and sturdy, so traditional pin holders (flower frogs) can be used to fix the flower material. Four calla lily stems can be placed side by side at the same time, and two parallel piercings can be made through the stems with lead wire, connecting them into a beautiful curved surface that becomes the visual focal point of the work. This not only adds novelty to traditional composition, but also expands the cross-sectional area of the calla lily stems, making them more stable when fixed on the pin holder, avoiding the phenomenon in which a single calla lily, when the flower diameter is too long, is top-heavy, and because the interior of the flower stalk is loose, is not firmly fixed and easily falls over.

  3. Clever use of the inflorescence: When calla lilies begin to fade, peel off the withered spathe; the yellow spadix is also very good material for composition. After cutting the flower stalk shorter, the inflorescence is easy to insert into floral foam. To make the cylindrical inflorescence appear more unusual and beautiful, completely conceal the flower stalk with leaf material or flower material.