Specialty Gardening: Companion plants for caladium, 0 by DaleTheGardener

DaleTheGardener wrote:
Illoquin (Suzy),

You remove the central bud and the bulb makes several smaller buds. More leaves, usually smaller at first, then they grow up. The bud you remove will dry up, has no energy stored.

I suspect the reason your bulbs don't increase in size is because your climate is cool. It cools down too fast in the fall for them. In their native range it begins to get dry (stays warm) and they start to store starch for next seasons growth. They are tropical bulbs and I would guess that they are from an area that has a seasonal dry spell. I am not sure where they started, but, they are grown world wide now.