O bother my caladium bulbs are doing nada after sitting 2 months in pots. They aren't rotted and have a few roots but they are not growing. I have some potted at the surface and some potted an inch deep. Do you think I might have let them get too dry? Should I soak them in water?
Help with Caladiums Please
Caladium tubers will dry out. Do you have an extra you can cut apart to check if the interior is damp and starchy? Aroids grow only from tubers and the inside is very much like those of a potato which are also tubers. A tuber is little more than a stem that is a starch storage unit that grows underground.
Steve
Caladium tubers are stored dry for sale so that shouldn't be a problem. What could be a problem, though is heat; more specifically, the lack of it. So long as the soil medium is moist, the next consideration is warmth. These plants come from tropical south America so they want soil temps in the mid to upper 70s, or even warmer if possible. Cool soil temps will slow them down, even if the air temps are in the 70s.
Once my Caladiums go dormant, they don't awaken until soil temps get into the 70s. The Thai Caladiums are even more finicky, wanting soil temps more in the low 80s.
LariAnn
Thanks LariAnn. I had a friend bring a large sack of Caladium tubers over earlier this year they had been storing under the sink and most were so depleted of moisture they did not appear viable and in fact did not come up again once planted. My only reference was to those that had been stored in less than ideal conditions and had been completely deleted of stored moisture.
Steve
Thanks. I have had them in the greenhouse where it is in the 90s but I was worried it was too dry so moved them outside. I'm going to put them back in the greenhouse in a plastic bag to see if I can pump up the humidity.