Viewing post #1057594 by Rascal

MollyMc said:Caladiums, I would even plant them here right now. Since the ground never freezes it's not a problem.

Now, I have thought a lot about caladiums and have come to the following conclusion: (believe it or not) They seem to know when to come up based on temperature and daylight hours. Even when we have a false spring of warmth, they still don't come up, hence my belief of the daylight hours theory. They die back when the hours of daylight get shorter (an exception would be one who hasn't learned that lesson yet)

Rascal, this comes from 10 year from living here in 8b. I moved here from Ft Lauderdale and didn't give a whole lot of thought to caladiums since everything grew in abundance down there. They would get lost in the masses.

I have planted the bulbs in the fall when they were on sale at 50% supposedly being out of season and they came up anyway, albeit small.

I believe the size of the bulb determines how many leaves will grow from it, a more mature bulb, larger, more leaves.

Also, you can't compare them to elephant ears, they are not even related. Elephant ears are hardier than caladiums and in your area can remain evergreen all year.

I also believe the better your soil, the larger the plant and leaves will be. I can buy a plant with big leaves, put it in the ground. The next year it comes back not quite as big. My soil is mostly sand I have been amending for the past 10 years.

Mine are planted in pots as you know the roots are same temp as ambient air temp.

I used miracle grow potted plant soil and I was watering with water from my turtle ''pond'' which is just a 125 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank which is buried .

The plants do well with turtle water/diluted waste and turtles get lots water changes so it kills two birds with one stone, sort of speak .

I would say that I ''lost'' more than half my caladiums when it rained for straight weeks without any sun and chilly nights but now after reading the forum hope they sprout back up.

I never planted anything in soil because the soil here is the worse . Its lots sand and rocks . I'm not sure I would call it soil, lol .

I'm from PA and the soil was fantastic but there I never gardened as winters are brutal . I just had grass and tree's .

I added lots top soil when I moved here and new grass which did take well .

The yard was an unkept mess but a good size yard with lots sun all year and no cement which I hate to begin with , lol .

I plan to order different colors in couple of weeks only because I like the bigger bulbs and don't see them now unless you order ''grab bag'' of unspecific colors and I want certain colors .

Thank you