Calla lilies are from Africa and, therefore, do very well in warmer climates. Although considered relatively easy to grow, calla lilies still need to be watered and tended to properly to survive.
If your calla lilies start to droop, it could be that they are either underwatered or overwatered, they are getting too much nitrogen fertilizer, or they have some type of fungal rot disease.
All About Calla Lilies
Calla lilies can be planted outside or used as an indoor plant, and they do well in both full sun and partial shade.
They have sword-shaped leaves and beautiful cupped petals, and the stems normally grow two to three feet in height. They are white in color with a green tint, and the petals themselves get to around five inches in length.
Calla lilies are elegant and attractive flowers that many people consider their favorite. If you like, you can grow them outdoors, then clip a few stems off of the plant and bring them indoors to put in a vase.
If you find your calla lilies drooping, it is most often due to one of the following reasons:
- Soil that is either too wet or too dry
- Too much fertilizer that contains nitrogen
- Some type of disease involving fungus
In addition, sometimes the blooms simply get too large and, therefore, cause the plant to droop. Fortunately, the solutions to all of these problems are easy and inexpensive to handle. If the soil is too wet or too dry, simply let it dry out or water it more often.
Sometimes, it is difficult to determine the true cause of the drooping. Certainly if the flower starts to wilt, you can assume that you’ve not watered it enough. In most of these cases, simply give it a drink of water and it should perk up immediately.
You should always remember that calla lilies are bulb plants, and bulb plants need to grow in well-drained soil. If you keep it in a pot, make sure the pot is unglazed so that any excessive moisture can evaporate quickly.
If there is too much water in the soil and the bulb itself starts to rot, you’ll have to throw it away and get new bulbs. Never expect a rotting bulb to produce any more blooms, because it never will.
If you notice that your stems are very pliable and mushy, this could be a sign that the problem is a fungal infection of some type. Again, it may be hard to determine just which type of infection it is, but you can assume it is a fungus if the stems are too soft and mushy.
So, if you think it is a fungus problem, what should you do? In most cases, replacing the soil is the easiest and smartest thing to do.
The fungal problem is in the soil itself, so getting rid of the soil and replacing it with new, fresh soil should take care of the problem.
Some Other Situations That Make Calla Lilies Droop
Because calla lilies are bulb plants, they don’t tolerate freezes well; therefore, you should bring your calla lilies indoors for the winter months.
When you first get them inside, set them on the counter for a few days to let them dry out, then wrap them in newspaper and put them inside of a mesh bag.
In the fall, you should prune them and get rid of any dead leaves and branches before you bring them indoors. When you’re done wrapping them, make sure you place them in an area of your home that is dry and never gets the chance to freeze.
In the springtime, when it gets to roughly 60-degrees Fahrenheit, or 16-degrees Celsius, you can bring them outdoors again and replant them.
Some Tips to Make it Easier to Grow Calla Lilies
Taking good care of your calla lilies from day one is recommended and can cut down on the possibility that they will eventually start to droop. Some people keep them in pots all year long and can transport them indoors in the winter without any trouble.
If you’d like some tips for growing beautiful calla lilies, the following are a few suggestions that may help.
- Don’t overwater them. They should be watered once or twice a week and no more. Use one to two ounces of water and make sure you water them before the top one inch of soil gets too dry.
- When you plant your calla lilies, plant them in a place that gets full sun in the morning and no more than partial shade in the afternoon. This helps the stems grow strong and compact, which is what you want.
- Always plant calla lilies with 12 to 18 inches of space between them. This way, the foliage will be full and beautiful because there will be no overcrowding.
- When the plants first emerge in the spring, you should consider placing a cage structure over them, much like a peony cage. It has short legs and a round grid at the top, allowing the foliage and stems to go through the grid and get some support.
The peony cage is also good because it can help the plant grow tall and erect, and if you need further information on this structure, you can always visit the Internet and look at pictures so you’ll know how it is supposed to be built.
Final Thoughts
It isn’t necessarily difficult or time-consuming to grow calla lilies, but you do have to heed some advice and recommendations if you want the blooms to stay erect and not droop.
Fortunately, this is a lot easier than you might think. After a while, you’ll be able to recognize what’s going on and you’ll notice immediately what the problem is, making it super easy to fix the problem.
Drooping calla lilies will happen from time to time, but the more you learn how to take care of this gorgeous flower, the less likely this will happen to you.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.