Flower lovers can hardly get enough of the elegant indoor calla lily. Luckily, potted plants are quite easy to propagate. However, you will need to be patient if you want to grow your calla lilies yourself. You have to wait a while for the first flowering.
How to propagate indoor calla lilies?
Room calla lilies can be propagated by seeds or tuber division. Sow seeds thinly and keep moist, then prick out and place in individual pots. When dividing the tubers, plant offshoots or onion halves in fresh soil and keep them moist.
Propagate calla lilies – this is how it’s done
There are two ways to propagate the calla lily: by seeds and by dividing the tubers.
It is much easier to propagate calla lilies by dividing tubers than by seeds. Sown calla flowers hardly ever bloom in the first few years, while the divided bulbs develop into plants with lots of flowers the next year.
Growing calla lilies from seeds
- Harvest or buy seeds
- Prepare the seed tray
- Sowing seeds thinly
- Cover with some soil
- Keep moist
- Prick out after emergence
- Place in individual pots
- Care like adult plants
Divide the bulb when repotting
The best time for dividing flower bulbs is spring. In principle, you can always divide the tuber if you are transplanting the potted plant anyway. Gardening experts recommend repotting the calla every spring, even if it still fits well in the old pot.
If you lift the plant and the bulb out of the pot, you will in most cases find small offshoot bulbs on the main bulb. You can use these for propagation.
Use a clean, sharp knife and separate the cuttings with a smooth cut. If there are no daughter bulbs, you can also divide particularly large bulbs in half.
Planting divided calla tubers
Place the tuber halves in sufficiently large pots with fresh soil and cover them. Place the pots in a bright, warm place and keep them well moist.
Normally the first green leaves appear after a few weeks.
Flowers usually do not form in the same year. The tuber must first gather enough strength during the rest period.
Tips & Tricks
Never use old soil when repotting calla lilies or using divided bulbs for propagation. Used soil is often contaminated with spores and bacteria that cause the indoor calla to rot.