Is caladium a good indoor plant?

Caladium thrives indoors in indirect light, making this South American native a spectacular tropical accent for your home. You can expect the showy season to last for 6 months or longer. Caladiums thrive in warm, moist conditions. Give them bright, indirect light and humidity. How do you take care of a potted caladium?
Caladiums are easy to grow from tubers, found in the Garden Center with summer-blooming tropical bulbs in spring. Tuck the tubers into a container of potting mix, water regularly and fertilize every couple of weeks.

How often should I water caladiums?

Caladium Plant Care Caladiums need to be watered on a regular basis, especially during dry conditions. In fact, watering them on a weekly basis is recommended. Caladiums that are grown in containers should be checked daily and watered as needed. Why are my caladium leaves dying?
The major causes for which your Caladium is dying are Overwatering, Underwatering, Temperature stress, and Overexposure to sunlight. Along with these major causes, other deciding factors for the survival of your Caladium plants are humidity, fertilizers, and proper potting soil.

Can you keep caladiums indoors?

When grown indoors, they do best with lots of heat, bright but indirect light, and plenty of humidity. Even under the best conditions, caladium foliage lasts only a few months before the leaves start to die back and the plant goes dormant again, which is normal. Do caladiums like sun or shade?

Caladiums grow best in shade to part shade (two to four hours of direct sun, preferably morning) or bright dappled light. In these conditions, they produce the lushest growth with large, colorful leaves.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

Do caladiums do well in pots?

Caladiums grow beautifully in containers and in landscapes that have well-drained soil. If you garden in heavy clay, you’ll want to grow your caladiums in containers or raised beds. Fill your patio pots, window boxes and hanging baskets with the low maintenance, all-season color that caladiums provide.

Do caladiums need big pots?

Planting Caladium tubers You won’t need a big pot for this. About 5 times the diameter of the tuber is a good pot size. Most bagged soil available will do just fine with amendment of 1/3 volume of perlite.

How do I make my caladium bushy?

Take a sharp knife and cut out the large central bud from your fancy leaf caladium bulbs before you plant them. This will encourage the growth of the secondary buds and give you a fuller but just as colorful plant. Fancy leaf caladiums require loose, slightly acidic soil for good root growth and are heavy feeders.

How do you start caladiums indoors?

To get a quicker display of color, caladium tubers can be pre-sprouted indoors. Start them about 6 weeks before you’ll plant them outdoors. Grow the tubers in barely moist potting soil, under lights or in a sunny window. Keep the plants cozy (70-75°) day and night.

What is indirect sunlight?

How do you keep caladiums alive?

Caladiums grow best in bright, indirect light (full sun would fry them in a heartbeat). Keep the soil evenly moist — do not let them dry out completely, but do not keep them soggy or the tubers will rot. To increase humidity, group pots together — even with other houseplants.

Do caladiums like Miracle Grow?

Caladiums are happy container plants. They like lots of water and a dressing of bone meal half-way through the season, but that’s about it. They do not benefit from applications of Miracle-Gro®, as the high nitrogen content of that fertilizer tends to promote green leaves and the colors won’t be as bright.

How do you make caladiums grow faster?

Because they love hot weather, the warmer the ground and air temperature when you plant, the faster they will grow. According to Caladium World, you should wait until overnight temperatures remain consistently above 65 degrees Fahrenheit to plant your caladium bulbs.

Should I cut off drooping caladium leaves?

Caladium Leaf Dieback Gradually though, the leaves yellow, soften and wilt. You can trim each droopy caladium leaf — yanking it may draw the corm right out of the soil — so the plant looks less full but still tidy during this winding down.

Why do caladiums cry?

It happens at night, when the air is humid, the soil is damp, and the roots absorb too much water. As this extra water goes through the process of guttation, it picks of various things like enzymes, minerals, and a handful of other chemicals, which is then called xylem sap.

What is bright indirect light?

Bright Indirect light is when the sun’s rays don’t travel directly from the sun to your plant but, instead, bounce off something first. Plants in bright, indirect light will cast blurry, indistinct shadows. Bright indirect light is approximately 800-2000 foot candles.

Do caladiums like rain?

Caladiums enjoy abundant moisture when they are growing but prefer to be dryer when dormant. If the area where the caladiums are growing tends to stay wet for extended periods during rainy winter weather, this can be problem, and it would be best to dig and store them.

Can caladium take morning sun?

Caladiums also are remarkably free from major insect or disease problems and thrive in hot, humid weather. They grow best in shade to part shade (two hours to four hours of direct sun, preferably morning sun). In those conditions they produce lush growth with large, colorful leaves.

Can caladiums handle full sun?

Sun tolerant caladiums can be planted in full sun, keeping in mind that more watering may be necessary. One dwarf caladium, Red Ruffles, and one lance leaf caladium, Gingerland, are sun-loving caladiums. All caladiums are shade or filtered sun lovers.

When should I repot my caladium?

Planting and repotting a Caladium plant Upon purchasing, if the pot is too small, proceed to repot the plant so that it may grow adequately. After that, every 2 or 3 years and preferably in spring, repot your caladium in a pot of a slightly larger size. Caladium roots hate having too much water.

What pots grow well with caladiums?

Caladiums grow extremely well in containers – including hanging baskets. Plant them alone or mix them in with other heat-loving annuals such as coleus, impatiens, licorice plant, euphorbia, tradescantia, lysimachia, begonias and elephant ears.