Cultivation of caladium plant tissue

Caladium plant

Caladium plants are known for striking foliage. The large, heart or arrow-shaped leaves come in a range of colors and patterns. Native to the subtropics, these plants generally thrive best in warm and shady spots.

Varieties that can tolerate more sun are called strap leaf caladium. If you admire these gorgeous plants but have little shade, try one of several strap leaf varieties. Like the fancy leaf varieties, they look nice in mass plantings, around trees, and they pair well with begonias, ferns, and impatiens.

Caladium figures can be grouped into three basic types:

Leaf fantasy: large, heart-shaped leaves; Plant height is 18 to 22 inches; Most prefer filtered shades or afternoon shades with morning sun in the landscape.
Dwarf: Heart-shaped leaves are like fancy types of leaves, but plants and leaves are smaller; plant height is 15 to 17 inches; The light required is similar to a variety of fancy leaves.
Strap-leaves: stretched, heart-shaped leaves and narrower shaped leaves; plant height is 12 to 14 inches; Used in hanging baskets, borders, or planting in front of a variety of leaf fantasies.

Cultivation of caladium plant tissue

Double-cell calamium plants (Aiton) Vent(Aiton) were prepared from a greenhouse in Amol, Iran.Leaves were dissected from mother plants and used as explants for tissue culture establishment.The explants were washed under running tap water and 1 -2 drops of hand washing liquid for 30 min. followed by 0.1% Carbendazim fungicide for 30 min. Explants were disinfected by immersion in 8% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) (v/v) with two drops of Tween- 20 for 10 min., followed by three rinses in sterile distilled water. Finally, explants were kept in 70% ethanol for 1 min. followed by three rinses in sterile distilled water.Surface sterilized leaves were inoculated in MS ( Murashige and Skoog, 1962 ) medium with 3% (w/v) sucrose. The media were solidified with 0.70% Agar agar. The concentrations of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 mg l-1 of BAP, and 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 mg l-1 of NAA were added to the media individually or/and in combination. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 5.7 before adding agar to it.The medium (30 ml) was dispensed into 100 ml glass bottles. The culture glass bottles containing the media were autoclaved at 121°C and 104 kPa for 20 min. Experiments were carried out in five replications and one explants were inoculated in each glass bottles and plugged firmly. The cultures were maintained at temperature of 22 ± 2ºC, 16-h photoperiod (irradiance of 50 µmol m-2 s-1), provided by cool daylight fluorescent lamps. Traits including shoot length, shoot number, leaf number, leaf long, petiole length, root number, root length, and survival percentage were measured after 55 days. For hardening and acclimatization, the glass bottles with plantlets (fully expanded leaflets) were kept open for a week after removing the plugs in the culture room. Then, the plantlets were removed from the culture media and washed with distilled water; then, they were transferred to plastic cups containing perlite. Plantlets were kept in a greenhouse at 22 ± 2°C and 80% RH with periodic irrigation (once each for four days).

Strap Leaf Caladium Care

Caladium grows from bulbs, so you can purchase bulbs to plant or buy plants at a local garden center. Caladium is notorious for having viruses, so choose your products carefully. Even reputable growers cannot necessarily eliminate all viruses.

Even for strap leaf caladium, choose a spot that gets no more than six hours of sun per day. Morning sun is best. They grow well in beds and also in containers. Strap leaved caladium varieties are especially well suited to container growing indoors.

The soil for growing a strap leaf caladium should be loose and rich in organic material. Don’t use too much fertilizer, as it can damage the bulb and change the color of the leaves. Watering is important and soil should remain moist, but avoid overwatering and standing water, which can cause rot.

If you have colder winters, you can grow these in the summer in beds or pots. Treat them as annuals or dig up the strap leaf caladium bulbs to store indoors for the winter. Let them dry out until the leaves brown and drop off before storing. Replant them in spring for another round.