I May of been done!!!

Received my 5 mixed Zantedeschia call Bulbs today .I purchased them off fleebay and the seller had a very good feedback. Do not know what I was expecting but the 5 bulbs besides not exactly large but are hard like rocks and in some places it is a little bit soft. They seem dry as a bone which may be correct.
Not sure what way to plant them up as cannot see any growth except for the one on top left which may be a bit of growth.
I have put them up on paper what I think is the correct way to plant them as it does look like a bit off last years old growth on top. What is also throwing me is I am used to seeing growth on top and roots underneath. On these it seems roots are also coming out of the top where last year’s growth is.
I think the only thing to do it pot them up, give them a good water and hope for the best.
I did once buy clematis in a 9cm pot and that was a mistake so I always try to buy plants in bigger pots so roots are more developed. I think the same for lilies; buy from reputable seller as a lot of you always do.

 

Sorry ,forgot to put picture of 5 lilies I purchased!!!

 

They grow strangely, each year they form a new tuber on top of the old one, the old one withers.
So the top is the oposite side to the old withered tuber.
The roots appear, in a ring, from the top of the tuber to the sides of the new shoot which comes out the centre.
Keep only damp until full growth gets going, from then on keep well watered.

 

That all sounds fine / normal to me.

Yeah, that's difficult I did find a site with some useful step-by-step photos once before - that would be worth a Google.

Even then IME it will be hard to tell, for sure, with some of them. You could put them in a tray of some moist compost, somewhere warm (airing cupboard?) until they start to sprout a bit and then you'll know which side is up. The fact that the roots come out of the growth on the top of the bulb further confuses things as it may cause you to panic that you have planted them upside down!!

On this occasion I'm not sure you would have got anything different ...

 

Thanks for your replies,a good learning curve.I am sure there is posts of nearing 1,500
for calla lilies.I must be dreaming or going mad as I cannot find it,I thought I would trawl through the whole lot as there is bound to be a lot of info posted.
The one reason I was looking for posts was I came across a 2008 post on this site where someone said they planted their callas with some of it showing above soil.Someone else said plant them from 4-6"? I did a web search and indeed every thing I read or looked at they were covering the bulbs with soil ,yet on some of the posts on this forum you can see the lilies are above soil.Does it depened on what lily you have or are both ways of planting correct??

 

I've buried them at least a couple of inches down.
Dont have any right now, but the remains of what I did have still grow up each summer, they are in a very overgrown position now so get little sunshine, but still survive.

 

I've just purchased 3 packs each containing 3 Calla bulbs for 75p/pack from Wilkos this morning (reduced from£4/pack) and haven't a clue how to grow them. All 9 have small shoots - I shuffled the bags around shifting the wood shavings packing and only selected packs where all 3 bulbs had shoots.

So do I plant them in some pots a few inches deep and put them in a heated greenhouse? And do I use MPC, JI, or bulb compost - I've got all 3.

EDIT: When I opened the bags I seem to have 13 of them

 

They will grow in anything Scrungee, but I wouldn't use bulb compost (fibre).
You could plant straight into the garden a couple of inches deep at this time of the year.

Or grow in pots and containers, although I've never known them to be exactly a riot of colour all summer, more nice for a short while.

 

Thanks pete

I've nowhere to put them in my garden as my very small, mainly paved front garden is dedicated to spring bulbs and summer bedding/container/basket displays and the rear garden is almost taken over by hens and greenhouse production of stuff for our plot, leaving only the option of multifarious containers on the rear south facing patios.

If potted up, would they be OK in an unheated polytunnel?

 

Possibly, but not easy to say definitely.
Kept on the dry side, they do have a habit of splitting into smaller corms, which can sometimes make the second year not as good as the first.

 

You might want to plant any on their side if you aren't sure which side the shoots will be coming out of. The shoots will make roots (i.e. on top of the corms), which is a bit bizarre!