New Gardener - Help required with Zantedeschia

Hi all!
I am a scientist with a good understanding of plant biology but am utterly new to the practicalities of gardening and am looking for some advice.

I love coloured callas, and bought several varieties of Zantedeschia recently.
I also purchased Gladiolus, Canna tropicana and oriental Lilies at the same time with the aim of planting these in containers. I live in Glasgow so it's still pretty cold and so wanted to start these indoors.

I planted all of the above in large containers filled with a mix of 'potting compost for bulbs' and a bit of perlite and added a small handful of dry mycorrhizae with each bulb.

These were planted on the 17th March. The Lilies and gladiolus have started to sprout however there is no sign of activity from the callas or the canna.

Information available on the internet varied wildly about planting conditions for these and I'm concerned that I may have overwatered the calla bulbs when planting.

I have watered the bulbs only once since planting when the first few inches of compost in the pot became dry.

Am I just being impatient or are my bulbs likely to be rotting away beneath the surface?

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

I'm just veg and wildflowers department, someone will be along soon

 

Well I tend to think you are being slightly impatient

Just slightly moist is the way to go until growth gets going proper.

My main concern would be that maybe you might have planted them up slightly too early, as once in growth apart from maybe the lillies, none of those plants will take the slightest of frosts.

So placing outside could be a problem if you dont have a really warm spot sorted out.

 

Thanks for the reply. I planted them when I got them as the supplier stated quite strenuously that they should be planted as soon as you receive them, and being a novice I just followed that advice.
The callas are actually in a long deep trough that will be on a south facing window so they should be nice and sunny when/if the sun appears. I'll probably keep them all indoors until May as April snow showers are not unknown in Glasgow.

As to watering, 'moist' is how I would probably describe the soil they are in so I'm going to hope that it's just my impatience that's the reason for no sprouting yet.
The oriental lilies and the gladiolus are shooting up though!

 

Some plants respond faster than others.
You just have to be patient

 

I've grown Calla's before and they take a good while before they show themselves. Give them a few weeks.

 

Things seem to be on the move now. Seven of the eight zantedeschia bulbs I planted have sprouted and looking healthy.
I suspect I may have planted three of them upside down as there were roots on the surface and the shoots took a week longer to appear. They seem fine though.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll post pics when there's something more exciting to see.

 

Quoth theRaven, hi
Since your other bulbs are on the move I will comment about cannas
Firstly, as early a start as possible if you want them to flower. This means keeping them in the gh over winter and until frosts have passed.
I am at the other end of the country to you.....mild Cornwall. Cannas here can stay out of doors all year round. My cannas vary from a few centimetres tall to 30 plus cms right now. Here growth started several weeks ago. However, yours have only been planted for some 2 weeks so, as Sirius said, be patient.They will flower here from June.
You need to keep them growing fast ....this means watering lightly when growth is seen and then progressively. In containers use a john innes soil.......many think of cannas as needing hot dry conditions but they need to be keep reasonably moist during the summer and well fed. For this reason I add dried manure to the compost plus fish blood and bone. Containers need to be in proportion to the size of tuber. John innes provides the weight too to provide stability.
You are in a cold area for cannas but there is no reason why you cannot enjoy the exotic foliage and flowers late in summer. Just site them in the sunniest, warmest position you have......better to delay planting out if the weather is still cool