Grower of Qualtiy Caladiums, Caladium World

Our Backyard

Please review the thumbnail pictures below. You may click on any picture to view a larger image. Larger images may take a minute or two to load, but they are worth it!

We begin to harvest our bulbs in the fall. If the foliage has not yet fallen, the tops of the caladiums will be mowed. The picture at right is our digging equipment that extracts the bulbs, removes most of the soil, and places them into the crate mounted in the rear.

The large bins of caladium bulbs are transported to our barn to be washed. The bulbs are dumped into a wash tank which removes remaining soil. A conveyor system carries the bulbs past inspection, through a disinfecting spray, and to a rough grading machine.

After washing, the bulbs are stacked in mesh-bottom trays and begin the curing process. The storage of caladiums requires that the bulbs have a lot of ventilation, the reduction of excessive humidity, and remain relatively warm throughout the winter. The bulbs are hand counted and packed from this stage.

In the early spring, our seed stock is prepared and planted. Bulbs are slowly fed into a seed-cutter. After cutting a treatment of spray and visual inspection (at left) is done before the seed is dusted and sent to the field for planting.

The prepared seed is dumped into the hopper on the rear of our planter. After planting, we install the irrigation lines and then begins our growing season.