Elephant ears
 

Hello!

Is anyone out there growing elephant ears?

This past summer I had quite a few.

-Colocasia Esculenta
-Alocasia Macrorhiza
-Black Magic
-Illustrus
-Alocasia freydek
-Fontaneisi

I tried overwintering the bulbs by storing them dry and cool in my shed but alas this past weekend I pulled them out to find that they had all turned to mush.

I did let the plants grow late last season. When I dug the bulbs I let them dry out for quite some time but maybe it wasn't enough. Or possibly it got too cold for them in my shed. Most of my Musa Basjoo were stored in the same shed and made it through and are now growing quickly.

I didn't really expect the smaller bulbs to make it but I thought that some of the common Colocasia's and the huge Alocasia Macrorhiza's would.

Anyone have any luck with these plants or have any secrets on overwintering them?

Thanks,

Sam

Re: Elephant ears
 

I have some, plus there's a few others here that collect some rarities..
Check the bottom of this page for similar threads.

Re: Elephant ears
 

This fall I'm going to pot up the Illustris pups for indoors, and try to overwinter the main plant in the ground with hay and leaf mulch over the existing hardwood mulch. Should be interesting!

Re: Elephant ears
 

Hi,

I am based here in London and have a Black Magic of which I place into my pond early summer and remove after the first frost has wilted the leaves. I have been doing this now for several years with great success.

It is important (IMO) to let the frost attack the leaves as this sends a dormant message to the corm to hiberante. Then I remove the corm and let it dry out, but not totally, just damp. Then wrap this up with newspaper and place into a shoebox and layer it with more newspaper.

Place the shoebox into a FROST FREE place (NOT a shed!)
i.e a garage if it is adjoining the house to provide some heat. OR place it under the stairway cupboard.

The outside shed does become damp and cold not ideal (I have done this before and the result is mush!!!).

I do the above with my Stuttgart/Black Knight/Wyoming and other cannas all very sucessfully. Let that first frost kill the leaves.

I repeat don't put them in a shed, it is too cold and damp.

Hope this helps

Re: Elephant ears
 

One other thing I do, is ALWAYS take a couple of plantlets (pups) to pot up and keep as a houseplant, then you have backup! Do this now BEFORE the first frost