Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I know this is a banana forum but I figured I'd pick some of your brains.

I was wondering if any of you had any experience wintering elephant ear plants? Either keeping the plants alive all winter or storing the bulbs. I've heard of people bringing the plants indoors but having major issues with insects.

I live on Vancouver Island (Canada) and we have very cool damp conditions here during the winter. Trying to keep bulbs cool and dry is difficult. Moisture permeates everywhere that isn't well heated. It doesn't get cold enough for long enough either. So as a result if you try to store bulbs or plants in a shed or garage its most likely going to be cool and damp or warm and damp. You pretty much have to keep any place room temperature to keep the moisture out but then that is probably too warm to store the bulbs.

These bulbs seem to rot so easily.

Any suggestions. I noticed the local nursery had a ton of EE's two summers back and lost all of them over this past winter. Maybe its a losing battle and I'll have to give up growing these plants or bite the bullet and buy new ones each year.

Thanks

Sam

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

Gotta keep them cool & dry. I'd wrap then in newspaper first, Then place on a bed of sawdust in a cardboard box. Make sure they aren't touching & cover each layer with sawdust. That should absorb any access moisture, and keep the temperatures from fluctuating to much.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I keep most of my EEs in pots. They all come in the house for winter, where I cram them in with my other tropicals. I really don't have insect problems with them. I just have to remember to not water them as much as summer-time.

Of course it's probably more space efficient to store them dormant!

saturn

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

Saturn,

I have a very large collection of EE's that i have to over winter. As far as keeping them in the pot or dry storing them... I really haven't seen much difference either way. It does matter on what type of elephant ear you are trying to store... Most alocasia do well either way except for a few species, colocasia need to be kept in the soil, and Xanthosoma don't really care. My best advice for you is that if you can leave them in their pots and put them some where that is warm enough that they will not go dormant( about 68 ' F or more). This will keep your plants from having to regrow all their roots the next spring and they will just keep growing from the size they are now. They will have to be watered every so often if you do this...

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I have always dug my colocasia up, washed and dryed them, then tossed them into a large tub. I get a few losses like this, but mainly when I didn't let them dry enough. Have you ever dusted your bulbs with sulfer to help with rot? I was thinking about trying this this year and then wrapping them up in newspaper, then the tub.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

My cousin just leaves them in the ground overwinter. The foliage dies back, but they come back bigger each year. We have cool, wet (down to 20 degrees) winters also.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I'm in nw Ohio and my typical routine for my elephant ears is thus:

1. Leave in the ground until the first heavy frost. Heavy enough to pretty much knock the leaves down.

2. Dig up the plants and knock off as much dirt as possible and let them sit in the garage on newspaper for week. My theory here is that some of the nutrients and water from the leaves will absorb into the bulb. Whether that happens or not I don't know, but I don't usually lose many if any, so if ain't broke, don't fix it!

3. After setting in the garage a week I take a sharp knife and cut of the leaves 3 or 4 inches above the bulb. Closer if a small bulb. I knock off any remaining dirt and trim the roots with scissors. It's probably best to error on the longer side, but I cut them down to a couple inches. Again, it works so I don't change it. However, longer roots probably translates into faster growth in the spring. I typically remove the babies from the mother plant at this time too.

4. Seal the bulbs in 1 gallon ziplock baggies with dry sphagnum peat moss. The peat moss absorbs any moisture yet keeps the bulb from becoming overly dry. Peat moss supposedly has some antiseptic properties that helps with rotting also. For bulbs too large for baggies, I use garbage bags and time them shut.

5. Place in a cool, dark place. I use boxes in my garage. It usually gets a little warm in the garage before our last frost date, but the bulbs seem to fair well. A crawl or an unconditioned basement would probably be best. Check the bulbs occasionally, maybe 2 or 3 times over the winter. If you see bad ones, take them out of baggy so they don't cause the others to rot. My black magic (colocasia esculenta) tend to stay a little too dry and I have sprinkled a little water in the bag over the winter.

By using this method, you are definitely going to have to start from bulb every spring, but after a couple years, the bulbs get so big is doesn't take them long to fill out in the spring.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I have grown EE's since the early 80's in 3 different states but all the same Z7.. I have only dug them up when I was moving or moving them.. I did dig them this yr so I can expand the bed... I dried them for a few days put them boxes and under the house with the banana's and Gingers they go.
Kylie

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I am trying to overwinter an alocasia robusta,have you had any experience of doing this.They are difficult to get started once dormant.
Do you have any advice on what I should do,I am keeping ig in a fishtank at the moment in a container to keep the heat to 75

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

Alocasia robusta are a difficult plants from what I have read.
I have not tried them. I have a few alocasia 'borneo giant' pups that I have in an old aquarium too. The higher humidity helps keep the spider mites off them and gives them a little more warmth than the rest of the basement. You just need a good light. I used to keep dartfrogs and had multiple terrariums and like using Compact Fluorescent strip lighting to help keep the plants from getting 'leggy'. Air movement is helpful, but I haven't had a real problem with opening the lid once a day. I am working on my computer fan system to give the tank much better air movement, and in the past I used a cool mist humidifier to produce a fog that kept the humidity levels very high.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I also use a computer fan for circulation ,it works like a dream and runs off a plug in transformer 12v,my problem is light.I have been using metal halide which costs and arm and a leg to run thoughl.Do you know anything about colocasia mammoth?

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

No I don't, but from a quick google search it looks like it could be treated like other Colocasia esculenta. I treat those rough during the fall and 90% come back nice each spring and multiple to twice the number by fall, so I have more than enough each spring.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I have not heard of the cool mist humidifer ,is there a brand name,although the rising heat from the fishtank would provide a lot of humidity I would have thought
regards
Joe

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

I read some research last year that the critical temperature was 50, below this they usually failed ,when starting again in the spring they take off in about 7 days and it worked for me.I have also kept them in the ground but they took ages to regrow.One year I carefully kept them nearly dry in a large bin full of leaves for insulation in the garage and lost everyone.I now bring them in the house as near to 50 as I can get

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

Sounds like you should be fine. Their are several brands out there, but after looking at mine I guess I was using an ultrasonic humidifier. Either would work and you wouldn't run the risk of burns. I was using it to supply fresh humid air to the tanks, because I didn't have a fan system I liked to use with the frogs.

Re: Keeping EE's over the winter
 

Thanks I think I am going to employ your method! :bananas_b :bananas_b