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Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:41 pm
by johnw
Brad - Nicely grown plants there!

Friend here has a second house in Iquitos, Peru. It's on the edge of the Amazon, very wet and very consistently & unbearably hot & humid. He bought a bunch of Alocasias & Colocasias from Plants Delight last winter and planted them in the new garden in February. He says there's no real soil just dense hard pan with leaf litter atop. Thai Giant was over 10ft tall when he was last there in early August. Now what?

Rain at last here & heavy.

Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:37 am
by JWH
All of my alocasias died and turned to mush in the greenhouse over the winter :(

But most of the colocasias overwintered nicely and are putting up new leaves. The variety 'Pink China' overwintered the best it seems very cold tolerant and was the first to start growing again.

Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:18 pm
by Alan_L
'Pink China' (is it 'China Pink'?) is supposed to be cold-hardy to z6. I think I've left a few tubers in the ground before but not sure -- they didn't come back if I did. The only Colocasia I've ever had trouble overwintering in the garage was C. gigantea, but the rest are all bulletproof.

Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 4:37 pm
by JWH
Alan_L wrote:'Pink China' (is it 'China Pink'?) is supposed to be cold-hardy to z6. I think I've left a few tubers in the ground before but not sure -- they didn't come back if I did. The only Colocasia I've ever had trouble overwintering in the garage was C. gigantea, but the rest are all bulletproof.
China pink sounds alot better! But it's labled as pink china. :roll:

C.gigantea 'thai giant', 'black ruffles', and 'black magic' look like goners here, there might be some baby tubers in the pots, but I haven't gotten around to checking them yet.

Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 4:34 pm
by JWH
I broke up the soil in the pots of 'thai giant' 'noble gigante' 'black ruffles' and 'black magic' yesterday, completely rotten...

Most of Colocasia 'Jacks Giant' tuber rotted, but it still has some life left in it on the underside!

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Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:40 pm
by JWH
johnw wrote:
JWH - Try the Calla called 'Crowborough', I saw it growing out of a compost heap in St. John's, Newfoundland so it must tolerate winter wet, and cold too. Said to be the hardiest one back in good old cold days.

john
These probably aren't anything special, but yesterday, I bought the nicest, healthiest pair of white calla lillies i've seen before....at the grocery store of all places!

I planted them together in a 10gal pot this morning.

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30cm/12inch ruler for scale
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Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 3:27 am
by pokenei
This is my Bac Ha plant. I left it in the garage over the Winter. I am pretty sure it must've gotten down to double digit (Celsius) lows in there and so these guys are hardier than I had expected.

I will try over wintering them in the ground near the foundation this Winter and see if they will come back. The stems will die for sure, but there will be plenty of little bulbs that may survive the cold.

Re: Elephant Ears

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:49 pm
by kreos123
My alo & colocasia

New pictures.

Colocasia gigantea
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Colocasia 'Pink China'
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C. 'Elepaio'

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Alocasia odora and macrrorhiza

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Alocasia brisbanensis

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A. 'Mayan Mask' and 'Regal Shields'

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Alocasia gageana 'Variegata'

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