I haven't planted Elephant Ears in many years. I decided to add them to my purchases this year. Then I look at my yard which has no tropical feel and wonder if I should put them on my covered proch. Any pictures of these beautiful plants in containers?
Kathy
Elephant Ears - mammoth - do they do well in containers
I have all mine in pots.
BIG pots...............
OH MY GOSH! How old are these? I'm sure you must bring them inside for winter - or do you? They are so tall. Are these the EE like you get at walmart? How many bulbs are in one pot?
That is amazing -
Ok, confession time..........that was taken in '05..........I do not have those plants anymore BECAUSE they got too big and I divided them. Now I have lots. In pots. Yes, I have a large greenhouse, so they come in. Those are alocasia, they do better than the colocasia do. Sometimes I just give up and cut the colo's back, but the alo's do just fine. I love big plants, and these fit the bill. I bought the originals as bulbs at the garden center. Well, the first 2, now I just divide the pups off when the whole conglomeration gets too big for 20 inch pot and re-pot the new ones up.
Anna, thank you for the inspirational photos!
Is there a reason the alocasia do better than the colocasias for you? Is it because of your climate?
That's fine that its from 2005. I love it. I wonder which I'm getting from Walmart.....? So are these from one growing season or are these over wintered in the greenhouse and not cut back? I'm trying to get an idea of what I may have - or need to get.
Do you have bulbs to trade? I'm not sure what I will end up with from the walmart "Mammoth" 11/13 bulbs for $3.
Kathy
Greenhouse climate is greenhouse climate............I have one 20 inch pot of colocasia that look wonderful...........and several other ones that look like cwap. LOL I try to spray about every 10 days or so (which reminds me, I MUST do that in a couple........:>)
I have alo's that have gotten way huge, and you know they lose the leaves from the bottom up, so after they get about so tall, they have this leafless long stem. When the plants get that big I take a serrated knive, cut the leaf part off, leaving enough of the stem that you can stick it pretty far in a large pot (so it doesn't fall over). Then take the stem part and lay it lenghtwise in a long planter, cover about half the stem with soil. It will take about 6 months or so, but you will have many more alo's to pot up. I just take the aforementioned serrated butcher knife, saw them apart leaving some of the brown stem and pot up. Wish you lived closer, I have at least 6 I potted up and tossed about that many when I cut it all up during the winter. I sure don't want or need that many, but they were nice starts and I hated to kill them all off. I have one that I need to do soon, it looks pretty skanky with that long stem.
I think I have a pic I'll post if I can find it that I tried to make a mark on it to see where I'd cut it and where the nubbies are showing that will become new plants.
Ok, in the photo above, of the whole plant, I will probably cut it about 6 inches below the white on the stem, just above where the brown is. In the 2nd pic I tried to mark with black where the new plant will start.
In this photo you can see all the new plants that started from that stem I did last year. This was the one I divided a couple of months ago. It was like butchering a hog to cut all that up. LOL.
This message was edited Mar 7, 2012 7:36 PM
This is a Colocasia that I bought at Walmarts 2011, and I over wintered the bulb and just potted it up for this summer..
Christine
Thanks - now I see what a walmart bulb will do. I wasn't sure. Did it get larger than that during the season or was it that size at the end of summer.....also is the bulb much larger now that you've over wintered it?
Kathy
The plant did double in size buy end of summer, the mother bulb also doubled in size, I tried to over winter the pups but they rotted, but at least I got to save the big one.
Christine
Kathy,
I haven't grown these a lot myself but I did buy the bulbs at either WalMart or Home Depot and as I remember they grew around 4ft in one season here in Maine zone 5a.The matter of fact I was eying some bulbs at WalMart just 2 days ago and kept thinking ..should I...shouldn't I ....I didn't see any other bulbs I NEEDED :-) so I didn't want to get into a long line.But I'll probably buy one or 2 for accent ( pot )
I potted up 2 EE in one nice pot that I can move around as I redecorate outside. I put them in a spare bedroom that stays very warm and gets late day to evening sun. I also put 6 or so in a large round pot so they could get an early start.
I also bought 6 from Lowe's. I have potted them in 1 gallon pots to get them started before I move them to large pots. My question, how much misting or water do they need to get started, or should I not water al all? This has been my question with my canna's and dahlia's also. The soil looks awfully dry to me. I just am a worrywart I guess.
By the way ------------ Love your plants!
This message was edited Mar 30, 2012 7:37 AM
I always water mine in well when first potted up and then I keep the soil moist but not wet. Most of the time I dont mist. Good Luck they are so rewarding to grow..
Christine
MyRee - I do not know about the EE's, but Cannas and Dahlias can rot if you over water. Dahlias in a pot should have at least 1/2 garden soil instead of all potting soil. This will tend to hold the moisture in as well.....so be careful not to drown. :-)
Love all these EE's.........gonna have to get some this year.
Thanks so much. I think mine are all on the dry side. I will see if the soil on the EE's need to have water added.
I'd love to know the directions on how to plant these bulbs. Are
they planted completely into the soil or do you plant the bulb only
half way? How many bulbs can you group together? Is there is
a top/bottom to this bulb? How can one tell?
I am also new to elephant ears in containers.
I bought plants from Wellspring,someone on the other site said hers get quite big by July.
I have Teacup
Mojito and a Black.
Just waiting for better weather to get started.
Does anyone know how long it takes for an EE bulb to germinate?
We planted one about a week and a half ago and still no sign above dirt!!
They can take any where for 4-6 weeks, they are growing there root system that we dont get to see, but once you see the first sign of growth they take off like crazy. I swear they grow inches over night ..
After they get growing give them 1 Tablespoon of urea per gallon of water once a week............the nitrogen will make them grow gangbusters. If there is a farmer's seed and chemical business nearby, you should be able to get some granular urea there. I just put 5 T. in a little water in a 5 gallon bucket, stir until the granules dissolve, and then water. I also use MG too once a week, or whenever I do everything else.
Edit to say................after I read that I realized I didn't say that after you dissolve the 5 T. in the small amount of water, full the bucket up, THEN water the plants. Sheesh............must be losing what is left in my brain. :>)
This message was edited May 10, 2012 12:30 PM
4 to 6 weeks.....wow. Good thing I asked, in another week I was about to dig it up and check. OK, so we'll wait. Thanks jasminesmom.
Anna_Z - good to know about the nitrogen......since we are growing them for the leaves....makes sense. Thank you. Are they acid lover's do you know?
I just bought my first colocasia bulb. Can I just use potting soil in the pot or do i have to buy special,dirt. I don't have compost available. Also is the bulb ready to plant or do I have to do something special with it before I plant it like let it freeze or something?
Hi Sheri -- I use potting MIX or potting soil with some peat moss added to it, and, no, don't freeze the bulb.
Just a note: EE's don't rot as easy as Cannas and definately not as easy as a Dahlia. Some of them actually like bog conditions. Research the particular type. I have never killed an EE by over watering it, wish I could say the same about Dahlias and Cannas.
I have.............."Polly".
I believe 'Polly' is an alocasia.
The alocasias do better in a freeze. I leave all of mine out in winter and occasionally it freezes here. I'm still wondering if I'm going to ever see any of the colocasias again after this last winter. My upright EE's are the only ones that have come back so far.
We've had so much cold and wet. I don't know if any of my "ears" will show up this year. :(
I was really surprised when they didn't come back. I have had them out there for about 3 years and they were just starting to look really good last year. Next time I buy them I will pot them in something movable and drag them into the living room with the rest of the true tropicals.
You know it was REALLY hot yesterday here, maybe our cold weather has finally finished for the year. It was a long winter.
Mine returned for several years but I don't think they will this year. :( I do believe I will plant any in the future in a different location.
Hmmm, I've never had alocasia survive our winters in the ground so I always keep them in the pot but colocasias on the other hand usually come back but are smaller than if I dug them up - later on as the heat builds they catch up and often surpass what I brought indoors. I dug up the Illustris mother plants in the fall of 2012 but didn't realize all the little runners would come back the following year. This was August last year. No sign of them yet but the cannas and dahlias are up...
I was talking about my Colocasias.
Sorry Cville_Gardener (Crossville? I lived in Sparta and Cookeville for a few years) I should've said I was responding to Domehomedee. According to Tony Avent (he does a lot of pushing boundaries at his nursery) - his theory of why some hardy tropicals do better in the south than CA is our long hot summers even if our winters get a lot colder.
My picture disappeared too. GRRR!
We have so little humidity here. Most of the time it's below 85, even in summer. Which is great if you are a human, but on the whole I can't grow true tropicals. The EE's we do here are what I call semi-tropical (that means they do good here, LOL). There are a lot of plants that will grow here, just not a lot that do really well here. The mild weather confuses them. My daffodils come up in winter, and this year every plant in my flower garden bloomed at the same time about a three weeks ago, that was really strange, beautiful, but strange. They are already starting to look spent.
Clarksville.
Ah! Too many villes in TN at times. McMinnville, Crossville, Cookeville, Smithville, Spartaville (just kidding about that one). I just remember Spencer and Crossville being on the mountains.
lol. Yes, a lot of those are in east TN. I'm in Middle TN.
Those places I mentioned are middle TN. Cookeville is about the mid point between Knox(ville) and Nash(ville). HA! I consider anything east of Knoxville as east TN...