One of the houseplants I received from my husband's funeral in 2007 was an African Mask (Alocasia). It has slowly lost all but 2 leaves. I was sure I was going to lose it especially when one of the leaves started dying earlier this Spring. However, in the past 2 weeks, it has put out 2 new leaves and looks like a third is on the way. I'm so excited and relieved!!
African Mask appears to be on the mend
that's great! im glad to hear that! what did you do to it to revive it?
I just purchased a beautiful African Mask a couple weeks ago. It is my second favorite plant out of all plants. I used to grow them a lot and I found out that one thing that they want most of all is a lot of humidity. So I mist mine at least once a day, maybe more. I keep the mister right by the plant so that whenever I look at it I remember to mist it. One time I had two of them because I love them so much. They are really beautiful plants. And when I had those two I was having a hard time keeping them alive. So what I did was to put them on a pebble tray. I bought a clear plastic tray that you use to sit your plants in. Then I put some pebbles in it and then added water and then sat the plant in the tray. That worked great for me and I was able to grow them very well. I have not made a pebble tray for the one I have now but I will if it starts to look bad or starts to die. Here is a photo of mine.
Good luck with yours and I hope that it grows to be a beautiful plant.
Jesse
I really didn't do anything, primarily because I didn't know what TO do since it was such a slow process (20 months of losing 1 leaf at a time). Admittedly, I was somewhat lax about watering over this past winter, but don't believe humidity was the issue as I have 2 pebble vases (each hold over a quart of water) sitting among a large group (12-15) of plants.
There is definitely a 3rd leaf coming and the older leaf is completely gone.
I had never seen an African Mask until I went to the florist to order the casket spray for my husband's funeral. (And casually mentioned that I "hoped" not to get very many common houseplants as I have so many of them...) I also didn't realize there were so many varieties until I started looking for info on it. If this one pulls out of it, I may have to get more as I love the look of them.
My alocasias including African Mask (why is it African since it is Alocasia x amazonica) usually go dormant in the basement for winter. When I move them outdoors for summer they always put on lush new growth.
I never thought about putting it outside! I see from the plant files it likes partial to full shade. I'll try to make room on my porch out of reach of the dogs (only worried about the exuberant lab knocking it over).
(Also, why "Elephant Ear"???)