Hi there I am new to this forum and in need of desperate help please. I live in the Middle East in Qatar and in summer for about 5 months the temperature gets to 45 degree in the daytime
I have two different plant problems which I need assistance with please
1. I purchased in April - spring - few Caladiums from a lady and planted them in pots indoors...they were doing perfectly fine and I even gave a friend a couple of diff shoots from the two diff varieties I had ...all of them had vey large leaves...one was very bright pink and green, the other kind was bright red centre with green border ...however we left mod June for holidays back Home to Australia and I had. My husband caring for the indoor plants...most of them survived however my caladiums completely died :( completely.
When we got back at the end of August I found that the pots were sitting in the heat upstairs where the sun got quite hot if u didn't switch on the air con...I read on several forum that's u could plant bulbs but most of them talk about bulbs purchased from stores...I dug up the bulbs with the scraps of withered leaves attached in the pots and repotted them..but two weeks ago and nothing has happened. I placed them near the window...my question is do I need to 'dry out' or do something to the bulbs before re potting them? Do I need to cover the pots with cling wrap ...do they need to have drying soil? How long before I can see any growth? Please do help cos in Qatar u do not actually get there plants in stores and there were so incredibly beautiful with their large leaves. Also the friend whom I have the shoots..is she able to split the plant somehow and give me a couple of the stems or will that wreck her plant? Se has gone from the two baby leaves i gave her to 5-7 large and small leaves. Please help as to how I can regrow my caladiums or reuse these bulbs. W also do not get nay special soils or mixes here. Only an indoor soil pack of one kind that's it.
My next question is to do with Elephant Ears (alocasia amazonica) with gorgeous stripes (which is alls a caldium type) ....I bought from a Nursery 4 days ago..the nursery owner insisted they were zebra pants which I knew it wasn't (but have got used to the lack of knowledge here) and planned to use google to search the name and what they were. He advised me to water them well when I got home as he had to repot into a smaller pot sell the plant to me plus the plant sat in the back of the car (aircon) but for 2 hours inthe heat. When I got home the plant was fine but I did water it well for fear of it might had a heat stroke. Since then the dark green waxy leaves have become soft droopy and purple. After I found out that they were Elephant Ears and an alocasia? I understood that they didn't like too much water. Yesterday - day 3- I repotted them into a new larger ceramic pot and watered it t tiny tiny amount jsuT to settle it into it new place...however I find that another two leaves have become soft and crinkly at the edges...will it keep becoming more sick or will it recover in a couple days now that is m not going to water ot anymore and it settles into tis new home? Should I cut of the soft damaged leaves so the plant can focus on the healthy leaves and grow more? If I shd cut of the leaves that have become purple and soft should I cut them at the base or the top? Please do help. Awaiting reply desperately. Many thanks
