Will my elephant ear survive winter in zone 7?

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pothead Chesapeake Ranch Est, MD Oct 22, 2014

This spring I purchased my first elephant ear (may be from Elena variety) already growing in a two gallon pot.
I planted it next to the house and it is doing REAL well! I love how it looks and would like it to grow next year.
It is October now in Maryland (zone 7) and I wonder if I should wait for the frost to kill the leaves or cut them down before the first frost? Do I have to dig up the bulb?

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dragonfly53 Bedford, VA(Zone 7a) Oct 22, 2014

I'm in zone 7a and pull my EE's up before the first frost. I read somewhere that if you wait til the first frost, the bulbs will rot. I woud suggest you pull them up now and lay them in a warm sot out of direct sunlight to give them a chance to die back a bit, then cut the tops off and dust with ground cinnamon. I find it seems to stop the leakage from the top of the bulbs and keeps it fairly free of rot as cinnamon is an antifungal

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hcmcdole Powder Springs, GA(Zone 7b) Oct 22, 2014

If it is Alocasia then dig it up. If it is Colocasia you can experiment with a few - mine come back (Illustris) but it takes time for them to come back. I have Elena too but have not experimented with it in the ground (yet). I'm in the Atlanta area and we did get to 5 degrees three times last winter and the Illustris came back a little later than the year before.

One of the ones that came back bigger than the year before. The other location not as good but it is in deeper shade and not watered as often.

Here is my Elena behind Stingray.

Thumbnail by hcmcdole Thumbnail by hcmcdole
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