Elephant Ear, Taro (Colocasia esculenta)

Grown by Lupinelover, photo courtesy of Windsurffer

I have this exact plant in my front yard, are you sure that this is the type it is? I am having huge problems with my smaller leaves turning brown and yellow, in order to get help with it I need to know the exact name of the plant... by the way your plant is georgous. How old is it? Does this type bloom?

sassy this sounds like normal growth pattern to me,are you talking about the small leaves in this photo?

Hi Sassy :) Welcome to Dave's Garden!

Yes, this is the correct name of the plant (the one in the box). I bought my original tubers in '98. The ones in the above photo had been a single tuber in a pot, but multiple growing points came from it, so I removed it and chopped it into pieces before putting them in this box. From one tuber I got 9 pieces, each with a growing eye. There are 5 of them in this box.

They grow new leaves in sequence, the older leaves yellowing as new ones are forming. The new ones are usually bigger and better than the previous ones, until it is starting to go dormant. I start mine in March, usually, and by October it generally starts going dormant -- any new leaves are smaller, but often not putting any out after September.

I lift and store my tubers indoors during the winter, then pot them in March before being set out in early May.

Mine have never bloomed, but that isn't unusual -- few of the ones available for horticulture bloom much. Blooms tend to be insignificant, and it is easier to cut tubers into pieces rather than to try to start from seed.

The photo below is the box with the Calocasia the previous year: check out the size of the leaves! (Those are my parents playing in them ;D

Hope this helps!

my situation is a little odd... the new growth is what dies,
the older leaves continue to grow and be beautiful.
It is only the new ones that look like this, and it is usually once they reach 3ft in diameter.
Someone help.

You can see how the leaves are browning out, but I haven't heard of the new leaves turning brown. The ladder is 6'

I have my Elephant Ears plant in a large container on the porch and generally water it from the bottom. It was facing south and now east because of the winter sun dropping south (S. California). When the sun hits it, I have had a little sunburn. It is doing very well and will soon be too large for this location. I would like to plant it but don't want to hurt it. Will it tolerate hot full sun? Will it tolerate acid soil? I would appreciate any input!

With the weather getting colder, I was wondering what I should do to my elephant ears so that I will have them again next year. They are still sending up new ears. Is there something that I should do to send the energy back into the bulbs? Do I cut the ears off and dig them up for winter? How do I store them for winter?

I buy these every year. I would like to try to save these for next year.

Michael

Well today I cried... :(
I cut down my elephant ears, a very sad occasion indeed. They had reached over 6 feet tall and had bloomed 18 blooms in just 4 months, such beautiful creatures. They were still growing and producing wonderful new leafs, but as everything else they need their rest, so today I cut them down, allowing them to rest for the mild winter I should have in zone 8. I will not however be digging up the bulbs, living in this zone, the ground rarely freezes.

sassymomma, did you fertilize your elephant ears? I thought that maybe your plants had fertilizer burn. I do not fertilize mine.

trecamp, elephant ears should not look like this. Are these planted in full sun?

I dig my elephant ears in the fall. I do not water them for several days before digging them, otherwise the roots are too big and hard to get through them.

I never cut the foliage off until it withers on its own -- I just lay them out in cool dry place (usually the garage) for a few weeks. As the leaves go dry, that sends most of the energy into the bulb. Be aware, that can take 2-3 weeks. Some of my tubers are 5 years old, and massively huge. I let them get completely dry before storing them in dry peat inside paper bags in the basement (coolest place in my house -- about 58F).

In the spring, before planting, you can cut them into pieces, much like you would a seed potato, and each piece should root and grow, or you can leave them to do that on their own eventually. If you do cut them apart, make sure you apply a fungicide (I use flowers of sulphur) and allow the cut part to scar before planting them to avoid rot.

Lupine-what are the smaller plants growing on the ground underneath and in front of the box? thanks-jft

That is wild ginger, Asarum canadensis. I grow it both as ground cover and as specimen plantings in different parts of my yard. Gorgeous, huh?

hi all I just purchase a bulb I pay $7.99 It is like 5 inches round with 3 eyes and I want to really have a nice plant. I live on zone 9 (southern california) we have frost in the winter and 105 degrees in summer. so my question: should plant it in a big planter or small and transplant latter? I gess no fertilizer. and no sun. and it is too late and should wait until nex spring?
Thank your comments well help a lot.
sylvia