These are from the little tubers bought at the grocery store. The big one still hasn't sprouted. I planted these in a bucket with no drainage holes so the soil has remained pretty wet.
Garden Talk: Taros from the Grocery Store
Poppysue I planted some grocery store tubers last week. One has rooted, but the other hasn't done anything yet. The squirrels got at one of my lotus tubers though...nothing happening yet with those.
Poppysue, I planted a couple of grocery-store tubers in the spring, and one of mine looks a lot like the big one of yours (the other one still hasn't sprouted, but it did root). I was going to post a photo of it and ask its name. Do you know what yours is?
I can't even remember the name the store had on the root, but when I looked it up, the only reference I could find was for a palm-tree root.
Great minds think alike :D
I guess this would be Colocasia esculenta ... the type grown for vegetable crops.
It looks very happy, healthy and should grow into a good size tropical plant.
C. esculenta is solid green and wouldn't have the red/burgundy eye the one on the left has, or the coloring at the top of the petiole.
My guess would be that the petioles would darken to red/burgundy with more sun. I think this is red-stemmed taro. Mine are still young, but they look the same.
The one on the right might be green taro, C. esculenta, or it might show the red markings when it is older or with more sun. I don't suppose it would be surprising to find them mixed, since the corms are pretty much identical.
I guess this is a dumb question but---where in the grocery store do you find taro tubers? I have never seen any in our stores but then again I live in a small town and you don't find too many fancy veggies or meat cuts in our grocery stores either. Please tell me where to look---maybe I am overlooking them. :(
Countrybumkin,
You will find them called Taro or Edo. They are very common in any Asian Market or any West Indian market or grocery stores of either one.
Countrybumkin - I found them in our regular grocery store. Ours carries a few Asian vegetables. They'd be in the produce section where they have ginger root, horseradish roots, garlic and that sorta stuff.
Thank you joydie and poppysue for the info. I will have to pay more attention to the produce dept. next time I go grocery shopping. I don't think we have any Asian Market or West Indian market here in this small town. I love taros!! Wish me luck that our grocery stores have it. Thank you both!!
Monica - I got some at Publix, I think they were .79 a lb. afew years ago.
I'll keep my eye out too the next time I go shopping. The little ones were really cheap. Just a few cents each. I could pick some up and send them to you.
i have to dig mine up to bring in-i should pot them in holeless pots???
I don't pot ANYTHING in holeless pots! Put your plastic or terra cotta pot in a bigger holeless pot if you want it to be decorative.
Thank you Azalea, but I am afraid we don't have a Publix store here. Poppysue, thank you too for your offer to help me get some. Let me check the major grocery stores around here first. If I find any, I will let you know---you might even hear me shouting with joy!! HeeHeeHee