Sequee was kind enough to send me 2 nice tubers of Illustris EE, and 2 small rootings of her Black Magic. How should I care for them right now (indoors as it is cold out). What is the best way to plant them. What kind of soil should be used.
George in San Antonio.
Help me make my 1st try at EE's sucessful
Someone please help George and myself. I have a Xanthosoma Sagittifolium and a Black Magic and another EE, and none of them is looking to good. I took a baby of the XS and transplanted it and discovered the mama had rotted. I had two leaves on the BM and have lost 1 and the other is starting to dry up. Well my other EE maybe is going to make it. I have been keeping the soil damp and they aren't sitting in water. I mist them every day. So PLEASE someone help George and I out.
I could use some help to with a Black Magic EE that was recently sent to me by DianeK. It is a new baby one...as one leaf comes in , one dies. I am keeping it moist indoors, but not misting it!
What does it need to keep it alive? It looked so healthy when it arrived a few weeks ago...but not now!
HELP please!
Thanks, Margie
I just stick them in regular potting soil and keep them in bright light making sure they don't dry out. I've even kept them in a cold basement and they will survive. I thought my illustris died last spring but I sat the pot outside anyway and it got huge.
I think it's pretty impossible to kill them unless you freeze them! I brought one of jester's Mommies into the basement, just dug up from the grounds at work and in a black platic bag and tossed it into the basement intending to let it go dormant. It is now HUGE and has 4 new leaves on it. The other I put into an EarthBox with other babies as I received them - they, too, are doing great!
A few tips, though: DO NOT OVERWATER, you will kill them with kindness by overwatering indoors. Outside they do fine in damp areas, though. They prefer shade to bright sun for the best coloring. They seem happiest when it's a bit cooler than over heated. Again, they don't seem quite so fussy outside, but indoors they seem to light filtered light, cool temps, minimal water.
Good luck! They really are beauties and I hope they do as well for you as they've done for me!
I have one sitting in a north window it is the one that looks like it may make it. The one that I replanted the baby and the mother rotted was in a south window. Then my black magic was in the same south window. So I moved the two out of the south window and put them in a corner where they can get some light from my grow light but not directly. We keep our house between 65 and 68 due to the cost of propane. I just watered them all Thurs. I drilled some holes around the baby xanthosoma sagittifolium yellow cup so it could get some air and maybe help dry out the soil. I hope I'm not going to kill them cause I so want them to make it until spring so I can put them outside, and watch them get big.
Is a earth box heated? I will have to go check and see if I can find some threads that pertain to it.
I am sending a picture of the two EE's and where I located them in the corner, if anyone thinks they are still to close to the lights please let me know.
Linda
Edit to say: Brugie your EE plant is beautiful. I'm jealous. Oh so jealous.
This message was edited Dec 18, 2004 10:57 AM
This reminds me that I dug a Black Magic and let it lay on the ground for a couple of weeks and then stuck it in a bucket in the garage. Never did plant it. It is still standing up like it has good sense. I guess I better do something with it.
Rub it in Brugie, I can't even grow them and you can't kill them. I wish a little of your knowledge or luck would come my way. Brugie keep up the good work.
Linda
They're funny, aren't they? It's like they have no idea what neglect is! LOL!
2pug - Yours look good, I think they'll do fine, just DON"T overwater.
Whatcha under the growlights?
My plants all do better if I keep my hands off them. LOL!
I agree with all of the above - the Illustrus should make it outside in the ground tho. Jester you are much warmer the me here in zone 7b, but I have a nice clump of Illustrus that comes back bigger and better every year. Last winter I dug it up just for fun, and must have left a few runners under ground, I had another big patch there this year. Some people leave the Bk Magic in the ground here also, with heavy mulch, but I lost mine that way. The plain green Taro is the hardiest and I never dig them up.
Linda, I think, especially at this time of the year when the sun isn't strong, that the more light you can give them from a window, the better they will grow. Right now, you just want to make sure they stay alive more than anything and having tried keeping them alive in the house for three years, I find that those in bright window light do the best. Amazonica doesn't get a lot of bright window light, but she does get some (3-4 hours) and she is more of a shade lover.
Thanks Brugie, I hope mind will survive until spring. I do love the EE's and have never had them before, and really want to make a go of it.
Linda
I'm sure they will be fine. Do watch them for spider mites and fungus gnats. Those two things can really slow them down if not kill them.
I just went out to do a little survey - direct sun vs. indirect sun vs. miniml sunlight... Here are the results:
oops - These are actually running ee's - just planted a week ago from tubers. They are in the sunroom with medium light.
Minimal light...
Bright light
Partial light
LOL - perhaps the lighting is not as important as I thought - LOL! These babies are happy and WANT to grow - period!!!
Brugie - Did you spot my little bruggie in with the Running EE's? It's a Species! Can't wait to see how she makes out! This will be my first year with brugs - wish me luck!!!
Sequee what I can see with your EE's looking the way they do, you won't have any trouble with the brugs. Both your thumbs and the 8 fingers all must be green.
Your EE's put mine to shame.
Linda
Funny thing is, I actually brought them in to go dormant! It broke my heart to tear off the Black Magic's BIG leaves! (The largest leaf measured 38 inches long and 26 inches across!)
Once they get going, they REALLY get going...you just need to have patience and a strong "neglect" gene!
Should be really pretty out there next summer with ears and brugs. I know you have other stuff too. Illustris will enjoy dappled shade and be almost black for you next summer, but in the sun will be nearly green. Black Magic is the opposite. More sun, darker. If you put a piece of tape across one of the leaves and take it off, days later, it will be green under it. By the way, I like to grow my Illustris and black magic in pots that have saucers and I just keep them full of water all the time. Now, that is outside, not inside. LOL!
These guys did great in grown last year. We recently built a $34M Retirement Community and the Landscapers kept putting all the wronmg stuff in a semi-shady, very damp area. I finally got fed up and bought the EE's and Caladiums. They did fabulously! At the end of the season I learned that the Landscapers don't "do" dig up! So, I grabbed 2 of the worker bees and we dug up what we could. I figured to overwinter them and return them come Spring. My boss told me I should take anything beyond the main bulbs!
Hence the pots of EE's everywhere! I have a HUGE Norway Spruce that covers an area of about 10' 8'. Nothing grows there, so I'm hoping to put these guys out there! Now would that be a nice treat???
Wow, I'd be watching that place for some great stuff every fall.