I am about to plant 3 Alocacia "Borneo Giant" here in Mandeville, LA. Anyone else growing them in the ground in this region? I have seen them here (year 'round) reaching amazing heights. I know I SHOULD have planted in the spring (late Feb. here) but even planting now...they should have until at least December before temps dip into the 40's. My bananas stay in the ground all year with the only damage being frostbitten leaves in late Dec/Jan. Any thoughts? I suppose I could put them into large pots and drag them in and out all winter but I really think they will be ok in the ground. It's just their young age that concerns me. My banannas are older and tough.
Borneo Giant in the Gulf South
hi, I'm right under you...
All my EE's are in the ground here. They are pretty tough. Just mulch it over real good before the first frost...if we have a rainy winter, pull the mulch away so the bulbs don't rot. Bulbs rotting is the biggest problem..our ground doesn't get cold enough that the cold would hurt it.
good luck & welcome to DG!
Welcome, Nema Nut! Good luck with Borneo in your area. I am not as warm as you and Lisa, but my ele. ears stay in the ground year round too. They do die back, but come back in the spring. For me, it seems to take forever for them to come back, so I usually wind up digging up a bulb and replanting it someplace else in the ground. Seems like ele ears get bigger for me if I divide them. Guess that it true with most all bulbs. Particularly bulbs that clump.
The delay in popping up has to do with average soil temp. I forget the number, but it basically has to be above 70-something 24/7 before it kicks it growth hormones into gear. Thus, the lateness of its egress from the netherlands below surface level.
I think I remember something like that - the problem here is that sometimes in the Spring, like the past Spring, it does go below 50 at night, and that stops the ground from warming up. This year we had a very cool spring - not good for the tropicals. Sometimes we have no winter at all. I can remember times with my hibiscus never died back and I picked them for the Christmas dinner table!!
How about black plastic or landscape cloth to heat the soil sooner?
We put some of our pots in black plastic bags to help the sprouting in Spring.
Ric
Hi everyone and thanks for the replies. I have only been here three years but it did seem that this past winter and spring were the coldest I have seen. Winter before last, I didn't bring any plants in all year. Last winter I was constantly dragging things in and out, in and out. I had originally planned to plant the EEs next spring but Natural Selections greenhouse has them on sale for 19.99 so I HAD to order three of them. My bananas stay in the ground all year and I don't cut them down. I just let them get bigger and bigger and they don't clump/multiply. The stalk never freezes and I don't usually even lose any of the leaves until late Dec or Jan. It seems (usually) that by mid Feb, winter is over. I'm hoping the giant EEs will behave like the bananas. The drainage along the "fence row" is pretty good so hopefully..no rotting. But I will mulch and watch carefully this winter. I will be sooo depressed if they don't make it. I find gardening here to be a real challenge with the extreme heat and rain and the really acidic soil. Practically none of the things I grew in TN do well here.