I have jumped in with both feet, no turning back now. I saw this one a while back and fell in love immediately but thought I best not to get started on a new craze. Well, I have thrown all caution to the wind. I just got this from Enid and it is BEAUTIFUL!! I do not even know what soil they like.
The stems are so great.
OOOOH! I like that one!
They do not LIKE wet feet!!!!!!...lol...keep on the dry side..
So some like to be soaking wet, and some like to be very dry?
Alocasias want to be dry?
Yep.There are several kinds in this group...I just gave away 4 kinds to ely..lol...
Alocasia Sarian
A. Superbra
A. Tigrina reticulata
A. Advincula 'Batwing'
Too picky for my humidity area..I am surrounded by Rice fields here..lol.
Now my A.'Hilo Beauty'..and ...A.'Persian Shield' likes rich moist soil!! Ya have to do ya homework to understand these darn plants!!! Been there and done that..lol..
Here there is hardly any humidity! So maybe I will have luck. Enid said I could grow this one in my house. I have no GH. Some better be able to overwinter outside. But we get rain all winter, it is our rainy seaon and we get no rain at all from May to November.
Is ALOCASIA MACRORHIZA 'NEW GUINEA GOLD' fussy about being wet? I just got a HUGE one of this from Enid. Dick was the instigator of this purchase. He is dangerous to me.
I am about to order ALOCASIA MACRORHIZA 'LUTEA'. Is this one fussy? Henry got me going on this one. If I plant it in the gorund, can it withstand days of rain?
Also I have ALOCASIA ADVINCULA on my order sheet, just waiting for me to hit BUY. I take it that too I will have to keep inside all winter when it rains so much?
I probably need to slow down and see how the ones I have do.
A. 'New Guinea Gold- don't like wet feet either...got that too..it is growing good where I have it in a large pot with fast draining soil..The level of the soil is just below where the leaves come up..I planted all my Alocasias in large pots and then plant the pot half way in the ground..I pull them up and overwinter them in my hothouse.
I understand the others are fussy too...
Kell, I have my eyes on Borneo Giant, lutea and Sarian. If you get crazy, save me those. LOL If I get moved before it gets too cold, I may go ahead and get them. I think I see a huge halide light in my future. :)
How funny you said you have the order page and just havent hit the Buy button yet! I have done it a couple of times now! And your list of what you got are the same as the ones I am looking at, everytime someone posts what they got from Enid, I am back there looking at their website again.
Funny that you and I are both switching gears around the same time. Me backing away from more daylily buying and you ..brugs? Well, regardless, something here has got to go and make room for these wonderful big tropical things! And there is always pots anyways if not in ground room...speaking of which, I need more of those too!
ok, I hit the Buy! Lutea on the way, I restrained myself, for now.
LOL Sue. The brugs are getting old. Such mite magnets. I never had to spray my yard routinely in the past. The most I would use is Palmolive soap on a few aphids. Now I feel it is becoming a toxic dump. I usually just use Neem but still, I use it too much!! I just bought a systemic mite killer again, and thought is all this worth it? And I am beginning to agree with my DH, once you have seen one brug, you have seen them all.
But if they hate water Sue, we are in trouble in the winter. Big trouble.
Funny you mention pots. I just go back from that pot place I found on E. 14th by Bayfair. They got a new shipment in. I get the tall, thin ones so they fit in between other pots. I hope my DH does not look in my car.
Chele, you are a bad influence too!
Well, we are off to San Francisco for the day and evening. Have a great and joyous day all. I am hoping to!
OK they still are kind of fun. LOL
Kell, you have a new obsession, a new addiction. There is only one cure.......send them all to me. I am not addicted, I will keep them for you.
OK, who is Enid and do they ship to Texas?
Well I never! Look on the left there! Look at the zones! Look at the states! How could a chick in Ohio, zone 6 cause any problems with tropicals whatsoever?? :)
Hi all. Just wanted to say that after "lurking" in this discussion for a while..I have ordered three Borneo Giants from Enid of Natural Selections. See how dangerous this is? I didn't even take part in the discussion and I caught the EE bug. My new babies are due this week. I am soooo excited!!!
Kell, welcome to the world of EE obsession. I have a dual obsession with these as well as with brugs, althought these are so much challenging to grow. Good thing you already know how to deal with mites as these guys are mite magnets, soooo much more so than brugs.
Welcome, Nem! If you want to find out more about EE's there's a fantastic book called "Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family" by Deni Brown. Lots of great info on Alocasias, Colocasias, Caladiums and many other aroids.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0881924857/qid=1124053993/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-0130801-5082456?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Are you planning to plant your "Borneo Giants" in the ground or keep them in containers?
Gee NematanthusNut, you must have lots of room. I wish I did!!
Emily, say it is not so, Joe!! Well, I should have known when I got one with mites in the mail that I ordered. (not from Enid). I HATE mites.
I actually have a brand new love I had such an incredible dream about last night. OH AH OH. Such lust is too much for me. But one my husband will dash any dalliance at all with. He is no fun at all. I may even agree to move if I can have one of these for my very own.
Kell, sadly it is so. Brugs are soooo easy to grow compared to Alocasia, but, to me, this is part of the challenge. Another nasty thing to watch out for is crown rot. I know that's not the scientific name (probably one of these: Phytophthora/Pythium Rot, Rhizoctonia Root and Stem Rot). After losing a couple Alocasias to this, I learned to make the soil mix VERY well-draining by adding plenty of perlite, pumice, and even a little sand.
For those that love it really dry, I've even thrown in some medium bark that I use for my orchids. I'm no expert, but I haven't lost a plant in 6 months (fingers crossed).
One of my Xanthosoma violaceum plants had been overwatered and some of the roots were rotting so washed off all of the soil, cut off the rotten roots and put the roots into a water/hydrogen peroxide solution to get rid of the rest of the rot. Poor thing is covered in spider mites too!
Cala, Enid is from Natural Selections Exotics and they are a great online nursery to buy from. They also sell plenty on eBay. I've bought from NSE I don't know how many times now and have always been very happy with the size and health of the plants!
Those are some beautiful plants Kell!!!
You done Good!
As I moved from Colocasia (which take a blow torch to kill) and Monsteras into the other Aroids learn one thing!
Read..Read..Read!
Everyone is different.
Find out where in the World they come from first.
Then see if you can duplicate that climate easily.
If not think twice.........build the climate first.........and then go for it! lol
We now have a Vivarium and 4 plant cases for special needs........
I have gotten some good advice from my orchid growing friends on soil mixes
Seems terrestrial orchid mix is GREAT Alocasia and Xanthe mix too.
Drains fast but holds just enough moisture for the roots.
Course now I'm into orchids too............so maybe that wasn't such a good idea!
Ric
Do you still grow monsteras, Ric? It's one of my favorite genera. I have a number of odd, rare, and uncommon (and some common) philos and monstera (and a few other aroids). Not so good at the alocasia, but some colocasias are doing well for me.
I love the cool monsteras and philos, but really, I'm "into" anything unusual or uncommon that will grow in my area (in other words, take our mega-hot summers).
Emily & Kell,
I'm not new to aroids but I am new at being able to plant them in the ground and leave them there. When I was in Tennessee they had to grow in pots and I didn't have good luck with bringing them in the house in the winter. Now that I'm in Louisiana, they can stay out all year. The leaves may get frostbitten but the stalks never freeze. The Borneo Giants are going to be my "living fence". I'm glad to find out about Natural Selections Greenhouse!
Thanks Carter. I've bought from NSE! They have very nice plants.
