Hooded Dwarf Elephant Ear,Chinese Taro (Alocasia cucullata)

Hooded Dwarf Elephant Ear,Chinese Taro
Alocasia cucullata

Oh that is REAL nice!

Cool! Is mine the same plant?
:) Donna

Thanks. PerennialGirl it sure looks like it.

Oh goodie!
:) Donna

I recently bought one of these at my grocery. It's in a decorative vase with pebbles. I noticed there were no holes on the bottom, so I removed the pebbles in order to drill some holes. When I did, I noticed that the plant was in a small plastic pot inside there, and is extremely pot bound. It seems to be doing well. I've got like 3 new leaves. I'm just not sure if I should transplant it now or wait until the Spring.

Also....I see here that the conditions say that it likes it moist, yet the little card with the info that came with the plant says 'dry thoroughly between waterings.' Now I'm not sure how to handle it. I do note that sometimes the leaves drip water, and I wasn't sure if that was something I was doing wrong.

The plant is so beautiful I'd hate to lose it. Any advice is most appreciated.

Thanks.

I've been babysitting two for ROX for months now.
It's actually a fairly easy Aroid.
They show no signs of winter slowdown.
Soak it well then let the soil go fairly dry.
South light if you can get it for the Winter.
If you transplant now only go up one pot size.
If the roots aren't terribly bound up you'd be better off waiting til early Spring.

The weeping is fairly common w/ many Aroids and Musa.
You're doing nothing wrong as long as it doesn't weep all the time.
It's just the plant's way getting rid of excess water in the tissue.
Most plants transpire water at night. Aroids just do it from the edges.
Many weep in the morning.
Set other plants under them and you get an automatic watering system! lol

Ric

Thanks so much for responding. No southern exposure in my place. I have large north and west, and some large southwest exposures, but the majority of the SW is outside. Inside the SW exposure the sun comes in late in the day this time of the year. My problem is I've got way too many plants, and not enough places to put them all. :-) What about artificial light?

As for the roots, I want to grab a pic of them, and maybe you can tell me what you think. I'll do that in the morning. Doesn't look like there's much soil, but for the most part, it's doing well. I did lose one very bottom leaf on one of the smaller plants in there. It just flopped down, and seemed weak, so I removed it.

Thanks again for your help.

Try it in the West window.
I do a bunch of Aroids under artificial light.
I've had the best luck w/ Halogens and real Sunlight though.
I use 2 bulb 300 Watt shop lights I got at HD.
I try to keep them about 12" or so above the plants.
I have them timed to come on before and off after the sunrise and then a cycle at sunset.
This lengthens their 'day' and they really respond to it.

Ric

Hi. Sorry for the delay in posting. I see there's two new leaves coming up, so I didn't want to disturb it by pulling it out at this point. I do notice that another old bottom leaf is starting to droop. It's not yellowing, but just kind of drooping down. The rest of the plant is growing straight up, long stalks. Is this something I'm doing? Here's a pic.

Thanks.

Not to worry the oldest leaves on most Aroids do that as they die off.
I do agree w/ you though...that puppy needs a larger pot.

Ric

Is it okay to transplant it while there are new leaves coming up? Also, is one size larger pot enough? The roots are really jam packed in there as you'll see. :)

Thanks again.

If it's throwing leaves it's actively growing and transplanting should go well.
When you get it out of the pot and tease the roots apart.....you'll see how much more pot is needed.
I'm guessing here w/ yours, but from past experience, I'd think 2-3" bigger and pretty deep.
Alocasia tend to throw deep roots from what I've seen.

If the pups have a good root system you can divide it or leave it as a group.

Ric

Very heavy roots tight...hardly any soil. The pot it's in inside that decorative thing is about 3" deep. The decorative one is 6" deep 4" wide. I found a pot here that's definitely bigger around, 6" but it's the same height as the other, 6". Do you think that's still okay? The plant itself, the tallest leaf on the left in this pic is 25" from the pebbles. It really shot up. I was back in the store today looking at the others that were there when I got this one, and it doesn't look like they've hardly grown at all. Not even a foot from the pebbles. Here's a pic. Not sure you can tell anything from it. :)

If you're not dividing I'd go 8 x 8 myself but hey it's not an exact science.
If dividing put the 'Mother' plant in the larger new pot, the pups in the old pot.
I tend to use plastic pots in the Winter because of the weight.
If you have access to compost (not commercial but homegrown) I'd use it for soil in the repot.
I've been mixing it w/ used orchid bark for many of my Aroids.
This winter I'm giving Promix a shot too.......

Ric

I didn't divide. I used Schultz's Potting Soil (what I had here). It's a very light mix. I can't work with the heavy potting soil. I tend to overwater. I think it's because I can't tell by the weight of the pot whether it needs watering or not. No access to compost, and I'm not sure what orchid bark is. I should probably learn as I've been growing a few orchids for a couple of months now. I Googled Pro-Mix, and I see it's a light mix as well. Would you use that on all kinds of houseplants?

Here's a pic of the root mass. I maybe got a tablespoon of soil when I loosened the roots, and that was it. I'll also post a pic of its new home. :)

This message was edited Nov 11, 2006 10:39 AM