Question about my EEs

Wow, some of these threads are pretty tough acts to follow. I won't enter into the who's got the biggest. Haven't asked this unhappy elephant ear about his/her sex life, but it's definately unhappy. It's in a pot on my covered porch. The porch faces the east and is under a huge oak and sweet gum tree, so it's about as shaded as it gets. This is the third leaf to start to dry out and shrivel around the edges. If it was getting any direct sun it would make sense. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? (maybe I can get this bad boy into shape and consider letting him out for a date or two... ) :-)

This is a shot taken in the late afternoon, the closest the EEs get to the sun. I've tried turning it and it does not seem to matter which leaves are closest to the side of the porch where the sun sets.

I will be interested in the answer, I have somewhat the same problem. Mine in the ground do much better than the ones in pots, but I wanted some on the deck. I may have to put them in the ground after all.

I don't know if the question even matters anymore. I took these pictures about an hour before my neighbor stopped by to visit. While we were speaking, her 5 year old decided to "play" with the elephant ears. When I returned to my porch, they were lying over, touching the ground. She tugged and pulled on them, braided them, and they are bent very low to the ground. They don't appear to be broken, but definately a shark crease where they were "folded" over.

I put a stake in and tried to create a splint of sorts, but the most damage is on the main stalk & the others pretty much follow.

Any hope for this poor plant?

to me they look dehydrated, like maybe the tree roots are stealing all the moisture.

They are in a rather large pot. I water every day. I haven't put mulch on top. Suppose that would help?

sorry, deb, I missed the part about being potted. I personally have never had luck potting my EEs. I pot them only temporarily when they are very little or until I decide where their permanent inground home will be. Sorry, I can't be much help but I do hope it bounces back for you.

Unless you've done something drastically wrong, you're EE's will make it. The outer leaves will shrivel and die as new ones come up through the inside stem. If those are on the outside, it may just mean they've lived their life and are on their way out (which tends to happen much more rapidly during the hot summer months) I have many varieties growing in pots as well, and just walk around in the morning with my coffee and snip off any leaves that look like that. A new one will be up in only a few days through the center. In the ground, the plants become fuller, simply because their roots stay more consistenly moist and at a steady temperature, which also makes them spread underground, so you actully see more than one plantm making it look fuller. The only thing their roots can't take, is stagnant sitting water. Fresh clean water is ok, as I have some in my pond, with no soil at all.

Deb, I think it looks like it has mites. I've had a terrible time with mites this year...and if I'm not fighting the mites, I'm fighting aphids.....AND THEY ARE DRIVING ME CRAZYYYYY!

Think they would do better to be moved from pots to garden and then back to pots in the fall? We were afraid that this would be too much stress for them, but we have a shaded place in very shaded and extremely rich soil that we would love for them to occupy. I'm afraid they wouldn't make it over the winter outside. This part of the yard gets a lot of rain as our eves overflow during heavy rain right into this section.
If it's spider mites, how can I tell? We've sprayed everything fairly regularly as the japanese beatles and aphids had a neon sign in my yard flashing "all you can eat!!"

Aphids always see EE'S as a treat...you will see them on the bottom of the leaves, usually along the ribs of the leaves. I wash the leaves with mostly water from the hose, and occasionally a pinch of liquid dish soap.
If you have spider mites, blah, you will have to use a spray (on the bottom) of the leaves. You will notice a faded coloring to your leaves (they such the sap out) Sometimes you can see microscopic webbing on the bottom of the leaves. They're a real bugger to deal with. After you spray your plants to kill the mites (and trust me, they'll be back again) rinse the leaves later in the day with some water, or your leaves will get splotchy.