I went out to do my watering, and found this sight. The broken leave was the newest, and was already over 4ft long and over 8ft tall. I think the leaf was just too heavy for the new stem. What do you think? Sad John
Sad Day
If that were a plant next to my deck I would say a critter like a cat or a raccoon jumped off and broke that leaf.
Aren't these EE's amazing. Each new leaf gets bigger and bigger. I have had one or two of mine do that. I had wondered the same if it was the wind.
Your plant really looks terrific.
Epson salt might help it produce stronger stems. In some cases when I grow them out to fast they lack some strenght some fertilizers could help.
Brian, do you just sprinkle the Epson salt on the ground or do you mix it with water?
and how much?
I sprinkle it on the ground usually 6 to 8 inches from the plant if you want to add it to water it is one teaspoon per gallon.
Thanks Brian
Oh, darn. I think something broke it; critter/wind. Anyway, it's really not that attractive anymore... with the missing leaf and all....I'll drive down Sunday and dig it up for you ;)
AuntB you might as will stop and pick me up and I can go down and help you. carrjohn will probably be glad to get it out of his yard, especialy with that broken leaf.
Thanks brian I haven't been giving any of my EE's any epson salt, I wasn't sure if they liked it or not. So does all EE's like epson salt, I do know that my Alocasia macrorhiza 'Variegata' doesn't like salt.
I just now was in a state of mind to log on to DG. That one leaf was such a dissapointment to me. Because I really tried to grow it different than the others that I have. It was just an EE bulb from Wal-Mart that I planted last year, it had some super blooms so I thought if I treated it really speacial this year it would really do good. I was really proud when the one leaf reached 4ft and then this one opened just shy of 4ft, I knew that it would grow a lot more. All I did different to this one is I dug out the soil about 2ft square and 1ft deep, filled the hole around the bulb with nothing but manure and shredded oak leaves, watered a little every AM.I do have a question for Brian, since this is the last leaf and the next one should evolve from it's stem, will it go ahead and produce another leaf? Please tell me YES. Thanks John
I had three of the WalMart bulbs last year, and they went crazy. They aren't doing as good this year, I think it is due to the dry hot conditions we have been having. I water twice a day and they still don't seem to be doing as well as last year. I think tomorrow I will fix up two 5gal. buckets of water with ES and plant food and see if they may come around. I'm sure it won't hurt them any. I have been feeding them but not on a routine basis, but I haven't been using any ES.
Last year I don't think I feed them but once. Go figure.
WOW, now that is a tub of ears. John
Here is a picture of my EE's for this year.
carrjohn is that another EE on your porch? If so what kind is it.
It will produce another leaf that is unless you see a stem like structure growing out this is usually a tale sign that a bloom will be coming out. I have one now on my Colocasia Gigantea it was getting huge and I had hoped it would produce some monsterous leaves. I may not get the largest leaves this year but if I can cross black magic with Gigantea who cares about the contest LOL.
This is what mine look like right now in 100deg+. The big leaf measures 4ft+. Sad isn't it. John
I'm praying we get some rain, and I would like to see temps. go into the 80* for a while, that sure would help out everything. Not for sure if my prayers will be answered or not. The weatherman has said something about rain, and lower temps.
2pupdogs, the plant on my porch is a philodendron, I also keep it top dressed with my compost.. John
2pugdogs, We are getting rain right now, hope it come your way.
What is rain?
Brinda, it came in the form of a 145 dollar water bill for me last month. John
Oh John, I hear ya! Last month our bill was $243.00 and it just came for this month and it was $289.00 And I really don't expect next month to be much better with the triple digit temps we're having! I'd love to have some really s---l---o---w rain!
It is sad John, but mine could curl your hair with the tales they would tell of the crazy gardener with the BIG giant knife.
Very likely could have been the wind, but don't know if you suffer from windy conditions. I do sympathize with you over the loss of your biggest ear, but fear not......given the right conditions it will just grow bigger faster with every hit it takes.
I take no credit for the explosion of ears in my garden, since I do nothing other than take a machete to them at least once a month! They suck up pond water, never get fertilized, are beaten up by the wind and the sun tries its best to burn them out. Our recent heat wave of 11 consecutive days over 100, three of them over 110, 2 of them at 115, did nothing to deter them. (A couple of more tender forms did get some leaf burn during the worst of the heat wave.)
I'm counting back to remember for sure when I cut these back to nothing.....(flipping the page on the calendar back to July).....it was Sunday the 17th that I butchered the ears down to practically nothing. They've done this for three seasons since I got the 5 gallon can with about 3 leaves and I've pitched as many or more than I've kept. They have crawled up out of the 5 gallon can to the edges of the pond, crawled under the bridge to the other end of the pond and the banks. They dislodge small boulders and driftwood on the waterfall which you can't even see anymore in their quest to take over this little corner of the world. They crawled up and into the tub that serves the waterfall and practically engulfed all the pipes. They attempted to smother the giant gunnera, but even covered in ears, the gunnera just kept on smilin' and growin'.......another potential bully!
Almost impossible to get a decent picture of them......full sun most of the day and the setting sun directly behind them in the evening. Here's a shot from a few minutes ago.
John.......make sure you don't stand still too long when standing next to your ears......they will reach out and getcha! :-)
And you do NOT want to know what water bills here in California are.....last month it was 3 x our first house payment.....but then again that was a very very long time ago!
Oh my God
I second that john OMG. Just think we are doing everything we can to make ours grow, and Happenstance is taking a machete to hers. I figured my water bill today and it was $124.60 and thought that was really bad. Brinda and John you have out done me all together. I have rural water and it is expensive, so guess you two watered a lot more then me.
ghia_girl we haven't seen any rain. I know Wichita has gotten a lot of rain here lately and we have gotten none. We do every now and then see some lighting, and hear some thunder, but that along doesn't water the yard, garden or the flowers. It just makes the water bill higher.
John I have a nice size split leaf philodendron that I wanted to put out on my porch this year, along with my 7 foot rubber plant, but stupid me I picked up 5 kittens about 4 months ago and them critters are tearing everything up they can get there claws into. What was I thinking?? I guess I wasn't or I wouldn't have gotten them. I thought I needed some new blood, all my other 11 cats are wild, but they stay around to eat and catch the mice. And they do one heck of a job doing that.
I guess I better get ready for bed, tomorrow is town day, that's the day I go to town even if I don't want to, have to buy some groceries. My dh won a $100 Wal-Mart gift card playing cards the other night. Guess where I am going to buy my groceries? But I have to get up a little early so I can go outside and water, cause it doesn't look like we are going to get any rain.
Linda