Fading Variegation

Key West, FL(Zone 11)

I've been struggling with my various Alocasia Mac. Var. pups all summer trying to get the right conditions which seems to be difficullt down here. This one liked its spot and took off right away. The only problem is that the variegation although amazing at first seemed to be getting less obvious on each new leaf. Now today the newest leaf uncurled with no variegation at all. Does this mean that it has reverted back to green or is there hope for more?

Fed up
Neil

This is some of the good variegation

Thumbnail by celt33040
Key West, FL(Zone 11)

Here you can see that the higher ,newer, leaves have less variegation and the new one just unrolling is all green.

Thumbnail by celt33040
Columbia, SC(Zone 8a)

BUMMER, I love the variegated leaves.

NE, KS(Zone 5b)

I don't have a variegated, but initially I was thinking it could be the weather..... but you're in FL, it's always summertime there! I have a Nancyanna and it put out leaves with the white stripe after the 2nd green leaf. I noticed the other evening, it was putting out an all white leaf. But it now has a striped one opening up after the all white one. Rox or someone will have additional input... I'll be watching this thread.-B

Key West, FL(Zone 11)

B
I have another one that was doing great with nice variegation and then started to put out all white leaves with a bit of green but then the leaves slowly got smaller and smaller till it's now a pup again.

NE, KS(Zone 5b)

Strange...... I have a v. brug that puts out a couple all white and all green starts, occasionally, but that's not as strange as your alocasias reverting to childhood! Very interesting..

Athens, OH

I only have had one variegated EE show some revertion. My A. Frydek variegata died back this summer and then started growing again. The 1st leaf came in all green, but then the subsequent 2 leaves came in lovely and marbled like they should be. Eventually the 1st leaf also began to show minimal marbling.

I don't have a great picture, but if you look at the top of the image you can see 2 leaves of the A. Frydek. One has almost no variegation and the other is just beginning to show it.

I did find one relevant? reference to reversion on gardenweb.
Here is an excerpt...

" it looks like macro "New Guinea Gold" from tissue culture which doesn't work very well on this kind of chimera.

RESPONSE 1
Do you say that to mean it will revert back to all green? When I bought it, it was all green. As it grew during the summer, it took on the yellow variegation and all new growth from the main stalk has been variegated. However, the two pups are all green.

RESPONSE 2
NGG starts out green and develops the splotches "later". Like Colocasia Nancy's Revenge starts out green and develops the white stripe "later"

New Guinea Gold, like a lot of other variegated plants, seems to "come and go", the amount of variegation varies throughout the year.
I had a beautiful New Guinea Gold that at times was predominantly deep gold/ yellow yet at other times you could almost have mistaken in for a very deep green regular Alo macro.
I have several macro with green and white variegation and the same occurs. The amount of light doesn't appear to be the reason and I am in the tropics where we don't have any real seasons so I don't know why this is????

RESPONSE 3
NGG is the kind of variegated plant that has genetically different tissue growing within the same plant.
With tissue culture they have to get some of both types in the same cutting to make them come out. Most come out like yours, but a lot of them come out differently for better or worse. Some have a nice marble effect, some just a few gold spots at their best, etc.

The first ones I saw of these were long before they started mass producing them from tc and they kept their variegation year round. A few years ago I spotted three small tc plants among that had good variegation in a greenhouse during the winter among many others that did not. I bought them to see what would happen and they kept their variegation year round like the old clone.

This is a different thing from the kind of variegation in C. Nancy's Revenge which comes uniformally true from tc and just needs to reach a certain size for Nancy to get her revenge.

I guess they need two different names for the NGGs that stay variegated year round and the ones that come & go as Troy describes.

I don't know why this is either, Troy, but the ones like yours and GHs only put out variegated leaves here July - Sept., the hotest part of the summer when they are growing fastest. "

Thumbnail by rox_male
Key West, FL(Zone 11)

Rox _Male,
Thank's for the information that was great. I guess I'll just wait and hope for the best. Thank's for the photo, although I thought that one was an Alocasia Hilo Beauty.
Here's a picture of mine.

Thumbnail by celt33040
Athens, OH

The plant in the center is A. Hilo Beauty'. If you look at the very left top you can see the 2 Frydek variegata leaves. (Sorry I wasn't clear.)
ROX

Key West, FL(Zone 11)

Ahhh , now I see what you mean.
Thanks for taking the time. I haven't tried the frydek yet , although I have some 'african mask' type, i'm not sure which one exactly. I'm on a hunt for some more stiff leaf types. They seem to be more forgiving in our summer weather.

NE, KS(Zone 5b)

Thanks Rox, for the information. I knew Nancy would "grow into" her variegation... She is barely a teenager and already has pups, all green, which I expected... it will be interesting to watch them get their "revenge", also. I think your plants are gorgeous, Neil. Good growing.

Athens, OH

Neil-
Thanks for the complement!
ROX

(Linda) Winfield, KS(Zone 6a)

Neil what are you feeding it?

Key West, FL(Zone 11)

2Pugs
I've neen reluctant to feed it because I've read that it can result in less variegation, but it gets all the rain water that i can collect for it. Since I posted Ive had to remove it from the large pot and give it one of its own, although smaller. It had an emerging leaf tip as I moved it which has continued to come up but not fully and has not unrolled yet. We'll see if there's variegation in a couple of days.

Bessemer City, NC(Zone 7b)

I read some discussion of variegation in Musa 'Ae-Ae', (not at DG) and how unstable it was due to the plant's sensitivity to cultural conditions, especially soil pH and nutrition. One of the points was that if they weren't entirely happy, the offsets would be all green. Maybe this Alo is sensitive in a similar manner.

Key West, FL(Zone 11)

I had to remove it from its position by the front door because it was getting damaged by traffic so I repotted it in a smaller pot. It had a new leaf emerging and i was afraid it wouldn't make it but it seems to be doing ok. The new leaf is still emerging at about half of its previous rate and although its not unrolled yet it looks to have some light spots , so maybe it will return after all.

Key West, FL(Zone 11)

This is the latest leaf on my A. Mac. Var. and the variegation is definately back, at least lightly on one side of this leaf , It opened much smaller than the others probably due to the repotting trauma during growth. I guess there's no exact science when it comes to variegation, which I suppose is part of the fun. So I live in hope that it will keep going.

Thumbnail by celt33040

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or sign up to post.
BACK TO TOP