Ok, folks........how do I go about dividing these behemoths? Just take them out of the pots and bust off each "plant"?? The one on the left is in a 16 inch pot and has roots like electrical cables. LOL The "big" one on the right is in a 20 inch pot.
Need suggestions on dividing these Alo's
oh what beauties. you've answered your own question. I'd say this is a two people job, though.
Wow, Nice sturdy looking plants. How come it seems easier to grow tropicals up north than in the Tropics. LOL
Not sure my long-suffering spouse is game for this job........may have to bribe the neighbor gal to help me.....in exchange for one, of course. Ya think I can spare one of them???? LOL Well, it does help that I have a g'house and don't have to start them over every spring.
nice tropicals!
What size of a pot do you have the right one in????
I usually take the pot off and knock off the dirt around the edges then try to wedge in a knife and cut each one off with it's own roots. Sometimes that is easier said than done. I try not to totally take all the dirt off then keep them all shaded and watered a few days. That way they don't pout and wilt.
How warm do you keep your greenhouse through the winter and what type of heat do you use? While I am nagging, what is your greenhouse covering? LOL I remember when you built it but the details have escaped me. I'm considering leaving all my tropical type plants in the greenhouse this winter.
Ok dumb question but what kind of plant is that? and how long did it take to get that big? holy cow!!!
They're Upright Elephant Ears. Alocasia. The one on the left (smaller one) is about 3 years and the big one is 4. (I think.........the years kinda run together...........LOL)
Anna, those are some great Alocasia. Wish I was close enough to be the helping neighbor and receive the extra for helping. I have 1 that is not nearly that large and it has never had a pup.
Linda, it's just in the last year and a half that they have gone so berserk. Do you feed yours in the summer? I read on one of these forums that EE's love nitrogen........I believe the dose was 1 T. per gallon of water once a week. They really go crazy with that, all that nitrogen to fuel the leaf growing. Mine didn't get that much this past summer, was a bad summer all around for me, just totally overwhelming on the faming front, but they did get it a few times.
I'm bringing this thread back up because I have another question regarding these giants. No, I haven't divided them.........yet. If I do get to that point before hiring a crane to take them up to the greenhouse, I was wondering if I can chop the leaves off close to the base of the bulb and keep them out of the dirt. Or cut off the leaves and just replant? Or just give up and divide them and leave the growth? I'm thinking if I go that last route, maybe I should take them to a local greenhouse in the spring and see if they can sell them for me. I sure don't need THAT many Alo's. What would something like that be worth if they were 3 or 4 feet tall and potted up for spring? LOL If I severed all those pups, I'd need another greenhouse to keep them all in. :>) How much trauma can those roots take if I have to hack them apart with a machete or chainsaw?
Use a recipogating saw. They are wonderful.
Jeri
Anna, I have a landscaper that I grow alocasias for and after the summer, her crew digs the huge clumps out of the ground and bring them back to me for the following year.
It is very easy to just break them apart to separate them. Sometimes with two large ones together-as what you have-I just step on the clump and pull one of them away from the others. Then I cut off almost all the roots (they are going to die anyway) and all of the leaves except the newest one. Then, some I pack in damp peat and put under the house until Jan, when I bring them out and repot them and start to grow them out in the grhouse, The others, I repot in a few weeks and keep them in the grhouse. You can't hurt them=they are very tough. In fact I have a huge pile of them outside now, waiting to have their roots and leaves trimmed.
I'm a little more surgical about these plants; I wouldn't take a machete or chainsaw anywhere near them!! I use a small knife; first I unpot and lay the plants down, then I pick one of the large ones and gently pull it away from the rest. Next I take the knife and cut whatever roots I can see holding the one I'm pulling back; as I pull and expose more roots, I cut each root carefully. At some point the plant I'm trying to remove will come nearly free with only a few roots holding it; I cut those and that's it for the first one. I proceed with the rest the same way. Watch for small pups and corms, as they will be in the soil ball as well. If you happen to gouge or cut into any of the trunks, wash the cuts off, dry them, then dust them with cinnamon powder (natural fungicide).
If you really want to grow a giant one of these, when you replant, sink the exposed trunk into soil as it will generate new roots all along that trunk. Of course, we're talking a much larger pot. Also, I suggest using a fertilizer called Dynamite, available at Home Depot. If you do this, you will probably need a crane come next Fall!
LariAnn
Lariann.........that is fine, my #2DS works for a company that also has a crane service. I think they have a 50 ton crane............LOL
Oh, and I forgot to mention, if your greenhouse is not 10 to 12 feet tall (open clear space inside), you'll need to think about a larger greenhouse as well!
Yours might not get quite that big, but you get the idea!
LariAnn
14 feet at the middle peak. that's the greenhouse, i mean. This is the plant...... It's about 8 feet tall or so. Past the bottom roofline of the house.
Jobs like these make me grateful for my old electric meat carving knife. It makes dividing rhizomes and/or rootballs a cinch. You can find 'em dirt cheap at garage sales :)
-Joe
It's gouing to be a major job, but if you come up with a baby, I would love to have it. I want to use a leaf to make the mold for stepping stones.
These darn things are weeds down here!
I have some of the 'wild' variety that a former owner planted around an oak tree- 17 years ago- that are still coming up!
However, there are also countless varieties, and in my practice as a landscape architect we use them as bedding plants!
Michael
Ooh a stepping stone... that is a great idea or even a birdbath.... I'm on the hunt for one of these babies!
WOW---Anna---very, very impressive EE's. Now I want to have EE "TREES" next year---LOL!!!
Not when it comes time to move them. I want everything to shrink at that time.
Jeri
Jeri---I know what you mean! My DH built me a plantroom in the basement and I outgrew it before I even moved "everything" into it...LOL!!!
Anna_ z, This is the way i do it. Jerry
Anna_z, Then store them sowhere it does not freeze and save them or repot them. Jerry, sorry about bad picture.
Ok, Jerry..........now tell me your secret "Alo hacking tool"..............Paul Bunyan's axe? A chainsaw?? Or do you just gently pry them apart?? I keep looking at that monstrosity up in the greenhouse and I know I HAVE to do this, it's in a 20 inch pot and there can't be any dirt left in there. Oh, I know..........I could put it in a 24 inch pot or bigger. Hmmm.........wonder just how big those puppies would grow in a HUGE pot. LOL I actually have to have the Spousal Unit help me move that one, about gives us both a hernia.
Anna_Z, if you're concerned about HUGE, you just wait 'till you see what's at the Big Ear Fest! Don't be thinking you are going to get my babies and keep them small! HUGE is what my plants are about, and much larger than anything you've seen or grown so far. So make plans!! A semi and a crane could be in your future!
This message was edited Oct 25, 2007 12:13 PM
This message was edited Oct 28, 2007 6:18 PM
Ohhh..............LariAnn................ummm..............any chance I could get some "big" bulbs for postage???? I LOVE big...............Or should I send a semi down?
bump
Sashagirl
May 08, 2008
Anna,
I want to know, too, what you've done with these? :-)
Deanna
They are all still joined at the hip............*sigh*...........I MUST do something with them soon.
Anna-
Those EE's of yours are awesome!!! I 'bumped' your thread up due to someone wondering if EE's could be grown in pots/containers so I sent a link to this thread.
Happy gardening-
Jan
Anna, those are an INCREDIBLE plants.
If you are going to wack the leaves off anyway (like Texabigleaves photos), just do it right there on the stoop where you have the plant sitting. Too bad you don't live close by, some of use would come over to help. May be you could search for DGardener in your zone and see if they would be interested in helping in exchange for a pup or divided plant.
See Communities, Members List and you can search by zone. Good luck and we want to hear all about it when it's done.
Well, i'm sure the Spousal Unit will find something VERY important he needs to do when I decide I will hack them apart. LOL My neighbor said she would help if I needed some, in exchange for 1 of the pups. It probably isn't a 2 person job; if I would just "do it". :>) The pot is in the middle of the greenhouse right now and there is no way I can get it outside to do it. Too many big things in the road to the door. And no room inside to do it either.
My EE is indoors when and how do I take off the dead leaves?
froto just get you some clippers and cleanly cut the brown stem of the dead leaf as close to the stalk as you can without cutting into the stalk. I hope this makes sence. If not LMK and I'll take pictures for you.
O.K., that's what I was thinking,
Thanks I'll start Monday.
Mine are the common EE's but I love them and they get really big in pots. I do use dynamite fert and lots of water. I can relate to the repotting. After three seasons I put them in larger pots this year and had to wrestle them all over the yard just to get them out of the pots!
