Dividing Alocasia

I have a Persian Palm (Alocasia Calodora) and it is now about 7 feet tall with 5 or 6 huge, beautiful leaves but there are several small "pups" ( I guess you call them) around the bottom and it is looking a bit messy. I want to divide them and plant them somewhere else but I don't know how to do that with the plant still in the pot (or in the ground for that matter).

Do I have to dig the whole thing completely out and divide the smaller ones off and then re-plant it? I've seen pictures of people just cutting off the "pups" on banana trees with a small shovel (while still in the ground) but I can't find any info on doing it with alocasia or colocasia.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Rocamet, I aint too sure about the name of your palm, therefore dont recognise the type by the name you gave, but any palms that grow from suckers as they are called, would normally be taken from the parent in spring, with some root attached if pos and potted up into an apropriate size pot with maybe some sand and peatmoss added to keep the little roots moist but not too wet, but if this palm has no little roots attached to the sucker, then same time (spring) cut off the sucker, pot it the exact same way, but this time, put clear polly bag over the top of the plant, if the plant is already tall, you may have to insert some canes to keep the bag off the leaves, you are making like a little greenhouse, seal around the bag at the top of the pot so the bottom of the pot is not in the bag, then you will mist the leaves and water the plant as you feel the need, with these types of cuttings, it could take about 3 months before you notice any new roots come, once they do, remove the bage and treat as the parent plant, just make sure the suckers are large enough to withstand being removed from the parent as the parent plant is where they get there substinance from, if too small they will not survive without the profesionals skills and equipment,needed for reall success. good luck anyway. Weenel.

Thank You for the response WeeNel.

alocasia is more typically known as elephant ear.
Are you sure it is a palm? There are so many varieties of plants, I could be very wrong. Do you have a picture?

try this link (hope it works)
chris
http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=alocasia&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

The common name is "Persian Palm" but yes you are right it is an elephant ear. I don't have a pic of mine but here is a generic pic and a link from where I bought it last year:

http://www.aandbtropicals.com/page9.html

Looks like a beautiful plant, I can see why you want to spread it around. I would think it would split off the same as a banana tree, you dont need any of the main crown or plant with it. A few decent roots should tease off with the pup as you dig.

chris

thank you chris. i'll try and dig it up this weekend.