The dreaded rot of an elephant ear!

Came home from work today to find that one of the EE's I had gotten a couple of weeks ago had tipped over. Upon closer inspection, one of the plants had broken off below soil level and was suspiciously squishy around the corm (bulb/tuber?? not sure what to call it). I removed a couple of leaves from the base and sure enough, part of the bulb was soft like pudding.
Of course I was pressed for time, so I scraped off the vanilla-pudding-looking stuff and inspected again. There seemed to be a couple of roots starting, so I ran back to the kitchen, got the cinnamon and doused it (remembered that from another thread here). I put the whole shebang in a small pot of sand and set it in a protected spot. I dumped the big pot that I had it planted in and found the other one seems fine and I'm guessing/hoping the little bulbets that were also in there will make new plants? Potted them up too, then off to dinner.

Any suggestions for better treatment next time I run into this icky situation? Is there any hope for the EE with the smooshy stuff? I had a moment of paranoia where I thought I cshould dump all the EE's I've gotten in the last couple weeks at local sales and check for rot, but then I came back to Earth and DH's calls from the house....
Thanks, Cathy

I lost a potful of those same EEs to that dreaded ,hellish mush rot. The only thing I've done differently was after thoroughly cleaning ALL the mush out, let it soak in either hydrogen peroxide or quaternary amine solution (the stuff used to disinfect surfaces at hospitals and such, but you can get a horticultural version called Pro-Tech) for at least 10 minutes, then remove from the solution and let it dry a little before powdering on the cinnamon. Finally, pot up in fresh clean potting mix and keep on the barely moist side until signs of life are evident. I've been able to rescue some EEs from the brink that way, but alas, my attainment of this knowledge came after I had already lost the EE like yours!

Thanks LariAnn. I'm hoping the second one in the pot, which had a nice clean root system, will be OK, and I will make sure that I don't over water this type. I did add some extra sand and perlite to the clean potting mix. We go a lot of rain over the weekend, which I'm sure sped up the rotting.
Thanks for your help! Cathy

Oh, rain! I can't begin to tell you how many jewel Alocasia I've lost in the past due to too much rain! That's why I need greenhouses even here in south FL. Not for the heat so much, but to keep the rain off!

Yes, I think a dryhouse is really necessary for certain plants to make through the summer rains down here.
LariAnn, you mentioned the term "jewel Alocasia" and I Googled it hoping to find a list of these Alocasias that I would want to keep on the drier side during the wet months. I can't find anything definitive, but looking at the pictures, I'm sort of guessing that the waxy type of Alocasias are the jewel type?

"Jewel Alocasia" is my term, and I use it to describe Alocasias that need extra special care, like jewels! Also, many of the jewels are smaller growing plants when compared to the big terrestrials like Alocasia macrorrhizos 'Borneo Giant' or Alocasia odora. For example, Alocasia reginula, a small, beautiful plant, is one of the jewels. Alocasia infernalis is another. However, Alocasia robusta, arguably the largest Alocasia in existence, is so finicky that it qualifies as a "jewel". Of course, calling it a jewel seems like calling a monster truck a "mini"! But that term, as I use it, refers to the care required, not necessarily to the size the plant grows to.

Brilliant! I really like your terminology LariAnn! Thanks for the links to those beauties too.

My pleasure! I'm happy to be here and to be able to help.

I just picked one of those up at Lowe's last weekend for about $7, (was there to get a sump pump, via the greenhouse, lol) Do they need to go dry before watering?

AuntB, if you're referring to the plant at the start of this thread, yes, you need to keep it on the dry side. The best ones I've seen are the ones that seemed to be almost dry most of the time. The quickest ones to die are the ones that are wet most of the time.

This issue is an example of why we need plant explorers to give us a LOT more information about habitat than they do. Just because a plant is in a rainforest doesn't mean it likes to be wet! Paradoxical but true. Many of these plants grow in situations where the roots are darn near dry most of the time, and when they do get wet, they don't stay that way very long. For this to be true, it means all the roots are growing in the very loose upper layer of leaf litter and debris, not in the clay-like muddy subsoil beneath. That loose layer has incredible drainage and doesn't hold water.

LariAnn, thanks for more good info.
I need to put that dryhouse on order!
I will definitely relocate this little guy to a drier spot. I did put the whole gaggle of them under cover this morning, looked like rain, and I didn't want to take any more chances.
Do you think the little bulblets that were around the other two plants will grow? I put them in the same sandy/perlite peat mix. They weren't rotten at all.....

Thx, LariAnn. I can duplicate the drainage situ/leaves & debris, but humidity might be an obstacle in winter, here anyway. It will be fun. I think I bought one years ago, but promptly killed it, probably with too much water..

Yes, those little bulblets will grow, although they may sprout in a week or they may take a month or so to sprout. Plant them in a pot by themselves, label it, and just keep an eye on it. You'll have little babies if all goes well.

I think this is Alocasia amazonica 'Polly'? Was labeled only as an EE.

It is definitely Alocasia amazonica, but I think the Polly has somewhat more thickened leaves than yours does. The leaves on Polly are also mildly crinkled. See this link:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53992/

The leaves in my picture above are younger leaves that weren't as crinkled and heavy as the few that had rotted at the base. I had already peeled those away. At least I know it is A. amazonica, I can compare it to 'Polly' when I get home, thanks very much!

Funny, in the PlantFiles, it says that the plant must be constantly wet, but I guess here, with the humidity so high, it really needs to be on the drier side. When I was scrambling to clean the plants up, they were out of soil for a while, but didn't even wilt at all. Gotta love that nearly 100% humidity!

Cathy

That's the thing; in the rainforest, it's 100% humidity, but not necessarily wet at the roots. Also, I imagine some people adding details in PlantFiles may not yet have lost theirs to rot, and I don't think you can change a detail once it has been entered. That means errors can end up there and not be corrected!

We have a red "report an error" button near the top right-hand side of each page of PlantFiles - if you spot something (a detail, misspelled name, duplicate or wrongly identified image, misplaced comment, etc.), you should use that link to send our editors a note. (When you use that feature, the system will automatically insert a link to the entry or image you were viewing, which helps us quickly retrace your steps.)

Terry,

Thanks for the direction! I've made the report so the detail can be changed.