I think I have a 'Black Magic' Colocasia esculenta - SICKLY

My neighboor has a large Caladium/Colocasia that is blackish. She is having great luck with this plant and had tons of 'babies' sprouting up everywhere. She gave me one of the babies and I planted it around my river birch tree with hostas (several varieties) and Setcreasea purpurea (Purple Heart). The plant did great, making a number of fronds, beautiful color. In a matter of 3 days, the leaves have begun to "dry out" around the edges, the babies are dying before they get over 5 inches tall, and the leaves in general look really bad. I am in Memphis, TN - zone 7 - and the temps have been in the upper 90's with suprisingly low humidity. I water frequently and the plant gets dappled light. Does anyone know what is going on?

I can't say for sure what is going on, but I have a hunch that some sort of fungal root infection may be causing the little ones to die and that necrosis in the leaf. Can you dig down to some of the roots and see what they look like? Look for blackened root tips, mushy roots, or any other suspicious discoloration.

Looks like heat scorch, low humidity, hot temps and dry soil will do this, keep them watered and the new leaves should grow out fine.Happens here in windy hot weather sometimes.

Kyle :-)

I agree w/ Kyle. Some of mine that are planted in full sun look like yours; they recover. Ones planted in shade, look just fine.

If tropical storm Bertha (?) brings rain your way, you should see improvement almost overnight.