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Elephant Ear Bulbs and Surviving Damage

18 years ago

How much damage can large elephant ear bulb take before it's shot? The squirrels ate 2 of the 3 branching nubs (all the growth from last year :( ). Plus dug in the center of the main bulb. It looks like it might make it (it's only been a couple of days and I'm trying to be hopeful). Is there anything I can do to help?

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Comments (5)

susanlynne48
18 years ago
I'll take a shot at this. I have heard that they can grow from very small pieces of the tuber, as long as there is an eye available. They are like potato tubers in a way. And when people plant potato tubers, they usually cut them up into several pieces, making sure that each piece has an eye. So, if you still have an eye on your tuber, you are likely to get some growth.

Susan
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rockyn
17 years ago
Good grief!!

I have thousands of squirrels and they havent ever bothered an EE. Seems like I read that the sap has those sharp crystals that cause great pain to the tender mouth & tongue.

Get those squirrels some acorns! And a huge slanted pot for the EE. lol
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Thanks for posting this question, dsacco85. I hope you don't mind me adding to this thread but since it's the same subject I thought it would be better to keep these questions together for others who might be looking for the same answers later. I also bought one of the giant elephant ear bulbs from Home Depot, it's very different from Colocasia. Mine grew from a grapefruit sized bulb to 2 grapefruit sized bulbs stacked one atop the other when I dug it last fall. The bottom bulb has shriveled badly over the winter but there are several smaller bulbs embedded into it. I'm very glad to read I can remove the lower section and plant the upper section seperate, should I dig out the smaller bulbs from the mother bulb or should I plant the whole thing and plan to seperate the bulbs this fall? Some could be easily detatched, but others are firmly embedded. BTW, one of side bulbs broke off as I was loosening soil on Monday, by Wednesday it appears to have calloused over nicely. I was thinking of dusting them with old rooting hormone but cinnamon seems like a much better idea. Also, I would agree with Evan that perhaps you should leave more top when you cut back next fall. I left about a foot of stem on mine and it dried quite well over the winter. On the other hand, my mother bulb did shrivel over the winter, I wonder if that would have a difference? Fun thread. Jeanne Here is a link that might be useful: Old FB profile pic with giant EE
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jlwrn28
Original Author
16 years ago
thanks for the replies :) and an update for anyone reading this old post, I read through this forum till I found a solution! Into the kitchen I went to get my dried seasonings garlic, red pepper, and black pepper poured generously into a bowl further mashed into powder and applied (ONCE- even though everyone says to do it after each rain) to the exposed soil covering my precious (eaten) bulb, mixed slightly so the wind wouldn't blow it all away - and - no further attacks. The EE did very well grew to at least 4 foot and sprouted lots of new "bulbs" for the next year. Now EVERY bulb in my garden gets treated the same way - No problem so far :) good luck to all my squirrel fighting garden loving friends!
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dcowart
15 years ago
Hello, Can someone answer me!! I was moving my elephant ear plant and I broke 4 of the stems and now the leaves hang down. Should I just cut them off where they broke? Will they grow back? Or should I tie the broken part to a stick? Also Can I put it inside by a window? thanks for help & time.
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nightrider767
15 years ago
Dcowart,,, here's my opinion and I'm sure there are far more qualified people to answer this than I.

But I presume that those stems you damaged will never recover. But even bent and broken, assuming they are still alive, I think they will still do their job of collecting sunlight and whatever else it is an airoid leaf does.

So I think I would just leave them until the plant recovers. Once you start growing replacement leaves, then cut the bad ones off.

Good luck.
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