hi. I have bought two alocasias zebrinas in one pot, and one amaznica, and all three have been on their way out ever since I bought them. I couldn't for the life of me figure out when to water them, each time I watered them, they would start to cry, so i assumed that meant they want less water, but either way, leaves were yellowing, and all three ended up with no leaves at all. I'm not exaggerating, not a single leaf was left among three of them so I dug them out of the soil, and I got some clay balls, they sort of look like what americans call leca, just smaller and less round, so it may be some other brand of the same thing, or another thing entirely. we don't have leca as such in serbia, and when I bought this, the seller insisted it was not "expanded clay" so, I don't know, I bought it with intention to use it as leca, and it behaves like leca, so I'm sure you can achieve the same thing with leca the important thing with leca to remember, is to use jars with wide opening, no narrowing of any kind, or you'll have to break the container to get them out. and you want to use glass, as it's transparent so, I popped all of the main roots, as well the little bobs of new roots that were growing out of it, and I put them in glass jars, in that pretend leca, and kept watering them. The idea with this method is that you can see how much water there is, and you don't have to guess. you want root to have access to water, but also to have access to air, which is really hard to achieve in soil, but really easy in leca or similar substrate. you just water it to the top, and then wait till all of water is gone to water again. no guessing required. since then, my amazonica grew one leaf, it's not the prettiest leaf ever, it's bent, but it's there, and one zebrina has one leaf, the other one has two, and one of the small roots sprouted a new tiny leaf. so, zebrina looks much better cause both roots are in the same jar, and it has way more leaves than amazonica, but important thing is that they're back to life from having no leaves at all I can also see that most of the little rootlets on amazonica have some growth, but nothing reached the surface yet of course, in my case, roots were healthy and in your not so much, so I'd advise to get them out of the soil and search if there are little baby roots you could use, that may not be rotten. I have seen a guy cut up a rotten part of the root, on tiktok, but I don't remember if he later confirmed if it worked. it does seem like at this point you have very little choice. you could not cut the root (I'm highly suspicious that would work anyway) and just pull it out of soil and clean it with 3% hydrogen and sprinkle with cinnamon, as those might stop the infection, and let the whole thing dry out but not dry up, and then try with leca. if it works great, if it doesn't, it just means you were too late. I know for sure that next time I get an alocasia, it's going straight into clay and no soil for it. I have yet to figure out how to fertilize it tho oh yeah, the leca thing, I saw a girl on youtube talk about starting new plants from those rootlets, and she tried all kinds of things, and had best success with leca, that's why I tried that, I was like "well, it's either dead or I will kill it so I might as well try this" and it worked wonders, so to all who struggle, you can try it, and you can try to find her video, maybe she has some more info I forgot about

Karen, I'm not sure, but we may be "experiencing technical difficulties" with the jargon here. Rhizomes are generally described as undergound stems, but with Alocasias this gets a little nebulous as many Alocasias like odora and macro age they start growing above ground, looking a little like palm tree trunks. The succulent part that some call stems, but you cut off to store dry are more correctly called petioles. This part will not root and grow. When propagating by "stem cuttings" they mean the woody rhizome whether above or below ground, not the petioles. I have never tried to chop mine up into small pieces as a commercial grower might, but make all the divisions in autumn, let them callous over during the winter and plant out in spring. The top section of a rhizome with an apical bud tends to grow normally as if nothing happened, but the lower sections tend to grow as clusters of smaller plants that take another season to develop. I'm glad you are enjoying your calla seedlings as there is almost no such thing as an ugly one. Keiko

No need to apologize for the 'newbie' question, we all have different methods. ;) Honestly, fingers work well. But, if want a tool you can used something like tweezers. You don't have to remove all of the plant matter. Just destroy the growth tip; where the the tiny leaves are budding from. Also, I like to keep and replant the offsets so you can wait until the stem is long enough to grasp and then bend it side to side gently and it should snap off clean. Norma is right about the skin getting ripped off - it heals over and you won't notice it after time. Pruning shears are fine, but the other kind of garden scissors will mash the stem as opposed to cutting it. I believe those are the anvil style ones with one flat part and a blade that comes down - usually add frustration to the mix. It's pretty easy keeping the rosette solitary as you've got the right idea, but you've already discovered the other challenge - the long stalk. I do two things. 1. Take and repot in a deeper container, the buried stalk should grow roots and the plant will be stronger. 2. Lop off that head and set it to dry - once the end has healed over, just repot it. This one takes a bit of courage but it works. The stump will bud and become multiheaded. Both of these methods only delay the inevitable, the stalk will grow long again as the bottom leaves dry. This is how the plant naturally grows, though it can look odd in containers that way. I hope this helped some - happy gardening!! :) -Joe

I've been growing Alocasia (indoors & out) for about 25 years now, and the kind of pot matters very much to me. I believe it is somewhat relative to the type of plant, but even more to the type of conditions you're growing in. So here is how I would select a pot for Alocasia: Shape - I always prefer a standard clay pot style taper. The non-tapered style pot on the left in the photo tends to hold a little more moisture at the bottom of the pot, so it requires a better soil that moves water up by capillary action, or underpotting, to avoid overwatering problems in low light or wet weather. Material - I now always prefer clay pots to plastic for Alocasia. Partially because the weight helps the big leaves from getting blown or knocked over on these top-heavy plants, but also because the clay holds moisture & temperature better, IMO. Glazing - This is actually a critical part for me. Glazed pots hold moisture longer than unglazed pots, so I like glazed for fast-growing big-leaf varieties or in full sun or hotter conditions (like a West-facing patio that really heats up in the afternoon). The interior of the pot should be mostly non-glazed to allow it to hold water and slowly give it back to the plant. Outdoors in our Seattle climate where it is mild and sometimes too rainy, I usually prefer an unlgazed pot that allows the moisture to evaporate off more quickly, shortening the watering cycle time and reducing the chance of overwatering, but that wouldn't apply to your hot-climate growers. Also, indoors for any that will be in less than optimal light or for any of the delicate smaller-leaved varieties that I may worry more about overwatering, I also prefer an unglazed pot so it can dry faster. Aside from all that, I agree with hc mcdole that with the right effort, it's possible to grow these in almost anything. :)