Poi, taro, elephant ears, eating without dying
zippelk
17 years ago
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zorba_the_greek
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Starting elephant ear from bulb
Comments (3)My grandmother-in-law used to grow tremendous size elephant ears, I've never seen them grow like hers. She planted some of them in ground, which did well, but left some in large pots to bring in her sitting room in the fall. The bulbs filled the pots. The plants were almost ceiling height, just tremendous. She used regular potting soil, often mixed with garden soil. I don't think she fertilized them or anything, just kept them watered well. I've grown them in the ground, they do moderately well even without regular watering. I've never gotten anything nearly the size she did though, but I think her bulbs were the type you are talking about, & mine just regular size....See MoreElephant ears in container?
Comments (118)Thanks your responses and comments - `very helpful. We planted our elephant ears three years ago in the back yard. Every winter we take them in and I think we wrap the roots and put them in a dark place. We replant them every spring. I was hoping I could bring them in for the winter and continue enjoying them, but I am not convinced from reading here that we have enough sun, so I might have to find a grow light and I"m not sure I can keep up with the water demand. I miss these beautiful leaves all winter!!...See MoreHow do I plant elephant's ear?
Comments (72)I bought taro roots from the Oriental stores month of December, I just put them in a tray no water and leave them on the refridgerator then i check back the end of January you can see the green slips coming out from the tubers, so plant each tuber in those lil containers with soil potmixing ( i used some small coconut fiber cups 4" high) from HomeDepot then l line them up in a tinfoil pan with water 1 " by the window for 2 wks, check back you won't believe they 6" inches tall but I wait till mother's day then I transfered them to outside garden, i fertilized them with all purpose then I flooded them with water everyother day. They grow about 3' tall, my problem that I should cut out the old leaves liked it mention above so they grow taller. We cook the taro leaves with cornbeef as our best dish for dinner. What I am asking for I have tubers ready to plant outside but afraid might they get by the frost, is there any idea when to start plant them, last year I plant them very late....See MoreElephant Ear question
Comments (11)Agree that they will grow in any exposure, but if you want the really big leaves, mostly shade is best, IME (a few miles north of AL/FL border.) I moved this bulb this spring from a much more sunny location where it had been for a few years and it's making leaves about 10x bigger than before. (The babies bulbs that were with it were also put in more shady locations and are all much bigger than the mama ever was in too much sun.) I also have a mini-compost pile at the base of it, and put mostly greens there, like watermelon rinds and other kitchen scraps that "melt" quickly in the heat. Next to it is a 5-gallon bucket with a slit in the bottom. I fill up the bucket and it takes a couple hours to drip out, which I try to do just before the sun hits it, so it has ample moisture during that time, about 90 minutes of direct sun. Otherwise, the leaves fall over. After they do that, they might or might not stand back up so I put a tomato cage around it. The newest leaf on this plant is about 6 ft. tall and about 3 ft. long, which is about 8" longer than the last leaf. Constantly losing a leaf is common but happens more slowly if there is ample moisture and plenty of organic matter in the soil. I usually leave the dying leaf connected but bend it back to rot near the bulb. Unfortunately, I don't usually have rain water for it, but start by dumping the water from the bucket our dog uses for his water bowl (which came from the hose the day before,) then fill the rest with the hose. With splashing and the dripping that happens before the bucket is full, I estimate it, and the other plants sharing the root space, are using about 6 gallons of water per day, some of which is probably taken by a large oak tree nearby. Just an ordinary Colocasia esculenta I got from Lowe's about 10 years ago. The leaf that is leaning out didn't seem like it would bend into the tomato cage without breaking and since it was the oldest (going to yellow and die soon,) I didn't make any effort to cage that one:...See Morehemnancy
17 years agozorba_the_greek
17 years agowtliftr
17 years agoalchemy_farms
17 years agosmeegee
17 years ago
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