I searched the web and found very little pertinent information on growing these in our zones. However, I did find quite a bit of info when I searched the GW forum. Isn't that an amazing thing? Gee, I love this place. Obviously, they need to be started in pots for us and it sounds like pretty much right now would be a good thing.

Which leaves my other two questions - What size pots and how big do they get here? Also, do you leave them in your greenhouse/light setup with lights 24/7 or do they definitely need a light/dark cycle?

Shauna

Shauna, I usually pot mine up around the end of March or so. I use old margarine containers to start them in and just stick them in a south window(no lights for me yet). Then after last frost(hopefully) I plant them out into half barrels. Mine typically reach about 30" tall, maybe a touch more in some years. They don't seem to get really huge up here for some reason.
Last fall was so wet here that I'm not sure if they dried properly..........I may have lost them all :(

Laurie

Hey Shauna, thanks for starting this thread....I have the same questions......but judging from the size of the bulbs that were in those bags.....I would say you would at least need a 1 gallon container to start them. They are really big bulbs. I plan on getting some next week if they still have some left. If they do, I plan on starting them in 1 gallon pots then transplanting into the ground in spring. After that any advice is appreciated.

Sierra

I've never grown them myself but i've seen them around here in containers, and the containers are usually quite deep. The elephant ears themselves seem to grow to about four feet high, maybe a little less. I did have a pod that someone gave me - i'll have to locate that and get it started.

Hi Shauna, I bought one last year from Botanus, right now its downstairs in the cold room in a 2 gallon container. I'll probably bring it upstairs on March 1st. Mine grew only about 30" too.

Sharon

Wow!!! Sharon. Thanks for the picture. I am so excited to get these. I'm going to have 2 in pots and 1 in a flower bed. I'm looking for lots of things this year that cover my back fence. I'm already get sick of looking at it. lol

Shauna

A thrifty gardener told me all you need to do is to buy taro root at the grocery store and pot it up to grow the regular elephant ear. No need to buy expensive bulbs from the nursery. Just make sure you have a bulb with eyes!

Debbie, I've heard of that before. Is taro root available in any grocery store, or is it more a specialty store thing? Can't say that I've looked for it in Safeway, but we're somewhat limited here in Brandon as to selection.

Laurie

Hi Laurie. I know they have taro at Superstore; I would bet that they would have it at Safeway too as it is very popular in asian cooking and most stores are catering to that cuisine these days. I know I'm going to try them this year; I have the colocasia illustris that I got for a great price at Home Depot last summer and have already started it up. I was excited to get that one for about $4; it was a small bulb but hey they grow pretty quickly and all the others I had seen were very expensive. Debbie.

Thanks, I'll have to check out superstore for taro, as I don't have much hope for my bulbs from last year.

Wow, you found a deal on plants at Home Depot?!
I find here their prices to be too high :(

I bought Taro root at Dominion Stores two years ago. I didn't have any problem getting it to grow and its now overwintering in its pot in the cold part of my basement.

Interesting. I have grown grocery store taro for the past two seasons and I was thinking of ordering "elephant ears - colocasia esculenta" from Lindenberg seeds. It sounds like it might be very similar to grocery store taro. Unless, of course, the nursery plant has bigger leaves or is a specific cultivar (though it sounds like Lindenberg has the plain green one and doesnÂt mention a specific cultivar). I guess it Âthrew me a bit and I thought I was ordering a different plant because their description mentions something about "small magenta pink flowers rise above the foliage". Does this plant bloom? Maybe itÂs one of those plants that "might" bloom if itÂs old and grown in a greenhouse.

Regarding grocery store taro, I found them easy to grow. I bought my roots at superstore and at safeway. Look for bigger sized bulbs with signs of growth, or 'eyes'. I think bigger roots do better than smaller ones, just my feeling. I like shorter Âchubby roots.

I potted them in large drinking cups and transplanted out near the end of May. They were only 8 inches tall at most when I planted out, but grew to 3 feet high by the end of summer.

They like moisture and part sun, which was the ideal place on my north side of the house. During a wet spell, this area doesnÂt dry out very much in between waterings. They didnÂt seem to be that fussy about soil, I basically dug a hole a bit bigger than the bulb and roots and plunked them into the ground into clay soil (that was mucky at the time). I planted them in between perennial lamium and it looked kind of tropical.

Regards,
Glen

Glen, here's a picture of the elephant ears bulb that I got from Lindenberg's. The largest leaves are about 16" long by 12" wide. It's not the best picture of it, as I think I was aiming more for the canna ;)

{{gwi:731258}}

Is this what your taro looks like too? I've been growing these for about 5 or 6 years and they've never bloomed for me. Possibly like you said, maybe in a greenhouse a mature plant may bloom.

Laurie