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Oklahoma Gardening

Black Magic??

17 years ago

I just bought my first black magic and got it transplanted I kept in in the shade has filter light made sure it had plenty of water but now all the leafs are curling up and dying have I done something wrong please help

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Comments (9)

TulsaRose
17 years ago
Sheepie, if you are talking about Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic' Elephant Ears, check out the info at this website...Scroll about half-way down the page for care instructions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Magic Elephant Ears
susanlynne48
17 years ago
Have you fed it a lot? It could be fertilizer burn. These need a ton of water, and can be utilized as pond plants. They also need a lot of sun in order to retain their black color.

Susan
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Black magic Elephant Ears
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Comments (8)
Do Black Magic EEs put out vertical runners? My largest one is 2 yrs old and has horizontal runner types that radiate from the base. Most have reached 3-4 ft before they went back into the ground on wet ditch substrate. All but 1 is horizontal...if it is a runner. The runners generally grow in a downhill direction, and are: 1) Subterranean, short, and immediately send out small leaves/pups and don't get roots until the fall. 2) Subterranean and send out small leaves and roots at the same time along the segment joints and the runners keep lengthening. There are more root instances than leaves/pups on each runner. These usu only have 1 place where leaves appear. 3) Subterranean and surfaces and keeps lengthening. Root buds show but never grow into the ground on the visible areas. No leaves or pups. They do this all growing season. Most of them seem like this until they find an ideal spot to send out roots. 4) Begin above ground and are slightly thicker than others. After the first 1 ft these can then share the same habits of #2 or #3 above. 5) On a potted Black Magic EE where there is less water/moisture, the runner began underground, grew up and out of the pot, and put out a pup with roots where it touched the ground. Now as the pup grows, the part of the runner that connects the pup is thinning, getting lighter in color, and seems to be drying out. The below photo shows what appears to be a vertical runner. If that is what it is called. I just noticed it. I do wonder if it is an inflorescence but no flag leaf was sent out before it...but a day later I noticed one appearing in the top center of the plant. This vertical runner has the characteristics of the many horizontal runners I see but has shorter segments, and 3-4x as wide. It is 7/8" wide where it branches off the main plant base between 2 petioles: Shown with cardboard behind it for contrast:This pic also shows the horizontal runners/rhizomes that headed downhill and some I trained to follow the same path by using small stakes and twist ties. They come from the same plant:
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Overwintering Black Magic elephant ears
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Comments (4)
Your photos help put things into perspective for me. I haven't cured corms yet on Aroids. Ah. First I can tell you about the Caladium cousins of EEs. I've chipped pieces off of bulbs by accident, put them in a reused salsa jar with wet fish tank gravel, closed the lid, and after a few weeks, they began growing leaves, then roots. They are all living as healthy plants now. I tried a similar thing with Caladium petioles. I accidentally broke off 2 petioles where they joined the corm. It didn't look like any of the chipped off corm was holding them together but some of it must have been. I put it (the 2 stuck together petioles) in water and it grew roots. It's a healthy plant now. With an outdoor EE Illustris parent plant I chopped off all the pups and used them as house plants last fall. But I know some corm chips fell in the dirt. 2 of the chips grew into healthy plants in early summer. So it seems that what happened with the Caladiums also applies to Colocasias if not Alocasias. But I did get a set of 2 A. Macro. 'Black Stem' petioles that I chopped off thinking they had roots...but they did not. The petioles had no corm tissue holding them together either. I tried putting them in water but they died. At this point I'd say that if you have a healthy corm or a healthy piece of one, then you can start a new plant with it and some luck. Look up how those agro trays with live plant tissues that wholesalers get are done. At this point that may be the only way I can get a Ma Had Thai Caladium, AKA: Hot Lips Caladium. If you plan to force pups from tissue chips that you intentionally cut - research the copyright and patents that may apply to that cultivar. I didn't realize Thai Giants had such small corms and root masses. I gave mine water as if the corm/roots were 5-6x the size which may have drowned the roots. After I potted it and backed off the water a few weeks ago some new roots and a pup nub began to grow. But the plant looked more ready to go dormant so I began preparing to cure the corm. 2 pics of it after removing from the pot:
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Slc Kauai Starbright X Slc Paprica Black Magic
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Comments (2)
Great colors, as well. tj
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Black Magic elephant ear - my tallest in the 2019 season at 5ft-3.5 in
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Comments (10)
nicholsworth - Thanks. I also don't want Summer to end. What is the EE in the 2nd photo? They all look happy where you kept them. I had to bring a bunch of potted houseplants indoors for the first night of the season tonight. I kept 3 EE's outdoors in pots this season so I could keep them growing for the winter. 1 had its corm half rotted and doesn't look good. 1 was ripped out of the pot in a storm and looks like a goner. 1 is doing OK. It is my new and only variegated one. woodnative - Thanks. I dig them out soon after the first frost, let them dry for almost a week and clip the roots off, then store them in my basement in bags of peat moss. I lose about 10-20% of them to rot though. I try to use snug bags and I check them once per mo so see if they need some moisture or need to be thrown out.
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sheepie58
Original Author
17 years ago
thank you for your advice it may have been getting way to much shade I have it in the sun now so will wait and see
nope haven't over fertilized just feed it once so far
Thanks again
Bessie
dedee
17 years ago
I am having the same problem!! I purchased my black magic about 5 weeks ago I planted it in a bed with my hostas, top soil dirt only in this bed, shady area gave it plenty of water and the leaves were drying up like leaves do in the fall it starts around the edges and after about 3 days the leaf is dry and crunchy. I do get wind I wondered if they could wind burn. I moved the plant to a large pot 2 days ago it has 1/2 miricle grow potting soil and 1/2 cheap potting soil I moved the pot to a sunnier location I pray it does better here. I would HATE to lose this plant my mother thinks I'm such a good gardener so she purchased it and it was already potted and so preety and not cheap. I feel like I'm letting down my plant and my mom.
UNLIKE the black magic,
My outher elephant ears are happy in the filtered shade and top soil.
leaper
17 years ago
My Black Magic is in a bog situation with 3 inches of water over it in full sun and it's doing fine. They like lots of water.
Kay
susanlynne48
17 years ago
They also like sun. The more sun, the blacker the leaf will be. In shade, the leaf will eventually revert to green. Water, water, water is absolutely essential to the colocasias, like 'Black Magic'. They can even tolerate standing water, e.g., ponds, bogs, etc.

They also like rich soil, with compost, manure, and fertilizer added to your top soil. Top soil only is not going to be enough for these beauties.

Susan
sheepie58
Original Author
17 years ago
I have moved mine to a smaller pot and put it in my pond and it is looking up got 2 new leafs and hoping it will keep growing
susanlynne48
17 years ago
Sounds like you're doing the right thing, Sheepie! Kay, do you leave yours in your bog over winter, or do you bring them inside?

Susan
beerhog
17 years ago
Mine usually come back up from the winter just leaving them out. If you decide to store them, I would pot them up. Have not had good luck with just bringing in the bulbs. Sounds like the ones you have gotten were greenhouse grown. When planted out they will usually lose the greenhouse leaves and sprot new ones.
Beerhog

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