I live in new york rite on lake ontario, ive had colocasias for years, my pride and joy.. and theres alot of controversy about them, how to grow them, over winter them and so on and through trial and errror this is wut ive learned if it can help any one..1st they love food and not the liquid kind..but horse cow or goat manure..(must be seasoned a year or 2) soil is the most important aspect in growing these badboys...i make my own dirt for all my plants,,try merical grow potting soil (1/3) with manure (1/3) and ne kind of regular dirt or sand (1/3),,and i sift it useing a regular strainer to get the finest loosest n fluffiest dirt n i mix it all together and my plants thrive,, always remember to water weekly depending on climate ect,,the bigger the plant the more food and water they need,,(use rain water or distilled..tap water has to many chemicals and clorine which will damage ne plant over time) i also never put mine in the ground they are all in pots,, they make an awsome house plant,, they go outside in the summer and come indoors in the winter they never go dormant on me..i do not c the point in over wintering them if they r still healthy, and growing fine unless they r in the ground and u dont wanna risk loseing them from winter or u dnt hve the room to bring them indoors.. they will let u no if there going dorment if thats the case i wouldnt cut them back let them die off on threre own as long as they hve foliage they r absorbing nutrients to store for next years growth.. ive also learned (and this may sound nuts) they r like children with thier own personal prefrenses and personalities,,yes i said it..a plant adjusting to a new home..? sometimes and certain plants i no for a fact drecenea is 1..but when u hve a healthy colocasia..a new home dosent matter to them..idk this is wut ive learned over tha past 15yrs of having these n i can take it to the bank..i could rite all day about these plants so i hope this can help ne 1 thats looking for advise.. it is a science and with enough research (weighing out the opinions and answers) ull figure it out be paitient and proactive.. and good luck

I had a huge elephant's ear plant in a pot in my shade garden this summer. I cut off the leaves and took it out before frost, expecting it to have a tuber. (It was purchased from a garden center.) Lo and behold, just little roots! I'd like to save it for next summer, so I plopped it in a smaller pot and put it in my basement in hopes it will stay alive in a semi-dormant state. It will have a little light from a small window and I plan to water it a little every couple weeks. Does this sound like a plan for success?

I have a pond in partial shade. I have EE in a couple inches of water and also outside the pond and directly in the ground as well. Some in ground have failed to come back in spring. I move most of the pots into the garage for the winter and have brought others into the house for winter color. I put impatiens (and maybe coleus) in with the EE. Works in the pond and in the house later. My only concern with your narrow neck is that multiple plants would probably get stuck in there. Perhaps only one plant would be best. Dividing after a year or two is necessary and gives you a new supply. One year I got several complete round bulbus roots and other times just offshoots of amorphus shape.

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