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Tropical Plants

Freeze coming--elephant ears

sujiwan_gw 6b MD/PA

8 years ago

This weekend has 2 nights of temps going down into the 20's. I have many elephant ears over 5 feet tall with much foliage and cannas in bloom. Will it be OK to dig them for storage *after* this temporary freeze event when the weather pattern returns to more normal temps?

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Comments (5)

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years ago
Absolutely, I used to do just that when I had both plants in OH, also Z5. Letting frost zap the foliage makes cleanup a lot easier (and less sentimental.) Both cannas and EE's will lose foliage from a frost, but shouldn't hurt the bulbs/rhizomes, unless they are in pots and the temp is low enough, for long enough, to freeze the soil.

Take some good pics before Jack Frost arrives, to get you through winter, and just in case storage doesn't go well!
rusty_blackhaw
8 years ago
I dig up and pot Colocasias (elephant ears) shortly before the first frost, cutting off most or all foliage and moving pots indoors at the fringe of my indoor growing areas to stay semidormant over the winter. It shouldn't be a problem potting them up after a frost/light freeze.

One new (to me) variety, Pink China is staying outdoors, to be heavily mulched in hopes of seeing it again in spring (I propagated it over the summer to have an indoor insurance policy).

http://www.logees.com/elephant-ear-pink-china-colocasia-hybrid.html
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Yes, indeed. What Al said. Caladiums are very sensitive to cold soil too. If you can find them and they're not rotted, I'd pot them up and keep them inside until your soil is warm enough. Even at that, depending on the variety you have, you could lose the EE anyway. Don't plant either one outside until your night lows are consistently above 55.
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Good to hear others Musa Basjoo are doing great. We are getting 30F tonight according to accuweather forecast link on my computer. I have a variety of Live oak that has survived a year in the ground with no protection this past winter, well actually 3 trees of this variety. It is Live oak "late drop" from Mossy oak natives nursery. It is listed as a variety of Quercus Virginiana. The graceful live oak from the south that is my favorite tree in the universe. The one draped with Spanish moss and branches are wide spreading and evergreen. I will be out there before sunrise spraying the leaves before the sun hits them to hopefully stop damage. The tree has already recovered once from frost, I don't want to push my luck again. I have failed at the regular Live oak from down south 3 or 4 times, so this variety is special. I would say I just got lucky but for 3 to do great after failures of reg Live oak, it is the tree being hardier.
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Comments (6)
Colocasia are usually better for wetter areas than Alocasia. Although, there are some Alocasia species that don't mind sitting in water. With your cold weather they'll die off but provided they don't get too cold they should come back in the spring. A good layer of mulch over them in winter should be enough protection. But telling people where you are will get you precise details.
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Logan L. Johnson
8 years ago
they will die and come back next year dont worry about it
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years ago
In Z6 that wouldn't be guaranteed.
PRO
finn6b
8 years ago
For 2 years now, pink china stays outside for me in z6b SE mass. All I use is an inverted flower pot.

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