I just bought one as well. This is what I received and planted. It's upside down in this pic. I planted it indoors on 5/9/16. It's already growing. I will post a current pic. One sec.

I bought mine from easy to grow bulbs. They told me to cover the while bulb and yes the growth did come out from where you said but I did over it up more than yours is covered with dirt. How long have you had it planted?

Cricket, the first growth will be at the top of the bulb, but as it gets more mature you might see new plants from the sides. Later the plant will produce runners with small bulblets underneath the soil, and these may break with new growth. On a repot, you can separate these little bulbs that haven't produced plants and grow them separately. They often have a hard covering that can be quite thick, I scrape some of this covering off to expose the interior to moisture in the medium, otherwise they will sometimes sit dormant for a long time.

You sure picked a big EE for your first one. My one gripe about odora is the leaves usually point upwards, but it can be massive and very impressive.

PlanTing, which EE is yours? Obviously one with darker petiole, which will help with ID later if you don't know it. I have several EEs ready to ship to you, but I want to pick out a few more that you might like. I'll be working on that today, might be able to get in the mail tomorrow or Thurs.

Russ

Hey Russ. It is supposed to be the same as Cricket mentioned, alocasia odora. Thanks again for sharing. I'm super excited!

Got it... I PMed you about the box going in the mail.

Russ

Thanks for the info!

PlanTing, That photo was taken at about 1.5 wks, 3 days ago. As of today, the wider base has almost doubled in height, and the slimmer growth tripled. Yikes! (The original bulb (or is bulbo-tuber more accurate) was more globe-shaped than the one in your photo, but those pictured online seem very varied.)

Russ1023, very interesting. I've seen height estimates from a low of 3ft on up to 8ft, so am not sure what to expect. Don't know if it's some form of guttation, or something to do with the indoor environment, but the growing tips always seem moist.

Hope it's warm enough outside soon. Not sure how much to let it grow before moving it to a larger container, or how large will be needed for maybe 4 months outdoors growth.

It's been amusing reading old threads on EEs and their relatives. N hungry and water thirsty seems the theme, but could hardly believe in an '09 post Al (tapla) suggested using "a heavy soil (like Miracle-Gro)"!

Cricket1, since you mentioned a variety of heights in your research, I Googled as well and you're right. The first site listed indicated 3 to 4 feet which is utter nonsense, the thing is huge. Then there was 8 feet, that's in the ball park. Oddly Wikipedia didn't list a height at all. I used to edit Steve Lucas' website Exotic Rainforest before he passed and he was a researcher par excellence. His page dedicated to A. odora says 12 feet.

All that said, the height of any alocasias, colocasias, etc will depend on culture, where you are in the country, size of pot, etc. Letting them go rootbound would obvously hold them back. Normally you're not going to get monster growth in your short growing season, but if you really wanted to push it you could pot larger as soon as the roots reach the inside edges of the pot and fertilize heavily. They are fast growers and big feeders. I think you could get one to 5 or 6 feet in 4 months with regular potting-up and fertilizing.

Odd that Tapla made that statement, it's possible he meant 'heavier' as being more water-retentive rather than actually heavier in weight. MG would hold a lot more water than 5-1-1, and rotting can be an issue with alocasias. I'd use MG in a heartbeat, only issue might be rains here in Florida but it should be fine in other areas of the country. MG being light in weight, wind could be a problem in blowing a tall one over.

Realizing your plant is very small, what have you put your odora in?? Also, if you want to try some other alocasias, I can send some for postage if you wish. I have Borneo Giant which is probably bigger than odora. I have a lot of macrorrhizos variegata if you like variegated plants. Others available, plumbea, plumbea Nigra, possibly cucullata.

Russ

Russ, I've enjoyed researching different plants at the Exotic Rainforest site in the past, but must have missed that page - and the 12' height - until now.

> Odd that Tapla made that statement
It did seem atypical seeing it there. In a recent post appended to a different revived thread, said he personally uses 5-1-1 for his EEs.

> wind could be a problem
Thanks for the warning! Never having grown any tall heavy plants, hadn't considered that issue.

> what have you put your odora in
Long story. I was concerned that the bare bulb already had been sitting at room temp for more than a week. So, after reading several times online about rot problems before roots get going, tried to make a fairly fast draining mix using what little was on hand (mostly leftover larger bark). 1 part 1/4"-3/8" bark, 1 part dust-screened Turface, and 1 part potting soil. And for an improvised container, cut the top off a 1.5 gal plastic jug and put holes (and a wick) in the bottom. Seems to be OK.
Definitely will be making 5-1-1 for other plantings which I know like it. But for a scaled up (thirsty) A.o. wondering if it might dry out too quickly?

> if you want to try some other alocasias
Wow, very much appreciate your kind offer. Those you mentioned would furnish some great visual variety. Unfortunately my entire available growing area for all plants is about 3'x9' - so a single EE container is all I can fit right now.
But I think even that one plant is going to be fun and different here in an urban 5b.

Interesting comments. I tried Turface for many years in my mixes for sansevierias and succulents, and I decided to dump it because a lot of plants were rotting. I think it absorbs too much moisture and releases it as the mix dries out, so stays wet too long. Probably not a bad thing, or at least neutral, in a mix for tropicals. I've gone with perlite exclusively for an aggregate, west coast folks are lucky pumice is so readily available.

Since you're in such an urban place, I doubt wind will be an issue with your EE. It's always a consideration here in flat Florida.

Understood on your small growing area, odora will certainly be a different look in your area and you'll get a lot of fun comments about it from visitors.

Let me know if you change your mind on the offer, cucullata is a small grower.

Good luck,

Russ

Thanks for the advice and good wishes. (You guessed I substituted Turface for unavailable perlite.) Will try to remember to post an update photo or two over the season. (PlanTing! is welcome to do so, also.)

I will. Russ sent me some goodies too so I will have a post for those also.

Nights have been above 60˚F for a week, so time to move it outside.

Progress, as promised:

Mine is totally different from yours. I think it was mislabeled.

What's yours look like? If leaves aren't pointing straight up, then it's not odora. Might be difficult to ID from a pic but we can try.

Russ

That's a nice one with its smoother edges. Of course will defer ID to Russ, but it does look more like a Colocasia.

But is that an A. odora in the back right of photo, PlanTing!? (It has a upright leaves.)

The back was bought at Home Depot. Just listed as EE.

Yeah, this is a colocasia but I don't know which species or variety. I'll see if I can find a pic that matches or at least narrow it down to a few possibles. Is that petiole a very dark brown color?

Russ

So I bought it from easy to grow bulbs. I purchased Alocasia Odora and Alocasia black leaf Illustris. Maybe they mislabeled them. What was labeled as black leaf did not grow and this is what grew from the package listed as Odora. Russ do you have Odora?

I have one that I think is Illustris, I'll post a pic. If I have an extra plant I can send you one.

I looked at Easy to Grow Bulbs, I sure like the deep black color of Diamond Head. I've seen it at other sites, seems to be very available. Mojito seems to be a weak grower, doesn't grow real well for me, but it's pretty. Same with Hilo Beauty, I lost all my plants a couple of winters ago.

I don't have odora, just haven't come across one locally or found one for trade.

I'll take stock of my alocasias, colocasias and caladiums and post the list.

Russ

Have either of you tried stingray? I think it's a new one too.

Is that what I think it is?

If it is, any chance of (self-)fertilization without native pollinators (or assisted reproduction) ? If there is a chance, any way seed pods could even mature in the three months left in zone 5b? (More curious about how these aroids work, than seriously expecting anything.)

Glad to see you found a Stingray! Different looking isn't it? To me, it looks like a regular plumbea (not Nigra) that's lost the front part of the leaf other than the midrib.

I don't know how new it is but I saw my first one maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I have a couple of these, you might find that it's not a strong grower. It's also a spider mite magnet for some odd reason, very few of my other alocasias get them but this one has a definite problem. I haven't found what it wants to make it take off yet. If you figure it out, let me know!

Russ

Hello. Just found this thread. I bought an odora variegated a couple of years ago. It's still in a 3 gallon pot and barely growing at all this year. Wondering about the best soil and fertilizer for it. I separated the first 3 pups that grew largest the first year. One died, one has stayed pretty small, the other I sold. The smaller pups I removed have all stayed very small or died. I'm at a loss as to what it wants. Any advice is welcome. I have lots of Colicasias, which I keep moist, but I think these like it drier, right?

Mimulus, what soil mix have you tried with the odora?

Alocasias are adaptable but don't like 'wet feet' or very dry conditions. Here in central Fla I let the mix dry to an inch or two before watering, but daily rainy spells doesn't seem to bother them. I have mine in a mix of primarily unsifted pine bark mulch (from WalMart), with a little peat moss or styrofoam balls and a little perlite. I've successfully grown them in many other mixes using various proportions of Miracle-Gro, peat moss, pine bark mulch, perlite and/or vermiculite. They're really not too particular as long as the mix has air spaces and drains well.

It would help if you turn on your Messaging. My email is bluesea14808@yahoo.com. If your interested in trades, I have quite a few alocasias and colocasias, including A. macrorhizos variegata. Also have a large collection of philodendrons, aglaonemas and other aroids, and sansevierias.

Russ

Funny, I went to one of my nurseries a few days ago, and one of the workers there saw my interest in aroids and elephant ears and asked if I would be interested in a Stingray - which, up to that point, I had never heard of before. He took me into the back - said that they never got around to putting them out this year for some reason, so they were just in holding. So I picked up two plants. We'll see how it goes. It's great to find this thread!

LaLennoxa, finding Stingray was a good find, they're not common in the marketplace for some reason. Stingray seems to be a mutant of A. plumbea, the leaf and petiole colors and patterns are the same. In my experience, spider mites are mildly attracted to all the 'elephant ears', but Stingray is so bad that I'm surprised when doesn't have them. So watch for them on your plant. Let me know if you're not familiar with symptoms of spider mite and what to look for.

I haven't grown a potted Stingray larger than a couple of feet tall, but I saw one in the ground in an old neighborhood in Orlando that was close to 4 feet and very healthy. Decades ago I saw plumbea 'Nigra' at Disney's Epcot that might have been 5 feet tall, mine tend to be smaller in pots but I probably neglect potting up as they grow.

Keep us posted on progress.

Russ

Russ, that's good information to know - thank you. I'm thinking since I don't this one is hardy in my zone, it will fall into the category of chopping down after first frost, and bringing downstairs to sit in dormancy until the following spring/summer. So this will probably take care of those mites.

My first experience with the aroid family was buying sauromatum venosum from Home Depot which I planted in a container. At the end of the season, after the foliage had died off, I just brought the whole container downstairs and forgot about it all winter. Got the biggest surprise when it started growing on its own the following March, in complete darkness too! So that's been my routine for the past three years, and I never quite realized that over the years it had grown from the size of a cherry tomato to a cantaloupe!