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Adding Life to Yours!

Alocasia Robusta Elephant Ear Care

     We have been growing these since late 2003 when I received my first shipment from Malaysia. The company must not have had a lot of experience in the shipping department obviously because most of the 300 plants were already smashed and rotting by the time they arrived. That also could have been due to the shipper. It wasn't Fed-ex, UPS or USPS. Ill just leave it at that. That plant company has since stepped up their shipping methods. Thankfully we don't have to get them from there, at least not always. Its always good to get rare plants from different parent sources if possible. Most likely all the robusta plants in the United States are coming from the same place in Florida. The Alocasia robusta respond well to high NPK fertilizers with a large amount of trace elements. Actually, you shouldn't waste money on any fertilizer that doesn't have a high amount of mineral trace elements. They do best when watered in the morning hours and soil allowed to dry before the next watering. During daily rainy weather, you may want to move it into an area that doesn't get the high inches of rain. you could though use collected rain water to water your plants since the nitrogen in rain will benefit all plants greatly. They should be placed in a very high light area. Seems like the more sun, the better as long as the soil is not too dry. Once they reach the stage where they have grown about 7-10 leaves, they seem to be quite hardy. I have found that they need high humidity and bright indirect light to do their best.

    Welcome to owning THE largest undivided leafed Plant in the world, the Alocasia Robusta! If you just received it, they should sprout new leaves soon if it hasn't already. Be sure not to mix in any immediate release fertilizer with the soil and make sure that your soil does not contain any fertilizer as this can burn the roots and can kill the plant very quickly. Can’t be stress enough.    

     Receiving your plants: If the outer leaves are yellowed or wilted don’t be alarmed. This can happen to all elephant ears during shipping. Some do, some aren’t bothered at all. But trim off the wilted leaf if yellow near its base but make sure that you do not trim the mid (main leaf or it will stunt its growth or kill it. These plants were about 4-7” tall before shipped and the new leaves should be taller and larger when emerging. New leaves should be at least half or double the size of the previous leaf. Sometimes during shipping they will only push out a new leaf about the same size as previous. Don’t be alarmed.

They are not as difficult to grow as people make them out to be but these are my experiences with them. In the wild they are stable and grow rapidly.   

     Lighting (Important!) – We start ours in 50% shade and acclimate them to about 60% sun and are recommended that you do the same until more established in your environment. The soil should be allowed to dry a little before the next watering but should always be watched CLOSELY. Too much water on these and they will rot quickly. And full sun will scorch the leaves. A good dose of full morning sun until about 11-noon is perfect for these until they grow about 4 new leaves. Then you can gradually introduce them into more and more full sun.  

     Soil Mix: should be a rich mixture of peat and sandy (I use “Black Cow”) soil and about ½ perlite that will drain well but hold moisture at the same time. Another good soil amendment is small pebbles or course rocks. This allows a well draining atmosphere for the roots as well as good aeration, while the peat and if you add vermiculite will help retain moisture and nutrients to the roots. If your soil allows water to stand, it may rapidly kill the new plant encouraging rot. Once it becomes established, the plant will be more tolerant to standing water but still would watch it. Make SURE you do not use premixed soil that contains fertilizer added to it and do not use fertilize in your soil mixture. This can burn the roots and small bulb quickly. Mix the soil well and make sure it drains immediately when applying water. 

     Note: These originate from Malaysia and are naturally grown in clay soils BUT even the propagators of these wonderful plants had trouble growing them in clay soils. I did an experiment and just added some red clay in VERY SMALL amounts to the surface of the container and allowed it to leach or seep into the soil in between the gaps in the soil. This seems to have strengthened them and given a little added nutrient. The clay also can hold in moisture on hot days in full sun. Only place enough to infiltrate the soil and do not cover the entire top of soil with it as this can hold too much moisture and cause root rot. Root rot is the number one cause of death in these plants. 

     Where to plant – Smaller plants should be planted in at least a one-gallon or three gallon sized container. Actually, the larger the area, the better for the plant since the roots LOVE to spread out! I'm a firm believer that in American cultivation, they should be container grown unless your area does not experience any cold weather below 40 degrees ºF. Once established, the Alocasia Robusta is at home best in a full sun position or an area of 80% sun. If planted in full sun it will grow faster and stronger, but will need continual observation on it’s watering. These plants look excellent wherever you plant them but make sure you give it room to grow to its fullest! Young plants should produce a new leaf about every 10-14 days and they should be half or twice the size of the previous leaf once fully unfurled.  Growing them in containers give you the mobility that is needed to control its environment much easier than when they are grown in your garden's earth.

     IMPORTANT - Since you will probably receive relatively small plants from no matter who you receive them from, the best location would be about 40% shade with bright indirect sunlight or dappled sunlight until they grow a new leaf and then gradually introduced into more and more sunlight one week at a time. This shouldn’t take very long to reach a good size when properly cared for, probably within 4-6 months. I have corresponded with the botanist who helped develop these plants for cultivation and he stated that in their wild environment, they can be 6 feet tall in a 6-month period. Usually filling in gaps in areas where trees have felled. IN their native land they grow all year and do not have to endure any dormancy or cool down period. This makes them more difficult to grow in America but it is not impossible as mentioned above.

     Fertilizer - The best fertilizer to use once your plant has grown a new leaf on its own is a 20-20-20 (believe it or not) once every one and half - two weeks with as many micronutrients in the fertilizer as possible. Always read the label of your fertilizer and compare them with others on the percentage of microelements. The more microelements, the more efficient your fertilizer will be for your plants. Make sure you read the labels directions before applying to plants. Slow release form is the best for these. Mix it the way the directions say to do so! Do not fertilize until the plant has grown at least 2-3 leaves on its own. You should also add about 1 cup of Epsom's salts to the plant about every 4 weeks. This will help, you watch and see!

     *Once your plant has been established and has grown about 10+ new leaves, you can give it a treat of immediate release fertilizer sprinkled around the top of the soil about 6 inches away from the plant's base. Make sure to do this just before you water it for the day or 3 day period and water it in well. They will respond! You should only do this about once every 2 months.

     Problems – If you notice scorched leaves bring into more shade immediately and back off on the watering until it has grown a couple new leaves. I have a few that are in 100% full sun and are really growing well. It has taken all year and a lot of money thrown away to learn a few tricks with these. 

If you see the plant turning brown near its base and leaves yellowing, you should allow the soil to dry or even CAREFULLY take the plant out and wash off the soil and repot it, then allow the soil to dry. It may appear dead but give it a week and see what happens but watch the watering. removal of the brown is a very good idea as well. You can remove all the growth down to the corm, this will not harm the plant but will stunt it. but if it was brown, then your plant is probably getting to much moisture and could die very quickly. A stunted plant is better than dead plant.

     The Cold - These are cold sensitive and if not protected in the winter months, may succumb to the cold temps below temperatures of 40ºF. But, you can always dig up the bulb when the weather is going to drop below freezing and store in a container of soil and kept on the dry side, not wet at all, in an environment above 55º degrees. Light should be given when possible. Mature plants in open ground may look raggedy after a cold winter but will certainly regrow when the weather warms up. I do not recommend subjecting young or container grown plants to temperatures lower than 42 degrees F. Be sure to trim off the outer leaves for the winter if you have cold temperatures below 32 for long periods and plan on over wintering these indoors. Keep the watering to a minimum while indoors and give as much light as possible. We have had plants totally die after a cold snap and some come back. They were all treated the same way so just be aware.

If it is possible during the winter, a terrarium type environment might do the plant very well despite the root rot problems. IF you choose to go this route, the plant should be kept where the leaves do not touch the enclosure walls and watering should be kept to a minimum. Again ALWAYS check for rotting problems, rot seems to be the number one cause of death in these plants.

You do have a great advantage in buying this plant: They have been acclimated to USA weather and have been growing for a few months and have been stable in our environment. This is not an impossible plant to grow, as some have been lead to believe.

We hope you have much success and come back in the future for your tropicals, palms and other rare and common plants. If you have any questions, please email us and we will be happy to assist in any way we can. Again I do apologize for my lack of communications since the hurricanes hit.. it has a been an uphill struggle in many ways. Only took a few hours to destroy and many days to get back to a half way normal situation. I truly thank you for your patience.

Sincerely,

David Mattocks

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