Eddo (Elephants Ears, Colocasia ?)

Hi Peter, so far I've only recently got the Eddoes; hence starting the thread...not knowing what to do with them I put them in small pots, just big enough to hold a little compost (plenty of vermiculite mixed in) around the root and I left the tiniest bit of the growing point exposed. I then popped them on a heated propergator base and they starting growing within days, developing like a 'bulbil' on the surface and roots from that into the compost; my first one now has a noticeable young leaf, only small at the moment but its coming on nicely

 

Thanks Bilbo. I think the key here is bottom heat. Some other tubers such as an Amorphophallus have only just started to sprout - which seems terribly late in the year. I am sure it can only be due to the lack of heat.

I would like someone to tell me the differance between Eddoes and Arbi - if, indeed, anyone knows. I did ask the lady on the till which subspecies they were however she just laughted when I said that I was going to plant them - not eat them.

 

They are all new to me Peter, must admit I'm not into Asian foods of any kind.

But growing them is a different proposition, I'd just put them in a propagator with the dial set at 80F, these things only tend to rot if the temperature is too low.

 

Guys you lot are costing me money , , just back from my local asian and bough one of those .....can remember the name of it .
along with it he had long yard bean , jack fruit (£40 each) , durian , breadfruit , tamarind , white sweet potatoes , strange avogado , honey mango and lots of strange veg.

there was a plant in my garden in Italy , but they had thorn , apparently they are hady in uk , it`s a climber plant almost look like a pumpkin

 

Sal, is Calathea Zebrina (Maranta) really edible? If so,what parts? as I have never known them to make a tuber.

 

Strongy the maranta was actually a big surprice for myself as well , I got them from a thai/chinese shop and honestly I was expecting to get a strange ginger out , it was in a mix root pack called galangales , it came along with nut grass , galangal , Krachai and a small hottest chilli ever tryed ....but the edible part i suppose is just the roots but really don`t know how does it taste.

 

Reading up on the subject, I find Maranta arundinacea to be the plant that produces "arrowroot", although I've never tried it I have come across the name.

 

Actually you made a good point , the arrowroots is different from each other , once again all depend from where it come from.
this is an edible arrowroots.

 

Looks very like Calathea indeed, Nice plant.. Arrowroot is medically significant too.

 

On my way into work this morning, I had to stop and pick up something from a client. A few doors away was an Aisan shop, so I went in.
He was selling these. He said it is not Eddoes, but called it something else, the name which I have forgotten.
Anyone know what it is?

 

Looks the same as my Eddoes roots to me, but when I googled them they had that many different names, so he could have known it by something else

These are a few names I found; Tannia, Yautia, Malanga, but also just saw whilst googling a picture of a Coco Yam root and that looks nearly identical but a little larger...

 

So basically, I need it to grow to see what it is

I have tried some sort of tropical tuber in the past. In a pot of soil, and it just rotted.

So I am thinking. A small bit of damp vermiculite in a bag in the airing cupbaord?
And then pot up when it has active roots?

 

Yes I would agree with Bilbo - it looks just like the Eddoes in Morrisons.

I am a complete beginner with these, but I suspect that Pete was right when he said they would only rot if it wasn't warm enough. I should think your method would do very well. I suspect they are like seeds, which will germonate as long as they get heat and moisture - irrespective of the method. So seeds will germinate in a pot of compost, or in a polybag with damp paper, or on a damp flannel etc.

I am going to try in a small pot of damp compost in a heated propagator.

 

I think I have solved my problem of what I should do with my jolly green giant radish. The others in my photos are perennials that keep growing, and increase by producing offsets or bigger rhizomes that can be split up.

However a raddish is a biennial. You grow it presumably from seed and in the first year it forms a root. Normally you pull up the root and eat it. However nature intended the root to be the storage mechanism for the second year's growth. In the second year it will grow and flower - then die. Its clear that the seeds for the next crop must come from second year plants that have flowered and set seed.

My only problem now is will it grow this year. Presumably if you lift a radish root at the end of the first year and then replant it - it won't grow. It will wait till next spring.

 

I just googled your radish Peter.
It doesn't look very impressive:WINK1:

I'm thinking we could do better with something like Chard, if you just want an ornamental.

Although I do undersand the curiosity

Ordinary radishes, bolt very easily and run to seed their first year.