Eddo (Elephants Ears, Colocasia ?)

Peter, you certainly are going for it, edoes that is.

I dont think we have any shops around here selling this kind of thing, other than the bits the supermarkets sell, I might be wrong.
I know you have your light box, but cant help thinking you might have started a bit too late this year.

 

Just got a picture of it , strangely the leaves are closing down at night , on both plants and both with lots of side shoots.

 

Sal - I love that second picture of yours. Yes, Its quite different from mine and its huge. Mind you, the biggest one of mine was huge also. It doesn't look so big in the picture - but I'm a big chap (over 6'3") and I could only get my thumb and forefinger half way round it, which means its well over a foot in circumference.

Pete - I suspect that you are right. It has passed through my mind. But all my purchases today only came to £5 in total - which I am prepared to write off if necessary. But I have learn't where they can all be purchased. So I will be off to a flying start next year.

 

Pete mine are planted outdoor and they will grow up to the middle of November , they can handle easy -2 with no damage , if you manage to start them now and keep them alive trough the winter , you will have a great start and can move them outside in May , with the hope that will not be like this one.
It`s actually really hard to restart them in March unless they already have the roots.

PeterS funny think the first picture aren`t mine, I bough the roots for Sirius , don`t actually grow any of them really don`t know what will come out .
the second one are actually coming from India and are the waxy leaves plants , very strange shape leave and color.

 

Thanks Sal. They are so cheap that it doesn't matter much - I am just enjoying the process at the moment.

I do have grow lights as well as a small light box. I could overwinter them as plants if they were small. But if they only had small leaves I wouldn't want them, I am really looking for something with large leaves - in which case I wouldn't have the space to overwinter them.

 

They are in the airing cupboard in a bag of damp vermiculite. So far no movement, but I will keep you all posted.

 

Sal, PeterS,

If you are interested in Aroids, have a look here:

http://www.aroid.org/

I used to be a member, but one year, there was a whole palaver with my subs payment, so I allowed my membership to lapse. But it is a really good organisation to be a member of.

 

Thanks Sirius - I had already had a look there. Its mind blowing how many different genuses there are let alone species and cultivars. Even without a membership there is a wealth of information available.

But thank you for the prompt - I have just added it to my Favorites.

 

I like the tropical Aroids, but don't keep my greenhouse warm enough.
Interesting what I am going to do with these Eddoes.....will probably have to bring them into the house.

 

Sirius - can you not overwinter them the same way as Dahlias. Lift in late autumn and store the tuber over winter.

 

PeterS

I have an (unheated) garage I can store them in.
Just not sure it will be warm enough.

Also, as I am just bringing them into growth now, not sure how much reserves they have, so was thinking it might be a good idea to try and keep them going over the winter??

 

My 2p worth ...

You should ("should" being the somewhat operative word!!) be able to overwinter them BONE dry (so not quite like Dahlias).

Starting them again is the issue, bottom heat is the trick, but some can be hard to re-start, and I suspect that your starting them at this [late-ish] time of the year may mean that they haven't done enough growing to be successfully shut-down and started-up again next Spring (but, as you said, its a small cost, so the gamble is worth it, and "re-stocking" next Feb to have a whole season's run at it will benefit from any experience this year).

I believe that Alocasia (leaves pointing Up, rather than Down [Colocasia]) are deemed to be harder to kick-start.

Hopefully you will get realistic leaves (rather than a few juvenile ones first) from the get-go, and can then decide which ones are "Monsters" and worth over-wintering.

I think you need to supplement your Light Box with a home kitchen-tabletop-tissue-culture experiment - so we can all get Tubers of the ones you like next year

 

100% agree with Kristen , the issue is to start them again , like I said before I use the same system that I overwinter my red banana , I`m pruning the roots , cutting all the leaves to about 10 inches and place them in small pot , ready to be planted in May , that work really well , I usually only overwinter the eddoes that i like , otherwise , I overwinter them in flour and deep fryed or the make a lovely mash as well.
this is the new one that roll close at night .

still didn`t get what that is ! alocasia or colocasia but it look great.

this one is getting really big

the indian one

this is the really small green potatoes look like

and finally what I suspected to be an alocasia (pretty sure) as it start to actually growing a trunk .

My girlfriend actually reminded me that we both the roots of the second one and last one from a thai shop in Northampton 4 years ago.

 

Thanks Kristen. Yes I am very aware that it is late in the season. However the act of getting the tubers into growth in spring seems to be very much helped by a heated propagator.



The above tuber was sitting in Morrisons 14 days ago, I am pleased to say that it has now grown its first leaf.

I have also checked that it is a Colocasia from the data below from http://durablegardening.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/whats-difference-alocasia-colocasia-and.html

Alocasia leaf upward to horizontal, attachment at leaf notch​

Colocasia leaf downward, attachment below leaf notch​

Xanthosoma leaf downward. attachment at leaf notch​

 

I had to go and pick something up from a client this morning, and nearby was an Asian food shop, so in I went.
Bought 4 Eddoes. The tubers are different shapes. Don't know if it is variation of 1 species (probably), or a mix of different varieties.

They also had 2 different yams. I remember in a previous post someone saying that these are difficult to grow, so I left them.