Colocasia esculenta syn. Colocasia antiquorum

Not quite sure why the Colocasia doesn’t want to go to sleep either! This is the biggest one I have and I’m reluctant to cut the foliage off as these are so fleshy the botrytis will just set right in and spread down to the corm. So leaving it be. I cover it with fleece on the coldest nights #colocasia #colocasia-esculenta #colocasiaesculenta

How much stuff have you got in that polytunnel 😄😄

It’s like Mary Poppins bag Jayne 😂😉 @jaynehynesburton

🤣🤣

Never mind polytunnel, I think it's a polytardis!

Lol! No darleks though Sue. Although if there were they wouldn’t be screeching exterminate, more like POLLINATE! POLLINATE!! 😂😂😂 @lilybee

😀😀😀

I'm really loving those leaves though!! 😍

Thanks Cyndi 🙏🏼 - yeah just going to watch it every couple of days to make sure it doesn’t turn mouldy. The doors are open constantly at the moment so a nice breeze blows through occasionally to keep the air circulating 👍🏼 @cyndi

They are pretty aren’t they Charmaine 😊 @Scratchycat13 bit yellowish but given they should have died back by now I’m not worried. It’s a corm so it will through out new big leaves in the spring hopefully 🤞🏼

I cut the foliage off my one Richard @richard.spicer.7906 after reading up about it. The one you gave me hope I did the right thing, as it was lovely last year, looking forward to seeing it again 😘

I'm sure they will :)

Not the most glamorous photo, but you can see where it gets it’s common name from 🐘 #elephantear #colocasia #colocasia-esculenta - coming on nicely 👍🏼

These seem to be the 'in' plant this year @richard.spicer.7906 I must get one ☝️ are these special mail order ?

Yeah, I think I jumped on the fashion band wagon with these 😂😉 - I was actually surprised to pick this up at a hillier garden centre as a bulb (or should I say cricket ball sized bulb!) - never seen them before over here in U.K. so I bought it before I knew what to do with it. Anyway, little bit of research and it seems potentially possible to make it grow. I’ve bought another one from GWL which had already started growing, really nice blue-green leaf with cranberry coloured stems @Cazx

Missed these at gwl @richard.spicer.7906 but there was so much to see. As a bulb how long does it take to germinate? Hillier garden centres are too far away for me but will try our local Dobbies or Wyvale garden centre's they're dotted all around here

I bought a black one at Parham! I love it. Not planted yet and know it’s tender so will keep in the garage over winter

It took aggggggggeeeesss 😫 - I bought and planted it in April and it only started poking through the soil about 6 weeks ago @Cazx

They don't like to be cold and they do take a long time to sprout. Mine put out 4 stalks the first year, you may need a bigger pot, Rich. @richard.spicer.7906 @Cazx also like lots of water

will try to find one I like these plants @richard.spicer.7906

Lucky you @clipperty 😄 - I’ve seen a couple@at some shows recently but it’s not the black one I’m looking for. Not overly keen on the glossy ones and there is one which has a Matt effect 👌🏼

Thanks Leslie - thinking it might need to be pot on, only 2 leaves at the moment but the good thing is it still alive 😂 @lesliecole49

They are new to me, but I’m already planning to get a couple more @kenan

I see a lot of plants that I'm not used to meeting. I understand that you want other it's impressive ! @richard.spicer.7906

And today, 21st June 2018 - finally starting to sprout 😀, still not watered it yet but you can see how well the moisture has been kept in the original compost. I've changed the cling film now for a bag to allow it to grow a bit more, before I water it properly as it probably still doesn't have much root yet 👍🏼, I wouldn't want it to now suddenly rot! #colocasia #colocasia-esculenta #elephantear #taro #challengeyourself

Nice one Rich 👌🐘

Success at last!

Well done 👍

Thanks @nej 😀👍🏼 hopefully it will look great when the leaves show

I saw many in Mexico Lin, that’s where I started to appreciate a likeness for them 😁 @linfoster

Cheers Jeff - looking forward to the tropical look @jeatacake

22nd April 2018 - potted up in a small pot, with moist potting compost straight from the bag, covered it with more compost so that it was just below the soil surface, not to compact, and then covered the pot with cling film. I haven't watered it at all, and the cling film was to act by keeping the existing moisture from the fresh compost within the container. All I did then was leave it in the polytunnel where it was warm and humid. Nothing else #colocasia #colocasia-esculenta #elephantear #taro

Interesting......👌🏼

It’s a very large bulb do I think it’ll b ok in the pot?? Or are you transferring it into the ground later?? There’s a lot of interesting ideas on utube with these guys!! Good luck. Let us see how things go. 😊💕

Thanks Terri - not sure what the long term plan is but for now it will stay in this pot until I start to see the roots come through the bottom and then I’ll gradually increase the pot size. I think I’ll have to bring it indoors over the winter. A few YouTube vids talk about making it go dormant over winter and then starting it off again in spring. The standard taro can apparently be fine with this technique although some cultivars prefer to be in constant growth. @terrimclaughlin

I usually leave mine in the ground with about 2-3 inches of cedar mulch but if you have a big enough greenhouse or enclosure I’m sure it’ll do better in shelter. It seems like all mine that were wintered in the greenhouse did much better this spring/summer😊💕

Aw, thanks for the tip Terri 🙏🏼 - it will certainly be a learning curve for me with this one 😊 @terrimclaughlin

Here is how I planted it - trick is to keep soil moist but not water, cover it with cling film to keep the moisture in from the original compost (unless it was bone dry when you plant it) then remove when you see the first bud start to break. Just below soil level, not too deep 👍🏼 @Cazx

21st April 2018 - visited a Hillier GC and saw they were selling these cricket ball size bulbs of Colocasia esculenta. It was only £3, which I thought was quite decent given the size of it, and although I had no knowledge on how to grow these plants I accepted the challenge! #bulb #colocasia #colocasia-esculenta #elephantear #taro #challengeyourself

I know there pretty tough. I pulled up a piece of a “Taro” and accidentally pulled up the whole bulb it was about 21/2-3 inches in diameter and gave it to @Hannahcristine and she planted it, it only had a few thin roots but it’s doing great now. Good luck I’m sure it’ll b great👍🏻👍🏻🤗😊💕

Thanks Terri 😊🙏🏼 keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep it alive @terrimclaughlin