Re: [aroid-l] Overwintering alocasia and colocasia

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>From: ken@spatulacity.com >Reply-To: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu >To: Aroid list <aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu> >Subject: [aroid-l] Overwintering alocasia and colocasia >Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 13:29:30 -0400 >

Just a quick note--I`d get the Colocasia w/ stolons to Florida, from what I`ve read they do NOT winter well as they don`t go dormant, even the C. e. esculenta (taro/dasheen vars.) that do form a tuber, they might be difficult as their dormancy may be longer than your winter.   I don`t know about the Alocasias, maybe someone w/ actual experience can gige you some better advice.    Without a heated g/house you really are at a terrible disadvantage trying to grow tropical plants year round.

Good Luck,

Julius>For those of us in northern US states, the Amorphophallus are

>attractive for two reasons - their flower and form, and the fact >that most of them are dormant in the winter so they're easy to >store.  Like many of us, I grow many more plants in the summer than >I could ever house over winter. > >Now that I have a number of Colocasias and 5 Alocasia macrorrhizos I >want to make sure I can overwinter them.  I believe I read that the >A. macrorrhizos can be dug, cut back, cleaned of dirt and stored >dormant. Is that true? > >I know that I can do that to Colocasia escualenta. What is the >likelihood that I can treat the other Colocasias the same way? I >know I'm asking a lot since I don't have ID's on them, but they're >"escualenta-like" hybrids with dark petioles and/or dark >metallic-sheen looking leaves. One of them is a prodigious producer >of runners (even here in New England). > >One reason I ask is because I have the chance to give some of them a >permanent home at Mom's house in FL and I'd rather have them there >than dead!  Another reason is that I want to get more but I don't >want to treat them as annuals. > >I appreciate the advice, >Ken Mosher