In this, the second part of my “Elephants Ears” blog, I’ll explain how you can “grow your own” from corms available at many stores selling tropical foods.
(The best stores to try are Asian, Caribbean and Oriental.)
This is an inexspensive way of buying them if you just want to try your hand at growing them, or if you want to fill your garden with them without spending a fortune.
The corms in the picture cost me £3.50 the lot.
The varieties featured here, are just the plain common or garden type that you can buy from most shops.
However, depending on where the corms have been grown, you could end up with a novelty, its pot luck.
The corms featured in the picture, are as follows, from L to R.
Xanthasoma Violaceum "Blue Taro,"(X.Sagittifolium the true “Elephants Ears” has a white/cream or sometimes pale pink corm.) These are also called “Cocoyam.”
Next is Colocasia Esculenta v esculenta also called “Dasheen.”
The small corms are Colocasia Esculenta v antiquorum also called “Eddos.”
Examine the corms closely; only buy those that are firm and solid.
Reject any that have cuts or abrasions or show signs of mold, fungal growth or slime.
Finally, corms are sometimes sold with the growing point trimmed off.
This is pretty common with Dasheen, so try to buy the corms intact.
Once you’ve bought your corms, put them into pots only slightly larger than the corm itself and with the growing tip level or just above the surface
Any compost will do for this as it’s only a temporary home.
One important point, the compost must not be wet, just and only just moist.
The reason for this is that dormant corms are susceptible to rotting and wet compost encourages this.
Keep compost on the dry side.
We now come to the tricky bit, getting the corms to sprout.
The secret of achieving this is heat, 70f minimum for 24hrs a day until signs of growth appear.
(Trying to get these to sprout is the only time I’ve ever felt the need for a propagator.
Unfortunately, with some of the corms being quite large, once potted up you wouldn’t get many in a standard sized propagator.)
The next best thing is a warm airing cupboard and this is where I started mine.
Before you put them in the propagator or cupboard, give the surface of the pots a light spray with fungicide, this should give some protection against the possibility of fungal growth.
Check the pots regularly to see that all is well.
Once the corms have sprouted, leave them in the propagator or cupboard until the leaves are 5/6ins tall.
Once they've reached this stage of growth, take the pots out and put them in a warm spot in bright filtered light.
The plants will now tolerate a slightly lower temperature, (min.65f will keep them just ticking over, watch the watering.) however, for optimum growth, the more heat you can give the better.
Once all danger of frost has gone, you have two choices.
Planting them out in the garden or growing them on in pots.
Colocasia, Xanthasoma and Alocasia can all be planted out in the open garden and very good they look too.
Sun or light shade seems to suit them best.
The planting area, is best prepared a week or two prior to planting out.
It should be well drained and enriched with plenty of well rotted manure or compost.
After planting and watering, the corms will benefit from a good mulch of organic material.
Water and fertilize freely and don't let the soil dry out.
You can overwinter the corms in the ground or dig them up and store them.
If you want to leave them in the ground, allow the frost to kill the top growth and then cut it off.
Put a heavy, dry mulch over the corms and cover this with either a cloche or a plastic sheet to keep the corms dry.
Although the corms keep well and they're hardy with a mulch, the problems come with regrowth the following Spring.
Sad to say, in my bit of the W.Midlands at least, it just isn't hot enough in early Spring/Summer to promote regrowth, so I abandoned this idea.
( I dug some corms up in late July the one year and they were in excellent condition.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the buds opening and putting on growth. )
To store the corms, cut off the old leaves, dig up the corms and wash and dry them.
Discard any that show signs of damage or fungal growth, dust with fungicide and store in a cool, frost free area.
For growing in pots, you need a rich, well drained compost.
I made mine up from a mixture of J.I.no3, well rotted manure, small bark chips, charcoal pieces and dust and gravel.
I added long life fertilizer granules to the mix and used Phostrogen as a supplementery fertilizer.
Keep well watered when in full growth.
( C.Esculenta "Dasheen" can be grown as a marginal plant or it can be stood in a tray full of water during the Summer. )
To keep these as houseplants during the Winter, you'll need to give them at least 65f plus just to keep them ticking over.
So, if you like your house hot during the Winter, you shouldn't have too many problems.
One thing to watch is the watering, only keep them just moist otherwise they might fall prey to corm or root rots.
The other way to store them, is to leave them in their pots, cut off the top growth, allow the pot to dry out and then store in a cool but frost free place. Posted by: Mike.
Note: If I can be of any further help, e.mail me.