We’ve had this elephant ear for about 3 years now. At first, it grew big and beautiful. But about a year and a had ago, something happened. I’m not sure what. I think it was a room change? Maybe different conditions, or too direct AC, or not enough light?
I’m not sure. What I do know, is that after that, nothing we did made any difference. It got plenty of indirect (and a bit of direct) light, regular watering but not overwatering, and care that it didn’t get too hot or cold or have AC on it.
It was a slow burn. We watched it fade from this massive (by our standards) into this sad little shadow, each leaf released smaller than the previous.
I’ve attached pictures showing the origin, “The Insult,” and the aftermath. After that insult, each subsequent leaf was MUCH smaller, then smaller, then smaller, and finally we’re ready to throw it out.
🙁
What could have been the cause of this? We are very beginners at all this, but have a dozen other houseplants we’ve kept alive, resurrected, and grown successfully.
Any insights and lessons learned for next time would be MUCH appreciated! And happy to answer any questions too!
by FourthSilmaril
12 Comments
These guys are light hungry. When it was “dead,” was the corm firm or mushy? If the latter, it was not enough light + too much water.
The more light you give these plants the more water they can handle.
Likely just not tropically enough for its tastes. Does best in fullish sun (bit of shade during midday is ideal), high temps, and constantly damp conditions. They’re not quite bog plants, but this species likes it on the wet side. Keeping the soil warm helps a lot too- I have mine on one of those seed starting mats when it comes in for winter as it struggles otherwise.
Mine died also. I didn’t check, but I assumed it was an issue with being root bound.
3 years?? I have one of these and it was too big for the pot it came in. Then I had to repot again less than 1 year later. Eventually, I put it in the largest pot Costco sold.
Look up Sansi light bulb. I got one of those recently for my indoor banana tree, but I noticed my elephant ear taro is LOVING the upgrade from the extra light compared to the dinky little led stand I had before.
I had it in an east facing window with a 4 LED light stand boosting the natural light, and yet adding the sansi light, which is powerful enough to properly replicate full sun indoors, made a noticeable difference.
I’m talking new leaves in less than a week. One of my taro cuttings even came back from the dead, it had zero leaves and resprouted one leaf.
If you do what the plant needs, this is totally saveable.
The window in the first photo is not enough light.
I have my smaller alocacia indoors south facing full sun right up against the window.
My elephant is outside on the balcony (top floor) which gets sun pretty much from 6am-8pm; it’s usually between 30-35C out there.
Watering schedule for my indoors is every 2-3 weeks and outdoors is 7-10 days, weekly would be too much.
They do go dormant with all leaves dying off in cooler weather and you can dig up the corm and start again.
I would check the pot. Check for pests, root rot, and if it is draining properly. Typically you want to add perlite and orchid bark to potting mix to make it well draining.
If all that is clear I would check the light. Use a light meter. Even if it looks bright it might not be enough. There’s an app on your phone that can measure that.
Also are you fertilizing weekly? Theyre pretty hungry. If not fed they tend to drop leaves.
Alocasias are hungry of nutrients and light. Looks like not enough light, how often did you fertilize? And unless the rhizome was rotted the plant would reshoot again.
Mines sat outside in south facing sun in a tray of water fertilised with tomorite rn, it won’t be coming back in til it drops below 4ish. North England so not exactly extremely harsh sun but I’ve never seen it burn yet, even when it’s hit 35 during the summer. Large alocasias and colocasias tend to struggle indoors unfortunately.
Put it outside in the sun, what do you have to lose
Your elephant ear is sure in decline, but it’s not even close to dying. Also they are very nutrient hungry like amazon swords
I have one that is thriving indoors in bright indirect light. It’s about 6 ft back from a window. I live in Philadelphia. I don’t think you need to move it outside but it needs all day bright indirect light. How often are you watering it and what are you feeding it?
Overwatered.