Elephants ear (Alocasia Colocasia Xanthasoma)

[daz]

Hi guys and gals.Whats the biggest kind of plant known as elephant ears?

[metalhammer]

Jack's Giant I guess.




metalhammer.

[daz]

Ill have alook mate thanks alot

[metalhammer]

Amulree are listing them at £8 a throw,JunglePlants are asking £24 for one in a 1litre pot.

edit,my mistake,3litre pot for £24.95.Just been & checked.



metalhammer.

[daz]

Thanks for that mate i,ll have a look now

[Nigel Fear]

Dave's got a few different types of Alocasia's and Colocasia's, wait and see what he thinks before you go and get one, You may want to consider what you;re going to have to do to keep it going every year.

[Conifers]

Loxodonta africana gets huge with age. Can be a bit invasive and damaging in the garden though, be careful if getting it.

If you want something just a little smaller, try Loxodonta cyclotis, though this is very rare, and difficult to obtain.

[countrylover]

Have a look at this:
http://www.colocasiaelephantear.com/

[daz]

Thanks guys.Im going to a garden show at the weekend at a place called newark in notts.So im hopping to get somthing there.WOW mate c lover thats huge gotta have that one if i can get it lol.

[Dave Brown]

That is an interesting link Countrylover. Not had chance to read it all, but be careful of trying to grow Aroids in the same way that Americans do. Our climate is a wet spring, and a wet autumn compared to their seasons, where they get a marked cold winter and a hot summer.

From experience of John (kentgardener's) Thai Giant, it would seem to be the largest we can grow in this country reaching 120cm leaves. There was a few posts on it on here last year I will see if I can locate it. Other than that there is Jack's Giant, but but it is new here and I don't know of anyone who got it to huge size last year. Mine reached 65cm. There is the one we call Mammoth but that is not a name you can buy it under. Burgundy stem will grow big, as will fontanesii but all of the above will only give what they get, you put a lot into feeding and watering, and they get big. You leave them to their own devices and they don't

The real humungus leaves are Alocasia, but the biggest sinsle leaf in the world is A robusta with 6m (18ft) leaves, which only grows in a tropical jungle climate, so a complete non starter here and in the US. Next comes Borneo Giant, which a few of us tried back in 2007/8 but this needs real heat to do well, and the biggest I got it was 35cm before the Autumn chill caused it to produce smaller leaves again. Next one that is practical is Alocasia portidora, with the wavy edged leaves. I saw this at Wisley 3m (10ft) tall with what looked like a 2m leaf. I actually got this to 104cm last year and is starting from around that size this year so fingers crossed Following on form that is Alocasia calidora which got to just under 90cm in a tiny pot. It also is starting off BIG this year

The problem with Alocasia is in general they are much slower growing here than most Colocasia. and take 2 or 3 seasons to get to full size. If you let them die back to the rhizome you don't get the big leaves, it seems to start off from scratch again.

[daz]

Thanks dave mate .That makes really interesting reading mate.I have written all those names down mate so when i go to the show at the weekend ill have a look mate thanks again guys...daz