Never give up on Colocasia

[Mr List]

that is calling it jacks giant, is that the one because that seems to be everywhere.

[Dave Brown]

San, that Garden Express ad has the right name 'Colocasia esculenta' but what they are showing in the pic is totally wrong. That is an Alocasia, probably mac or odora type.

Steve, there was speculation that the tennis ball rhizomes sold in the GCs may be Jack's Giant, I have both the Wilko's Colocasia esculenta sold as Alocasia, and nick named here as mammoth, and Jack's Giant, and they are easily distinguished apart. The HTUK Mammoth has pink leaf bases, shoots and roots, where as they are white in Jack's Giant. I'll Start another topic so that it can be searched.

[Scott Radford]

Hi there

I first saw mammoth around 5 years ago at Mulu nursery before Mulu got too big to even do Plants like this any more. Yet their bed of these huge plants was simply awesome! I have wanted it ever since. I finally got some as simply Colocasia bulbs a couple of years ago. When I saw these things I thought they were the biggest Colocasias bulbs I'd ever seen, so took a chance bought all 9 they had.

They turned out to be definitely from the telltale stripy two tone leaf colour, then ultimate leaf size mammoth. Given that I had nine bulbs to begin with and this year those bulbs have produced an unbelievable amount of plants off each one - some with as many as 8 shoots from one bulb, then very soon I will be able to separate them from the bulbs as rooted growing plants.

There's no way I need to keep this many plants, so they will be going on here in the trade section in due course - and have no fear I've seen jungle plants £30 one - they should be ashamed to sell Aroids for the prices they do, I don't believe any Alocasia or Colocasia is worth more than one third of that money. Some aroids are but they are much much rarer so justifiably so.

[Yorkshire Kris]

There's no way I need to keep this many plants, so they will be going on here in the trade section in due course - and have no fear I've seen jungle plants £30 one - they should be ashamed to sell Aroids for the prices they do, I don't believe any Alocasia or Colocasia is worth more than one third of that money. Some aroids are but they are much much rarer so justifiably so.

I totally agree but someone must be buying them from them.

[Kristen]

I totally agree but someone must be buying them from them.

Or maybe not! I paid £14 for them in the recent sale, so they weren't Sold Out! (Maybe I paid too much ... but they are decent sized plants)