Hardy Tropicals UK

The plant is growing well but this isn't a good sign ,yellow leaves at the edges,wondering if I have overdone the lawn fertiliser.The biggest leaf now is 730 mm which for me is really good,the best I've had so far,anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong.It's growing under glass and watered daily up until a day or so ago

i'd say the roots have rotted.

I'd say too little moisture in the air, or just leaves grow old

could be a combination of anything mentioned or any one alone best look at the roots first definitely not feed again as yet and then if the roots ok try more humidity

Is that plant 'endemic to Borneo'?

As far as I know its the Rafflesia which is the biggest plant in Borneo. Or, is that just the name of the plant?

Thanks!!

Kata, Borneo Giant is a type of Alocasia macrorrhiza.

NBT if it is really a Borneo Giant, you have done better with it than anyone I know. The problems I had was it got bigger, to about 30cm by August and as soon as it started to cool off, they got smaller again. Mine eventually faded away in 2008 or 2009. I have heard they are only happy on a heat mat all year.

If all the leaf edges have suddenly yellowed it is either lack of humidity with high temps, or the roots rotting, which was a major problem with them when not hot.

Borneo Giant seemed to need 30C with 70 to 100% humidity to be really happy.

And if none of these things, could it be Red Spider Mite. Some indoor plants tend to be prone to this. They're hard to see but a bad case can disfigure a plant.

Di

Dave Brown wrote:Kata, Borneo Giant is a type of Alocasia macrorrhiza.

NBT if it is really a Borneo Giant, you have done better with it than anyone I know. The problems I had was it got bigger, to about 30cm by August and as soon as it started to cool off, they got smaller again. Mine eventually faded away in 2008 or 2009. I have heard they are only happy on a heat mat all year.

If all the leaf edges have suddenly yellowed it is either lack of humidity with high temps, or the roots rotting, which was a major problem with them when not hot.

Borneo Giant seemed to need 30C with 70 to 100% humidity to be really happy.

I mist it twice or more a day so it isn't that starved of humidity hopefully.I took it out of the pot and seemed I broke the golden rule....let it go dry ..I didn't.I used to but saw someone on the forum say they water their alocasias daily ,so I thought I'd give it a try and the compost wasn't well drained enough .Glad I caught it in time.I went away to Florida for a few weeks and left the plant plunged into a larger pot filled with damp shreddings and it seemed happy like that and having returned left it like that,seemed a big mistake.

nicebutdim wrote:

Dave Brown wrote:Kata, Borneo Giant is a type of Alocasia macrorrhiza.

NBT if it is really a Borneo Giant, you have done better with it than anyone I know. The problems I had was it got bigger, to about 30cm by August and as soon as it started to cool off, they got smaller again. Mine eventually faded away in 2008 or 2009. I have heard they are only happy on a heat mat all year.

If all the leaf edges have suddenly yellowed it is either lack of humidity with high temps, or the roots rotting, which was a major problem with them when not hot.

Borneo Giant seemed to need 30C with 70 to 100% humidity to be really happy.

I mist it twice or more a day so it isn't that starved of humidity hopefully.I took it out of the pot and seemed I broke the golden rule... let it go dry ..I didn't.I used to but saw someone on the forum say they water their alocasias daily ,so I thought I'd give it a try and the compost wasn't well drained enough .Glad I caught it in time.I went away to Florida for a few weeks and left the plant plunged into a larger pot filled with damp shreddings and it seemed happy like that and having returned left it like that,seemed a big mistake.

mmmmm...... I think some Alocasia that can tolerate cool conditions can be watered every day in summer, but I guess our summer is not really summer for Borneo Giant. I think the golden rule works well for most Alocasia here

Thanks Dave!!

kata wrote:Is that plant 'endemic to Borneo'?

As far as I know its the Rafflesia which is the biggest plant in Borneo. Or, is that just the name of the plant?

Thanks!!

Kata, Rafflesia has the largest flower in the world... it's by no means the biggest plant.

Looks fine to me....
I wouldn't use lawn fertilizer on it though,
very easy to burn Bananas,Colocasia,Alocasia-etc
with to much quick N.

Something much more slow release(N) would be better.

jimhardy wrote:Looks fine to me....
I wouldn't use lawn fertilizer on it though,
very easy to burn Bananas,Colocasia,Alocasia-etc
with to much quick N.

Something much more slow release(N) would be better.

I agree Jim, they need little and often rather than high strength, but I have never seen a high N ratio in a slow release feed. We have to mix up high N feed either Chempak No2, or adding lawn feed to miracle -gro, BUT fed dilute, not full strength.

Having thought about it Sulphate of ammonia is sort of a slow release high N. It is widely used on leafy vegetables like cabbage.