Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

GREVILLE

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by GREVILLE »

My two plants have gone separate ways icon_profileleft icon_profileright The bigger one (transferred to the DB special plastic cup :D ) is growing well under bottom heat. The smaller of the two has done what I didn't want and lost its last leaf and gone dormant. The little tuber is still firm but I expect a long wait before it restarts.
rajah99
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Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by rajah99 »

I bought my mayan mask a few weeks back from Amulree. It arrived as a 10-15cm plant, three leaves around 3 or 4 cm long. Since then its been in its original container, first in a fairly warm sun shed type area, not direct hot sun, for about a week. Then ever since this hot period ive had it out in the sunniest part of the garden, watered it well etc. Im pretty sure in all this time its progressed nada, not a cm. :(

Dave wrote:
They need high heat and humidity to start them off if gone dormant, lashings of water when hot, but don't do cold wet compost at all :ahhh!: , so the compost has to be well drained, but watered lots when warm/hot. There, simple :lol:
Always use warm water (not tepid) as this helps keep the soil temps higher and the Alo happier
Ill try using warm water, ive added a few granules of miracle gro slow release to it. not sure what else a plant that size needs to feed on.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Direct sun has done my 2 no good at all. All the leaves have gone a yellowy white colour apart from those which fell behind the statues.

Not looking good at all. They were much happier on the windowsill and out of direct sun until mid afternoon.

:roll:
GREVILLE

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by GREVILLE »

Could the jump from indoors to strong May sunshine been too much, Gogg? I notice Dave had his collection outside towards the end of March when the sun would have been weaker.
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Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Dave Brown »

rajah,

Most plants when young reach a critical mass when they grow faster, and generally toughen up. If you put it outside in cooler conditions before reaching that critical mass, it will stall :roll: I keep above 18C for small plants. I can't tell you exactly what size critical mass is, because it can vary even with the same species. You have to watch and observe, but for me I always err on growing bigger before trying it outside. Most on here are in a desperate hurry to get stuff out, and that may work maybe one out of ten.
GREVILLE wrote:Could the jump from indoors to strong May sunshine been too much, Gogg? I notice Dave had his collection outside towards the end of March when the sun would have been weaker.

Well, not had much sun since, until last week then, and loads of wind so none of them spent very much time outside at all. They were then put out in late May sunshine 3 degrees south of Gogg. Seems that somehow he is growing the leaves weaker, maybe too much warmth in lack of light, or too much feed.... Dunno? .... mine are fine in full sun.
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Dave
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Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Dave Brown »

Dave Brown wrote:rajah,

Most plants when young reach a critical mass when they grow faster, and generally toughen up. If you put it outside in cooler conditions before reaching that critical mass, it will stall :roll: I keep above 18C for small plants. I can't tell you exactly what size critical mass is, because it can vary even with the same species. You have to watch and observe, but for me I always err on growing bigger before trying it outside. Most on here are in a desperate hurry to get stuff out, and that may work maybe one out of ten.
GREVILLE wrote:Could the jump from indoors to strong May sunshine been too much, Gogg? I notice Dave had his collection outside towards the end of March when the sun would have been weaker.

Well, not had much sun since, until last week, and had loads of wind so none of them spent very much time outside at all. They were then put out in late May sunshine 3 degrees south of Gogg. Seems that somehow he is growing the leaves weaker, maybe too much warmth in lack of light, or too much feed.... Dunno? .... mine are fine in full sun.
Best regards
Dave
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GREVILLE

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by GREVILLE »

My active one is fine in the sunny greenhouse. There is no shading and the UV levels have been particularly high, but there is no sign of any scorch.

Other items have been transferred from the greenhouse to the patio and have taken the strong sunshine well. I assume the Mayan mask will be safe as well.
rajah99
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Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by rajah99 »

thanks guys. i shall return the plant indoors untill it shows some positive growth.

got a couple of pots of heucheria dale's strain, which was of similar size. left that to sit in mottled sun in the shed, and its doing quite nicely. will let that grow quite a bit before planting out. thanks for good advice.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Dave could be right about the weak growth. I do think they are a little leggy despite being in the best window for light in the house.

I purposely didn't feed them, other than repotting into new compost, but I'm fairly certain the intense heat has had a damaging effect.

I've had 3 days at 30c in the shade here, the temp in the sun halfway up the garden was recorded at 38c theother day and these plants are right at the entrance to the temple with a wall bouncing heat back at them and a glazed roof above trapping the heat in. All these factors combined with very little to no breeze at all must have been too much.

Temps are cooling off from tomorrow so I'm going to cut off the damaged leaves, move them into a less reflective area and see how they go.

As far as I'm concerned these are better off in an area of the garden with some cover from direct sun.
Dim

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Dim »

My 2 are still on my bathroom window sill in full sun, and are growing huge ... the newest leaf that is fully open measures half a meter long, and both have new leaves forming

they get full sun from early morning, till noon

I will plant them out in 2 weeks time as they are getting too large for the bathroom

I have been feeding them with compost tea, iguana juice grow (seaweed/fish), and stuff called take root ... I fertilize once a week, alternating between compost tea, iguana juice and take root ....

rest of the waterings have been with spring water (I'm using volvic at the moment)
rajah99
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Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by rajah99 »

I have been feeding them with compost tea, iguana juice grow (seaweed/fish), and stuff called take root ... I fertilize once a week, alternating between compost tea, iguana juice and take root ....

rest of the waterings have been with spring water (I'm using volvic at the moment)
they getter a better diet than me! :lol:
Dim

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Dim »

my 2 were planted out in the ground this morning

when I got them from Dave, I bought two 3 litre airpots as I had read lots about the airpots, and there was an article from one of the Alocasia breeders stating that she had good results using these pots

I planted them in the pots and used rootgrow and fed with compost tea etc

I was amazed at the roots today .... the 1st one's roots had filled the top section of the pots and loads of places going down ... and even had roots that had reached to bottom of the pot

the second plant was always a bit smaller, but the roots went down 3/4 of the pot ....

(bear in mind, these 3 litre pots are 24cm high and approx 17cm in diameter)

I used rootgrow again today

so have a close look at these pots ... I was well impressed and they are pretty cheap (£2.69 a 3 litre pot ... and it's for life) ...

I planted the 2 Mayan mask in a position that gets sun for most of the day .... and very little wind

they were in full sun in my bathroom and enjoyed that .... I made sure that the leaves faced the same way toward the sun as they were in the bathroom (the greener side faces full sun)

after planting, the stems started to droop, so I propped bamboo canes at 45 degrees to the drooping stems an propped them up ..

there is good rain predicted tonight, and I will visit that garden tomorrow afternoon and check

bathroom is empty now (these were getting huge) ....

Will ask for advice when winter comes ... i want to try keep these 2 going

I will grow them again ... so Dave ... please give me 1st dabs on the next batch! :)
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Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Dave Brown »

I think the root grow and airpots are a good combination, as we tend to struggle to get a good root system here due to being on the cool side of their comfort zone. The leaves particularly a new, still expanding leaf, wilt alarmingly in full sun, but are not harmed. If the petioles are wilting that may be due to a change in humidity, in conjunction with sun, as the transpiration rate may have increased dramatically. If it continues, try shading from high sun for a few days while it settles in. :wink:
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Dave
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Kristen

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Kristen »

My Petasites japonicus var. giganteus do that too. They are planted in the border around the lower pond, above the liner (so not a marginal, but any water seeps into the lower pond) and underneath them is a 4" perforated drainage pipe connected to the upper-pond, so that is full of water at all times - my intention was that the bed should be "marginal". In hot Summer weather they completely flop over :( but they are upright again by dusk. (They are massive this year, compared to last year, perhaps my perforated drainage pipe isn't doing the job I thought it was!)

Edit: This from Urban Jungle site: "Foliage may flag alarmingly on drier soils in hot weather but never fails to revive in the evening.". Sorry about off topic
Dim

Re: Alocasia Mayan Mask - Could be one of my favourites :)

Post by Dim »

Dave Brown wrote:I think the root grow and airpots are a good combination, as we tend to struggle to get a good root system here due to being on the cool side of their comfort zone. The leaves particularly a new, still expanding leaf, wilt alarmingly in full sun, but are not harmed. If the petioles are wilting that may be due to a change in humidity, in conjunction with sun, as the transpiration rate may have increased dramatically. If it continues, try shading from high sun for a few days while it settles in. :wink:
thanks Dave ...

I had a look earlier today .... they both seem ok now, but it's been overcast ... i will watch them carefully over the next few weeks (I have loads of work in that village)
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