Alocasia x calidora update

Mr List

Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Mr List »

where is good to buy these?
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Arlon Tishmarsh
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

Mr List wrote:where is good to buy these?
If / when mine pups again Ken and you haven't sourced one, you can have it. Won't be 'till well into next season i would think tho icon_thumleft

(p.s. plant is free but postage is £400, blame Royal Mail :lol: )
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Dave Brown »

Arlon Tishmarsh wrote:How old is it Dave ?

Mine's grown great guns since getting as a pup last year and is now 4ft high. The pup on it is developing well , so i'll have another to play around with next year. I like these tbh so looking forward to more. Easily my favourite of the aroids that i have at the mo
It was a 2007 pup which I got in 2008, so is 5 years. Your garden seems warmer than mine, particularly in spring, away from the freezing easterlies, so yours may grow faster. :wink: Once it gets to flowering size it wants to flower all summer if outside, so I baked it in the conservatory through the flowering period, until it started to leaf again in June. Then you get leaves for the remaining summer and autumn. It is not as fast as Colocasia to produce leaves, and you will be doing well to get 8 in a season, so you need to look after them.

Mine has proved to be quite wind tolerant this year, and boy has it needed to be :ahhh!: It has a couple of small splits even though the leaves are large. Wind tolerance seems to be related to temperature somehow, maybe sap pressure or something like it icon_scratch , as when actively growing the leaves are tough. When I put it out in spring 2011 (March) when not actively growing the leaves were smashed to pieces, and it wasn't any more windy :roll: The Washingtonia is the same, with wind damage to leaves over winter, but not at other times.
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Dave
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

icon_thumleft Dave

Here's mine taken a few minutes ago. Currently pushing out a new big leaf and there's another just about to split thru that one as well.
DSC02958 (Copy).JPG
Pup coming on nicely as well ............
DSC02955 (Copy).JPG
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Dave Brown »

Looking good Arlon icon_thumright

Are you growing it in garden soil ? Looks too lumpy to be compost.
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

Dave, i dug it out a couple of weeks ago. It looks lumpy but the soil is very good , especially where the aroids are. I took it out because the g/h temps are very often still in the 30's ,so i thought it would benefit more there than being left outside.

Thought it would benefit the pup as well but my thinking is not to detach for a good while yet.
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Dave Brown »

Lumpy (coarse) is good, as it improves drainage. icon_thumright

Don't be in too much hurry to detach the pup, as they can take a while to produce their own roots. Before thinking about detaching, carefully excavate around the pup at it's base to check for roots. If none, then wait longer :wink:
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Arlon Tishmarsh »

I doubt i'll do anything with it till the start of next season Dave. Just let it tick along and then when the weathers right next year, i'll look at detaching it then. If you look closely at the pic, there's another forming right behind it as well.

Happy days.. :)
joolz68

Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by joolz68 »

Dave Brown wrote:It was time for big calidora to move back into the conservatory last weekend. Despite the lacklustre summer it grew well in the 3 months up the garden. The problem now is fitting it into the conservatory.
2012-10-07-11-14-06 Alo x calidora comes in.jpg
I had to remove most of the older leaves as it was almost as wide as the conservatory. Fortunately it does not get affected by defoliation. The main problem was the weight of it. :ahhh!:
2012-10-07-13-15-44 Conservatory filling up.jpg
As i know nothing :lol: can i please ask ...is the darker green leaved plant a smaller version of the huge one you have in the 1st photo and what is it??? thanks julie
miketropic

Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by miketropic »

Wish I was more into the Alos but they just dont have that interest for me. I have 2 of the macros and the mayan mask but other than that I don't really get into them. I might try the new one Brian has comming out for its size though. nice plants everyone.
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Dave Brown »

joolz68 wrote: As i know nothing :lol: can i please ask ...is the darker green leaved plant a smaller version of the huge one you have in the 1st photo and what is it??? thanks julie
The smaller plant to the left is Alocasia macrorrhiza 'Black Stem'. A real beauty icon_thumright It can grow HUGE, bigger than the calidora but, is a true Tropical Plant, and needs HEAT to grow well, therefore, it is unlikely to get MASSIVE unless in a hot house environment.
miketropic wrote:Wish I was more into the Alos but they just dont have that interest for me. I have 2 of the macros and the mayan mask but other than that I don't really get into them. I might try the new one Brian has comming out for its size though. nice plants everyone.
For me, Alos, Collies, Bananas and Ensete ARE the jungle :D

If you want an Alo that is absolutely HUMUNGOUS, look for Alocasia 'Rubodora Supermax' this is LariAnn Garner's (Aroidia Research) cross between Alocasia robusta (largest unsplit leaf in the world), and Alocasia odora (cool tolerant). This is a huge, but cool tolerant Alocasia hardy to at least zone 8 your side of the pond :D The only draw back for us in the EU, is that the only person allowed to sell this is LariAnn, who due to past experiences with EU import regulations, won't ship to EU :ahhh!: It should be available to you though over there :wink:
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Dave
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Mr List

Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Mr List »

are there any pictures of this plant getting to any size yet?

(Alocasia 'Rubodora Supermax' )
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Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Dave Brown »

Mr List wrote:are there any pictures of this plant getting to any size yet?

(Alocasia 'Rubodora Supermax' )
Not BIG, big. page 2 of the Aroidia website is the biggest I have seen so far, but Alocasia can take 2 to 3 years to reach maximum size outside the tropics.
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Mr List

Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by Mr List »

how long between the other hybrids she made and them getting over here so we can guess how long we will need to wait for supermax?
sanatic1234

Re: Alocasia x calidora update

Post by sanatic1234 »

I must admit my alocasia x calidora has done great this year. It now stands 143cms. (4ft 8) and has a round 4 inches of trunk. :-)
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