I bought a small plant from a Florida Nursery about a month ago and It's not growing very quickly. I've also notice that the new leaves that are being produced are very small and quickly turn brown and dry up. Any Ideas out there as to what could possibly be going on?

Could you tell us how much light and water it is getting? Is it in a small pot or in ground?

to ATP.

Right now it's in a 4" pot, it gets the morning sun and afternoon shade, and it gets watered when it feels dry and the pot is light.

It may need more frequent water as it prefers moist soil. Brian's Botanicals has a lot of great information on this particular one (what a beauty!) here:
http://www.briansbotanicals.ne...

Oh, and again, to ATP!

I should have asked, are you in a humid or dry part of the country? Humidity levels may be playing a part as well.

Yes! Welcome to ATP! Colocasias are water hogs ... I don't think it's possible to over water them and in the wild, the giant strains are almost always next to a source of water. With my Thai Giant which is in a large pot, if I give it at least 4 -5 gallons of water daily and feed it once a week it grows pretty fast.

KurtMN: from me too!

I'd remove the plant from it's container and check the root system. I think most Colocasia grow pretty fast and your plant could possibly be root-bound and need a larger pot ... and they love water!

Edited to add the link for more information in our database: Elephant's Ear (Colocasia 'Noble Gigante')

to you Kurt, hope we can help you out. A picture of the plant would be great, if you can.

totally with what Lin said, although I'll go even further and say you should pot that baby up into a BIG pot and start feeding - complete fert plus some Epsom salts for extra magnesium - and watering it a lot. They are heavy feeders and will grow inches per day in hot weather. There is NO danger of overwatering a Colocasia. They will grow in standing water quite happily.

These plants grow to 6 or 8ft. and it should grow to at least 4ft before the end of the summer if you give it what it wants.

Well I'm overwhelmed by the responses I've gotten and thank you for the welcomes. After 40 of gardening things still happen that stump me. Unfortuantely I no longer have a book that described mineral deficiencies, which would have been a big help I think. This little plant, and it is little only about 5" tall in a 4" pot. I did check the roots and they have not filled the pot yet as I said it seems to be growing slowly as it is. I keep trying to remember to take a pic so y'all can see what it actually looks like: It probbably would explain a few things. Since I'ver grown Alocasia's and colocasias before this is rather unusual even for those strange things that I sometimes grown, like amorph's and stapelia's. So as soon as it's a little bit drier outside and better light (it's only 59 outside today, unusal for this time of year) I'll take a pic and post it for you to see what's happening to my little baby. My Thai Giant is just growing away and I'm very pleased with it's progress.

So, again, thank you one and all for the responces.
Hugs to you all
Kurt

Oh my, I'd love 59º ... we are at 93º right now with humidity to match!

Look forward to seeing a photo or two of your 'Nebel Gigante'.

Need a bigger pot, fertilizer and lots of water.

Hello again everyone.

I think the pictures that I am attaching will show you how small the plant is still in a clay six inch pot. It's far from being root bound. If you look at the following pictures, you'll see how small the leaves actually are that were just produced. I also put a picture of my Thai Giant for comparison. I hope these pictures will help.

Again thanks guys for you help. Even a master gardener needs help from time to time.

The second and third photos may show an infestation of some type of insect on the underneath side.

It's actually dirt SongofJoy, we had rain and it just splattered up from the ground.

There may be soil on the leaf backs from recent rains but it sure looks like a few little insects are present too, possible the beginning stages of mealybugs ... especially in the last photo on tallest leaf visible. I would suggest taking a q-tip and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and wiping the back of the leaves.

I wonder too if your container is a bit too large for your plant? I usually start out with a plant a little larger than the pot it was growing in when purchased and move it up gradually as the plant grows. Sometimes if you put a small plant in a too-large pot it will concentrate on filling the pot with roots before adding new leaves and stem growth above the soil.

I will look for bugs Promise and if I see some I'll take picture and show ya :)

Kurt :)

I would keep the soil damp (to wet) at all times, too. I do see that you have had it for only a month - was this plant shipped to you? I have noticed that some of the plants that I receive by mail do take a month or 2 to settle in before they resume normal growth - especially if the trip was particularly rough/long or the change in climate from the nursery to So Cal was more drastic.