Hiya,

I am wondering whether my variegated elephant ears are going dormant, or are suffering from being transported in a box for 24 hours. I live in Sydney, Australia, where currently it is coming into winter, and these plants came from the tropics! The temperature in the house is about ~20 degrees Celsius.

This is what my plants have been doing:

One leaf starts turning yellow, and then eventually I end up cutting it off. Argh!!!!

I try to give them lots of sun on the windowsill & spray them with water (they've also recently been watered - the roots are growing well, I can see them through the clear pots).

Am I doing something wrong? Is there something I can improve on? If the plant IS going dormant, is there a way to stop it?

Thank you so much,
Andreea

Hi
Gets real sun? Or "lots of light " ? Either way, I think it could be adjusting to the change from their place to yours.
Those in the group that I have grown don't really try to go fully dormant. They'll hang on to a few leaves even in my winter.

Its most likely suffering transplant shock. I am assuming it came to you bare root? This plant requires a LOT of light. I grow mine outside in Florida in almost full sun. These do go dormant on me in winter sometimes, and the reason why is the decrease in natural light. Once the day length drops to 11 hours and below, they disappear, but come back like gang busters in the Spring. @sallyg, you must live a charmed life LOL. Many of my Alocasias go dormant in decreased daylight. Always lose Frydek, Purple Prince, triangularis, Poly, Low Rider, Loweii, sanderiana noblis, and a few others. The ones that stay up year round for me are reginula, Reversa, Serendipity, Maharani, Dragonscale, odora, Regal Shields and some others

Thanks Sally & Gina!

I'm so glad to hear from some experienced growers! These bad boys weren't cheap, so they're freaking me out with their slow decay! Would you happen to have any other growing tips - how often should I fertilise them / water them?

The windowsill I refer to has sunlight shining on it from 7am - 4pm, and that's where I stick them. But yes, it is probably not getting enough light and the transportation has not helped. I'm probably going to invest in some growing lights for the afternoons - seeing as how we have 3 more months of darkness from 5pm!

P.S. I loved looking at the pictures on this forum of other people's alocasia's!

I defer to GIna on that... I would say, no fertilizer and don't water TOO much, while it is doing this. But if it starts growing again, then increase water to support that. Use fertilizer to reward a happy growing plant, not as medicine for a struggling one.

I meant to say, my Alocasia Portora will try to retain the one or two leaves that I don't trim when I bring them in, the Black Runner maybe lose leaves but throw a new one out once or twice over winter, in my basement, subsistence level light..

I agree with Sally, no fertilizer yet. I have these planted both in the ground (inside my large greenhouse) and in containers. They get watered every day here in the late spring, summer and through September, which can be as hot as August here, 85-95 daily. We don;t start to cool down at all until October, and last October we set a record for the number of days that were 90 or above. Global warming at its finest.
You have nice specimens there, the petioles are highly variegated so you should gets a nicely variegated specimen from each.

Don;t overwater these inside with the lower light. We are actually able to grow these as pond and bog plants here, in summer, I have done that in the past, because trying to keep them adequately watered in the dog days of summer can be a challenge. Give some air movement too, a fan to circulate the air in their vicinity would be great. When it started active growth, puts out some new leaves and decides its ok, I would fertilize inside the house maybe once a month with a fertilizer that has low NPK ratio and is complete, has all the trace and micros. I use a liquid called DynaGro Foliage Pro. But there are many that would fit that same profile.

Thank you, both!

"Use fertilizer to reward a happy growing plant, not as medicine for a struggling one." [Oops, guilty!!!]

I bought a grow light, and am hoping it will arrive soon. I'll post an update on whether that additional light keeps the leaves from turning yellow.