I'm running out of good Part Sun/Shade spots. I have tons of Full sun, as it 8-10+ hours. Some I would rule out instantly because water would be an issue as in having to drag a hose 100 ft. plus. Are there any Colocasia/Alocasia's that can take that much sun, even with good irrigation ? RH not an issue here

MJ, I grew Black Runner in the conditions you described with no problems though they do live up to their name 'runner' as I was having to remove runners a lot to keep them in check.

Based on this pic I'm assuming this is a good choice. LariAnn has a few forms of x portora. Then there's potentially Alocasia odora and Alocasia portei it's parents.


I wonder how your sun intensity compares to Honolulu? I've seen pics of the propagation fields at The University of Hawaii and the Colocasia are in full sun. Maybe any of the Royal Hawaiian® series would be a good choice given enough water.

Pretty sure our sun intensity is pretty close to Hawaii, Evan. Clean air, close to the same latitude etc. But Hawaii is cooler in summer, around 85 max. and warmer in winter. Their ocean temp is much lower, in the 70's year 'round there. Here the Gulf gets close to 90deg. water by the end of the summer . . . feels like swimming in soup!

Also some parts of Hawaii get rain dependably every day in the afternoon. Trade wind blows constantly, and the clouds hit the steep hillsides, rise up and drop their rain. Needless to say, it's cloudy in the afternoons for a while each day, too . . . so maybe not 'full sun' in the strict sense.

A lot of the commercial pineapple growing in Hawaii takes place on the downslopes of these rainy areas at least on Oahu, Maui and Kauai where I've seen them. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford to water all those plants.

Swimming in soup I spent several days paddling in the 10,000 Islands. How do your Royal Hawaiian Colocasia do with sun Elaine?

They like about half a day of sun, Evan. More than that and the leaves droop. They're in pots and just can't drink fast enough if they're in hot sun all day.

I had a pot of them sitting in a tub of water and afternoon sun last spring, and it didn't make a whole lot of big leaves, but it made dozens of pups.

Blue Hawaii is the one I have, btw. I've divided this one to grow starts for our plant sale in October. I'm just blown away how they've grown in less than a month!

That original Blue Hawaii must be making a lot off gardeners happy by now. Water's the kicker I guess.

Yep, I've got a dozen starts that will be good sized plants by October. Going to go easy on the fert so they don't need potting up before then.

I get excellent color and vigor w/about 5-6 hours direct in central N.C.