I'm new to elephant ears this year. I just received a 12" Thia Giant bareroot. Do I plant this in an 8" pot going with the rule of one size up or plant it in a much larger nursery type pot like 17" across so I am not transplanting every two weeks?

Thanks for any help you can provide. I appreciate your advice.

You're gonna need a much bigger boat,... uh, pot. If you have a big pot, use it. Once in the soil, and with plenty water and fertilizer, your Giant will get really BIG! I don't see what part of the country you live in, but I'd still say use a big pot, lots of water, and regularly fertilize it.

Use the biggest pot you've got. That baby will outgrow an 8in. pot by tomorrow morning . .. well, maybe not quite that fast but the 17in. pot you mentioned might last you through the summer, and really, you don't want to have to re-pot that plant once it starts getting to monster proportions.

Actually I'd disagree a little.

You will defiantly need a big pot in time, but I would absolutely stick to the bump up method for a few sizes, start with about a one gallon container, once once have poked out the bottom, go up to a 2 or 3 gallon maybe... After that you can move it on up to what're you like.
You end up with a huge plant either way if all goes well, but massive amounts of soil with no roots in it will stay soggier than you like, while the small root zone many get dryer that you might think.
I prefer using small pots for aroids, especially the first year, it forces pups!
Thai giant is surprising sensitive to overwatering when first planting out, fungal infections are common, you can see it, very yellow leaves, stunted grown... A little tug and you find only a bulb with leaves... No root at all or slimy brown ones.
The smaller pot will allow dafter drying, increased watering and more attention. When young and stressed, they can be troublesome.
They really form little to no tuber so there's little reserve of energy if the roots get compromised.

If you grow them semi hydroponically, with a 2-3 gallon pot set up, you can get absuu massive elephant ears in a tiny pot!
Ample water, heat and food, and they have little need for soil!
I've seen Thais like those with 4' leaves, 8' tall with a ten foot spread, in a 2 gallon nursery pot!
Alocasia black stem 7' tall in a 3 gallon tree pot...
Also alocasia portora, with a trunk 8' tall and 4 long leaves growing out of a 5 gallon pot, it was a beast!

I'm with Sway on this. I'd put it in a 1-2 gallon to start, let the roots get well developed then bump it up.

Great information as usual Sway. I've never tried growing a large plant in a 3 gal. pot. I see guy-wires in my future.

One thing I've read in few places is that Thai Giant doesn't form much of a tuber. From my own observations I'd say the tubers actually get quite large, possibly massive. Here's a photo of the largest from May 2013.


This past winter one tuber still had the old tuber attached and so made the typical Colocasia tuber hour glass. Unfortunately I didn't snap a pic.

I've found you can slow these guys down a bit by limiting water and not feeding. I overwinter mine in a pot. The first picture was taken May 15th. The 2nd picture was taken today, July 5th. Some of the leaves are taller than the pot! I've been watering and feeding the bajeebers out of it since I put it out.



On another note, I've also discovered that pretty much all plants prefer under potting to over potting ... especially when they small.