Really great before and after shots Drew. Approximately how deep and wide is that area? Which is the monster stemmed Alocasia? The nanners don't require any staking at first?? That Ae Ae p-stem looks huge.
@makap, Overwintering is hit or miss with me and I treat Alocasia differently than Colocasia or Xanthosoma. Different species and varieties might need different approaches as well so you need to tell us what you have. I'll try again to overwinter a few xtras in ground with 3 feet or so of mulch.
Alocasia. Many large growers like
Upright Elephant Ear (Alocasia 'Portora') can be overwintered dormant (stored dry in a cool dark place) and yield good results (see HollyAnnS pics of rhizome and plants). To get enormous plants like Drew's you need to grow them on overwinter. You also need to grow on the smaller "jewel" Alocasia.
Colocasia. The larger the tuber the better chance of it surviving dormancy. I store mine in the basement, dry in boxes. I always have losses. Since your dormant period should be about 1 month less you should have fewer losses.
Some water lovers can be grown on in a bucket of water (see my comment
Black Stem Elephant Ear (Colocasia fontanesii) ) and 'Coffee Cups'/Tea Cups. These don't seem to form really large tubers (at least for me) but can be successfully overwintered if grown in a pot and stored dry dormant in a cool place. If grown in pots many Colocasia seem to do well stored this way, so desiccation of the tuber is the likely problem.
If you decide to grow some on let us know.
