My Elephant ear stalks have suddenly started to curl up like snakes! They are still deep green in color, just twisted and contorted! Some of the leaves are even growing on the ground after the stems have curled. This in only happening in one of the 4 sections that contain these plants in my yard. Can anyone offer an explanation of what happened here, and advice on how to correct it? Thank you, Jay
Can you post us a picture? Which plants are you growing (EE refers to a number of different species) - Colocasia? Xanthosoma? Have you opened up a stalk and looked for bugs?
Take the elephant to a vet to have its ears examined professionally? Hard to make any further suggestions without photos.
Here's a link to 3 pics I just took. http://cid-2a6d124fe489b8eb.skydriv...lephant Ears |5Curling|6?authkey=YRRH2KQ1xD4$ I cut a couple of stalks and dug up one bulb. No bugs and the bulb was firm. Do you have any idea what causes this? Thank you
It is strange indeed! If you notice not all of them are doing that. Some are growing normal. I would really like to know what I did or didn't do to cause this. I planted these bulbs 2 seasons ago and they all did just fine until early last week. I have never seen them grow so fast or curl up like that. The stalks are still very firm. I'm really at a loss here. Thank you for taking the time to look at the pics. Jay
jay, can you move the thread over to the aroid forum?? not sure if you have that ability yet since you're a new member...check the 'thread tools' button at the top of the page - if the option to 'move topic' is there, you're good. if not, we're going to have to have a mod move it. the really knowledgeable aroiders rarely visit forums other than that one... could be a pathogen or it could be something like an animal used the spot for a toilet. what about water levels??? is this spot drier than the other areas you have the same plants?? maybe they just need watering??
Hello Joclyn, The trhead tools does not give me the option to "move topic" yet. As far as the water level, it's evenly moist through out the bed. No dry spots or standing water. I do have squirrels that live in my trees though! Still, these bulbs have been growing there for over 2 years now (currently 3rd season) and I nor any of my neighbors have ever seen anything like this. Thank you so much. If you have the ability to move this over to the aroid forum, please let me know. If not, I could post a new thread there.
i guess you need a certain amount of posts before you have that ability. i'm not a mod, so i can't, either. so, i sent a note to eric and asked him to move it for you.
If these were bought as potted plants I think I have your solution. If you bought them as tubers I'm not certain but it could be the same reason. This is a form of Colocasia esculenta. The plant was grown by the Chinese over 10,000 years ago as a food crop and is grown today as a very popular Hawaiian native food as well as in much of the South Pacific, South and Central America and almost the entire Caribbean. This is one of the most variable of all aroids. There are at least 150 known variations. That means they are all the same species but many don't look little alike. They have been cultivated for color, texture, tuber size and many other differences to change the flavor but are still the same base plant. But even before they were cultivated the species took on many different shapes in nature. All are native to SE Asia and China. Colocasia esculenta in the "black" form is often sold as "Black Magic" and has become a very popular garden plant. I used to live in Garland when I was a kid and it will survive outdoors in your zone year round but it will go dormant once it freezes. I grow it outside in NW Arkansas as well. To speed up production the baby plants are created in tissue culture and not grown from seeds. Once the tissue cultured plants grow large enough some growers dig them up and then sell them in pots but others just put the chemically created tiny plants in large pots and grow them out to sell. Tissue cultured plants commonly have deformities if the lab uses too strong a chemical mix or one that is improperly measured. Those malformed plants are commonly observed in Philodendron xanadu which is a popular garden plant in South Florida. TC'd plants produce very strange leaves, petioles (what you referred to as the stalk), and especially their inflorescences. The good news is that most TC plants eventually grow out of the abnormal growth but it may take years. I'm giving you a link and the moment you click it you are immediately going to think "that's not my plant". Well, it is. Scroll down the page and you'll see just a small sampling of the forms. You'll also see dozens of common names at the top of the page. It just depends on where you live as to what you call it. As Michael joked about above, "Elephant Ear" is a really bad common name. There are 3200 or so known species in the larger family Araceae (aroids) At least 15% of them could qualify for that common name since they have large leaves and I've seen many of them identified in nurseries as an "Elephant Ear". Philodendron sp., Anthurium sp., Xanthosoma sp., Colocasia sp., Caladium sp. and others all called "Elephant Ear" plants all the time. Use it if you like but calling it a Colocasia will at least put you in the family. This link will tell you more. http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Colocasia esculenta large pc.html If you're curious about natural variation this will also help. The condition is extremely common and NASA says one out of every eight pant species is variable: http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Natural variation within aroid and plant species.html
