What is wrong with my elephant ear plant?

[chrissy-b]

Hi all! I'm new here and was hoping someone could help with my elephant ear plant which (I think) is a colocasia gigantea.

I'm in Pasadena, CA. Zone 10a. The plant is on the north side of my house. It receives about 3-4 hours of morning sun and then filtered light in the late afternoon. The attached photos were taken at 3:30pm. In an hour or so, it will get light through the hedge behind it.

As you can see in the photo, the stalks stand straight up instead of falling outward. The leaves are a yellowing around the edges. I had it in more shade before it's current location and it never grew very big. It has gotten bigger in this location, but still doesn't appear healthy to me. Everything Ivve read online tells me to give it more sun, but when I try that, it stands up even straighter and the edges get yellower and dry -- I had to cut off two leaves that had been torn and started to dry up. I don't think I'm under watering, but maybe I am -- I water it twice a week in the spring and 3x in the summer generally and mist it frequently. It was root bound in its previous pot and I repotted it a week ago, so maybe it will do better after that shock and I should just leave it alone.

Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

I don't have this plant still if you check plant to pot size, I think it's under nourished.

I have caladium plant, it bi color and little smaller than the plant you have, try repotting or little home made liquid fertilizer will do the trick.

 

[DrCase]

I feed mine with a hose end sprayer almost every week . They are big leaves growing fast they can't get enough

 

[Durgan]

The pot is way too small. I grew them a couple of years and the roots system is huge. Give it some room to grow.
http://durgan.org/2009/From Previous Years/22 August 2006 Elephant Ear./HTML/

 

[chrissy-b]

Thank you all for the advice! I just repotted it last week. Should I go ahead and repot again now?

 

[DrCase]

I'm in zone 7 I just plant them in the ground and let them grow


Last fall

 

[chrissy-b]

I'm in zone 7 I just plant them in the ground and let them grow
Last fall

Wow! Beautiful. Unfortunately mine will have to stay in the pot for now. The only place I have to pot it gets full sun all day.

 

[Prophet]

Hi all! I'm new here and was hoping someone could help with my elephant ear plant which (I think) is a colocasia gigantea.

I'm in Pasadena, CA. Zone 10a. The plant is on the north side of my house. It receives about 3-4 hours of morning sun and then filtered light in the late afternoon. The attached photos were taken at 3:30pm. In an hour or so, it will get light through the hedge behind it.

As you can see in the photo, the stalks stand straight up instead of falling outward. The leaves are a yellowing around the edges. I had it in more shade before it's current location and it never grew very big. It has gotten bigger in this location, but still doesn't appear healthy to me. Everything Ivve read online tells me to give it more sun, but when I try that, it stands up even straighter and the edges get yellower and dry -- I had to cut off two leaves that had been torn and started to dry up. I don't think I'm under watering, but maybe I am -- I water it twice a week in the spring and 3x in the summer generally and mist it frequently. It was root bound in its previous pot and I repotted it a week ago, so maybe it will do better after that shock and I should just leave it alone.

Any advice is much appreciated!

View attachment 17363 View attachment 17364

Nice Elephant Ears
Yep, most definitely the pot. I have a few elephant ears that I grow as well. The roots are huge (I'm sure you noticed after repotting). Always find a spot and plant them in the ground as they grow very quickly and pots can't contain them properly (at least anything under 20gal).