I bought my colocasia in for winter under grow lights but they still went dormant. Your videos are brilliant, the best advice in your niche on UA-cam. Thank you 🙏🏻
This is my first year overwintering a Pharaoh's mask as well! This video is great as there's not much out there on overwintering ones that are not dry stored. I instantly went and checked mine and realized I had spider mite already! Did a big clean-up rinse off and spray with mix of water neem oil and Castile soap and lowered temp. Keeping a closer eye on those now! that was a great tip about the leaves and the water sticking to test.
Great video! Very informative with a good overview. I also got addicted to them. In wintertime they had taken over the bedroom as this is the place where I can give them the best conditons (light and temperature). Here in Denmark it is also a challenge to find and get the different varieties.
Great advice. I only have Pink China and started a couple of Taro/Eddoe last year. I do love Colocasia as they look so tropical. I really need to think about a grow tent in the garage or something similar. I certainly do not want to have a lot of tender plants that need a special care to over winter. But a few would certainly add to that tropical impact in the garden.
Thank you David. I would say to anyone start with the hardier ones to start with as they are much easier. I know the degree I go to is above most as it’s my hobby but lots of the principles apply to all varieties.
Great video, helpful tips! I have a Colocasia Black Magic that is just ticking over right now, as you said, neither growing too much or dying back. This year I’d like to purchase a new colocasia variety, I’m thinking of Colocasia Mojito, but I’ve seen a video from another gardener showing a Colocasia Mojito whose leaves have supposedly reverted back to all-green and are sporting no variegation anymore. Has that ever happened to any of your Colocasias Mojito? What are your thoughts on Colocasia Mojito, would you recommend it?
Hi Ana. Personally I have never had Mojito revert back to green and I’ve never known of it to happen. If you can get Black Magic Through winter then you should be able to get Mojito through as well. Is the video on UA-cam of the Mojito reverting as I would be interested to see it.
Thank you! Yes, the video is on UA-cam. The video is called “Mojito Colocasia How to Care and Grow” from the channel “Ahoy Plant Lovers”. The reverted Colocasia Mojito is shown at 10:02.
Hi. I’ve watched the video and that is unusual. I’ve grown lots of Mojito and they have never done this. I think this wouldn’t be classed as reversion as Mojito If I remember correctly originated from Black Marble which was already variegated and I think that came from Burgundy Stem. So none of Mojitos origins had this plain light green leaf. I think it’s just a variation from the variegated Mojito. Also without an update it’s hard to know if it stayed stable with no variegation. Very interesting though.
Thanks for the info, I'm trying my hand at overwintering 2-3 tropical species and I see that I can meet all the must haves you mentioned. I'm keeping a few Alocasias in small to medium terracota pots and I see that the top layer of soil dries up pretty quickly in my setup, and I assume it's pretty similar on the inside, where the soil mix meets the terracota. Would this work for Colocasias? This option would probably be too inconvenient with the amount of species that you have now, but have you ever tried it in the past?
Hi. I can see how terracotta pots can work with Alocasia as they are better at drying out between watering. With many Colocasia it’s a balancing act between being to wet and to dry depending on temperatures. If on a heat mat and too dry they can bake and die. If actively growing through winter they can stay just moist. Cheers
I have good luck with overwintering in ground outside Pink China, 'aloha' or 'coal miner', 'coffee cup', fallax. These have come back every winter in worse conditions than UK. Much colder, very wet. Which ones do you leave outside?
Hi. The difference between the UK and lots of the US for growing Colocasia is after the long cold wet winters we rarely get hot summers. This results in the Colocasias just being dormant cold and wet for to long and just rotting away. Realistically the only two Colocasia that can take our seasons is Pink China and Gaoligongensis Maybe formosana. I’ve had others survive but with the lack of heat they are so slow growing and late to shoot it’s much better to lift them. It’s not just the cold that gets them as a mulch and free draining soil can deal with that it’s the lack of summer heat to kick start them back to growth.
@@tikitropicals65 Thanks for the explanation. Here the ones like mojito and the black varieties struggle to come back because they are 'weak' The ones that come back best for me are the fast spreaders that make multiple bulbs. Ones like 'aloha' I have in a wet boggy area that freezes solid and they are on top of the ground almost. They came back after -18C and under freezing for 88 hours. Stuff like fallax amazes me as it is just runners on surface almost and comes back.
Are you sure it’s Aloha and not Coal Miner? Aloha is one of the Hawaiian Colocasias so tends need heat to keep it happy. Coal Miner is a much tougher plant and can take much more cold conditions. In my opinion it’s not that the black leaved varieties are weak it’s that they come from much more tropical climates that don’t get cold temps so they haven’t really evolved to deal with it. Some like Black Magic don’t really go dormant in places like Hawaii so don’t know how to take the cold. It’s interesting on how they survive in your climate compared to ours. I find the corms can rot easily in the Cold but the runners and smaller offsets are much tougher and seem to come back even when the main corm rots.
@@tikitropicals65 Pretty positive it's "Aloha" and it is super cold hardy. The big corms may rot like you say but for instance each clump this year has about 10-20 plants coming back that I have to divide out. 3:50 on this video ua-cam.com/video/9W8w-bsmf7Y/v-deo.html :58 2:37 3:39 and others in this older one ua-cam.com/video/s35QJUaIYPE/v-deo.html
@TN Tropics you most definitely have Aloha. You must have good summer temps because we just couldnt do that over here. Your Colocasias grow much bigger than we can get unless we start early in a greenhouse. Lovely garden by the way and very envious of your pool. Looks great
I notice you have compost in the bottom of your heated propagators and your plants in pots,what is the purpose of this please ?. New to growing colocasia.
I used compost in the props for two reasons. One reason is I keep the compost moist if possible and as it heats up it loses moisture which helps me keep the humidity around the plants higher. Second is if I push the pots into the compost I increase the surface area of the pot that heats up. So with no compost only the bottom of the pots is in contact with the heat from the prop base but if you then put an inch of compost around the pot this also warms up making the heat transfer higher up the pot. I hope that makes sense.
I bought my colocasia in for winter under grow lights but they still went dormant. Your videos are brilliant, the best advice in your niche on UA-cam. Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you. What variety of Colocasia went dormant?
Amazing plants! 👍
Thank You. I will
Be doing an updated
Video soon to show their progress now it’s getting warmer.
Wow! Another fantastic video. Your dedication and attention to detail is inspiring. Keep up the great work mate.
Thank you Dave. That’s really appreciated.
This is my first year overwintering a Pharaoh's mask as well! This video is great as there's not much out there on overwintering ones that are not dry stored. I instantly went and checked mine and realized I had spider mite already! Did a big clean-up rinse off and spray with mix of water neem oil and Castile soap and lowered temp. Keeping a closer eye on those now! that was a great tip about the leaves and the water sticking to test.
Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! Very informative with a good overview. I also got addicted to them. In wintertime they had taken over the bedroom as this is the place where I can give them the best conditons (light and temperature). Here in Denmark it is also a challenge to find and get the different varieties.
Thank you Peter.
Great advice. I only have Pink China and started a couple of Taro/Eddoe last year. I do love Colocasia as they look so tropical. I really need to think about a grow tent in the garage or something similar. I certainly do not want to have a lot of tender plants that need a special care to over winter. But a few would certainly add to that tropical impact in the garden.
Thank you David. I would say to anyone start with the hardier ones to start with as they are much easier.
I know the degree I go to is above most as it’s my hobby but lots of the principles apply to all varieties.
All very informative bro 👍🏻 thanks 😃
Much appreciated Paul.
Wow so beautiful ❤
Thank you! Cheers!
Great video, helpful tips!
I have a Colocasia Black Magic that is just ticking over right now, as you said, neither growing too much or dying back.
This year I’d like to purchase a new colocasia variety, I’m thinking of Colocasia Mojito, but I’ve seen a video from another gardener showing a Colocasia Mojito whose leaves have supposedly reverted back to all-green and are sporting no variegation anymore. Has that ever happened to any of your Colocasias Mojito? What are your thoughts on Colocasia Mojito, would you recommend it?
Hi Ana. Personally I have never had Mojito revert back to green and I’ve never known of it to happen.
If you can get Black Magic
Through winter then you should be able to get Mojito through as well.
Is the video on UA-cam of the Mojito reverting as I would be interested to see it.
Thank you!
Yes, the video is on UA-cam.
The video is called “Mojito Colocasia How to Care and Grow” from the channel “Ahoy Plant Lovers”. The reverted Colocasia Mojito is shown at 10:02.
Hi. I’ve watched the video and that is unusual. I’ve grown lots of Mojito and they have never done this.
I think this wouldn’t be classed as reversion as Mojito If I remember correctly originated from Black Marble which was already variegated and I think that came from Burgundy Stem. So none of Mojitos origins had this plain light green leaf. I think it’s just a variation from the variegated Mojito.
Also without an update it’s hard to know if it stayed stable with no variegation. Very interesting though.
Great video .Thx
Thank you
Thanks for the info, I'm trying my hand at overwintering 2-3 tropical species and I see that I can meet all the must haves you mentioned.
I'm keeping a few Alocasias in small to medium terracota pots and I see that the top layer of soil dries up pretty quickly in my setup, and I assume it's pretty similar on the inside, where the soil mix meets the terracota. Would this work for Colocasias? This option would probably be too inconvenient with the amount of species that you have now, but have you ever tried it in the past?
Hi. I can see how terracotta pots can work with Alocasia as they are better at drying out between watering.
With many Colocasia it’s a balancing act between being to wet and to dry depending on temperatures. If on a heat mat and too dry they can bake and die. If actively growing through winter they can stay just moist.
Cheers
I have good luck with overwintering in ground outside Pink China, 'aloha' or 'coal miner', 'coffee cup', fallax. These have come back every winter in worse conditions than UK. Much colder, very wet. Which ones do you leave outside?
Hi. The difference between the UK and lots of the US for growing Colocasia is after the long cold wet winters we rarely get hot summers. This results in the Colocasias just being dormant cold and wet for to long and just rotting away.
Realistically the only two Colocasia that can take our seasons is Pink China and Gaoligongensis Maybe formosana.
I’ve had others survive but with the lack of heat they are so slow growing and late to shoot it’s much better to lift them.
It’s not just the cold that gets them as a mulch and free draining soil can deal with that it’s the lack of summer heat to kick start them back to growth.
@@tikitropicals65 Thanks for the explanation. Here the ones like mojito and the black varieties struggle to come back because they are 'weak' The ones that come back best for me are the fast spreaders that make multiple bulbs. Ones like 'aloha' I have in a wet boggy area that freezes solid and they are on top of the ground almost. They came back after -18C and under freezing for 88 hours. Stuff like fallax amazes me as it is just runners on surface almost and comes back.
Are you sure it’s Aloha and not Coal Miner? Aloha is one of the Hawaiian Colocasias so tends need heat to keep it happy. Coal Miner is a much tougher plant and can take much more cold conditions.
In my opinion it’s not that the black leaved varieties are weak it’s that they come from much more tropical climates that don’t get cold temps so they haven’t really evolved to deal with it. Some like Black Magic don’t really go dormant in places like Hawaii so don’t know how to take the cold.
It’s interesting on how they survive in your climate compared to ours. I find the corms can rot easily in the
Cold but the runners and smaller offsets are much tougher and seem to come back even when the main corm rots.
@@tikitropicals65 Pretty positive it's "Aloha" and it is super cold hardy. The big corms may rot like you say but for instance each clump this year has about 10-20 plants coming back that I have to divide out. 3:50 on this video ua-cam.com/video/9W8w-bsmf7Y/v-deo.html
:58 2:37 3:39 and others in this older one ua-cam.com/video/s35QJUaIYPE/v-deo.html
@TN Tropics you most definitely have Aloha. You must have good summer temps because we just couldnt do that over here. Your Colocasias grow much bigger than we can get unless we start early in a greenhouse.
Lovely garden by the way and very envious of your pool. Looks great
I notice you have compost in the bottom of your heated propagators and your plants in pots,what is the purpose of this please ?. New to growing colocasia.
I used compost in the props for two reasons. One reason is I keep the compost moist if possible and as it heats up it loses moisture which helps me keep the humidity around the plants higher.
Second is if I push the pots into the compost I increase the surface area of the pot that heats up. So with no compost only the bottom of the pots is in contact with the heat from the prop base but if you then put an inch of compost around the pot this also warms up making the heat transfer higher up the pot.
I hope that makes sense.