Hi LariAnn
I have a question about variegation in alocasias. I have several pots of Alocasia macrorrhiza "variegata" that are constantly sending up new pups. I like it becuase it's one of the few Alocasias that will die back in a short freeze and come back in the spring. Anyway, my question is this. When it sends up new pups, there is a mix of variegated and solid green ones. If you separate out the solid greens ones and eventually they produce pups, will they ever produce more variegated ones or will all the pups be the solid green form?

Jan...

Jan,

IMHO, if the pups are truly solid green, the likelihood of them subsequently producing variegated pups is low. I don't say "no possibility" because, as strange as it may sound, some of the roots or lower corm areas still may have variegated cells in them. Since roots are white, you'd never know unless the roots became exposed and took on a greenish color. But if that does happen and a pup arises from the area with variegated cells, you could get the odd variegated pup showing up from what appears to be an all-green plant!

This would only be possible when growing a pup that came from a variegated plant. Green pups from all green plants are very unlikely to produce variegated pups except via a new mutation.

LariAnn

Thanks
Here is a photo of one of the 3 pots I have. The "mother" was variegated with a nice base. She died back in the freeze but sent these up in the spring.




The second photo is the mother last year before I separated the pups