Here's a great video showing winter protection of "hardy banana" Musa sikkimensis by Logee's Tropical Plants. They're z6a. Scroll down to near the bottom.

http://logeesblog.blogspot.com...

Thanks, I have heard of doing that but our ground is so very wet in the winter that I have always thought they would rot from the wetness. It was really interesting though to see it done and they put a plastic cover over it to protect it from moisture. Don't think that would do much for my ground. It did make me wonder what would happen if I tried that with my big Portadora EE's. They are in a slightly raised bed at the edges of a patio. The stone and sand base with the red brick top of the patio would add some warmth to the ground and with large piles of leaves and straw on top of the open beds. It makes me wonder how they would do.

Glad you liked the video Holly. Since seeing it I'm tempted to try sikkimensis. M. basjoo does well here. You might want to post to the Aroids forum about your Portadora's as they were bred by Lari Ann. You might want to refer to them as Alocasia x portora though, as that's how she named them. Here's the thread: The thread "New plants at Aroidia Research" in Philodendrons, Elephant Ears, and Other Aroids forum

LariAnn said:I wish I could share them now, but most pictured are the only ones I have (only ones that exist?). Besides that, when I did my first two crosses in the late 1970s, I did share them quickly. The thanks I got was that both were placed into tissue culture production by "friends" without my knowledge or consent. The result is that now my plants are being sold worldwide and I do not receive even one penny of compensation! So I hope you will understand if I am not anxious to let these new babies out into the open market without some kind of protection. I don't think it unreasonable that I should receive some compensation for the work I have done in developing these new plants!

If anyone has a different point of view on this, I'd love to read it here!

LariAnn

She's talking about Portadora here I believe. I've read in many places that Alocasia tubers can rot if wet when dormant. Anyway, I'd love to see just how big you could get your Portadoras.

As to the bananas I'll try to find out how they would do wet all winter.

Yes, I know she developed them. How sad that all her work was commercialized without her consent. I will say that they are my favorite the size of them is wonderful. They have been growing so very nicely for me and this year they have put out some nice size new plants that I can share or plant next spring.

Really glad to hear about your success Holly. I've found some great info. on bananas, such as they love growing in the conditions you describe, very wet. Nothing on the overwintering there yet, however.
If you you want to trade some this way??

Happy thanksgiving.

I think my weather window may have shut for this season but I would gladly send you a baby Portadora next spring. I will put a note in my trade list for next spring but don't hesitate to remind me.

Will do and thanks. If anything here strikes your fancy let me know. Otherwise I'll send a list.

Great, just let me know next spring what you have that you would want to trade. I might have some other things you would want also. Just have to see how they over winter.

I'm looking for advice on overwintering Colocasia. I have Thai Giant and Mojito which were small starts this Spring. They were dug, potted up and heavily watered, then put in the cellar around 10/25. No water since and very little light. Temps are around 57-60F and most of the old foliage was removed.

All three plants are sending up new leaves. Should I continue to withhold all water? If I put them on the stairs leading to the outside door it's probably 10-15 degrees colder with no light. Better?

I am not sure how to advise you. Mine are in a warmer and well lighted room. I quite often think they should be kept in a darker area but they seem fine where they are. I don't water them once I bring them inside till early spring maybe late March early April usually after I start seeing them put up new growth. It's like they say "Hey look at me I'm ready to grow, give me some water".

I don't know about cold tolerances but have had experiences with drying. I have a number of varieties of Colocasia and one growing in my turtle pen needs thinning out now and again. The excess plants are thrown in a corner in the dry season and appear to die off. Come the wet season there's quite a few new plants come up from them but usually smaller than what I pulled out. That could be the result of temperatures still being sufficient for growth but no water to allow it. After a couple of seasons like that they usually wither away completely. So the complete drying out is more likely detrimental to them.

Maybe if you let them dry a bit but not completely they would be okay with reduced sized leaves until your warmer weather returned. Remember air inside houses is usually much drier than outside.

Thanks for all the great information. Holly am I remembering correctly that you're in z6b? I ask because of the length of time you withhold water. I won't be able to set these plants out until mid May so all told that's 6 1/2 months. How long for you Holly?

The air here is definitely very dry in the house during winter Zig. I often forget that. One of the unfortunate side affects of a hot air system. Pending how long Holly says she withholds water, a light occasional watering might be the best solution. I killed a mislabeled running Colocasia last winter by digging and storing the tubers dry, like my C. esculenta. The tubers were smaller and they didn't survive.

Yes we are Zone 6 I would say mine usually go with out water 3 or 4 months. The big Portadora do go longer because I have to dig them up and then get them back in the ground so they come out earlier and go in later. Those are probably out for about 6 months and the caladiums would be the same.

eclayne said:I'm looking for advice on overwintering Colocasia. I have Thai Giant and Mojito which were small starts this Spring. They were dug, potted up and heavily watered, then put in the cellar around 10/25. No water since and very little light. Temps are around 57-60F and most of the old foliage was removed.

All three plants are sending up new leaves. Should I continue to withhold all water? If I put them on the stairs leading to the outside door it's probably 10-15 degrees colder with no light. Better?

Evan I have the exact conditions. Last year I continued to water once a week but not soak. Some kept growing as plants, some went completely dormant, some had small sprouts. I wouldn't be to concerned about the sprouts nor would I move them. They really want very warm soil and air to grow.
Mohito are best if kept potted through the winter under one of two regimes…actively growing at over 60 degrees F and in good light, or semi-dormant at 45-50 degrees and kept fairly dry and as such, light is not as critical.” You shouldn't let them dry out completely.

Thanks for all the great advice. A light water once a week sounds like a safe way to proceed. Once these plants have gone thru a few growing seasons I'm hoping to see tubers large enough to store like C. esculenta.

This reminds me that last winter many of the smaller C.e. tubers dried up completely (didn't survive). That is those which were about 2.5-3" or less and which I removed the petiole bases. The larger tubers did fine and about half of the really small offsets did fine. This year I kept one clump intact to see if that makes a difference.

My father has an absolutely beautiful alocasia illustris. He got it from me but I didn't even know that I gave it to him. Last spring I had dumped several pots that I thought were goners. Some went into the compost but a few of them were dumped into a can that I save soil in and use sometimes for repotting. Next thing you know this thing is growing out of some pot at my Dad's house. Not only that but I found a nice Black Magic growing out of my compost so I started watering a few pots that were still sitting up stairs in the plant room that I had pretty much given up on and a few more started growing. One of them was a Mojito.

I am looking for a link or a list of tropical plants that go dormant when overwintered in the North and another good list of tropicals that can be overwintered as house plants.

What a great find that would be. Wish we had a standard entry in the DB for something like that.

Roadtrip for the Soul at Powel Gardens in Kansas City http://www.powellgardens.org/
Dan Heims speaker February 18Th at the 2012 Kansas City Garden Symposium
Grow the Good Life http://www.powellgardens.org/d...
"Garden Gems: The Most Exciting New Perennials and Tropicals"
Join the world-traveling plant hunter Dan Heims for a look at some of the most exciting perennials and tropicals coming to market. The president of Terra Nova Nurseries in Oregon has written two books, including one on horticultural humor.

What a wonderful trip that would be.