Plants→Elephant Ears (Colocasia)→Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta)

In the 5 month growing season here the largest tubers of the type I have produce 6'+H plants with leaves around 3'L. I plant in late May and lift after the frost has knocked them down (usually mid-October). They do fine in full sun to part shade but do best with lots of water. The newer leaves seem to have more marbling in part sun/shade. I also don't believe you can feed them too much. Easy to store dry over winter while dormant.

As C. esculenta produce many roots from the top of the tuber a good "growing medium/compost/mulch" on top of the soil is very beneficial. I use my own compost. New tubers and stolons also produce roots (which can be much closer to the soil surface). These roots tend to spread out just below the surface. I dig a depression ~2' in diameter and 2" deep. Plant the tuber ~2" below the soil level and overfill the depression with ~3 to 4" of "growing medium/compost/mulch". This helps keep the roots cool and moist and gives them a good medium to grow in. Sometimes I'll mound more compost around the petioles later in the season. When I don't dig a depression I plant deeper and mound compost ~2-3" deep above the tuber.

A native of SE Asia, Taro is reported to have been cultivated for thousands of years and is now cultivated worldwide as a food crop. The tubers, petioles and inflorescence are eaten as a vegetable and the tubers are used in traditional medicine. Some varieties are considered invasive in the American southeast.

Growers in zone 8 and higher report the best results when grown in bright or dappled shade.

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I bought a grocery store edo/eddo and grew it into a potted plant. That variety seems smaller in size/stature than some. It grew to about 3 feet tall. First winter, I guess I kept it growing in the basement. Second summer, it grew well but on pulling it, I found no tuber left, only two tiny new tubers offsetting from the two stems. I potted the tiny tubers to keep growing but discarded the tops.

This summer, I was given a bulb of "giant" elephant ear. Also potted, it grew four+ feet tall stems and larger leaves than the edo.

It can be a challenge keeping these watered in a pot. I used large saucers underneath the pots to hold more water.

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To those gardeners who love to grow this plant, you can go to your local Asian supermarket to get the large taro bulb. They cost about $4-$5 dollars each. Each bulb is about 2+ to 3+ pounds in weight. You can cut the peel (keep the peel thick for propagation use) and cook the flesh in rice soup or in sweet syrup as dessert. The small bumps on the thick peel will grow into a small plant if planted in moist soil and kept in warm location. If not eating the flesh, just keep the bulb planted and it will grow several plants soon. If you purchase a bulb from garden center/nurseries, the price usually will be around $10 for a fist-sized bulb.

This plant has many different varieties. If you are growing for possible eating, be sure you like them before you grow them since some of them can be quite large. The large ones make an amazing statement in planters.

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