Re: Colocasia & Alocasia winter storage temp

From: dave-poole at ilsham.demon.co.uk on 1998.12.10 at 14:14:44(2796) David Thornton wrote: >I am fascinated to know if when you say "dig up" the tubers of Alocasia >and Colocasia, does this mean you grow them out of doors in summer in >New York ? Would it be possible to do this here in the U.K. with say >Alocasia macrorrhiza ?? would love to do so ! David, C. esculenta grows out of doors throughout the year down here in the South West (Torquay) and survives remarkably well if planted very deeply (approx 8" deep). In Plymouth, there is a town garden with a huge A. macrorhiza that has been in the same spot for about 8 years. Again it was planted deeply, in a sheltered corner close to a wall. It is given copious amounts of water during summer and given a gallon of dilute tomato fertiliser every 10/14 days. During frosty weather, the leaves are often killed but the plant soon recovers with the return of warm, spring weather. Generally speaking, our summers are not quite warm enough to help repair severe winter damage, but generally speaking temperatures rarely drop much below 1C (34F) for more than an hour or so at the dead of winter. So far this winter despite some pretty chilly weather, my clump of C. esculenta is still looking fine with only one or two of the oldest leaves appearing 'stressed'. I had planned to lift the tubers and store dry in newspaper until March, but encouraged by excellent plants in a nearby garden, I'm going to leave them and if necessary, give a thick mulch of coarse bark. +More Whether either plant could succeed as well further east where sub-zero temperatures are much more common, remains to be seen. David Poole

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