more help... elephant ears on ground now... bet yall hpoe I learn the basic soon

[tinkster]

I have these monsters out of the ground finally and not finding this very pleasant. I like them but not sure they are worth this trouble. I now have big craters in my beds..

WHne I planted these, they had huge bulbs.. bigger than softballs. now only one has a bulb left.. some had partial ones that were hollowed out or half gone. is something eating these or is this what they do?  Also how far down to cut them off... does part of the top make the bulb?

I am going to pack them in boxes as KYkim suggested and store in basement.

Thanks IN advance again for any help... I sure hope I learn the basics soon.

tinkster

[Teresa]

I don't dig my elephant ears up, so I'm not much help.  I know that the one that actually formed a bulb or tuber will be fine stored over winter.  Most of those don't look like they will.  They look like the plantlets that form on top of a restarting bulb - I have often removed a couple to be planted elsewhere.

I hope someone else can help you better.

(See, it's not such a basic question after all . . . . .  )

[Indiana Karen]

Kim,
Good question, I tried elephant ears a couple times and had the very same thing, the big bulb was no longer there when I dug them up in the fall.   Waiting for a reply............too!
Karen

[Ky Kim]

Tinkster and Karen......I just saw the post, I haven't been on much past few days.  I'll ask dh about it tonight.  I wasn't home when these got dug up this year, but I'll post back tonight on what he tells me.  Last year was my first year digging them up, and what I remember they looked just like yours.

Kim

[Esther]

I'm glad you started this thread because I'm in the same spot. I had given up on saving them.

[Vickie]

I used to put them in the ground. Now I put them in huge pots. They are now alive all winter in the pots. It works for me.

[Teresa]

See!  It was a really good question!!!  (Not basic at all.)

I think I'd plant them in a tub of dirt and either let them grow or let them go dormant and hope for the best. 

[CT]

If it's C. Esculenta, the regular old green Taro you have two options (well, three if you choose to harvest, cook and eat them). Plant them and keep as houseplants or dry them, pack in peat moss in a cool area checking them for soft spots during the winter. If you find soft spots, cut them out. When I keep them as dormant tubers, I keep one as a houseplant just so I don't lose them totally should things go awry. Tinkster, I bet you could have cut them down and mulched them real heavily and they would have been ok. They are kind of like weeds, hard to kill. That's what I'm doing this year. OR if you live close to an oriental grocery (sometimes regular grocery stores have them) you can pick up tubers from them for cheap next year. Try Malanga from the grocery store. It's similar to an elephant ear but more upright. This one would make a great leaf for those concrete leaf castings.
Here's some information that might help
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV090

[Johns]

In my zone ( 7a) I generally leave them in the ground with mulch, but dug them this year (after 15 years) to replace with lenten roses.  The EE tubers will be planted in a different localle in the spring.

[Teresa]

So Johns, did the tubers look like what she has pictured?  There is one bulb there that looks like what I buy, but the rest just look like the bottoms of the plants to me . . .

[Johns]

In my experience, anything that has roots emenating from it will produce a new plant in the spring.  Simply cut off the plant tops and store the bottoms in a dry place till spring and replant.  As noted, in zone 7a the plants do not need to be dug at all, but don't seem to mind being relocated.

[tranquility]

In my experience, anything that has roots emenating from it will produce a new plant in the spring.  Simply cut off the plant tops and store the bottoms in a dry place till spring and replant.  As noted, in zone 7a the plants do not need to be dug at all, but don't seem to mind being relocated.

Yep John has the right idea... I leave mine in ground and just mulch heavly.....but, in the past I did dig them up and bring them in...I would cut them off like you did and lay them somewhere in the house to dry...then store them in a paper bag till spring-usually in a closet or under the kitchen counter....pop them in the ground come spring...and they pop right back out...
Lawanna

[Esther]

Oh good. There seems to be a consensus of opinion.

[Ky Kim]

He said, that is how they looked.  He took them wrapped them in newspaper, put them in a plactic back, then into a box.  The he had the boys put them way under the house in the crawl space. 
This is what we did last year, and when it started warming up, they were already sprouting in the bag.  I just couldn't rememeber what they had looked like, but he saw your pic and said that is exactly how they looked.

Hope this helps,

Kim

[karen J]

Whenever I tried using a "medium" to store them, they failed. I've tried peat moss, wood shavings, sand, whatever.
Finally, last year I just tossed them into a rubbermaid container, didn't even cover it, and tossed it into the crawlspace. They survived. Go figure.

[terri]

last yr, i had my EE growing in a bucket, and when the frost came, i just dried it out some, wrapped it loosely in newspaper and stored it in my basement.. 
This year, i planted the darned thing in the ground.... im not taking it out, it will be leaving a crater too close to the edge of my pond..
I do have an offshoot, that is in a clay pot, which ill bring inside, if i remember.... LOL