Are there seeds in Alocasia elephant ears, as the name suggests? However, they can be grown from seed, but you’ll have to wait a long time before you see the big, beautiful leaves. The spathe and spadix of older plants, if they are in good condition, will eventually produce seed pods. If you want to plant elephant ear flower seeds, harvest the pods and plant them as soon as possible.
It’s hard to beat an elephant ear plant (Alocasia species) if you’re looking for a tropical specimen with large and impressive leaves that can be grown both indoors and outdoors, depending on the cultivar. Winter kills plants; however, springtime sees them resurrect as the weather warms.
Is there a seed in an Alocasia elephant ear?
The elephant ear plant is another name for Alocasia odora, a plant with enormous leaves and an elephant-like appearance. They belong to the Aroid family, which includes some of the most visually appealing plants in the world. The elephant ear plant’s glossy, heavily veined leaves are the star attraction, but if you’re lucky, the plant will bloom, resulting in distinctive dangling seed pods.
Seed pods of elephant ear flowers are made of a tough shells. The pods hang from the plant while the orange seeds mature, a process that takes months. Spathes and spadix, which house the male and female flowers, can be found on established plants in warm climates.
Once they’ve been pollinated, they’ll turn into large, seed-filled fruits. Elephant ear plants have seed pods that must be cracked open in order to get at the many seeds inside.
Sprouting in the Garden
A variety of elephant ear plants have either thick tuberous roots or underground stems known as rhizomes, which are the sources of the plant’s growth. Plants get their name from their elephant-ear-shaped leaves, which have a slightly divided tip and a pointed tip. Succulent stems bear leaves that grow in a single layer and can reach a maximum length of three feet on some cultivars. When temperatures drop and days shorten, the plant dies back to the ground, but in the spring it usually sprouts from the soil again. Large, pointed buds emerge from the soil and continue to expand as the plant grows. An uncurled, slender, and eventually full-sized leaf is formed at the end of each stem as the plant grows.
An Elephant Ear Plantation
Alocasia’s flowers and subsequent seed pods are extremely rare occurrences. For this reason, you’re better off starting your elephant ear plants from offsets even if you have seed pods. At the base of the plant, the plants produce side shoots that can be used for vegetative growth.
It’s as simple as cutting off the side growth and potting them up to get established and grow bigger. It is time to enjoy the plant once it has been established for a year. They can also be grown indoors or in containers.
Keep the bulbs or plants indoors if you live in an area where freezing temperatures are expected, as Alocasia plants are not hardy enough to withstand the cold conditions. A box or paper bag can be used to store in-ground plants that have been cleaned of dirt until spring.
Container Gardening: Growing Plants from Seeds
During the winter months, an elephant ear plant can be grown in a container and overwintered indoors just like a plant that grows outdoors, reducing leaf production and storing energy for the following year. Before temperatures fall below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, bring the plant indoors and keep it in a cool location with bright, indirect light, and reduce watering. The plant can be given more water in spring and moved outside as the weather warms so that it can gradually be exposed to bright outdoor light. After a week or two of increased light and water, new growth appears in the form of above-ground leaf sprouts.
Keeping the Growth Going
To keep growing and producing new leaves, elephant ear plants need to be watered at least 1 inch per week once they start growing in the spring. Compost should be added to the soil at planting and top-dressed every year to keep it healthy. There are specific instructions on the package label for how much nitrogen fertilizer to use on an elephant ear, so make sure to follow them when using a product like 10-2-8 or 5-3-3. During the growing season, feeding the plant every three to four weeks helps it continue to produce large numbers of healthy, full-sized leaves.
Dimensions and hue
There are a variety of elephant ear plants to choose from, each with unique leaf characteristics and varying plant sizes. Alocasia “Calidora,” for example, can grow to a height of 7 feet and has bright green leaves up to 3 feet wide and 6 feet long. It is an example of a large tree. Alocasia “Stingray,” a 5-foot-tall cultivar, gets its name from the blue-green leaves’ long, thin, whip-like extensions. Alocasia micholitziana “Frydek” is a smaller, 1-to-3-foot-tall variety of the “Frydek” variety. There are bright white veins running the length of the 18-inch deep green leaves, giving the plant the appearance of ribs. Throughout the year, these three cultivars can be found flourishing in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 through 11.
