A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Need Elephant Ear HELP!

My first time growing a big, beautiful elephant ear.

Now, it's COLD outside.
Some say for me to dig it up, others say just cut it back and set a couple of bales of straw on top of it for the winter.


The freeze (28 degrees) a few nights ago did this to it...



Another question...
A week before the freeze, these little baby plants started coming up around it.


What do I do with them?
plant 'em in a pot and bring them in the house?



Cindy

Mine were out side up until about 3 weeks ago, and brought it in, it's a house plant here..

What zone are you in??

I think those puppies are about 8~10 aren't they??

Weezie

I'm in zone 6a I reckon.

It gets down to 0 degrees here in the winter on occasion. Guess I'll cover the babies up tonight, and dig them up tomorrow and put them in pots to bring in the house.

What to do with the big mama???
The base of that sucker is bigger around than a gallon milk jug. Just cut it down to the ground (ouch!) and cover it with bales of straw???

Cindy

Cindy,
If it was at the base of your house, on the South facing side, with a stone path, raised bed, I'd say, Give it a shot and leave it out...
But, it looks like it's out away from the house,
which means no protection if some cold snap were to happen..


Not sure exactly, anything I just read says to bring them in that even zone 7 and 8 are iffy's!!

Now the kind I have, is a different variety, and it's a house plant, but I think the kind you have you can take it in for the winter and put it in some kind of...peat moss/vermiculite/ or sawdust.
And keep in a dry and warm(ish) area, to like insulate them.
Not 100% sure, hopin' someone in your area will come thru with a some other hints for you???

Weezie

I bring mine in and believe me it was not easy this year, took some to my mother in laws. I have to go there on the week ends anyway so I can water and check them weekly. Got a pot full of the babies in the bathroom and some more popped up out in the yard since I dug all those up.

1st year. I dug some up and potted for the house, left some in the yard and dug some up and dried.

Mouse ate the dryed ones
ones out in the yard never came back up ( and we have mild winter here that year)
ones from poits in the house went back outside that spring. They are what I go back to every year.

I just have the running kind.
not the bulb kind, bulb kind might be different.

oh and I usually cut the leaves off, those will wilt and die anyway once you move them

I am so perplexed.

The neighbor that I don't like has one, in the same spot every summer. I guess I need to just suck it up and go ask her if she digs hers up or leaves it out.

Cindy

I am in zone 7 here, and I have two elephant ears.
Everyone that I know around here just leaves them in the ground, even if they are not protected. My wifes cousin has one next to her pool, the "bulb" is bigger than a basketball now, and she has halved it several times. I am going to leave mine out, maybe cover with some mulch, and see what happens. My father in law has 10 of them all outside, leaves them there year around, and does not even cover them during the winter. Also, I have been told they are just like all bulbs, they should not be cut down till they are completely dead, to give the bulbs the nutrients they need for spring.

I hope this helps some.