Simple propagation of Elephant Ear 

Not sure I understand? Did you want a shorter video?

@@plantpropagator it’s just that the propagation part isn’t discussed until the very end of the video.

You helped me scroll forward

😂😂😂😂 felt this

And when it did it wasn’t much 😂 Still worth a watch

Thanks for your comment. I try to provide some background and instruction in my videos and am sorry that you think I took too long to get to the parts that interested you.

Thanks for watching! In the midwest, the best time to propagate is when you harvest the bulbs for storage in the fall. You can try separating the new plants during the growing season but you may not have the high number of propagules that I have here in southwest Florida, as my plants grow year round.Good luck making more plants!

Yeah - they really like getting big. You can keep (and other plants) on the smaller side by holding back their roots, like bonsai but these plants show off their stuff when allowed to get big!!

Thanks for your comment! Please explain what type of demo you would like to see - replanting? or the progress after they are replanted?

Dig them up and separate

Thanks for your comment. Are these solid light yellow, green with yellow veins or variegated? Either way, love the plant!

I am at the point where I am now tossing the extras. I find the small plants at the base of my older plants and think that the propagules come from the base of the main plant tuber. Congrats that they are growing so well for you - thanks for watching!

I am glad that you found it useful. Happy Propagating!

Thanks for your comment. I am surprised that the large bulb produced the smaller leaves. When my plants get old, they produce a long above-ground bulb that is further from the roots - not a big one. When they make a long bulb, they become less vigorous so it may be the same thing. When new plants/bulbs are purchased, the bulbs are 2-3 inches in diameter, which I thought was optimal for growth. Maybe, make sure that the large bulb is solid and that the outside is not rotted or dried out?

As you probably know, "bulb" and "tuber" are not equivalent but most people use them interchangeably. Botanically, elephant ears grow from tubers and not bulbs. But, you can find tubers for sale that are listed as bulbs. I try to use the correct botanical terms but occasionally, that does not happen. I hope that this answers your question...

You are welcome - thanks for watching!

I feed a lot of my plants but not elephant ear. It would be helpful to give them regular water soluble fertilizer or time release to keep them growing and healthier. If you have your plants in pots, then sure, feeding is recommended. For my plants growing outside in soil, they get fed when they are close to some other plants that I am fertilizing....

Thanks for watching and for your comment. I cannot tell for sure what happened to your beautiful elephant ear since I do not know exactly what was done but I have an idea. When plants are dug up and transplanted, many of them go through transplant shock. Many of the roots can be damaged, even though you thought that there was a large root ball. Even when you do not think that much root damage was done, most people do not realize that the roots have microscopic root hairs, which absorb water and these are easily damaged and/or destroyed. If the plant is still alive (it probably is), the best way to deal with the root damage is to remove most of the leaves. This can seem cruel but, if your plant is severely wilted, you need to remove the leaves which are causing the plant to lose water. If you tried to water/soak your plant after transplanting, it may not be able to take up the water, because of the damage to the roots. Elephant ears are resilient and I guess that it will recover if you remove about 50-75% of the leaves. Good luck!

I should add that you need to have the tuber still attached to bottom of the plant - that is the thickened white part just below the ground. If you do not have that, your plant may not survive....

Thanks for your comment - not exactly sure of what you are suggesting but I guess that I could have been a little more precise with my wording. Thanks for watching!

I have not really optimized watering but my irrigation waters my plants 3 times per week for 15 minutes per day - I have very sandy soil with low water holding capacity. These plants in my neighbors' yards put on a surge of growth during rainy season and slow way down during the dry season. Even my plants that receive added water slow down a little in the winter so they may be programmed to slow down when the days are shorter. Thanks for watching!

Thanks for your comment - sorry but I cannot tell from your description what you have. If they are only leaves, you will not have success. If they are leaves with a basal bulb, then you did the right thing and you will see roots form eventually - good luck!

Thanks for the reply! Thanks to the algorithmic powers that be, I found another video that taught me the name of what I have: Corms! She also kindly showed how to propagate plants from corms so I'm sorted now :)

@@ianm.mendes2245 I am happy that you found your answers. I try not to get too focused on technical names of plant parts on my channel. After an in person talk last week, someone asked me about ploidy in orchids and I went off answering the question until a few other people told me to slow down. This was one of my first videos so I am glad that it got you going in the right direction!

Yeah man, appreciate your effort 👍

Oops - this happens. I cannot tell from your description what was pulled away. If you do not have any part of the tuber (or corm) your plant may not survive. If you have retained some of the corm, new roots may grow from that and you will be able to make a new plant. If there are no roots and a lot of leaves, it is best to remove most of the leaves, for higher plant survival. I hope that this helps!...

@@plantpropagator The cut part has no roots. There are lots of leaves. Some of the leaves have started to wilt. Is there no way. My mom's gonna be really mad.

@@Iris-cb3yt OK - how old are you? And what are you doing to your mom's plants? All that I can tell you to do is wait to see if it recovers - most plants are pretty resilient and it may do OK. I do not know what else I can tell you..??..

You can get these plants at a lot of different placed. Many of the big box garden stores sell plants but I am thrifty so I prefer to buy bulbs (usually in sets of 3) at Lowes or maybe Home Depot. I know that Home Depot is headquartered in Atlanta but I know for sure that Lowes carries them. Supply of bulbs and bulbs may be seasonal. Thanks for watching!

Hi, I bought bulbs at Walmart this year. Walmart was the only store in my area to carry the bulbs.

Thanks for your comment and for watching. I guess that I like to provide some background information before I show how the corms/tubers form and how to separate them. But, thanks for those suggestions!

This is difficult to tell through your comment. If there were mushrooms forming, that indicates that your soil was really wet and that your soil also contained a LOT of organic material. Most plants are not bothered by mushrooms themselves but this indicates that your soil was not draining very well. For the yellow leaves, elephant ears will lose their lower leaves when they are actively growing new leaves - this is normal unless your plant is not growing new leaves. If the plant is really wet and the soil is not draining, the plant, tuber and root system may be rotting - again, hard to tell without more information.

@@plantpropagator thank you it actually did help a lot!! It did grow two new leaves before I had reported it. Then about two bottom leaves died, but now I have one big leaf that’s turning yellow and idk if it’s just because of the new leaf or if something is actually wrong ! 🤷🏽‍♀️ only time will tell I guess lol! And I just found another mushroom 🤦🏽‍♀️ one in my elephant ear and another in my Swiss cheese plant. So it spread 😭

@Mia Monroe she’s doing much better but thank you for helping

To save your plants for the next year, you can remove the tubers from the soil, clean them up, dry them and store them at cool temperatures until spring. After the first frost, the leaves on your plants should turn a little yellow or brown. Dig up the tubers, clean the soil off the tubers and let them dry for a few days. Then, you can wrap them in newspaper or place them in mostly dry soil. You need to watch for rotting. Store the tubers in a cool place until spring - fridge is OK or a cold basement area. It is a good idea to check them periodically for new growth and rotting. If some of the tubers rot, get rid of them. If they are in a small pot, you can simply bring the pot in for the winter. The plants can handle a frost but not a hard freeze.I hope that this helps.

@@plantpropagator thank you so much

Thanks for subbing and watching!

Thanks for your comment! Yes, with many plants including elephant ear, the lower leaves will turn yellow and die back. When this happens a lot, you end up with a plant that has a stem. You cannot prevent this. You should also get new propagules coming from the base of the plant like I show. You can cut the stalk, lay it down partly buried in soil or potting mix and additional plants should grow out of it. But, there is a risk that the cut stem will rot and not give new plants. If you are getting flowers, they do flower but it is unusual to see a lot of them.

These plants have thickened roots and bulbs so any light, well drained soil will do - either sandy or loamy. They are generally pretty resilient but may not do as well in heavy clay soils.

@@plantpropagator Thanks for the reply. I should be okay with mine as long as they get through the heat here in Phoenix!

It is not unusual for a newly transplanted propagule to suffer after removal from the parent plant. Smaller plants will do better and bigger plants may lose some (or all) leaves. As long as there was a tuber associated with the plant, it will recover. Sometimes, it helps to remove some or many of the older leaves to lessen the shock of transplant.

@@plantpropagator what’s a tuber?

@@onceuponawalkingdeadpll8355 The tuber is a thickened part of the stem that is underground. A potato is a tuber and is a thickened stem. For elephant ear, this is the base of the plants that can be underground but can also grow a little above ground. In older plants, the tuber can get large and rot when the ground is very wet. If the tuber rots, you can clean off the rotten part and plant what is left to make more plants.

Thanks for your comment. When your trunk/stem gets long, you should first congratulate yourself for getting this single plant so big!! Depending on where you are, the stem may get larger and this is OK - it can look bad but it is fine. With my plants, when this happens, it means that the main plant is on the decline and the stem will likely start to rot. You should get many offshoots or propagules from this old plant and those will continue to grow. I hope that this answers your question.

@theplantpropagator7820 so my plant is about 9 years old and has been a houseplant for all of those years. The trunk on it is huge! And it's only producing one leaf at a time now. It has never had little babies come at the base like you showed in this video. The whole trunk actually fell out of my pot the other day and the top leaf got knocked off :( I have it outside laying horizontally in some soil for now. It has tons of eyes and the trunk looks healthy overall! I want it to keep living so I was just curious if you had any further recommendations!

@@AmandaJackson-i5h Thanks for the additional information. It is difficult to diagnose issues without seeing the plant or knowing too much. I have to ask if you have repotted this plant recently and if you are fertilizing it? If this plant is in a pot, you should be fertilizing it once per week with a weak fertilizer solution. With potted plants, you also need to be able to flush out any built up salts occasionally (every 6 months), if you fertilize. If it only has one leaf at a time, it seems that this plant can only support one leaf at a time. Fertilizer and a bigger pot or at least new potting soil may help. These plants need a lot of bright indirect light. If you do not have this plant in a bright window, that may also limit growth. If you have not been fertilizing it, first try a little. if you have been fertilizing, try a bigger pot and a brighter location. I am happy to provide more suggestions, if none of these sound reasonable.

@theplantpropagator7820 we have not re-potted or fertilized in the entire 9 years of having this thing. Honestly, I was young when it was gifted to me, and I just stuck it by a big well lit window and watered it weekly. At one point, it was doing so well, it overtook my dining room with numerous huge leaves!! But as the trunk grew taller and taller, it started producing only one leaf at a time. I had considered getting a larger, deeper pot for it, but it never happened (kids, life, etc.) Now that I'm a little bit older and into gardening, I really wish I had taken more time to research this plant. It was a gift when I had my first kiddo, 9 years ago! Do you think its a goner? I cleaned it up really well and some others on a FB group had me place it in a trench outside, keep it damp, and wait for roots and new growth to come out of the numerous eyes on the trunk. So that's where I'm at now! The one in your video caught my eye because the trunk is similar, so that's why I asked! If you have anything else for me based on my latest comment, feel free, I'll take any recommendations! I also have photos of how it looks all cleaned up.

@@AmandaJackson-i5h So, this plant is outside now, lying down, in a trench? Is it still in its original pot? I have never seen elephant ears grow from the upper stem - I do not think that the "eyes" are going to grow. I do know that the base of the plant will make more plants. So, if this plant is outside, can you take it out of the pot and put the base of the plant in the soil? It can be lying down or tilted. Do not forget to water it. These plants like bright light - not too much sun. You may be able to get some plants to grow from the base and you can rescue those plants like I show in my video. If you can send me an image of the plant and ThePlantPropagator@yahoo.com, I may be able to help more. I also have to ask - this is an elephant ear and not a philodendron?

Thanks for your comment! Xanthosoma frozen planet is not the same as the elephant ear that I showed but, they are similar plants and need similar conditions for optimal growth. My plants are Alocasia. Some people do say that Xanthosoma (and other genera) can also be called elephant ear. I have not grown Xanthosoma but I am ALWAYS removing the old yellowing leaves from my elephant ears - as new leaves emerge, some of the old leaves on the same plant will gradually turn yellow and fall off. If the new leaves turn yellow, you are in trouble. The leaves themselves cannot be rooted. If you have new small leaves starting from an areas next to the main plant or plants, you may be able to dig those out and plant them separately - not sure because I have not grown this plant - sorry. For now, you might be OK with the yellowing leaves as long as new leaves keep on growing out.

@@plantpropagator Thank you very much for your reply. I was also reading that sometimes leaves turn yellow as a sign of acclimatizing to the new home :) I hope this is the case here. I will repot it in a bigger planter perhaps this helps it strengthen.

Sorry - I should have explained this in a little more detail but this can get complicated. Variegation is the green and white patterns that you see in some leaves. In some cases, this is controlled by the genes in the nucleus of the plant and the patterns are stable. In some cases, the pattern of green and white changes in different leaves and over the life of the plant - the white can even be lost. This means that the genes that control this are located in the chloroplasts (which have their own DNA and are separate from the nucleus). Chloroplast genetics are different from nuclear genetics and the pattern of variegation tells you where the defective genes (for chlorophyll biosynthesis) are located. Is this now more confusing?

Yeah - that's what ya do.....