what to do with elephant ear plants in winter
This postal service shares how I'm storing elephant ear bulbs for wintertime. If you live in a climate where you can't abound beautiful plants outdoors all year long, harvesting your bulbs and saving them for the jump is a great way to bring them back year later year. This post also contains affiliate links.
How to Harvest and Store Elephant Ear Bulbs in the Fall
Alright, I recently shared a post nigh how to debug plants to bring them indoors for the winter. Sadly, nosotros live in a townhouse, so we don't have room to bring everything inside. *tear* So I prioritized cleaning and debugging the plants nosotros tin can bring inside kickoff, and so I decided to save bulbs/tubers from all of the plants that had them.
Considering why purchase another elephant ear plant side by side year if you can salve this year's bulbs and regrow them adjacent year? Information technology saves money, and growing your ain stuff is always super rewarding. So allow's chat about some basics here.
Why can you regrow elephant ear plants every year?
Then first let'south talk about why you tin can save elephant ear bulbs for adjacent yr. Elephant ear plants grow from tubers (but people call them bulbs…same defoliation with dahlias). For the purposes of this postal service, it's not super important.
You're able to salve elephant ear plants year afterwards year because they grow from tubers. (Once more, they are non the same matter as bulbs, but they're similar, so that's what I'm gonna call them because I want people to exist able to detect this post and have information technology make sense). Tubers—like potatoes!—have "buds" all over them. Those buds and then sprout growth that can grow plants.
When to dig up elephant ear bulbs for winter
I dug mine up when I debugged all of my plants I was bringing indoors, so about 1–2 weeks before my area's average first frost date. (You tin can expect upward your average first and last frost dates here.)
They'll probably be fine if you permit a frost happen, simply if information technology's a wicked frost that really permeates the ground or whatever the elephant ear bulbs are planted in, it might damage them. And so just shoot for earlier the first frost and you'll be gilt.
Want more plant care tips? You lot'll also love my guides on how to take care of snake plants, how to have care of pothos plants, how to take care of rubber plants, caring for peperomia plants, and how to care for philodendron.
How to prep elephant ear bulbs for storage over the winter
Step 1: Dig up the bulbs
The first stride is to dig them up. I cutting off all of the leafage start, which was really sad. Merely necessary. I'll miss you until adjacent year, foliage! Then I used a small shovel to dig out around the base of the plant. Until you know how big your establish is under ground, showtime digging wider.
In one case you've found the bulbs, pull out from the base of the plant. Brush/gently milkshake the excess dirt off, but don't worry about getting them super clean. Then gently separate each bulb from whatever the main mass is. If there are very minor bulbs attached to a much larger one, y'all tin can but leave those attached. Remove expressionless foliage if necessary.
Step 2: Clean the elephant ear bulbs off
Once you've separated as necessary and accept a better idea of what you're working with, you can trim the roots and launder them off. I used scissors to trim off all of the excess roots. Then I laid the bulbs on the ground and cleaned them off with the business firm. I wanted to be able to examine each bulb, mostly out of curiosity and wanting to larn more.
I then spray them downward with neem oil to kill off any rot or fungus that might take been lingering and left them sit down out to "surface dry out" for about 10 minutes or so in the sun.
Step 3: Store to dry
Then I moved them into a cardboard box to dry for about a calendar week. I left them uncovered in the garage. One time they were pretty dry, I removed whatever actress dead foliage that had stale up and fallen off.
Pace 4: Store for the long winter
And so I wrapped each one loosely in brownish packing paper I saved from a package we got in the mail. Brand sure information technology's loose plenty that yous tin remove it to check on them every few weeks over the winter. If any rot or pests appear, care for accordingly or remove the rotted seedling and chuck it.
How to establish elephant ear bulbs in containers
You can outset your bulbs indoors in a container for nigh two months earlier they'll get outside—just like you would with starting seeds. They will need dominicus and warmth while indoors. Use a rich soil and plant them about i inch beneath the surface.
Make sure they are pointing the correct management, too. Wondering which side of the elephant ear seedling is up? It's the pointier one 😉 While they are withal indoors, water when the top ane inch of soil becomes dry. Elephant ears like moist soil, but since they are still indoors, you don't want whatsoever mold growth to develop on the surface by overwatering.
Want more constitute propagation posts? Check out my guides on propagating pothos plants, snake plants, peperomia, string of pearls, succulents, monstera deliciosa, and prickly pear cactus pads.
When and how deep to plant Elephant Ear Bulbs
Plant in the spring afterwards any danger of frost has passed. This will ensure the soil is commencement to warm up. If you started your bulbs indoors, only transfer them to the ground with whatever growth they have in tact.
Plant them nearly i inch below the surface. Make sure the correct side it facing upward, just as with starting them indoors in a container! Then embrace with soil and h2o. Proceed the soil moisture to get this establish going—elephant ears love rich, moist soil.
Source: https://www.bybrittanygoldwyn.com/storing-elephant-ear-bulbs-for-winter/
0 Response to "what to do with elephant ear plants in winter"
Post a Comment