Alocasia California, Elephant Ear

Another huge member of the Alocasia family, Alocasia California is gorgeous, especially if One is going for that jungle vibe.

What I Love about the Elephant Ear, Alocasia California (Odora or Gageana hybrid)

Well, the name of course!!! But that has nothing to do with why it’s in My collect-Sean, as I only learned that was the Common name for it today, I have only known it as ‘Alocasia California’ because that’s all the tag told Me about it when I bought it. The above plant was in the same size pot as above when I purchased it two months ago but crammed in with all the other Alocasia California I have in My Collect-Sean.

This being one of them. I don’t like imperfect leaves, so You can see that I just cut one off today but look how big it is already! It Will not take long for this plant to become huge, just like it’s Mother. The leaf stalk/petiole Will eventually dry up and turn brown, then it can be removed from the plant to make it look cleaner.

And these are the other three. I actually Gifted one to My Friend but it had only one leaf just like the one in the top left of the above photo, but it died the day after I Gifted it to her so she was as King of Me to take it back until it’s more established. The very next day it put out a new leaf and I’m sure it would have done the same for My Friend with some patience. The trick is not to overwater. Most plants like to have their roots dry out between waterings, some just have a very narrow margin of error if One waits too long between waterings. Generally speaking, though, underwatering Will be less fatal than overwatering. Underwatering can usually be reversed just by noticing the plant is craving water. In fact, in the feature photo today, the largest of My Alocasia Califonia, the base of the newest leaf’s petiole was starting to look shrivelled like a succulent Will when it needs water but all the leaves still looked perfect and it wasn’t wilting at all. But I did Give it a Good drink and the shrivelled look has disappeared! So there is a tell Your Alocasia California needs water – check the base of the newest petiole and if it’s looking like it’s wrinkling, Gift it some water.

My Vision for Alocasia California

I’d like to Master getting the plant to grow evenly and as upright as possible, which may require artificial, overhead lighting. For now, I try to turn My plants consistently so that it gets even light. I’m finding that having the Alocasia’s further from the window is actually better for them as far as growing uniform is concerned, though potentially at the expense of slightly slower growth (if using natural light as I am).

Otherwise, I plan on growing the largest one I have as Grand as I can and potentially crossing it with some of My other Alocasia’s. Crossing My Alocasia’s Monstera’s is a thing I would Love to do and I have an Alocasia Purple Sword in flower right now, so I’m hoping to just steal the pollen, label it, and have it ready for when one of My other three Alocasia’s come into flower (Silver Dragon, Regal Shield or this one). Eventually, I’m thing King I should be able to cross them all and make some pretty interesting hybrids. I think Silver Dragon crossed with any of the other three is going to Create something cool and unique. It’ll be cool to see if I can do it. I only have two types of Monstera, My Sport which I’ve Called ‘White Magic’ because it’s a unique mutant One can’t get anywhere else. But two is enough to cross, so it Will be really cool if I can ever get One to flower.

Stay tuned, I’ll update. I’m going to be taking a picture of the flower on the Purple Sword before it opens and Give You a Play by Play when I harvest the pollen.