You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
I have an Alocasia ( Alocasia × amazonica to be more precise ). and its a great little plant, picked it up from our local Walmart back in the spring of this year. It had some ragged looking leaves on it, which i clipped off (which was quite a lot of them actually). It shot up a few more leaves afterwards, but after that, there has been no sign of new growth at all. I have checked to see if it was pot bound, or if there was something lurking down in the plant or soil, but all seems ok. any way i can get this guy growing some more? what few leaves it has makes it look a bit scraggly. Thanks.
those bulbs and elephant ears love moisture. so try to keep the soil consistently moist. but since it's winter maybe the plant is just waiting for spring? you will probably see the growth kick in towards the end of winter. it looks healthy anyway
thanks. it stopped all new growth i would say about mid summer. You are probably right about the winter time, seeing as the sunlight is not as strong. I have it setting beside a pot of Peperomia and a plumosa fern to help hold the humidity nearby it
During the winter especially, barely damp is the order of the day - never wet. Day length and temperatures are both acting in concert to move your plant toward something of a predictable dormancy. As we move past the vernal equinox, when day length becomes longer than the dark period, your plant will start to respond to the increase in photoperiod. Keep it in a warm, very bright spot then, but not near a heat vent.
If it stopped growing in summer, you may have some issues. You're sure it wasn't root bound? Other possibilities are too little fertilizer (they're N hogs - but you don't want to go overboard by adding a lot of fertilizer salts in the winter) or insufficient light. Where they naturally occur, they like lots of water. In containers, they like a well-aerated soil you can keep evenly moist, not soggy. I mentioned that twice because it's rather important.
that too :o) and it's good that you are keeping the houseplants together to keep them happy and form something like a "microclimate" . don't you just love cliques, haha!
i was always told that the way to see if something was pot bound was to look at the drainage holes and see if you see roots sticking out / covering up the holes. all i see is just the soil.
The plant stand IS near a heat vent, but truthfully i keep it closed up because with my window in my room facing south, it can get hot in here with barely any effort.
I do admit that i didnt know that they are "N. hogs" as you call them, lol, i have just been using the balanced "10-10-10" type of fertilizer.
When they are actively growing, 24-8-16 or 30-10-10 are good fertilizer choices. I use 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers for all my plants except tomatoes and hibiscus - that's ALL plants. Other 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers are the 24-8-16 I mentioned, 12-4-8, and what I use - Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. I use it for several reasons. It has ALL the essential elements plants need for normal growth (including Ca and Mg, which are usually missing in soluble fertilizers); The main nutrients are supplied in the average ratio at which all plants use the nutrients and in a correct ratio to each other; it supplies most of it's N in nitrate form, which helps to keep houseplants compact, and from stretching out in low light.
One of the first symptoms of tight roots is lack of extension (slow growth). As I guide, if you can lift the plant from the pot with the entire root/soil mass intact, the plant needs repotting - which is different than simply potting up.
