Can You Leave Elephant Ears in the Ground
So, winter's coming and you're panicking over protecting your precious elephant ears.
Y'all're freaking out. You don't want to meet those large greenish leaves become to waste product.
What tin can you do to save them? Or at to the lowest degree regrow them next season?
You overwinter it! AKA: WINTERIZE.
Let'due south learn about how you can preserve your elephant ears until adjacent season, and so then you lot can savour them one time more!
These plants are made to be enjoyed multiple times- that'south why they're perennials by nature.
And so let's learn how to overwinter these plants.
Tin elephant ears exist overwintered?
Elephant ears can definitely be overwintered. Aye, that's right!
Y'all don't demand to painfully spotter your precious large green leaves go poof considering you can save the bulbs
Then yous tin plant them again adjacent flavor. Plus, you don't need to waste your precious money on buying a new elephant ear every flavour simply by storing them correctly.
Overwintering elephant ears doesn't get any easier. Let'due south dive in!
Elephant ears tin can irritate the pare
Elephant ears contain a compound (oxalic acrid) that can crusade some pare irritation in people with sensitive skin.
Use protective clothing, gloves, and shoes (or any other PPE you need) when handling these plants. Use common sense and go along with caution.
Do elephant ears go dormant?
Similar to creeping thyme, bluebells, or bird of paradise, they're set to become fallow so they tin conserve their free energy for the common cold season until spring comes around once again then they can show off those big green foliage for you.
What practise you do with elephant ears in the winter?
It depends where you live. If y'all're in a lower hardiness zone, y'all'll probable have to cut them back and then store the bulbs for the winter.
If y'all're in a warmer zone, you tin either go out them outside if temperatures don't dip also far.
These plants can only handle so much cold before you need to do something. Higher zones may fifty-fifty get away with just putting a few inches of mulch and calling it a day!
Those growing in pots can simply movement them inside their homes for the cold season and give it some water here and there.
So it's nuanced. There's no clear solution.
It depends on your local conditions, every bit you'd await. Simply as usual, the points go to those in moderate zones. Less work for those people.
How cold tin elephant ears tolerate?
Elephant ears should just be exposed to temperatures above 50F. If the temperature dips downward to 40F or so, information technology can kill your plants. A unmarried night of frost won't do much.
Merely if it'southward consistent, or the common cold is just likewise much, then your elephant ear will be damaged.
How to overwinter elephant ears
This section covers how y'all can winterize your elephant ears.
It depends on whether y'all grew it outside, or in a pot. This volition then change the steps to properly winterize it.
But don't worry- it's pretty like shooting fish in a barrel regardless.
Beginning, let's talk well-nigh how you grew your found!
Did you grow information technology as a potted constitute?
If you grew it as a potted plant, you've got it made.
Merely bring it indoors to save it from the cold. Bring information technology in and move it somewhere that gets plenty of humidity since it likes high moisture content.
Some practiced places are your bathroom, kitchen, or other humidity-controlled room in your house.
If yous don't take anywhere to put information technology, or your air is constantly dry, consider getting a humidifier and locking information technology in a room until the winter is over, such as your bathroom.
Equally a last resort, you tin can spritz it ofttimes with a spray bottle and keep it moisture.
So for those that have it potted, bring it indoors for the winter and you're prepare! It doesn't need to be removed from the pot
It tin can be overwintered in pots. If y'all don't need to disturb information technology, then don't. Uprooting it for no reason volition just shock information technology.
Or how nigh a houseplant?
If you lot grew it as a houseplant, pregnant it's accustomed to the indoor environment, then you don't need to do anything.
You may need to add some abound lights during the wintertime because of shorter days, but otherwise, it should be pretty consistent in terms of care.
How to overwinter elephant ears planted in the garden
If you grew your elephant ears in your garden, then information technology becomes slightly more difficult.
Merely don't worry- it'southward zip to fret over. This will require you to dig upwards the bulbs, store them, then salve them until adjacent spring.
The procedure is straightforward, even if it sounds scary. But commit to it and go along!
Digging upwardly your elephant ears
Starting time, we'll demand to dig upwardly the elephant ears to get their bulbs. You'll be saving the bulbs for next leap when the frost is over.
Get your favorite pair of gardening gloves, a modest spade, and a disposable toothbrush you don't need anymore.
The correct time to dig them out is in the fall before the common cold comes. If y'all expect too long, so they may already be scared by the first few dips in temperature.
The latest you tin become later on the first frost is when the leaves offset to fade on their own. This won't kill it simply can impairment it. Do not look any longer than this point of no render.
When digging them out, be extremely careful. If you impairment the bulbs, they may end up with flesh wounds. If this happens, they tin can rot or grow fungus in storage.
They'll exist no good anymore next season, so you need to be careful to not make any accidental slits in them.
You may stop up bruising them if you dig too close.
If you've never unearthed a plant before, you should picket some videos that demonstrate information technology:
Start by digging around the soil about x inches abroad from the base of the plant.
Dig in a circle, with each full revolution inching closer to the seedling. Apply a edgeless spade to dig it upward. If the soil is tough, wet it by fully soaking it.
When you get to the bulb, be careful not to cut into the roots or the seedling itself.
Do Non pull on the bulb. The only way to get information technology out is to dislodge the soil around information technology. When it'south loose plenty, information technology should simply come out on its own with no force from you.
If you accidentally cut into the bulb, you tin can either dispose of it or store information technology anyway in its own separate container. Don't put information technology with the uncut bulbs.
Adjacent, make clean it. Spray it with water to loosen muddy clumps and droppings. Use the castor and gently scrub the bulb. Make clean it up as much equally you can.
Getting a pair of pruners can cutting off the backlog foliage. Y'all tin can remove the biggest leaves before you showtime earthworks. When you get to the bulbs, trim off the smaller leaves.
Cut the stalks about 2" from the bulb. You tin also cut off backlog roots or offshoots.
If your bulb has large offshoots, information technology tin be saved for replanting on its own.
Put the bulbs on a sheet of newspaper and let them dry.
When they're completely dry they should be practiced to get. Don't store them moisture- this increases the possibility of a fungal infection down the line.
Wrap each bulb in paper. Then put them in a cardboard box. The reason I suggest using a box is that you can easily come across if there's moisture on the edges.
If and so, you may have a fungal infection. Proceed the box somewhere dry, cool, and dark.
Check on the bulbs every week or and then. Look for bugs, rot, or mucus. If yous see anything, dispose of the bulbs that are infested.
When winter is over, it's time to break them out!
Gently unwrap each seedling from their newspaper while checking for signs of infestation.
If they're good to go, then you can replant them in the garden once again. Relish those big greens right abroad.
For a head start, you tin can unwrap them during the winter.
Plant them in pots within your home until the spring comes. Then yous tin movement them outdoors when the temperatures pick back upwards next season.
Something interesting to annotation: The bulbs of elephant ears aren't actually bulbs. They're tubers. Elephant ears don't grow bulbs, but it'due south a common confusion.
Usually asked questions
Here are some other questions asked past readers that you may find helpful about the overwintering process.
Can I overwinter elephant ears in pots?
You certain can. And that makes it easier.
With a planter, you tin can motion them indoors during the cold then back out in the spring. It doesn't become whatsoever easier.
Can I bring my elephant ears indoors for winter?
Yes, if you grew it in a container, you can bring them indoors for wintering. Ensure that the ears get plenty water during the winter.
Reduce feeding during this menstruation. Calorie-free isn't as important as it can exist grown as houseplants anyway
If you grew them outdoors, then they won't be accepted to the indoor light. But this shouldn't kill your plants.
Supplement with a grow light if needed. Yellowing or wilting is to exist expected.
Do elephant ears need to be dug upwardly for winter?
If you planted them in your garden soil, and so yes.
If you're in a cooler zone where the temperatures dip down to forty-50F in the winter, so yous'll have to dig them up to shop the bulbs.
If you planted them in containers, then yous got it made, friend.
How to beginning mulching elephant ears for winter
If you're in zone eight or college, you lot tin can just exit them alone during the wintertime if temperatures remain in a higher place 50F. For lower zones, cut it dorsum until it'southward ii-3 inches above the soil line.
Then put some 4-five inches of organic mulch. This tin help save the seedling from nighttime snaps in temperature.
Be sure to put something in that location so yous don't trample it. Use a found marker or something so you or your dog don't stride on information technology.
When to dig up elephant ears?
Dig them up in the late fall or early winter. The outset frost is the maximum you tin can expect before you either cutting them back for mulching or bulb storage.
If you have them in pots, and so move them in beforehand. No signal in waiting around and risking it!
When can you replant elephant ears?
Elephant ears should be replanted up when the last frost is over
If you're storing bulbs indoors, you can get a head start by planting them indoors commencement, then transferring them exterior when spring comes.
Otherwise, planted ones tin be moved out when the temperatures pick up one time once again. Be sure there'southward no sign of random snapbacks to cold dips earlier you lot move them out.
Practise elephant ears come back yr after year?
Elephant ears are perennials in the warmer parts of the United states.
They will regrow on their own after the winter. In colder zones, they're treated as annuals, unless you overwinter them correctly.
These big green leafy plants are one to enjoy for multiple seasons, friend.
How exercise you revive elephant ears?
Yous revive them by replanting them in the leap, of class!
If you lot're using a potted plant, y'all can slowly motility them outside for a few hours each day.
This will reduce plant shock and is known as hardening off or acclimating.
Can y'all leave elephant ears in the ground over winter?
Information technology depends. If you're in USDA zones eight or higher, and so yes, you tin can.
If not, then you can cut them back then mulch them for the winter. Or you can get the bulbs and store them. It's upward to you lot.
Further reading/references
- Overwintering Blackness Magic elephant ears – Houzz
- Wintering over Elephant Ears in Zones half-dozen-7? – Houzz
- Taro – Wikipedia
Now you know how to overwinter elephant ears for skilful
Overwintering elephant ears is pretty easy once you exercise it in one case.
Information technology can be scary when you uproot those precious little bulbs, just just be careful and you lot'll be able to overwinter them until the spring comes. And so yous can relish your big green leafage.
Practise you have any questions about overwintering these plants
Post your comments below and ask. If you have whatsoever tips or advice to give to other readers, feel free to drop a comment as well.
I've always been interested in gardening, merely I never took it seriously until I was forcefully gifted an orchid. This was what got me into the hobby and I've never looked back. I relish writing about information technology, merely not nigh equally much as getting into the clay and sculpting the perfect decorative ornamental to enjoy for the times.
Source: https://gardenisms.com/how-to-overwinter-elephant-ears/
Publicar un comentario for "Can You Leave Elephant Ears in the Ground"