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Plant Magick | Overwintering Alocasia

Amanda Boehm

So my partner recently found some sort of an Alocasia species sitting outside of a dumpster. His first impulse? BRING IT TO MY GIRLFRIEND!


First of all, great impulse.



Upon my inspection, the plant was riddled with obvious mealybugs. In my experience, they are nearly impossible to get rid of.


Not wanting to risk my indoor plants, and understanding it's getting too cold to keep this type of plant outdoors, I decided to overwinter the tubers!


Step 1. Cut off the leaf stalks.

Because I will be drying and storing the tuber/bulb, the leaves will no longer be getting energy to keep growing -- so chop chop! (If you leave the material on there, they'll just rot away.)



Step 2. Clean it up.

Rinse off the remaining tuber/bulb and get rid of excess root system. The plant won't need this, because it'll be drying up. Any living tissue will just rot.



Step 3. Check for baby corms.

Alocasia/Colocasia species propagate through corms, little bulbs scattered throughout the root system (the tiny things in the above picture). These can be planted later and grow into new plants!


Step 4. Let it dry.

Let all of the pieces dry for a couple of days, checking to make sure there is no rot or weird smell.


Step 5. Store for later!

After the initial drying process, you'll want to store the tubers/bulbs in a cool and dark and dry place until you're ready to plant again. I'm using paper bags and my closet.



And that's all! I'll probably plant it in late February or early March, and hopefully the leaves that result from it will be huge and beautiful!!!


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