UPDATE - Project Taro - Colcasia Elephants Ear Plants - UK
So its now 16th April and the Taro tubers have made some progress!
In fact most of them started sprouting roots and a main shoot within just over a week which is pretty quick!
The really big bulbs were among the ones that sprouted within a few days.
They have been kept on top of my fish tank and in the airing cupboard to keep nice and cosy.
Not all germinated, some went mouldy 😝
I had placed some in the bag with some sphagnum moss and those seems to do the best (sphagnum is known to have natural anti microbial properties) that seems like a good method for the future. Place tubers in bag with some sphagnum, seal and place somewhere warm - that's it!
The Taro that came with a 'cleaned' appearance all went foul - both lots, the ones in placed in plain water and the ones in the bag went white and 'fermented' so they were not viable and I chucked them. My guess is that these had been semi processed and / or perhaps frozen at some point?? they were intended for consumption after all.
About 70% of the fresher looking ones have now shown signs of roots / sprouts like the eyes on a potato at first.
Its still a bit chilly to put these straight outside so the plan is potting them up in good fresh compost and they are going into the unheated green house and make shift cold frames that I have along with some small Musa banana seedlings and petunias that we started from plugs.
I plan to pot these on once they have a few leaves and its a bit warmer, some will also go in the ground near the pond. I have one large plant from last year that I left in the ground all winter and am pleased to say is showing some new shoots so its survived the cold and wet 😊 I would recommend winter storage to be on the safe side though as I have previously lost some prize tropical plants by being lazy. Thats why most will be in large pots so they can be easily taken in during the winter.
the first batch - most of these have now sprouted and been potted up - a couple went squishy and have been chucked.
having been stored in a polythene bag in a warm place - you can just see the sprout after about 10 days
The biggun from Wigan! - this one looks very promising - sprouting in a just a few days - note sphagnum moss was placed in the bag which seems to have helped prevent any mould forming on these
sprouts and roots forming after just a week...
Got some other tubers but they had a different appearance. as though they had been peeled - I thought 'what the hell' and tried to sprout them anyway...
😋 Unfortunately the ones placed in water just when manky : ( but I do believe it was the tubers as this batch had been processed by the looks of it - so dont buy taro bulbs that look like this and expect them to grow!
none of these guys came through...you can see that had been peeled ready for eating - I didn't know that when I purchased them - You want the tubers to have there skin so they are viable
after sprouting potted up with compost and a bit of moss - still gonna keep in a warm place though and provide light - too early to put straight outside yet - so greenhouse or windowsill
So that's quite a few now potted up and starting to grow - by the time I do the next update we should have some leaves🍀 ..watch this space