Rethinking Elephant Ears in my creek next year

taherrmann4

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After several years of putting elephant ears in my creeks and waterfalls I am now rethinking this strategy for next year. While they are neat and serve a purpose in helping suppress the algae by sucking up nutrients from the creeks and providing shade, they are soooo large that they take away the view more so on the waterfalls than the creek. They also have a huge root system that is like carpet, I have to go and tear these out or they create a damn effect by increasing the water level in the creek behind them and this has caused some problems for me in my waterfalls. A few weeks ago it seemed as though I was losing a bit too much water and found where some of the roots were so thick that they increased the depth of the water therefore forcing it over my liner. This was in a section that is only about an inch from the water going over anyway (cut the liner a little short 6 years ago, lesson learned). All of these elephant ears started out about the size of a half dollar or smaller and are now about the size of a softball so they grow very quickly, I consider my creeks the breeding ground for elephant ears and will give these away next year to family and friends and whoever else wants some. In addition to the one big bulb each one has lots of off shoots that are about the size of a quarter or smaller, so I probably have 30-40 extra bulbs, and this is every year. If I had a way to sell them I would but I am not good with the whole craigslist thing.

So if anyone is interested in some elephant ears next year pm in the spring and you can have some just pay shipping.

This is the waterfall with elephant ears taken yesterday
P1030387.JPG

This is what my waterfall looks like w/o the ears
006.JPG

This is the size of the bulb in my creek
P1030385.JPG
P1030384.JPG

Showing how big the leaves are
P1030381.JPG
P1030382.JPG
 

sissy

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I just found they have mini elephant ears in black and green never new that .The guy I just bought my elephant ears from in NJ told me so I looked them up and he is right .I bought 2 black minis and 1 green mini and they were 2 dollars a piece and I bought 5 large black ones for 5 dollars a piece .My truck will be full when I go home .Thank god Nadine and John live down there and I have them stored there until I leave
 

j.w

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I like it w/o the Elly Ears Tmann. It looks so natural it looks like the photo is take from one of your hikes. Beautiful!
 

sissy

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on my tags it said the minis grow from 12 to 18 inches tall .I never new there were mini elephant ears
 

addy1

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mini's would be neat for some areas sissy, good find, I will see if i can find them.
 

sissy

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If you just google mini elephant ears you will find them in black and green and they can grow up to 16 inches and usually cost from 3.99 to 7.99 a plant or rizoam and florida hill nurseries is the cheapest place to get them www.floridahillnursery.com they have red too that are caladium elephant ears I bought mine there 2 years ago
 

taherrmann4

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So I spent the a few hours pulling out my elephant ears from the pond, creeks and waterfalls. I have counted 81 elephant ears that I will have next year, I started out with 21 bulbs, 19 planted in the pond and creeks 2 planted in the landscaping. What I have noticed is that the bulb seems to form more of a rounded shape with the ones in dirt where the ones in the pond look more like an elephants foot. I also observed that the both the ones in dirt had more babies than the ones in the pond. All of them grew at least one baby with the exception of the one in the actual big pond, seems to like more moving water going over their roots. The ones in the creeks have massive amounts of roots, almost like a carpet. Anyhow here are some pics.​
P1030453.JPGGetting ready to cut the massive roots off.​
P1030455.JPGThis is what is left after cutting 3/4 of the roots off​
P1030474.JPGThis is all the bulbs that I now have and will have to store for winter in the basement.​
P1030387.JPGBefore I took out the elephant ears in the waterfall.​
P1030464.JPGAfter they were removed.​
 

addy1

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So are you drying them outside tmann, before you move them into storage? I am going to work on mine once I get home again. That is a lot of plants you have there.
 

taherrmann4

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Addy,
Yes for the next few days they will be outside then I will move them into the basement on newspaper for another week or two to be sure they are good and dry. Then I will pack them up with sawdust and shredded newspaper in boxes. I don't sit the boxes on the floor of the basement since it is cool and moist, but rather sit them on top of 2x4's or on my shelf.

Anyone interested in some next spring let, just pm me in the spring and I will gladly ship some to you as long as you pay for shipping. I still have some that I didn't get planted this year b/c I was short on space, they are the smaller ones about the diameter of two of your thumps and some smaller. I will post when I am ready to get rid of some...
 

addy1

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Thanks tmann, will do the same. I have a room, for my spare parts, computers etc. Will stick them on a shelf there.
 
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We just brought all of ours inside for the winter here...ugh 3 Large 4 medium pots (5 and 3 gallon)...always a challenge finding homes inside for everything we bring in! Our elephant/black taro grow all winter inside, we just keept cutting off the ones that wilt/die off and new ones sprout all winter long.
 

taherrmann4

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Rebel,
Last year I brought two inside that were in pots all summer and they ended up dying halfway through winter. I know what you mean with all the plants and having to find room for them inside. During the summer the house looks empty of plants but then in the winter you have more than you know what to do with. Isn't too bad until the Christmas tree goes up as then I have to relocate 3 more plants somewhere.
 

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