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Growing Colocasia "Thai Giant" from seed

ctnchpr
11 years ago

My Thai Giant had beautiful blooms last Aug...

...which made seedpods in Sep...

{{gwi:389738}}

The seedpods ruptured in late Oct, revealing the seed-laden berries. Each berry contained dozens of seeds, about the size of a poppy seed, but shaped like a sesame seed...

{{gwi:392814}}

I sowed the first of four batches of seeds the day after harvesting. Most seedlings emerged in the 2-3 week range. These seedlings are 3 weeks old, with their heart shaped first "true" leaf...

This was taken in early Feb '12, with the 6th true leaf...

I put my most vigorous plant in a compost pile in late Apr (with a 24" level for scale)...

This was taken today, with a 48" level for scale. The distance between the leaf tips, left to right, is 15 feet. The leaf on the right is about 6 1/2 feet, shoulder to tip. The plant now has 2 blooms, so I guess the cycle will be repeated...

Comments (12)

  • steiconi
    11 years ago

    really nice sequence of photographs!
    I love BIG LEAVES, just planted starts of some kind of giant colocasia, plus a giant kalo/taro/alocasia(?)

    I have a feeling I'm going to spread them all over...

  • ctnchpr
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks, steiconi!!

    Zone 12b....sigh...., I'm 6b.

  • grabmebymyhandle
    11 years ago

    Very nice!
    Did you hand pollinate, if so how?

    My thai giant rivals that and was put out in mid july. its unbelievable.
    It had 5 leaves and was in a 4 inch pot impressive for such a short time but not half as cool as growing from seed, who knows, maybe the genes have are the best out there now.

  • tropicbreezent
    11 years ago

    It certainly lives up to its name "Thai Giant". I really should get one so that I can look at it instead of photos, LOL. Interesting that its leaves look more like Xanthosoma than other Colocasias.

  • grabmebymyhandle
    11 years ago

    I havent been growing these guys long, and im no taxonomist, but this guys no colocasia, if ive ever seen one... its close and does cross with other colo.s but i just dont think it really is.
    Its just to unique from other colocasias

    A great plant regardless what it is.

  • miketropic
    11 years ago

    mines in the basement for winter..should be a supreme monster at the first hints of spring.the leaves were 3ft across when it went in if I can get them somthing like 5ft in early spring I can make this plant massive

  • ctnchpr
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @grab - No hand pollination, I never did see any insects on the blooms, so the pollinators were either nocturnal or too small to see.

    @mike - Please share how you're overwintering your tuber, I tried to overwinter mine as a houseplant last year, but the tuber rotted.

    I put the largest leaf on a 4' X 8' sheet of foam insulation for scale - it was 5' wide and 6' 6" long...

    Of the 9 blooms this year, only the first 2 were pollinated, they should burst anytime now. We have frost predicted for the next 5 nights, so the plant is covered in plastic with a 250W heat bulb underneath the seedpods.

    {{gwi:392813}}

  • grabmebymyhandle
    11 years ago

    What a beast! you must have treated it well.
    Lucky you, I wonder what pollenated them around here! what area do you live, its frigid here today... : (

    My understanding of how to over winter them is to dig them, clean the roots of most or all soil, remove all but the newest 1-3 leaves and place in a few inches of water.
    These guys are notorious for NOT producing a tuber, thats why over wintering them is such a challenge. Mine did produce a tuber this year, as well as several bulbils, so it can happen, i havent chopped away all of the plant yet to determine exactly how large the tuber is, I plant on either leaving in the bucket of water, which scares me a bit, or planting in in a small pot and hoping it squeaks by.
    My goal is also to have a decent sized plant come april, maybe a few if these bulbils make, i planted them straight away. With the end goal being gettin the plant as big as possible, hopefully 7'+ leaves.
    my giant also felt the wrath of all this recent wind it got its 2 largest leaves shredded about a month ago... It was sad...this early cold cut the season short about 3 weeks too...it was throwing a new leaf every 3-5 days before that, that would be atleast 5 more leaves i would have gotten this year too... oh well

  • miketropic
    11 years ago

    IDK if this will work for everyone but it works for me. I dig mine and knock all the regular earth off it. wash the tuber very careful so I don't break roots so its nice and clean. cut off all leaves except the newst one and the one is came out of. plant it in a potting mix of about 60% perlite and 40% light compost. I water it maybe once a month and the water it gets runs right through it. just enough to give the roots a quick sip. once the temps go up I'll put a pan of water under it and let it drink. come april its back outside with usually 4 or 5 leaves and right back in the ground

  • grabmebymyhandle
    11 years ago

    basically my plan too : )

  • ctnchpr
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    grab and mike, thanks for the overwintering info.

  • grabmebymyhandle
    11 years ago

    swo a quick follow up, I wont be doing the water bucket again, I suspect it was just too cold and maybe i didnt change the water enough.

    I pulled it out for its regular water change, wash off and inspection, the bulbil left attached was mush : (

    Its now wrapped in grocery bag get regular root ball mistings and seems just fine now, i do hope the previously detacted bulbils emerge soon, i hate to dig em up o always boo boo stuff that way, but they havent poked thru, maybe ill bring them in for more warmth

    Ill report back!