Help!! Black Velvet Alocasia
My black velvet alocasia was one of my first plants and is a few years old now. She was a gift from my dad (who has a super green thumb and can grow anything anywhere). She had three leaves when I received her, then got up to five!! Last spring, she started flowering and she’s growing out of the pot. She has not stopped flowering. Everytime I see new growth, IT’S ANOTHER flower!! And she is STRUGGLING now! Only two leaves, one is unhealthy so I’m going to cut it. I’m not sure if she needs to be repotted with how she is growing out of the pot, but I know repotting whole flowering is a huge no-no. I don’t know what to do! Any advice? I tagged her so you can see what she looked like before! I’ll add some photos of what she looks like now on this post!
8” pot with drainage
Last watered 1 week ago
9
Best Answer
@Lexeeblue Hi there! 💕 While I’m no expert on alocasias, I do know that people are often scared of overwatering them so they err on the side of underwatering. But for alocasias it is my understanding that loosing leaves, especially the oldest leaves first, is almost always a symptom of underwatering. But I have no idea on the constant flowering. I’m going to tag a couple folks who have more alocasia experience than I do! 🌿
@Araceae @Idplantthat @Jho
@Araceae @Idplantthat @Jho
@DreamMachine @Lexeeblue Wow, I’ve never heard of the constant flowering thing. I think Lex has much more alocasias experience than I do if she’s had this baby for a few years. I can’t wade into the watering scenarios because I’ve always plopped mine right into self-watering pots. Sorry I’m not much help. I hope @Idplantthat or @Araceae have info because I wanna learn about the perpetual flower now! 🤓 I did find this while searching; seems plausible.
So I’m no expert and I don’t always do things the way you are supposed to. So a few things starting out… what kind of soil are you using? Have you repotted in the last few years? So it looks like you’ve got a pathogen infection, and tell me is getting really bright afternoon light? So I repotted one of my Alocasia’s in the process of flowering, but I didn’t want to jeopardize the roots of my plant, the way I saw it, if it’s healthy it’s going to flower again. If it gets more unhealthy I’m not going to have flowers anyway? But that was my logic and as I said I don’t follow all the rules and guidelines 🤦♀️ so I’m the all this being said, if it were me I’d probably repot. If it is a pathogen infection leaving it is only going to increase the unhealthiness of the plant which is not what you want. I’d repot into a larger container and then even ‘Dome’ it until it increases in size and happiness. Alocasias can be hilariously fussy and just as frustrating… I’ve definitely had a few die back and lost a couple in the beginning. I personally use a mix of horticulture charcoal, worm castings, orchid bark, perlite, a small amount of sand, and tree fern fiber. Since these are forest floor plants the sunlight can be damaged if it’s too direct. So bright indirect light and high humidity. I know @Jho @DreamMachine and I were just talking about using monosilicic acid as a way to help our Alocasias, you can try that as well as gold leaf fertilizer and humic acid. These will all benefit your Alocasias and help with the health!
@Idplantthat it’s in an east-facing window, so it only gets 1-3 hours of direct morning sunlight if it is sunny (cloudy or raining 80% of the time). I live in a cooler, humid region on the Oregon Coast. In summer, it only broke 80 degrees about 5 times this year. I have other plants in the same window that are no direct sunlight but are thriving. I ordered some of Rosy’s aroid soil, but right now it is in a mix of succulent and standard potting soil. I have not repotted it since I have received it. I was planning on repotting it before it started flowering, so I decided to wait. I also ordered a new pot.
@Lexeeblue Ah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay, so repotting in average is good to do at least every two years. After two years, potted soil is out of its nutrients. 🤷🏼♀️ From my understanding, which who knows if my information is correct. It’s always changing, I feel like. Rosie’s is a good potting mix. I’ve used it a few times, and I’ve liked it. I just buy more bulk (due to the amount of plants I have; it saves me more to buy bulk). You and @DreamMachine both are coast livers, and I’m so jealous! I tend to avoid potting soil and stick with potting mix. Potting soil can get heavy on some plants. So just know that, but it sounds like you’ve got a great plan and are pretty prepared going forward.