Okay, so I’ve been messing around with elephant ear plants, you know, those big, leafy guys, for a while now. And one thing I really wanted to figure out was how cold they could actually handle it. I mean, I live in a place where it gets chilly, so I needed to know if I had to bring them inside or if they could tough it out.
First, I planted a few different types of elephant ears – some Colocasia and some Alocasia, just to see if there was a difference. I put some in pots and some directly in the ground. I figure, might as well experiment, right?
My Experiment Setup
- Variety: Colocasia (the edible kind, also called taro) and Alocasia (the ones with the really fancy leaves).
- Location: Some in pots on my patio, some in a flower bed that gets partial shade.
- Recording: I grabbed a cheap outdoor thermometer and stuck it near the plants. I also started a little notebook to jot down the temperatures and how the plants looked.
So, the first few weeks, everything was great. Warm weather, the plants were growing like crazy. Then, we had our first cold snap. The temperature dropped to, like, 50°F (10°C) at night. I checked on the plants in the morning, and they looked… okay. A little droopy, maybe, but nothing major.
Over the next few months, I kept an eye on things. We had some nights that dipped into the 40s (around 4-9°C). The Alocasia, especially the ones in pots, started to look pretty sad. The leaves turned yellow and some even fell off. The Colocasia seemed to handle it a bit better, especially the ones in the ground. They slowed down their growth, but they didn’t look as miserable.
Then came the real test – a few nights in the upper 30s (around 3-4°C). That’s when things got real. The Alocasia in pots? Pretty much goners. The leaves were completely wilted and brown. The Colocasia in pots struggled, too. The ones in the ground fared a little better, but even they had some significant damage.
I did try to protect some of the plants with blankets and burlap, and that seemed to help a little, but honestly, once it got below 40°F consistently, they just weren’t happy.
The Results Are In
So, here’s what I learned from my little experiment:
- Alocasia are wimps. Seriously, they don’t like the cold at all. Anything below 50°F, and they start to complain.
- Colocasia are tougher. The ones in pots, are not as much. The ones in the ground can handle short periods in the 40s, maybe even a brief dip into the upper 30s, but they won’t be thrilled about it.
- If it get very cold, move them. No matter what I did, frost and freeze did a number on all my plants, so I had to move the survivors into the sunroom to recover.
Basically, if you live in a place where it gets consistently below 50°F (10°C) at night, you’re going to want to bring your elephant ears inside, or at least be prepared to cover them up really well. They might survive a little bit of cold, but they definitely won’t thrive.
