Alocasia is the indoor plant sold as elephant ear or African mask. Same URL. NCSU and UF/IFAS put it in Araceae. Popular hybrids include Alocasia × mortfontanensis, still sold as Alocasia amazonica or Polly.
Wisconsin Horticulture uses elephant ears for Colocasia, Alocasia, and Xanthosoma together. Colocasia leaves are usually peltate and held outward. Alocasia leaves are usually held more upright. UF/IFAS: Alocasia is often confused with Colocasia, which can be invasive outdoors. Caladium is a thin, colorful cousin, not this plant. No second elephant-ear URL. Outdoor Colocasia landscaping stays off.
NCSU: propagate by division of offsets. RHS Growing Guide: separate and pot offsets in spring, or divide the fleshy rhizome in late spring or early summer. Seed is named on Wisconsin without a home recipe. Stem cuttings appear only on RHS Alocasia cucullata, not on the main RHS guide or NCSU. Cuttings are not an H2.
Indoor focus.
For mix, see soil propagation.
Offsets
RHS: the easiest way is to separate offsets that form around the base of a mature plant in spring. Slice down with a knife. Take as much root as possible. Pot in gritty, peat-free compost.
NCSU genus and NCSU × mortfontanensis: division of offsets. Recommended strategy is division.
Iowa State's division how-to is general (Alocasia not named there): early spring ideal, each piece needs healthy leaves, stems, and roots, wait a few weeks before fertilizing.
No opened extension gives an offset count or weeks-to-root for Alocasia pups. Do not invent blog sizes.
Rhizome division
RHS Growing Guide: divide the fleshy rhizome in late spring or early summer. Pot the pieces. Keep them in warmth and good light until new shoots appear. RHS Alocasia scabriuscula: division once clumps form, or division of the rhizome, potting sections individually.
NCSU Yucatan Princess: divided roots may be started indoors in pots. That is a short note, not a full recipe.
Do not average spring offset timing with late spring or early summer rhizome timing.
Corms and storage restart
Wisconsin: elephant ears grow from corms. Side offsets are cormels. First leaves from bulbs in a few weeks. Start indoors in March with the top of the bulb close to the soil surface, in a warm place.
NCSU: corms may be started indoors. Tubers can be stored cool and dry for winter. Illinois: dig the tuber in fall, cool dry storage until spring. Penn State overwinter sheet (Colocasia, Alocasia, and Xanthosoma): elephant ears prefer storage into the 70 °F range, unlike many tropicals at 45 to 55 °F. Leave 4 to 6 inches of foliage, dry a few days, restart about 4 to 6 weeks before last frost.
Those storage temperatures are not one number. This page is indoor propagation, not a Midwest garden calendar.
Common mistakes
- A second URL for elephant ear.
- Treating Colocasia outdoor clumps or Caladium tubers as this page.
- A cuttings H2. Only RHS cucullata names stem cuttings. The main RHS guide and NCSU stay on division.
- Averaging NCSU about 80 species with UF/IFAS over 91.
- Inventing cormel sprouting weeks beyond Wisconsin's "a few weeks" for first leaves.
Same URL for indoor Alocasia and elephant ear sold as Alocasia.
People also ask
Alocasia or Colocasia?
Wisconsin: Colocasia petiole attaches near the leaf center and leaves face out. Alocasia leaves are usually more upright. UF/IFAS: easy to confuse; Colocasia can be invasive in the landscape.
Can I take stem cuttings?
RHS cucullata lists stem cuttings in spring with no steps. The RHS Alocasia Growing Guide and NCSU do not. Not a home recipe here.
When do I divide?
RHS offsets in spring. RHS rhizome in late spring or early summer. Iowa general division: early spring ideal. Not one calendar.