Plumbia Nigra or Black Swan

[JohnAndSancho]

I've decided I want to put a big black colocasia in this Muck Hole® in my backyard. It can be a corm it can be a bulb it can be a cutting of a bulb, I don't care. Can trade. I don't know who the other aroid people on here are besides @metalfan and I totally forgot his name but that dude from Rhode Island. Worst case scenario I sell some stuff and buy a starter plant from Brian's Botanicals. 

[iDesign]

I don't have any to spare yet (still populating areas of the yard with it)... but I can offer a data point that "colocasia fontanesii" might be a good variety to try in your Muck Hole®.

I haven't had the best luck with colocasia generally - but of the ones I've tried, "fontanesii" has been the most successful, even spreading into the lawn at times (which is easy to fix by re-routing the runner). Most of the other colocasia types I've tried have done okay for a season, but not returned the next (or come back at a laughably small size).

I recently took a clump of "fontanesii" from another area of the yard, and stuck it in a spot that has terrible drainage (and where several other plants have already died). And it seems really happy there. There's a thin layer of mulch on top, but underneath is 100% icky, gooey, muddy, mud.

Here's a quick snap of the muddy clump this morning...

[iDesign]

As for your "big black colocasia" part... I too would love to find a robust variety in a purple/black color!

I've tried a few of the black types but they always seem to either come back super-tiny the following year - or don't come back at all. Now that I've discovered my magical Muck Hole® spot, I'm excited to try a purple/black one again. If you happen to know which colocasia variety tends to be most robust (ideally an extra large type), I’m all ears… elephant ears, that is.

[JohnAndSancho]

11 hours ago, iDesign said:

As for your "big black colocasia" part... I too would love to find a robust variety in a purple/black color!

I've tried a few of the black types but they always seem to either come back super-tiny the following year - or don't come back at all. Now that I've discovered my magical Muck Hole® spot, I'm excited to try a purple/black one again. If you happen to know which colocasia variety tends to be most robust (ideally an extra large type), I’m all ears… elephant ears, that is.

Black Swan is a hybrid from Brian's Botanicals that's supposed to be relatively close to Thai Giant size and the Plumbia Nigra is supposed to be a pretty decent size too. I could probably throw one of these Thai Giants (I have 5 bulbs) in there or one of the 27,000 Jacks Giant I have, and I've got a lot of Black Magic. This is my first year playing with colocasias and alocasias so it's gonna be a fun learning curve. I guess one advantage I do have is I can dig them up and start my bulbs early so I don't have to worry about starting from scratch, but I learned the hard way that starting bulbs in December is way too early. I'm looking for something massive to put here. I don't want that "wow" factor. I want that "holy 💩" factor. Nice pun btw. 

[iDesign]

Hopefully you’ll post pics in the Tropical Plant forum with your results when you have more testing data. 📝

As pleased as I am with finally getting some success, I’d love to grow a huge one… or black one… or (even better) a huge black “holy 💩” one!

Good luck on your testing… I’ll be watching any updates closely. 👀

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, iDesign said:

Hopefully you’ll post pics in the Tropical Plant forum with your results when you have more testing data. 📝

As pleased as I am with finally getting some success, I’d love to grow a huge one… or black one… or (even better) a huge black “holy 💩” one!

Good luck on your testing… I’ll be watching any updates closely. 👀

It helps that I've got an 85 degree swampy room to start things off in. I keep things fairly updated on my Mississippi Squad thread on here but lately I've moved away and gone to YouTube/IG/that other Zuckerberg site I vowed I'd never return to just because- honestly there's no traffic here. I'm sanchosgreenpaws on all of those. And eBay as well (just saying)...