Alocasia care guide

We all fell in love with Alocasia Polly, we all did it and lets be honest we did fail, at leat most of us. If you are the lucky one and still have your Polly you deserve a medal and you can look through our other post, this one isn’t for you.
Alocasia plants are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, particularly in areas such as Southeast Asia, India, and parts of Australia. They thrive in warm, humid environments and are often growan as ornamental houseplants or in gardens in subtropical and tropical regions.
So of course why not try it in our climate and get yourself a tropical plant that will catch everybody’s eye. Here is a small guide how to keep your Alocasia alive and happy:

Light
Light means live to all Alocasas, light also usually means warm. If you keep your plant close to window thats your first tick done. I myself have a north facing window and no sun on it ever my Alocasia is happy with the amount of daylight its getting, if you more lucky than me and have some sun through you windows, your Alocasia can live somewhere else that window sill.
* to all the owners of skylights in their room, good news, thats great light condition for Alocasia.

Watering
Less is better. There is never a good answer how much to water it. Alocasia is native to hot and humid places, likes humidity but not soggy wet soil, so be gentle when watering. If you will underwater your Alocasia it simply will not produce you a new leaves, do it regularly avoiding drying out completely.  
* good tip, if you can catch some rain water, your plant will love you for it. If like me you don’t have garden or balcony use filtered water or let it settle for couple of days before watering.

Fertiliser
If you getting a fresh plant from any shop, you don’t need to rush and look for plant food strait away. Your plant will be happy with just water of a while. But don’t forget about it, you want to grow more of those beautiful leaves.
Soil and pot size
We love our growers for all those beautiful plants but don’t be fooled and get your Alocasia repot as soon as possible to better soil. I have used our Aroid mix and it always worked well. Last year, before winter decided to actually down side pot that my Wentii is living in and even tho it was a big plant that I grew for 4 year it was much happier in smaller pot, and for first time did not loose any leaves over winter.

Winter care
Alocasia sleep in winter? Yes, as soon as temperatures will go down your plant will start to hibernate. At this point there is nothing really to do, unless you have heated green house, let you Alocasia sleep. It may loose some leaves, sometimes even most of them, that ok it will grow back next season. In cold months water them very gently once every couple of weeks and be patient, Spring is on the way.
*don’t rush with cutting your dying leaves, plant will use them for as long as it can.

Always take adjustments when your home conditions are changing.
more sun = more heat = more water
Colder days = wait few more days before watering

There will never be a exact recipe for Alocasia. Every house is different and you should always take this under consideration. When you gonna find the right balance and understand the needs of your plants, suddenly Alocasia Polly, Wentii, Black Velvet or Silver Dragon will be same easy as your Monstera or Peace Lily.