Does Anyone Grow Elephant Ears *in* Their Pond?

[maggie thecat]

I bought a teacup elephant ear that should be arriving soon. What little I've read said start it in soil, grow it out some, and then transplant into clay, like any other pond plant.

But I also ran across contrary information about the depth it should be submerged to. My pond isn't super deep at 30", but it still got me wondering.

So, anybody have experience to share?

 

[smee82]

I have 3 potted in my kitchen but no idea about keeping it in a pond sorry but I probably wouldnt try and grow it completely submerged.

 

[maggie thecat]

Teacups ? How do you grow them ? They are meant to have wet feet. Do you water them constantly or use a filled saucer?

 

[Pescado_Verde]

Teacups ? How do you grow them ? They are meant to have wet feet. Do you water them constantly or use a filled saucer?

Yeah, we had elephant ears where I grew up. They were planted right where the condensation drain line from the AC would drip. Stayed wet all summer and got huge with the heat and constant water supply. I'd think that they're more of a shoreline plant, maybe 3"-6" of water? I see aquatic plants with the same leaf shape but they're not elephant ears and the leaves don't grow out of the water.

 

[wodesorel]

I tried it in a pot in my little water garden two summers ago and it did horrible. Not sure if it was from wet roots or too much sun. My neighbors' in front of their house got so big the leaves were like 6 feet long! So jealy. They just plunked it in the ground in a very shady spot with medium moisture levels.

 

[ChaosCorrupter]

Try looking up your specific species of elephant ear because I think there are a couple of species that are called elephant ear.

 

[maggie thecat]

Try looking up your specific species of elephant ear because I think there are a couple of species that are called elephant ear.

There are many. This one was specifically marketed as a pond plant. But as I had no experience with them, I wanted to ask other pond keepers how theirs did.

 

[Fahn]

Not the same, but I grew some huge philodendrons out of the back of a shrimp tank at my job. The back sump compartments were loaded up with big ceramic biomedia balls as a place for it to anchor it's roots.

It did really well, but the plants became infested with thrips, so I had to remove them to prevent it from spreading to other plants.

 

[ethand]

According to Google, the teacup elephant ear is a type of Colocasia... (other plants commonly called elephant ear include Philodendron, Alocasia & Caladium, however care varies between species)
Colocasias generally do very well as pond plants. I don’t have a pond, but keep all of my colocasias in pots in a plastic tub full of water & they grow best this way in my experience. Roots that are fully submerged seem to keep the plants happiest. Leaves must be out of water, stems are fine in or out of water. Basically the roots just need to be able to access as much water as possible.
Depending on your location, Colocasias can die back in winter, however where I live (southwest Australia) new growth just gets smaller over winter rather than the plant dying off.
Other Colocasias worth looking for are Colocasia Illustris, Black Magic, Hi-Lo Beauty & Metallica - they’re favourites of mine! Love them so much I keep them even though I don’t have a pond! Haha