These are Colocasia/Alocasia, aka taro plants? (there are some other plants also commonly referred to as elephant ears). If so, they are not winter hardy here and need to be dug and stored. They can be grown as a houseplant if you have the room and proper conditions but most folks dig them when the weather begins to drop consistently into the 40's, cut back the foliage, clean and allow the tubers to dry a couple of days then store them in peat, like one would do with dahlia tubers. Alternatively, you can follow similar steps but pot them in a container that is kept just barely moist over winter and store them in a cool basement, etc.

I stick mine in the greenhouse where they are devoured by spider mites. :(

I keep spraying water, neem and safer's soap but I've got a serious problem. My eyes are so dang bad now too that I can't see them anymore.

I can't spray anything more powerful, I've got treefrogs in there.

Mine over wintered in the ground last year. I just didn't get around to digging them. They are planted between a pond and the road. No mulch, no special care. I was suprised to see them in the spring because last winter was colder than usual.

I grow my Elephant Ear in a big pot. I put the pot in the dark in the garage and stop watering. They gradually go dormant.

Anyone want mine?? I'll give it away at the Green Elephant.

Best,

Jim Eichner

I need help here. I have had to overwinter my huge (potted)Eleana EE as a house plant because when I went and got one of them out of it's pot, there was no bulb. Only a mass of roots. So the other that I didn't kill goes into the house each winter. I have a huge potted violet stem EE and a huge potted Illustris, as well as 2 Eleana's and a Nancy's Revenge. I want to store them all dormant, but I'm afraid I'll find no bulb to store. I can't find any video on line that shows anyone getting a HUGE EE out of it's tub, and cleaning the mass down to a bulb. The videos that show these little plants aren't a help to me. Does Illustris and the Violet (or black stem) EE have any bulb to store??