colocasia black magic needs to be at least 1 yr old, its thick roots will survive, it is not really a defined tuber or bulb.

I have a couple of EE's--colocasia and alocasia----should I allow them to be hit with frost or bring them in before?

I'm probably not the one to be giving advice here. I lost most of my EE bulbs last year.

What I'm trying this year is cutting them down earlier. Before the frost. That way I'm not left with a whole bunch of mush to clean up. It also allows me time to let the bulbs dry out before I try to store them.

Last year I let the frost take them down and then it was almost impossible to let them dry out. It was just too cold and damp.

I'm going to try and let the bulbs dry out and then wrap them in newspaper. I've heard that sawdust works very well keeping the moisture down. These bulbs are extremely prone to rot I've found. Even bulbs I bought in the spring and potted were starting to rot by the time the really warm summer weather hit. I barely watered them at all.

I guess it depends where you live but I'm starting to think that it might be best to buy new bulbs rather than try and keep them each year.

I think you're right about the dampness being a problem here. About two years ago I used old panty hose and put tubers and bulbs in them and hung them up in the garage so that air could flow around them. I did that for two years and lost about half each year. Last year I tried putting them in a box with layers of newspaper and lost them all.I think this year I'm going to experiment and leave a few in small pots in the green house and see if I don't water them if they'll make it. I love all the big leafed plants and they are hard to find in the spring .
Cindy

hey Sam,
Try diggin your Black Magic, cutting them donw to about 12" or so and storing them in a bright area in a bucket of water. I have had great succcess overwintering this way and am trying my other "rottable" Colocasias like this too...

The regular Colocais escuelenta can be dried and stored at warm room temps. They turn rock hard and never have dried out on me. I keep mine in my plant room/furnace room with 100% success.

Boca Joe

Okay, so I'm going to exhibit my "newbie-ness" to the entire freakin' world here, but so what?

Am I to understand that I should dig up elephant ears, store them inside, and re-plant them next year? I just thought I was supposed to cover them in the ground with pine straw. Maybe that's why my "old" plants didn't do as well as the "new" ones I planted back in the early spring.

Cindy - I tried the newspaper thing already and have decided to switch to something else. I went to check on my bulbs after a couple weeks and the newspaper was really damp and a few bulbs already had soft spots. I chucked those and let the others air out for a couple more days. I now have the bulbs buried in shallow trays full of Sunshine mix (peat and perlite). This stuff seems to stay quite dry and fluffy compared to just the straight peat that seems to compress and always seems a little damp. I'm also leaving a couple of plants in their pots and I've moved them to a heated storage shed. They seem to be doing okay. I'll keep the soil on the dry side.

Boca Joe - thanks for the ideas! I like the bucket of water idea. I already have a bucket of brugs going in a spare room. Maybe I'll start a bucket of black magic too. Funny you mentioned your Colocasia Esculenta bulbs being rock hard. I was checking mine yesterday and thought wow these things are like little rocks. I may move them inside now hearing about your successes.

Nytwing - I think it depends on your location as to how to overwinter these plants. I've heard of people in my area leaving them out but I have a hard time believing it seeing how fast my bulbs rot in just slightly damp cool conditions.

I think its safest to keep checking on these things regularly and watch for any signs of rot or mold.