That is really fast. A lot depends on the size of the tuber underneath though. That's where the reserves are that fuel new growth.

I picked out the largest one I could find at the big box home improvement store - it was about 4.5 inch tall and 4 inch in diameter and had quite a few pink nubs. I wonder what size it will reach at the end of summer.

This looks like Colocasia esculenta, a large, fast growing species and apparently the one used to make taro from the rhizomes. Just curious, did the display at the store have the species name, or was it on the package?

Russ

I bought the bulb at Home Depot or Lowes (cant remember which one of the two). It just had a rubber band with a tag and was $9.99 for one large bulb. The tag just said Mammoth elephant ear.

Okay, thanks. You might Google Colocasia esculenta and see if yours looks like it, if you're interested in knowing.

Russ

This is what is looked like 2 days ago -

Fast growing and looking good! Be sure to fertilize it, these are heavy feeders.

Let us see what it looks like in a month or so. What state and zone are you in? Just wondering how much more summer you have.

Russ

Hard to tell on my dim laptop but looks like the leaf sinus is open, so this seems to be an Alocasia rather than a Colocasia as I thought earlier. So maybe A. macrorrhizos.

Russ

I am near Raleigh, NC in zone 7B. Our 1st frost is sometime in the middle to end of October..
I think it is a colocasia. From what I have read, alocasia have leaf tips pointing up or horizontal and colocasia have it pointing down. My plant leaves point down after unfurling.

See the emerging leaf here -

Also the petiole attachment is below the leaf notch..

Yeah, I see the fused top lobes now, couldn't see it before and lobes looked open all the way to the petiole attachment. Definitely a colocasia. That info about the leaf tips is new to me. Anyway, you have some time before Oct to see how big it will grow.

Thanks! Russ

It does look like Colocasia rather than Alocasia. There are a couple of thousand varieties. It's been cultivated and selectively bred for many thousands of years by communities throughout the tropics. In more recent times many ornamental varieties have been bred. Yours looks like "Bun Long" but there are probably a lot of others cultivated for food that look very similar.

It looks like the Thai Giant we grow here in a huge pot.

It's a beauty, did you say if you will dig it up before the frost?

I might... Since it looks so good..

Here it is as of today -

Wow, now that is impressive! Yes, it does deserve some protection. How much more warm weather do you have up there??

Russ

First frost probably sometime in late October or early November...

That is a beautiful EE. I love it! Dig it up and store over the winter.

Now blooming..

I'm inspired to plant one next year

How do you all manage to dig up the tubers of these large plants?

I had a Colocasia Illustris growing in a pot. It was taking over the coleus so I moved it to a pot by itself. It was tough to get the plant out of the pot - it had really taken hold. The only way I could get it out was to turn the pot upside down and dump out lots of soil

I did not dig it up and I thought it might not come back. Few weeks back I removed the dead leaves and saw huge white bulbs above ground. The white stuff was soft and rotting. I figured that the above ground part was rotted and I wasnt sure the plant would come back. So I bought another bulb for $5 from wally world, but just 2 days ago I saw the plant coming back up! Without digging and with no protection. Judging by the size of the bulbs above the ground, I suspect the part under the ground is massive. I am looking forward to see how big it gets this year. However, now I think it is planted too close to the wall. But I am not going to dig it out. Will just let it grow where it is and feed it lots of water and fertilizer.

Excellent, how thrilling for you. I picked up 2 jumbo EE bulbs and potted then up on 3/5 thinking it will be weeks before they start to break through the soil, but i was wrong, the darn things are growing so fast and of course they arent getting enough sun in my apartment, I can only hope for the best and that i can get them outside sooner than mid May, our nights are still in the high 30's to low 40's. I'm looking forward to watching yours grow this summer, it's going to take over the side of you house LOL

Here is a video I made of what I thought was a very cool phenomenon to watch -

Did we ever figure out what it is? Colocasia, but what species? I'm assuming esculenta since it was obtained at a big box store as a rhizome. Looks good, nchomegarden!

Russ

Great video, mine does that on very humid days, its pretty cool how they do that to get rid of excess water, nature is wonderful !!

Russ - No, no idea of the species.