Alocasia reversa, villanovii

From: Piabinha at aol.com on 1999.10.28 at 16:08:11(3793) speaking of that beautiful Colocasia, i have been growing an assortment of Alocasias since the spring. i'm having lots of trouble growing reversa. it seems to lose leaves as quickly as it grows new ones. right now, it's down to one leaf. is this species particularly hard to grow? on the other hand, villanovii is quite beautiful... and it doesn't seem so difficult... +More tsuh yang chen, nyc, USA

From: Jonathan Ertelt jonathan.ertelt at vanderbilt.edu> on 1999.10.28 at 18:47:29(3794) >i'm having lots of trouble growing reversa. it seems to lose leaves as >quickly as it grows new ones. right now, it's down to one leaf. is this >species particularly hard to grow? >on the other hand, villanovii is quite beautiful... and it doesn't seem so >difficult... tsuh yang chen, Very interesting, since my experience is the opposite. I suspect from your selections that yours were received from Tropiflora. I acquired my A. reversa from Dewey, and it has done quite well, stretched a bit but stayed pretty compact, in one of my larger terraria. A. villanovii, on the other hand, in the same terrarium, never seemed to take hold and slowly declined -- it is now history. Assuming that yours are not bound by the ample moisture of a terrarium, this could be the explanation - A. reversa likes/needs that, while A. vaillanovii definitely does not? Just an offering from my own experience. Jonathan +More Jonathan Ertelt Greenhouse Manager Vanderbilt University Biology Department Box 1812, Sta. B Nashville, TN 37235

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