From Tiny Sprout to Towering Titan: The Astounding Growth of Elephant Ears

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When it comes to how people choose to spend their spare time, there are plenty of different hobbies that people will choose to take up. Some people might want to focus on spending time with others, although many more people are taking an interest in hobbies that do not require any additional help or interaction from other people.

Thankfully, there are quite a few of these hobbies that you can choose to take on.

Some people might take an interest in a creative medium, whether that is playing an instrument, learning how to sing, writing, or drawing. Other people might choose to spend their time outside tending to the plants in the garden.

One of the best aspects of caring for a garden is going to be the fact that there are simply so many different choices between plants and the materials that you will need to make any garden look beautiful.

Because there are so many different types of plants that people enjoy adding to their garden, there will usually come a time when you desire a different kind of plant to complement the clusters of bright flowers on the lawn. People who value vibrant designs and bright colors might worry that these plants will be uninteresting.

Typically, these more neutral backdrop plants can be used indoors as well as outdoors. When you are working with an indoor plant, it is important to have a good idea of how large the plant is eventually going to get.

After all, nobody wants to organize a home around certain houseplants only to realize that the houseplant absolutely cannot fit in the area that has been arranged for it.

Out of all the different kinds of background plants that people will regularly keep around as houseplants, the elephant ear is going to be the most common one. These plants, also known by their scientific name of Colocasias, are well known to grow incredibly quickly.

This makes them an ideal plant to have in a house, especially if you want to keep your house looking bright and green for the whole year.

Now that you know a little bit more about one type of plant that most people want to have in their rooms or near their windows, you will want to make sure that you have a good understanding of what it needs to grow, how large it can grow, and how much sunlight, snow, rain, and soil the plant will need to grow up fast and strong.

A Big Plant for a Big Yard

More often than not, it is recommended that these plants are kept outside because of just how fast they can grow. Elephant ear plants can generally be planted outside in Zone 9 or higher.

They do not often do well over winter, as these plants originate from a tropical area. With that being said, you can continue growing elephant ears throughout the year in the appropriate zones.

Elephant ears are known for growing into large, towering bushes of leaves that quickly become a pillar of a bush. In fact, its average height will usually fall between two feet and ten feet.

They also tend to have a wide spread as well; most of the common species of the elephant ear grow into a spread (how wide the plant reaches from side to side) between one and four feet. This quickly and easily makes this plant a massive addition to any garden.

The leaves themselves are also noticeably large, meaning that in addition to being tall and wide, it is going to be one of the most eye-catching additions to any garden that you are working with. The leaves can also be a wide range of greens with a few of the elephant ears appearing to have a little bit of pink as well.

If you are looking for a plant that will turn heads whenever anyone passes by your yard, the elephant ear is going to be a good, low-maintenance solution for anyone who loves plants. They are relatively easy to care for, especially in climate zones 9 through 11.

Can You Adjust the Size of the Plant?

You may worry that the sheer size of this kind of plant is going to end up being too troublesome to work with, especially if you have a smaller yard.

There are still more than a few ways to go about fixing the problem but the exact fixes you are going to need will depend entirely on the terrain where the plant is being grown.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the size of the plant is, unfortunately, to essentially starve the tree. When a plant’s body doesn’t have the energy needed to complete the cell functions, those impaired cell functions begin to die off and they are unable to continue growing.

When you restrict the nutrients that the plant needs, what happens to it on a larger scale is that it will become stunted in its growth, creating a smaller variant of the elephant ear plant. Doing this is a delicate balance between reducing its size and making sure that it doesn’t wither away completely.

When all is said and done, there is still one of the best ways to make sure that the plant is still getting what it needs and not what it doesn’t need. There may, however, be a way to hasten the growing process so that you can get your beautiful elephant ears without having to wait that long to see the results.

To make the plant more likely to grow faster, you are going to want to do the opposite of what you did to help to shrink the plant down to a more manageable level. For instance, when you do not allow the plant to get as many nutrients as it needs, it will not be able to grow larger because of that.

When the plant has more nutrients than it needs to survive, it will continue using those excess nutrients to grow taller, fuller, and have healthier and more vibrant leaves.

To add more nutrients to the soil around the plant, you are going to want to consider adding some fertilizer. After the first growths of the plant are beginning to appear, you will want to apply the fertilizer so that you can get the most effects from it as possible.

If you are using a granular fertilizer, you will want to keep that away from the crown of the plant. Instead, you should aim to deliver the fertilizer so that it becomes less of a problem.

One final option that you could also try to use to increase the size of the elephant ear plant is to try and give it even more of the nutrients that it would naturally eat. This can include more fertilizer, compost, mulch, and so on.

When the elephant ear plant has more than enough resources to utilize, it will be able to grow taller and have healthier, larger leaves than it might otherwise have, making a beautiful addition to your house.

These are just a few of the ways that you can make the most out of your elephant ear plant; you could even learn how to go about making one into a nest if you are interested in these kinds of designs.

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