ARE YOUR ALOCASIAs STRUGGLING? DO THIS INSTEAD! | Stopping dormancy and care tips!

I hope you dont take this the wrong way. I sell and import plants and out of all the plant I own Frydeks and Micholitziana are the only ones I refuse to sell, cause I hoard them lol! Only plants that comes close to frydeks in my eyes is my Pink var. black velvet. Anyway! 1. Frydek is the term for the variegated version of Micholitziana. So the full green ones are not Frydeks. 2. They go dormant cause of temps. 65° up they wont go dormant. 60-64° slight chance. 50-59° mature once will go dormant juveniles without trunks will most likely die. 3. In juvenile stage, having only 2 leaves is normal. They do this cycle of keeping only 2-4 leaves and killing the oldest when a new one comes out. When they have a trunk, they should keep 3+ leaves. 4. Alocasias are heavy feeders. Micholitziana and Frydeks in particular I find screams "I need food!" When they have trunks. My mature one needs 2x regular dosage of nutrient solution. 5. Green part of the leaves gets darker with less light and lighter with more light. 6. Try adding sweeteners like carboload or emerald harvest honey chome and silica in your feed. Help maintain those whites. This allows me to keep a full white leaf for like 1-2 months. This is specially beneficial to those corms that goes all white and no way to photosynthesis as it keeps them going until "maybe" they decide to throw out greens. Hit or miss, i have some that started throwing greens, some are still white. 7. Foliar spray. One way you can deliver nutrient to Alocasias. Some studies even claim the leaves can intake nutrient better than roots not entirely sure about that. If you dont use beneficial bugs/mites try heavy 16 heavy foliar. It puts the water in the PH for the leaves to absorb the macro and micro. Also gives the leaves a little shimmer to it. 8.Leaf size. Will depend on your plants maturity and root mass. At around 3/4" trunk size it can give you 12-14" leaves easy if it has enough root mass to absorb and deliver those nutrients. Yours was likely not able to keep more leaves before cause it wasnt getting enough nutrients from the previous medium and when you transition to pon its able to maintain more leaves as one component of lechuza pon is fertilizer but will only last 6-8 months.

I have a Alocasia Polly that I purchased in the summer of 2022. It has given me several leaves & hasn't gone dormant yet. I fertilize it monthly and seems like every 2-3 months the spider mites return. It's definitely a magnet for that particular pest!

I have tried soil, Lecha, Pons, Perlite and Fluval all long term with mixed results. Although meine Silver Dragon, and Regale Shield are doing well in soil, this spring they will be living in the best Substrate for Alocasia. That being Lecha!! They go absolutely nuts in this stuff. I believe due to the aeration, space for the roots to travel, and the plants ability to get moisture when it’s needed are the main reasons for its success? Unless the soil is extremely airy with little peat or water retaining substrate they will not be happy. A procedure that many forget when converting to semi hydro is to periodically between watering and everyday living, simply pouring some water on the new substrate to keep the roots moist. I’ve found that this makes the plant tolerable to the new surroundings. Also many fill the catch pot too full. Approximately 1/3 the height of the pot is better. The roots shouldn’t be in the water but should be enticed to seek the moisture. Whatever works for you is the best approach. Fortunately killing plants is part of this Plant journey so I would advice Folks to start with younger inexpensive plants since they are more tolerable of ignorance/ lack of knowledge, and will survive most of Our Beginner mistakes.

Great informational video I noticed that alocasia have to be very healthy before putting them in leca but once u do they will thrive n even skip the dormancy cycle. As for me I’m in the 1 leaf club because I’m an under waterer in leca but my plants are alive and going on a 2 leaf club :) lol 😂 u inspired me to pay more attention to my alocasia babies 👶 thanks love ❤️

Great video! Thank you!

Love the content. New subscriber supporting my fellow content creators 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I learned that when you start off with one leaf you have to be more cautious with watering in Leca. Also I have had mine in my garage in northern Ca on a heat mat also. Once you have 5-6 leaves you can be more aggressive with watering. There has been times when I’ve had my container filled with water 3/4 of the way, generally it’s half way. This has been true for frydek and bambino variegated. For my dragonscale variegated which is in moss with 5 leaves. I’d soak it till I see water barely build up on the bottom and stop watering. All of my Alocasia’s are in clear containers to see water levels and roots.

My recipe for success: 1. Gerneral Hydroponics/Terra Aquatica nutrients work much better than pon for growing big leafs. I Use Tripart, Root Booster and Golden Nectar/Fulvic. 2. Keep the same water level at all times. Flush and renew the nutrient solution ~22 days. Top off with normal tap water in between. Letting them dry out will weaken the specialized water roots and stress the plant. 3. Using a heat mat in winter isn't optimal as this makes the plant require more light to cover the energy needed for a higher metabolism. 4. In winter they need to be moved to an especially bright spot and should stay at room temperature.

I just purchased a tissue culture baby variegated alocasia frydek, once I opened the box and placed in a plastic clear cover with a hole in the middle the white part started getting soft and it’s continuing to wilt 🥹. Not sure what’s going to happen to it I’m so sad. It came in pon and a little bit of moss on the top.

Mine the leaves are curling but have new shoots

I hate death plugs.

I have never had good experience when moving alocasia to lechuza pon. The root and comb just rot away after a few days. I think maybe because I pot them in a normal pot instead of a glass container. Have you had same experience before??

Alocasias love to eat. They need much more fertilizer than other plants. Mine get 2000EC. Try it.

How is it doing now? Also what kind of fertilizer do you use

I’ve never used leca. Is it supposed to have water in it all the time?

sounds like a promotion for pon

Has five leafs, just scared it’s going to die always

6 months later, how did it go??

Do you think I can use peirlite instead of pon and Leca I don’t have those at the moment

The real secret to getting out of the 1 leaf club is heat. Your nighttime minimum temps affect the plant more than soil and more than any other factor. They will grow well in any boggy, cheap soil at all if you just keep them warmer at night. They do not like to be rootbound, as evidenced by the smaller leaves you will always get in rootbound pots.