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Alocasia Odora Variegata – 5 Best Growing Tips For Your Elephant Ears

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Every person who owns a garden wants to enhance its beauty. For achieving that, he struggles to find gorgeous plants to add a beautiful touch to their landscape.

You may have heard that Alocasia Odora, also known as the “Night-scented lily,” is an astonishing ageless perennial plant. It has limy green colored gigantic leaves, with tips that face directly up towards the sky, looking like elephant ears.

Its charming looks and lovely scent make it a must for your lawns and brings in a rich vibe.

But today, we are not going to debate about the night-scented lily. Instead, we talk about an altered strain, having different looks, from the same family, by the same name.

Today my friends, we feature the white beauty among the greens; Alocasia Odora Variegata, or Alocasia Macrorrhiza Variegata, also known as “Variegated Elephant Ears,” and “Albo Variegata.”

Alocasia Odora Variegata
Alocasia Odora Variegata Baby via Reddit

It is one of the unique plants whose name tells the complete story. It comes from the Alocasia group, having a lovely fragrance and snow-white variegations.

Let’s jump right into the characteristics; this big guy has a lot of them.

Characteristics

  • It originates from the Araceae family, making it a cousin of most indoor plants native to tropical regions of Asia and Australia. It is closely related to Colocasia (taro) in looks. However, it is not edible.
  • First, it is an ever-growing plant, maintaining full foliage throughout the year. It thrives less in winter but can sustain itself if we take proper care of it. (Forthcoming)
  • The leaves; all that this plant has is its leaves. They are huge, perfectly heart-shaped, held upright by solid and sturdy base stems, providing a broad canvas for a wide range of beautiful white and dark green striations. Having a semi-matte finish, they present a bluish-green shine.

They have the most versatile variegations that differ on each leaf, making every one of them unique. Some show a camouflage effect; several have layers of white and lime green, and a small number of them are entirely white, looking like snowflakes.

A few among them have a total impact; they look appealing with solid white color, camo texture, spots and splashes, mint, dark, and silvery green layering all in one. If you see them for a long time, you get lost in the gorgeous dimensions of the variations that they display.

Alocasia Odora Variegata 2
Alocasia Macrorrhiza Variegata via reddit

Well, coming back to the real world…

  • It can extend up to 6 feet in height and is almost half wide, so make sure to give it a good space. There are other varieties; dwarf variety does not grow more than 3 feet tall. Keeping it in a small pot can retard its growth; you can either place it in a large container or root it directly into the landscape.
  • If we look at other variegated species, it is relatively a fast grower because it can sustain bright sunlight to a greater degree and fulfills its need for an adequate amount of chlorophyll.
  • It is Sporadic: random and rare.

It would be best if you swiftly buy a variegated Alocasia Odora for sale.

With all that said, let’s look at the best guide for growing Alocasia Odora. I am keeping it very flexible for applying it to the other group members.

Best Guide: Alocasia Variegata Care

Starting with the lights,

1. Lighting Up The Lily

If we talk about the “night-scented lily” version or the Alocasia Odora, it flourishes best in partial sunshade or indirect bright sunlight, so it is perfect for indoors.

But the varied version, Alocasia Odora Variegata, contains white striations. This thing changes the whole game. As everybody knows, the sun is the primary energy source for plants, and to utilize that energy for making glucose, plants have a green photosynthetic pigment known as chlorophyll.

Therefore, leaves are the sites where photosynthesis takes place. So, if a plant is packed with many variegations, mainly white, it means that it does not have the full potential to produce glucose.

This thing significantly hinders a plant’s growth.

For this reason, you should place your variegated Odora in bright sunlight. They can withstand bright direct sunlight for a few hours in the morning; after that, you should place them in partial sunshade because too much direct sunlight can burn the leaves. It is essential to stress them to maintain their healthy colors and striations.

Alocasia Odora Variegata 3
Alocasia Odora Variegata via Pinterest

It is best to house it indoors, but if you don’t have a spot inside, try to cover your outdoor plants using sun shading nets.

On the other hand, if you are putting them inside and the room does not have proper sunlight, you should use artificial lighting to compensate for it.

On that note, it is best to place them just in front of an east-facing window.

2. Optimal Temperature For Odora Variegata

As I mentioned in my previous articles, if you are looking for the best conditions for nurturing your plants, you should consider looking at the origins of the plant.

This plant comes from the genus Alocasia, having almost 80 distinctive evergreen perennial plants. All are native to tropical and subtropical zones of Asia and Australia.

Aforesaid, if we look at the natural habitat of the base areas, it turns out to be very warm. The average temperature of the tropics remains between 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit(24° to 28° Celsius) year-round.

Your Variegated Elephant Ears would love pleasant warm temperatures, doing great in summer and spring. This thing makes a good combo with lighting conditions.

On the contrary, most tropical plants do not like being in the lower thermal ranges; they hate freezing conditions.

However, the timeless Alocasia Odora Variegata can survive in all seasons; it can withstand temperatures in the field of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (13° to 15° Celsius) but ceases to grow below that range.

Therefore, you need to shift them indoors during freezing conditions to keep the bulbs from freezing out. Leaves are susceptible to a cold environment and tend to fall during these situations but being fast growers; the bulbs can quickly raise shed leaves after proper caring in the coming seasons.

Ice crystals are formed in the cells when the temperature goes below freezing point and can tear the cell membrane, leading to cell death.

But make sure you do not place the plant near heaters or air conditioners; this can cause dryness of the leaves.

3. Humidity Levels

Plants instinctive to similar areas have many requirements in common. As Alocasia is a tropical plant, you need high humidity levels to nourish it appropriately.

Most of the earth’s tropical regions have average humidity levels of approximately 75 to 90 percent. Plants native to these steamy areas love extra mist in the air.

On the one hand, they prosper greatly in more moisture; on the other, they can’t survive dry environments.

Any arid environment with a humidity range below 40 percent causes leaves to curl up; they become scorched, lose their variegations, and ultimately shed off from the plant.

It is best to use an indoor humidifier if you live in such dry environments. Occasional misting can also help.

I recommend moving such plants to areas like a bathroom or a kitchen, as these areas have more water vapors in the air. You can also group all your moisture-loving, tropical plants to a single place.

4.   Watering The Variegated Elephant Ears

While watering Alocasia Odora, you must remember that it thrives best in continuous moisture. Especially if you place it in direct sun for 2 to 3 hours a day, it can dry up fast.

It’s common sense that plants transpire water excessively in dry, hot conditions. So you have to water it quite often, but do not soak your Variegated Elephant Ears in water as almost every plant can get root rot if loaded with a fortune of water.

Having the soil on the drier side is better to prevent overwatering.

A first-class rule is that you should wait for the top 2-3 inches of the soil to get dry before giving it another shot of hydration.

If sap in the bulbs of Alocasia Odora becomes dilute, it pushes out excess water through hydathodes present in leaves.
Don’t panic; it’s just the remains after the plant uses all the necessary water. But you should not leave your plant like that.

An extra amount of water on leaves can attract sap-sucking pests. The most common are spider mites, mealybugs, and aphids.

Timings between watering can become tricky during seasonal changes. As seasonal changes are characterized by varying transpiration rates, sometimes your plant can get dry quicker than other times.

To cope up with these changes, test the soil yourself before watering.

5. Best Soil Mixture For Alocasia

Alocasia Odora entertains a well-draining potting mix using soil, perlite, and peat moss. This mixture would be slightly acidic (pH 5 to 6). Thus, making an excellent permeable combination.

They can tolerate a little drying out between watering; this soil mixture keeps the roots moist instead of making them soggy.

If you are mixing it for the variegated variant, I recommend adding a small amount of loam. However, restrain from making it too heavy.

It retains slightly more water than the above mixture and holds more nutrients for the plants. You can compensate for water accumulation by increasing the time in between watering.

Loamy soil can help compensate for the nutrients that most variegated plants need.

On that note, we presented the best guide for your Odora Variegata.

Regarding the price of Alocasia Odora Variegata, you should know that it is a costly plant. I saw it on Etsy for $280.25.

Therefore, it is a wise idea to propagate it.

Propagating Alocasia Odora Variegata

Before going into the steps, you should know that the baby leaves in this variety are entirely white (most of the time). So, if there is more white than green in a plant, it cannot survive propagation.

It would be best to wait for a balanced plant with a nice green color (having a good number of photosynthetic pigments) before propagating.

Alocasia Odora Variegata 4
Image Via Pinterest.

During winter, these plants remain in the dormant phase. It is best to propagate them in growing seasons like spring and summer.

The first-class method of propagating Odora Variegata is by separating the plants into Rhizomes and distributing them individually into the pots. You can also root them in the ground, having a preferred soil mixture.

You can easily follow the steps and propagate them during re-potting them. That can save the time to re-pot themindependently.

Steps

  • Take the big guy out of the container.
  • Start by cutting out small portions of sufficiently green stems with the rhizome and several roots attached.
  • Be careful you do not cut off roots while cutting out the parts.
  • Place the big guy back into the same pot, or you can change it; it is all up to you. Add some extra soil mix to fill up the area.
  • Take care while rooting the rhizomes. They tend to be a bit toxic/acidic and cause skin irritation.
  • Please put them in good, moist soil, having optimum Ph (slightly acidic).
  • Compress the soil around the plant so that it stays in place.
  • Position the new plant in optimum conditions to make it grow better.

Shoots start to sprout within 6-8 weeks. Before that, make sure to take good care. Keep the soil moist and give your Variegated Elephant Ears a good glow.

You can check out this simple tutorial on YouTube.

Toxicity

Alocasia species are highly poisonous to dogs, cats, other pets, and humans. Some of these species can cause death if consumed.

It would be best to be careful with Odora Variegata and keep your pets and children away from them. The calcium oxalate crystals can cause severe mouth and tongue irritation, swelling, and numbness. They can also induce vomiting and diarrhea.

If someone has ingested the plant, seek medical help immediately.

>> Related Post: Alocasia Longiloba – Everything You Need To Know


Conclusion

Alocasia Odora Variegata is one of the most beautiful, striated plants I have ever seen. You must add at least one of them to your collection.

They genuinely enhance the vibrancy of the environment.

Concluding the talk, let me know your thoughts about the plant.

How did you like the review? Also, make sure to share this unique article with your friends.

Regards.