Giant Taro problems & how to fix them
Alocasia macrorrhizos
Drooping, yellowing, brown tips, or a plant that just won’t thrive? Here are the most common Giant Taro problems, what usually causes them, and how to turn things around.
Common problems
Spider mites
The broad leaf undersides are classic mite territory in dry rooms — rinse them off in the shower periodically. Tiny sap-sucking mites that thrive in warm, dry air and leave fine webbing and speckled leaves. Caught early they are very treatable; most plants recover fully within 3-4 weeks of consistent treatment.
a two-spotted spider mite among its silk threads
Photo: Gilles San Martin · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Underwatering
Its high water demand catches people out; leaves droop and edges brown when it runs dry. The plant is not getting enough water, either from infrequent watering or soil so dry it repels water. Prognosis is excellent - most underwatered plants perk up within days of proper rehydration.
Rootbound
It fills pots within a season; growth stalls and leaves shrink when cramped. The plant has outgrown its pot: roots circle the inside, crowd out the soil, and can no longer hold water or nutrients well. Repotting into a slightly larger pot almost always fixes it, with the plant perking up within a few weeks.
a root-bound root ball, roots circling the pot's shape
Photo: Keith Williamson · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cold damage
Cold drafts near doors or windows cause collapsed, mushy petioles. Tissue injury from a cold draft, a chilly windowsill, or a night outdoors below the plant's tolerance. Damaged leaves will not heal, but if the stems and roots survived, new growth typically appears within three to four weeks in a warm, stable spot.
fig leaves killed by a frost
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The mistakes that most often kill it
- Leaving it cold and wet in winter, which rots the trunk-like rhizome.
- Starving it of light and food, then blaming the plant for shrinking leaves.
- Letting spider mites establish across those big leaves unchecked.
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