Just the other day I thought, “I don’t remember the other new leaves looking like that. Maybe it got too dry during the heat.” But it wasn’t new leaves, it was blooms. I never expected blooms.
This is my second Alocasia reginula ‘Black Velvet’. I killed the first one, oh yeah. Swore up and down, no more Alocasias. But I found this one in the grocery store for $10, and oh why not. This time I did things differently: orchid pot and a chunky, fast mix and systemic insecticide. Then I read “Alocasias want more light than you think”. So I did that, too. It all seemed to work; there were new leaves and a lot of happy and aggressive roots.
So far I can’t say that the blooms are impressive, not even close, and I don’t think that’s going to change. They seem more about the grow and less about the show. But that’s fine, I take them as a sign that the plant is happy. I’ve heard that you can just cut them off, but that seems a little unfair. I mean I know how I’d feel about that idea. So I’m going to let them do their thing.
I am going to stick to my “no more Alocasia” resolution though. I know, I know, but this time I really mean it. No really. I mean it.
I’ll keep you posted.
