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thez_yo

instigator
I have this "african mask elephant ear" as it's sometimes called that I got from Home Depot. The thing always looks like it's on the verge of death, I think it just decided to go dormant, and it has all sorts of bugs when it has leaves on it. I dumped the pot with the two bulbs it had growing in there - one is half rotten but the other is/has a nice bulb and roots. Can I neem this thing like my nepenthes right now to get rid of any other bugs, or will it kill the plant(s) while they're dormant? The reason for the neem is that I want to bring the plant inside because the bugs and sun are destroying it outside. What should I repot it in? (I have tons of lfs, perlite and peat for obvious reasons, and also a bag of miracle grow organic potting soil.)

Thanks for any advice.
 
I would treat the bulb before repotting it, keep it separate from the others until you know it's not gonna spread bugs to them.

Given what you have on hand I'd use 50/50 peat perlite but you can use the miracle grow potting mix too, it's not a CP so it will enjoy the nutrients just make sure it has good drainage Alocacias can take swampy heavy all-peat soils (like what it probly came in) but it's not ideal. If it gets growing good they can be really impressive the orchid shop has a very old one on display, you never see one nice and full of offsets like that for sale.
 
50/50 peat/perlite will work but, Alocacias don't like to be too wet during the winter or they will rot. Let the soil dry between watering. If you keep them above 80 degrees they can handle the wet soil better. They love high humidity and to break dormancy your really going to crank up the heat and humidity. I found that throwing the bulbs on live sphagnum and covering them with a little keeps the humidity up for them to sprout. Then I'll pot them up. If yours already has healthy roots I would just wash it off and re-pot and keep it at 90 degrees.
 
How does half miracle-grow mix, half perlite sound, with a top layer of sphagnum on top for humidity? One bulb is half rotten, but I might cut off the rotten part and throw it in a pot anyway and hope for the best.
 
That should be okay.
On the bad bulb, scrape away the rotten part till you hit healthy tissue, then sprinkle some cinnamon on it and let it dry before putting in the sphagnum to sprout.
 
mine went dormant about three weeks ago

---------- Post added at 08:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 PM ----------

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Hmm...OK. I'll repot today and see what happens.
 
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