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Do elephant ears come back every year


Do Elephant Ears Come Back Every Year?

Elephant ears come back every year, but only in certain climates. These exotic botanicals enjoy warm regions and thrive when temperatures are hot. Therefore, in tropical climates, these impressive plants are evergreen. In areas where freezing temperatures are commonplace during winter, elephant ears will perform more like an annual plant—they will die off at the end of the season. For this reason, if you are growing elephant ears in a colder climate, you should consider digging up the tubers before temperatures plummet. Then, store the tubers indoors during winter, in a cool, dark place so you can replant them in spring.

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Are Elephant Ear Plants Perennials or Annuals?

Elephant ear plants, also called taros, are perennial plants that thrive in zones 8 and warmer. If you are located in a cooler zone and want to grow elephant ears, keep in mind that they will perform as annuals. This means they will live for only one growing season.

If you live in any zone colder than Hardiness Zone 8, dig up your elephant ear tubers before the first fall frost. Then, store the roots in a cool, dry place during the winter. This will prevent cold from killing the roots. When you plant them again in spring, they’ll roar back to life.

Do Elephant Ear Plants Come Back in the Spring?

In zones 8 and above, elephant ears will come back every spring. In colder climates, though, your elephant ears will live only through one season, and you will have to start all over again in the spring. It’s important to understand, though, that all elephant ear species need to rest during cooler months.

It is vital to adjust the feeding and watering of your elephant ears in late summer as their growth slows down. You probably use fertilizer, since elephant ears require a lot of nutrition, but you should cut back on fertilizing in the fall. Additionally, watering should be cut back to about half at the end of summer.

Do Elephant Ears Go Dormant?

Elephant ears cannot thrive in the outdoors if they are not within the parameters of their ideal hardiness zone range. Therefore, you can expect elephant ears to go dormant during winter unless you live in a tropical climate.

Dormancy for elephant ears means that they die back after the first frost and remain dormant during winter, with new shoots appearing in the spring. If you see the leaves of your elephant ears turning brown and falling off, it’s a sign that they are headed into winter slumber.

Do You Have to Dig Up Elephant Ears in the Fall?

Elephant ears must be dug up in the fall if you want to preserve them in climates that experience freezing temperatures. This type of plant is tropical, and can’t survive winter outdoors. Freezing temperatures damage tubers and kill the foliage.

In areas with cold, harsh winters, your elephant ears should be dug up and stored inside at the first sign of frost. Cut the foliage back to approximately 2 inches (5 cm) and then carefully dig up the plants. Make sure you let the tubers dry out for several days, and then store them in a dark, cool area. A basement, garage, or another storage area that remains above freezing is perfect for this job.

How Cold Can Elephant Ears Tolerate?

Elephant ears can’t survive frigid temperatures. For most species, this means temperatures lower than 32℉ (0℃). It’s not possible to save elephant ears that have been damaged by frost.

If you are growing elephant ears in a cooler climate, you should store them indoors and replant them the following year. Alternatively, you can treat them as annuals and simply discard them when the growing season has reached its end. Then, you can buy and plant new elephant ears in spring.

Can You Leave Elephant Ears Out All Winter?

Freezing temperatures will kill elephant ears fairly quickly. Interestingly, though, in regions where the plants are borderline hardy—meaning the temperature is a little colder than their ideal environment, but not freezing—it’s possible to prevent them from dying.

You can keep elephant ears alive through mild winters by inserting stakes in the ground in a circular fashion around each plant and placing a plastic sheet or cloth over the stakes. If you use plastic, though, take precautions to make sure that the covering does not touch the plants. If you use this method, you can leave your elephant ears out all winter in borderline climates. This works in regions where frost occurs but the ground does not freeze.

Do Elephant Ear Plants Grow Back After Winter?

Elephant ears will grow back after winter, but only in warm climates. These plants are tropical and exotic and thrive in hot temperatures.

Elephant ears can survive the winter months as long as temperatures do not dip below freezing for more than a few hours. Protecting them from frosty nights allows you to keep elephant ears alive without digging them up. With these tips, you can keep your elephant ears alive no matter what climate you live in.

Do Elephant Ears Come Back Every Year?

Do Elephant Ear Plants Come Back Every Year?

Elephant ear plants are a dazzling tropical wonder boasting some of the boldest foliage you can possibly want. These plants appreciate moisture, humidity, and fertilizer. When these conditions are provided, they will reward any gardener with lush foliage and tropical vibes.

Given how lovely they look, you may want to enjoy their presence all year round. But, do elephant ear plants come back year after year?

Elephant ear plants are perennial plants that are enduring in Zone 9 and warmer regions. In these locations, they will come back every summer. If you are located in cooler zones and want to grow elephant ears, you should treat them as annuals which mean they will live for only one growing season before they die. Alternatively, you could dig up the tubers before the occurrence of the first frost and shift the plant to a cool, dry place during the winter.

Knowing about these plants and the ideal conditions which suit them will help you prepare for success. Read on to discover more about these perennial plants and how to help them cope during the winter months. 

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Ideal Conditions for Elephant Ear Plants

Sunlight

Elephant ear plants can be planted either in indirect sunlight or in partial shade. If you put them up in a spot where direct sunlight glares down, the leaves may get burnt.

You will do well to ensure that your elephant ears in hot spots get a little shade in the middle of the day to prevent this from happening. 

Planting Time

Elephant ear plants are planted in the spring. This is when any risk of frost has completely passed. There is no point in planting them at any other time than spring as the tubers will not grow in wet conditions.

They will only sprout when the soil is warm and the temperature of the soil is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Early June is when you can expect the temperature to be so.

You can plant the elephant ears indoors a month before you plan to keep them outside. The tubers can be planted in pots and kept near a warm sunny window.

When you plant your elephant ears during the spring, you can expect them to grow to an impressive degree within a few months. Give them plenty of room and watch these beauties grow!

Zones

Elephant ear plants are tropical, perennial plants. In the cooler regions (or zones 3 to 8), the bulbs are planted in the spring and you should treat them as annuals.

In zones 9 to 11, they can be grown outside throughout the year. In these zones, the climate will be warm and free of frost. 

You need to check your USDA Hardiness zone before you plant them, so you know how to take care of them.

(You may also want to read this article about the different elephant ear plant types).

How to Take Care of Elephant Ear Plants in Winter

Tubers or rhizomes grow into elephant ear plants. To help them survive year to year, you should cut the foliage back after the first frost. 

It is not uncommon to find elephant ear bulbs rotted in the spring due to improper storage. Also, you must wear gloves when you work with these plants as they can be toxic.

The tubers should stay dormant throughout the winter months. You can sprinkle the shriveled tubers and rhizomes with water a couple of days before you replant them in the spring. 

Wait till the soil temperature warms to around 65 degrees before planting. The nighttime temperature shouldn’t dip below 60 degrees. Otherwise, the plant will die.

You should amend the soil with organic matter like chopped leaves, peat or rich compost if the soil is very poor or heavy.

You can plant the rhizomes beneath the soil surface or with the surrounding soil. Water well and cover the bed with lightweight mulch up to 2 to 3 inches thick. Straw free of seeds, leaf mold, sawdust and compost all make excellent mulching matter.

Wait for a month, and then you will see signs of growth. Give them plenty of moisture and apply proper fertilizer every week; you will be happy to see them grow into big, bold, and beautiful plants. Do not fertilize in winter to allow your plants to rest.

Do Elephant Ears Come Back Every Year? Conclusion

If you love the exotic and tropic, elephant plant ears fit the bill perfectly. They are perennials in the warmer zones, and you can expect them to come back each summer.

But if you are growing them in the cooler zones, you should think of them as annuals, dig up the tubers before the signs of the first frost and store them in a cool, dark, and dry place over the winter.  

Elephant ears cannot thrive outdoors outside their ideal hardiness zone range. They are not reliably hardy in zones colder than the USDA zone 8. You can bring up the elephant ears in pots and put them away in a frost-free area during winter in a dormant state. 

Another option is to uproot the tubers in the fall/autumn and replant them during spring every year. The process is fairly straightforward, but you should store the rhizomes in the proper conditions. Otherwise, they could fail.

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Elephant Talker | Karcher

Somchat Changkarn and his wards understand each other without words - the mahout, who knows the body language of elephants, understands by their behavior whether the animals feel well. At the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, he spends up to 12 hours a day with pachyderms.

Life for the gray giants of Thailand

As soon as the elephants see the water, it becomes simply impossible to keep them. A group of elephants, just slowly and sedately walking towards the lake, suddenly literally breaks off the cliff in order to plunge into the cool water as soon as possible. “For our charges, swimming in the lake is undoubtedly the main event of the day,” explains Somchat Changkarn. Since the age of 17, this now 40-year-old Thai has been working as a mahout at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) in Lampang. To simplify communication with the guests of the Center, he simply calls himself Dang. During this time, he became the head of the family, the father of two children, and the main driver, who, along with his team, took care of 111 elephants. The center is located in northern Thailand, about 80 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Chiang Mai. On its territory there is a large wilderness area with dense forests and green hills, an elephant breeding and rearing station, which also includes a clinic, a visitor center and a school of mahouts.

Elephant drivers are specially trained people who are able to control these gray giants with simple commands, gestures and touch. “No one knows elephants as well as an experienced mahout,” says Dang. “By body language, we can tell exactly how the animal is feeling at the moment and what it needs. And when it's time for a refreshing bath, the elephants let us know - they get restless and we know they want to go into the water."

Splashing in the lake as part of body care

Bathing is not only a pleasant cooling effect for elephants on a hot day, but above all, it is necessary for the care of their skin. “Therefore, swimming in the lake is an indispensable part of the daily routine,” emphasizes Dang. While in the water, elephants wash off the crusts of dirt that form due to the fact that they often sprinkle themselves with sand, providing them with protection from the scorching sun, overheating and annoying insects.

Thailand - home of elephants

Nowhere else in the world is the daily life of people so closely connected with the gray giants as in Thailand. Until 1917, the national flag of the country was decorated with a white elephant, which was a symbol of absolute monarchy. The birth of a white elephant (an albino or an ordinary animal with light pigment spots on the forehead or ears) was considered a good omen for its owner. And until now, white elephants automatically become the property of the Thai royal court, and an ancient legend says that Buddha, in one of his reincarnations, reincarnated as a white elephant. In addition, many Thais are convinced that the contours of their country's borders follow the silhouette of an elephant's head: its forehead is turned north to neighboring Myanmar, and its trunk extends along the Andaman Sea in the west and plunges into the ocean in the east.

Unemployed working animals

Unfortunately, there were some unpleasant pages in the history of good pachyderms: for a long time people used them for military purposes and as "draft horses" for transporting tree trunks weighing up to several tons from the dense forests of Thailand. But in 1989, logging in Thailand was officially banned, and many elephants were no longer needed. From that moment on, their destiny was to entertain tourists and participate in multi-day camping trips through the jungle, and the conditions for keeping animals were often very doubtful. Fortunately, the current state of affairs was then rethought, and now the Thai government, which has declared a large area of ​​​​reserves, is actively promoting eco-tourism and outreach. In this regard, the extensive experience of elephant mahouts acquires special value. At the National Elephant Institute (NEI), affiliated with the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, mahouts, along with the head of the Elephant Welfare Programs, Tawepoka Angkawanish, care for sick, orphaned, or abandoned animals. The institute's own clinic provides free treatment for pachyderms from all over Thailand, funded by government funds and eco-tourism revenues. Throughout the treatment process, sick elephants are cared for by their own mahouts. “During this time – and it often takes two to three months for an elephant to recover – we have been doing extensive outreach to the mahouts to prevent future illnesses,” says Tawepoke Angkawanish. “We show them how to properly care for elephants and feed them properly.”

Cleanliness is a condition for survival

Hygiene is of the utmost importance when keeping tamed elephants. “Elephants often get sick because they are kept in dirty stalls,” says Dang. – Animals have to eat from a dirty floor, which leads to their infection. In addition, many elephants are not well cared for.”

In Lampang, a hot water high-pressure cleaner is used daily to clean stubborn dirt from elephant housing and walking areas. In addition, baby elephants are cleaned with a soft shower jet from a garden hose. “Many elephant owners don’t realize how important daily cleaning is to animal health,” Dang said. In Lampang, the constant maintenance of cleanliness pays off handsomely: every year up to two baby elephants are born there. Thus, the Center contributes to the conservation of species diversity. “Thailand without elephants? I just can’t imagine that,” says Dang. - For me, there are no more beautiful animals on earth than elephants. They are incredibly smart and socialize easily. They take care of each other and each of them has their own unique character. So they are much more human than most of us think."

5 FACTS ABOUT THAILAND

• The territory of the Kingdom of Thailand is 513,115 km² and its capital is Bangkok.
• Thais revere their king, whose images can be found everywhere.
• Located in Southeast Asia, the country borders Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.
• The national anthem is broadcast daily at 8:00 am and 6:00 pm on TV and radio, and in public buildings. When people hear the anthem, people get up or stop for a while, and after it is played, they return to their studies.
• The main industrial crop of the country is rice.

Elephant Talker | Karcher

Somchat Changkarn and his wards understand each other without words - the mahout, who knows the body language of elephants, understands by their behavior whether the animals feel well. At the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, he spends up to 12 hours a day with pachyderms.

Life for the gray giants of Thailand

As soon as the elephants see the water, it becomes simply impossible to keep them. A group of elephants, just slowly and sedately walking towards the lake, suddenly literally breaks off the cliff in order to plunge into the cool water as soon as possible. “For our charges, swimming in the lake is undoubtedly the main event of the day,” explains Somchat Changkarn. Since the age of 17, this now 40-year-old Thai has been working as a mahout at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) in Lampang. To simplify communication with the guests of the Center, he simply calls himself Dang. During this time, he became the head of the family, the father of two children, and the main driver, who, along with his team, took care of 111 elephants. The center is located in northern Thailand, about 80 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Chiang Mai. On its territory there is a large wilderness area with dense forests and green hills, an elephant breeding and rearing station, which also includes a clinic, a visitor center and a school of mahouts.

Elephant drivers are specially trained people who are able to control these gray giants with simple commands, gestures and touch. “No one knows elephants as well as an experienced mahout,” says Dang. “By body language, we can tell exactly how the animal is feeling at the moment and what it needs. And when it's time for a refreshing bath, the elephants let us know - they get restless and we know they want to go into the water."

Splashing in the lake as part of body care

Bathing is not only a pleasant cooling effect for elephants on a hot day, but above all, it is necessary for the care of their skin. “Therefore, swimming in the lake is an indispensable part of the daily routine,” emphasizes Dang. While in the water, elephants wash off the crusts of dirt that form due to the fact that they often sprinkle themselves with sand, providing them with protection from the scorching sun, overheating and annoying insects.

Thailand - home of elephants

Nowhere else in the world is the daily life of people so closely connected with the gray giants as in Thailand. Until 1917, the national flag of the country was decorated with a white elephant, which was a symbol of absolute monarchy. The birth of a white elephant (an albino or an ordinary animal with light pigment spots on the forehead or ears) was considered a good omen for its owner. And until now, white elephants automatically become the property of the Thai royal court, and an ancient legend says that Buddha, in one of his reincarnations, reincarnated as a white elephant. In addition, many Thais are convinced that the contours of their country's borders follow the silhouette of an elephant's head: its forehead is turned north to neighboring Myanmar, and its trunk extends along the Andaman Sea in the west and plunges into the ocean in the east.

Unemployed working animals

Unfortunately, there were some unpleasant pages in the history of good pachyderms: for a long time people used them for military purposes and as "draft horses" for transporting tree trunks weighing up to several tons from the dense forests of Thailand. But in 1989, logging in Thailand was officially banned, and many elephants were no longer needed. From that moment on, their destiny was to entertain tourists and participate in multi-day camping trips through the jungle, and the conditions for keeping animals were often very doubtful. Fortunately, the current state of affairs was then rethought, and now the Thai government, which has declared a large area of ​​​​reserves, is actively promoting eco-tourism and outreach. In this regard, the extensive experience of elephant mahouts acquires special value. At the National Elephant Institute (NEI), affiliated with the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, mahouts, along with the head of the Elephant Welfare Programs, Tawepoka Angkawanish, care for sick, orphaned, or abandoned animals. The institute's own clinic provides free treatment for pachyderms from all over Thailand, funded by government funds and eco-tourism revenues. Throughout the treatment process, sick elephants are cared for by their own mahouts. “During this time – and it often takes two to three months for an elephant to recover – we have been doing extensive outreach to the mahouts to prevent future illnesses,” says Tawepoke Angkawanish. “We show them how to properly care for elephants and feed them properly.”

Cleanliness is a condition for survival

Hygiene is of the utmost importance when keeping tamed elephants. “Elephants often get sick because they are kept in dirty stalls,” says Dang. – Animals have to eat from a dirty floor, which leads to their infection. In addition, many elephants are not well cared for.”

In Lampang, a hot water high-pressure cleaner is used daily to clean stubborn dirt from elephant housing and walking areas. In addition, baby elephants are cleaned with a soft shower jet from a garden hose. “Many elephant owners don’t realize how important daily cleaning is to animal health,” Dang said. In Lampang, the constant maintenance of cleanliness pays off handsomely: every year up to two baby elephants are born there.

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