Growing Taro
Hearty, healthy, leafy greens filled with nutrition.
Taro Leaves are known by many other names in different regions and cultures. They are a hearty and healthy, leafy green which can also be used in many different ways and recipes.
The root itself, the Taro root, is a root vegetable with a few similarities to other root starchy vegetables like potatoes however can tend to have a much sweeter flavor than a typical potato.
Taro is an excellent plant to cultivate because of its adaptability. leaves and roots are consumable and can be utilized in multiple ways. Taro is relatively easy to grow and maintain, and it can serve as an ornamental plant, like the elephant ear plant.
In this post I will be sharing with you some of the main things that I have found to be helpful to yield an amazing harvest of plentiful, lush leaves.
My Top 3 Tips
I am going to be sharing with you my three most important tips for growing an abundance of leaves. I had so many leaves I had to get rid of some of my plants, and couldn't keep all the leaves to myself.
1. These plants LOVE water. If you can water these every day they will love it. Because they love water so much, you want to make sure you have proper drainage. I have used large fabric containers which is great for holding many plants and great for drainage.
2. There plants do not love too much sun. They need sunlight of course, however too much sun especially in the hottest parts of the day - they're not a fan off. Their leaves can wilt, and they won't grow so well. They prefer shade during the hottest parts of the day, evening and morning sun is best.
3. These plants don't need this, but it will help! Blood meal - blood meal will help this plant thrive and produce many leaves. Once every six months or so I will sprinkle some organic blood meal and give it a nice watering.
4. Bonus Tip! Because these plants love a lot of water you can attract many garden pests. For this I use Neem oil mixed with dish soap and water, mixed and spray it on the leaves, especially under the leaves where aphids like to hang out. You can purchase Organic Cold Pressed Neem Oil on Amazon, and the instructions can be found on the back of each label.
The Taro leaves I use have a purple tinge towards the top of the leaf as opposed to other types of elephant ear plants.
