Alocasia care guide
Alocasia amazonica 'Polly'
Demanding⚠️ 🐾
Alocasia (Alocasia amazonica 'Polly') does best when watered about every 5 days. Let the top 2–3 cm of soil dry out before watering again; adjust the rhythm to season and light.
Place it in bright indirect light. Humidity needs are high, and it appreciates misting roughly every 2 days. The comfortable temperature range is 18–26°C. During the growing season, feed it about every 30 days.
Care difficulty: demanding — for experienced growers.
⚠️ Pet safety: Alocasia is toxic to cats and dogs. Calcium oxalates, highly toxic. Keep it out of reach, and if your pet chews it, contact a vet.
Alocasia amazonica 'Polly' grows from an underground corm and usually holds only three to five of its arrow-shaped, white-veined leaves at a time, so it often drops an old leaf each time a new one unfurls. It comes from warm, humid tropical forest floors and is one of the fussier common houseplants: it wants evenly moist but never soggy soil (roughly every 5 days in summer), humidity well above typical room levels, warmth between 18 and 26 °C and bright indirect light. It may shed most of its leaves in winter and go dormant, which alarms owners but is not death. It is also a magnet for spider mites and highly toxic to pets because of calcium oxalate crystals.
Common problems and fixes
Alocasia leaves turning yellow
Why: The oldest leaf yellowing while a new one opens is normal leaf turnover. Several leaves yellowing at once with wet soil is overwatering, which quickly rots the corm.
What to do: Cut off a single old yellow leaf at the base and carry on. If more are yellowing, let the top few centimetres dry before the next watering, make sure the mix is chunky and airy, and check that the corm is still firm.
Drooping alocasia leaves
Why: Stems flop when the soil has dried out, when roots are rotting from too much water, or when the plant is stretching toward a light source that is too far away.
What to do: Feel the soil first: water thoroughly if dry, hold off if wet and inspect the roots. Move the plant to brighter indirect light and give it a few days; stems that have bent sharply may not straighten, but new ones will stand upright.
Brown crispy edges on leaves
Why: Dry air is the usual culprit, especially when heating is on and humidity drops below about 50%. Letting the soil dry out completely adds to it.
What to do: Run a humidifier nearby or group it with other plants on a tray of wet pebbles, and mist in the morning so the leaves dry by evening. Keep the soil evenly moist rather than cycling between bone-dry and soaked.
Webbing and dull, speckled leaves
Why: Spider mites love alocasia and multiply fast in warm, dry rooms. Tiny pale dots on the leaves and fine webs on the undersides are the giveaway.
What to do: Isolate the plant, rinse both sides of every leaf in the shower and treat with insecticidal soap or neem every 5–7 days for at least three rounds to catch newly hatched mites. Check the undersides of the leaves every week from then on.
Water droplets dripping from leaf tips
Why: This is guttation: when the soil is very moist and the air humid, the plant pushes excess water out through pores at the leaf tips. It is a sign of plenty of water, not a disease.
What to do: No treatment is needed, but frequent dripping hints that you can water a little less. Wipe the droplets away where pets could lick them, because the sap is irritating.
Alocasia lost all its leaves in winter
Why: Cold, low light and short days can push alocasia into dormancy, when it lets the leaves die back and survives on the corm underground.
What to do: Scratch the corm gently or press it: if it is firm, the plant is alive. Water very sparingly, keep it warm and do not repot; new leaves normally appear once days lengthen in spring.
Care through the seasons
☀️ Spring and summer
In spring and summer a healthy alocasia pushes out a new leaf every few weeks, each one ideally a little bigger than the last. Water roughly every 5 days, keeping the mix evenly moist but never waterlogged, and feed monthly with a diluted balanced fertiliser. Mist every couple of days and aim for humidity of 60% or more. This is the only time of year to repot or divide it.
❄️ Autumn and winter
In autumn and winter growth slows and the plant may go dormant, dropping leaves one by one. Water much less, only when the top of the mix has clearly dried, and stop fertilising completely until spring. Keep it at 18 °C or warmer, well away from cold windows, drafts and hot, dry radiator air. Watch closely for spider mites, which peak in heated homes over winter.
How to propagate
Alocasia is propagated from its corms, not from leaf or stem cuttings. When you repot in spring, look among the roots for small round corms the size of a pea or a hazelnut. Detach them, place them half-buried in damp sphagnum moss or perlite in a clear container with a lid, and keep them warm, ideally around 22–25 °C, and bright.
Corms sprout at their own pace, anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months. Once a corm has roots and its first small leaf, move it into a small pot of airy aroid mix of bark, perlite and a little soil, and keep humidity high while it settles in.
An established clump can also be divided: separate the offsets that already have their own roots and leaves, and pot each one individually. Expect the divisions to sulk for a few weeks before growing again.
Tips from experience
- Use a chunky, airy mix with bark and perlite; dense soil keeps the corm too wet.
- A snug pot is better than an oversized one, because extra soil stays wet and rots the roots.
- Check leaf undersides for spider mites every week; catching them early saves the plant.
- Do not panic when one old leaf dies as a new one opens: that is how alocasia grows.
- Highly toxic: keep it out of reach of cats, dogs and children, and wear gloves when dividing.
- Watering every 5 days and misting every 2 is easy to lose track of, so reminders in Plantik help keep the rhythm.
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▸How often should I water Alocasia?
About every 5 days. In winter or lower light, stretch the interval; in hot bright rooms, shorten it slightly. Always check the soil first.
▸What light does Alocasia need?
Alocasia prefers bright indirect light, with a comfortable range of 18–26°C.
▸Is Alocasia toxic to cats and dogs?
Yes. Calcium oxalates, highly toxic.
▸How often should I fertilize Alocasia?
Roughly every 30 days during spring and summer; pause or halve feeding in winter.
▸Should I mist Alocasia?
Yes — it likes high humidity, so mist about every 2 days or use a pebble tray/humidifier.
▸Why does my alocasia lose a leaf every time it grows a new one?
Alocasia usually supports only three to five leaves at a time, so it recycles the oldest leaf when a new one opens. It is a problem only if several leaves yellow at once.
▸Is my alocasia dead if all the leaves fell off?
Probably not. In winter it often goes dormant and survives on its underground corm. If the corm is firm, keep it warm, water sparingly and wait for new growth in spring.
▸Why is my alocasia dripping water?
That is guttation, the plant releasing excess water through its leaf tips when the soil is very moist. It is harmless, but it can mean you are watering a bit too generously.
▸Is alocasia toxic to cats and dogs?
Yes, highly. All parts contain calcium oxalate crystals that cause intense mouth pain, drooling and vomiting, so it should be kept completely out of pets' reach.