Growing Alocasia tubers in Fluval Stratum

If you are a fan of Alocasias like I am, you will appreciate that there is a new way to get the tubers to grow rather than using leca or sphagnum moss. I recently discovered this substrate called Fluval Stratum. I put a couple of tubers from my Alocasia Cuprea Red Secret in a couple of plastic cups with fluval stratum as the growing medium and the tubers began growing roots within a couple of days. It took about a couple of weeks for the tubers to grow leaves. You will want to keep the Fluval medium moist and not let it dry out or the roots will dry out. A couple of roots of one of my tubers did dry out unfortunately. When I water mine, I usually just water until I see the level go up to about an inch, you don’t want to let it go too high or you will rot the tuber.

Where to keep the tubers

I put the tubers in my grow tent to keep them warm and humid. If you don’t have a grow tent then I would put them in a warm environment under a grow light or possibly in an ikea greenhouse if you have one. As of this date, I haven’t tried this but they do have small glass greenhouses on Amazon you could could buy. A plastic cup or a glass cloche might even work to keep it humid as long as you check on it. In the summer, you could probably just keep it by a bright window as long as you keep the medium moist.

You might be wondering where to get these tubers

If you have ever noticed when you replant your Alocasias, there are little tubers in the soil. Sometimes these tubers will grow into little plants while they are with the mother plant. If they are still attached to the mother plant, I just simply cut them off. Most of the time they are just floating in the soil attached to the mother with a stem, it is okay to cut them off. Make sure to put them in the Fluval the right side up although even if they are upside down, most of the time they end up growing anyway.

What next?

The 2 tubers are getting quite big as of this blog post and I plan to put them in Lechuza Pon in the next couple of days. I am no longer keeping my Alocasias in LECA due to some rotting issues of one of my silver dragon Alocasia plants. I plan to post updates on how these 2 plants grow in the Lechuza Pon. I have been experimenting with my other plants with Pon and I have had very positive results so far.

I have some other tubers that are rooted in the Fluval Stratum but they haven’t grown leaves yet. The Alocasia Cupreas are the happiest so far.

In the picture below the roots are amazing. They grew like crazy in the Flavum.

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