Kitchen Garden Forum

Nnif75 wrote:I had planned to start them indoors in February/March and then move them outside. Does this sound like a good plan?

Yes, that's what I did. Plant them indoors, and move outside as soon as night temperature is above 10 °C. For best results, you can even plant them indoors now or in September/November, most likely you will able to keep them alive and mature to next spring and you will get better results.

After moving outside, need to remove all old leaves (they are going to die anyway) and keep only latest, young leaf.

It's a very attractive looking plant. Much more decorative than potatoes.
Do they summer from any particular diseases like blight?

The leaves definitely remind me of another plant whose leaves look very similar but i'm racking my brains and just can,t remember which one. Perhaps somebody else will have an answer.

Primrose wrote:It's a very attractive looking plant. Much more decorative than potatoes.
Do they summer from any particular diseases like blight?

As far as I know, red spider mite is common problem, although I'never seen it on my plants. But snails and slugs sometimes eat leaves or young shoots. No any particular disease, but rich soil is required, either organic fertilizer before planting or nitrophosphate dissolved in water when watering. Otherwise, leaves chlorosis may happen.

Primrose wrote:The leaves definitely remind me of another plant whose leaves look very similar but i'm racking my brains and just can,t remember which one. Perhaps somebody else will have an answer

Maybe you mean alocasia or some other from Araceae family. They are very similar to each other, but only Esculenta is edible. Alocasia is pretty popular as house plant.