There’s lots of misconceptions floating around online about how to propagate Alocasia plants, especially when it comes to germinating corms. There are four different ways to propagate Alocasia plants. If you want the highest success rate, go with division. If you want to produce the greatest number of plants, try tissue culture or seed propagation. Or if you want something in between that produces more plants than division but has a higher success rate than tissue culture or seeds, then corms are your best option.
There aren’t any special secret techniques and it doesn’t need to be complicated. Just follow the step-by-step instructions for one of the four different propagation methods we have detailed for you and soon you’ll have lots of baby Elephant’s Ears putting up a new sprout for their first leaf. We’ll start with techniques for growing Alocasia from corms and work our way down to the more challenging ways to propagate Elephant Ear plants.
If you know which propagation method you are looking for you can jump ahead to it by clicking a button below. Otherwise, read on to discover which method is best for you.
Before we start, lets clear up a common misconception about propagating Alocasia plants. You might have read that Alocasia can’t be propagated from leaf cuttings. This is just flat out wrong. It can be done, it’s just more difficult that what a home gardener is usually prepared to do. If you want to give it a go we’ll show you how below.
How to grow Alocasia from bulb or corm
Growing Alocasia from corms is the easiest way to propagate Alocasia plants. When you re-pot Alocasia plants, or should you have the misfortune of your favorite plant getting sick or dying, you can search the root ball of the mother plant for corms. They look a little bit like tiny coconuts – They range in size from a large pea to a hazelnut. The outer layer of the corms is a dark brown coating that is like the outside of a coconut shell. Give each one a firm squeeze and if it’s soft, discard it. The corm should be hard like a nut.
Once you’ve managed to source your corms, it’s time to plant them. There are lots of options for germinating Alocasia bulbs. Despite what you might have heard, you can plant alocasia corms directly into potting soil. Alternatively, you can germinate them in a temporary medium (water, sphagnum moss or even shredded paper) and then once the bulb has developed roots and leaf shoots you plant them out into the growing medium.
We cover all of these methods below, so let’s start with the one I have the most success with.
How to grow Alocasia corms in potting soil
Plant the corm or bulb about 1/2 in (1.5 cm) deep in a small pot, just as you would for a regular bulb. Keep it moist but not wet and leave in a well lit place, ideally with daytime temperatures of at least 75 oF /24 oC. When I tested this method and compared it with the sphagnum moss and paper methods (below) it was the most successful by far. See below for comparison photos of the three different methods.


How to germinate Alocasia in sphagnum moss
- Soak the moss in water for at least a few hours. Gently squeeze the excess water from the sphagnum moss so that it is still wet, just not dripping.
- Place the sphagnum moss at least 2 in/5 cm deep in a clear container.Some people recommend using a jar but I have damaged delicate baby plants trying to remove them from jars. I prefer re-using a clear plastic container from take-out food or clear plastic cups.
- Place the bulb on the sphagnum moss with the pointy end down. If you prefer you can scrape the hard outer coating off the corm but this isn’t essential. Loosely scatter a thin layer of sphagnum moss over the corm/bulb. This is just to help maintain the moist environment.
- Label the container with the date and then leave in a well lit place, ideally at a temperature of 75 oF /24 oC.
- Check it every few days, add a sprinkle of water to keep the sphagnum moist. Keep a lid over the container to act as a humidity dome. You don’t need to keep opening it to give the bulbs fresh air, I have left mine for over a week at times and they are just fine as they are.
- After about 3 weeks, if you have given your Alocasia bulbs plenty of light and kept them warm, you should see new growth emerging. This will be in the form of a leaf bud and new roots.
Potting out after germination
Once the roots have reached the bottom of the container you can pot it out into some potting mix or garden soil. I have found that the best way to do this without damaging the roots is to have some potting soil already in a pot, leaving at least 2 in/ 5 cm from the top of the pot.
Then you can just place the plant right on top and add some succulent potting mix, perlite or hydroponic clay balls (Leca) to help hold the leaves upright. You want to support the corm and new leaves but not let them stay moist. The roots will grow into the potting mix and the plant will quickly become more stable and better able to support itself.

Alternatives to germinating Alocasia in sphagnum moss
Germinate Alocasia corms in water
Place the bulbs in a shallow container and add water until the bulbs are sitting half in and half out of the water. Cover the container to help maintain a humid environment and then leave it in a brightly lit place that is least 75 oF / 24 oC.
Each week replace the water with fresh water. The roots will be the first sign of germination, followed a few weeks later by a leaf shoot. Once the leaf shoot is 2 in or 5 cm long, plant it out into a small pot on a growing medium with an open texture. Add a diluted liquid fertilizer every two weeks.
Germinate Alocasia corms in shredded paper
This is similar to the paper towel and Ziploc bag method used for seeds. Alocasia corms are larger than seeds though. They need to have more moisture surrounding them than they would just sitting on a wet sheet of paper. You’ll see in the picture above that this is almost identical to the sphagnum moss method, you just use shredded paper instead. Don’t soak it in water though, you want to keep the open texture as much as possible. Just sprinkle or spray the water onto the paper and let it soak in.
It’s worth noting that just because you can germinate Alocasia corms in shredded paper, it doesn’t mean that I recommend it. I did an experiment to show the different germination and growth rates using sphagnum moss, potting soil and shredded paper. You can see the above that the bulb germinated in shredded paper hasn’t really grown. That’s because it doesn’t really have any nutrients, so is only good for keeping the corm/bulb moist while it germinates.
As a side note, the corm that had the outer shell removed rotted very quickly. Some people advocate for removing it but I get good success without this step. An Alocasia corm is perfectly capable of germination with the outer shell intact so there is no need to remove it.
How to grow Alocasia from offsets and rhizome division
A mature Alocasia will grow offsets beside the main stem as shown in the picture below. These can be divided and replanted and are the most successful method of propagating Alocasia. If your Alocasia doesn’t have offsets but is mature with a thick healthy rhizome you can also divide the rhizome directly.
Instructions
- Remove the plant from the pot and gently rinse all the soil from the roots. Trim the roots so that they are short and manageable.
- A mature Alocasia will develop ‘branches’ from the main rhizome. To divide these cut the top part off the rhizome at least 1 in/2.5 cm below the soil level at base of the plant with a sterilized knife. This will leave you with the stems attached to a small portion of the underground part of the rhizome, and the rest of the underground part of the rhizome with some roots attached.
- Again using a sterilized knife, divide the rhizome vertically between the stems. Each stem should a similar size of rhizome at the base so try to divide as evenly as possible.
- You can cut a mature Alocasia rhizome into segments as a propagation technique, just make sure each segment has a side shoot or eye. It’s a bit like cutting a potato in to pieces to grow new ones. See the guide below for a demonstration of how to divide the rhizome. For best results keep the pieces fairly big, at least an inch (2.5 cm) thick. One experiment found that tubers that were divided into three segments had the best success rate, as opposed to those that were divided into two or four segments.
- Leave the cut surface to dry (you can dust with mycorrhizal fungi or rooting powder at this point if you’d like to) and then replant in potting soil, about 1-2 inches deep. Keep moist and new roots and shoots will form within 2-6 weeks in ideal conditions.

How to propagate Alocasia from seed
Seed is the only way to propagate Alocasia and breed new varieties. Success isn’t guaranteed though. This is very much an activity for enthusiasts and requires trial and error. Most plants that grow from seed will be almost identical to the parent plant, however occasionally a wonderful new variety with unique characteristics develops and bingo, you just got yourself a hybrid!
A fertilised flower spathe will stay erect while an unfertilised spathe will droop a few days after flowering. After a period of 4-6 months bright orange berries form. These can be gently squeezed to release the seeds.
Instructions
- Gently clean the seeds by rinsing in a sieve under running water.
- Plant the seeds immediately in moist sphagnum moss with a thin layer of moss covering them.
- Keep them moist, in a brightly lit place at 75 oF/24 oC.
- The seeds will germinate in 1-8 weeks and can be planted out when the largest new leaf is 3 in/7 cm long.

How to propagate Alocasia from leaf cuttings
Alocasia can be grown from leaf cuttings but it’s a whole lot of effort and unless you are set up for commercial propagation is probably in the too-hard basket. If you want to find out more there are some scientific papers that explain the protocol. The good news is that there are other really easy methods of propagating your favorite elephant ear plants so you don’t need to go to all of this trouble.
If you are interested in trying to propagate Alocasia from leaf cuttings at home, check out the instructions in our Peperomia propagation article – just do the same with your Alocasia leaves.
Ideal growing conditions for Alocasia
Alocasia are fussy about their light, temperature and humidity environments so need a little extra TLC to keep them happy. Temperatures below 50 oF /10 oC are to be avoided and anything below 40 oF/5 oC will cause damage. To be safe aim for minimum 60 oF/15 oC, with 20-30% light and kept moist.
They like a minimum 8 hours of light per day but thicker and stronger leaves will grow at 12 hours or even 16 hours per day. If you want to use artificial light to increase the hours of light exposure for your Alocasia aim for 3000 lux. In your home that equates to bright indirect light, or in your garden, full or partial shade. Exposure to direct light for extended periods will scorch the leaves and in the long term eventually kill the plant.
High humidity is one of the bigger challenges in keeping Alocasia happy if you don’t live in the tropics. Alocasia like 70% humidity which is higher than typical indoor and temperate climates. Crispy brown tips on the leaves are a sign that the humidity needs to be increased. The standard methods of standing an indoor plant on a tray of pebbles and water or clustering plants can help, as can using a greenhouse or terrarium to provide humidity during dry weather.
When is the best time to propagate Alocasia?
If you can achieve these conditions in your natural environment at the current time then go for it. If not you will need to either wait for early summer or supplement with heating and grow lights. Corms/bulbs and seeds can still germinate indoors in winter months, they will just take a lot longer if conditions aren’t ideal. The failure rate will be higher as the longer they take to germinate, the greater the risk of infection or rotting.

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References
Sims, D. A., & Pearcy, R. W. (1992). Response of leaf anatomy and photosynthetic capacity in Alocasia macrorrhiza (Araceae) to a transfer from low to high light. American Journal of Botany, 79(4), 449-455.
Jo, EA., Tewari, R.K., Hahn, EJ. et al. Effect of photoperiod and light intensity on in vitro propagation of Alocasia amazonica . Plant Biotechnol Rep2, 207–212 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-008-0063-6
Mohamed-Yasseen, Y. Shoot proliferation and plant regeneration from Giant Taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza L.) (2002) Journal of Agricultural Science Mansoura University 27(7), 4623-4631.
Raju, R. I., Hashi, A. K., Jazib, A. ., & Hossain, M. T. . (2022). Micropropagation of Alocasia amazonica through Indirect Shoot Organogenesis. Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology, 32(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.3329/ptcb.v32i1.60468
Sims, D.A. and Pearcy, R.W. (1992), Response of leaf anatomy and photosynthetic capacity in Alocasia macrorrhiza (Araceae) to a transfer from low light to high light. American Journal of Botany, 79: 449-455. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1992.tb14573.x
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