Alocasia Polly
Alocasia × amazonica 'Polly'
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Peak season. Keep moisture and humidity steady and check under leaves weekly for spider mites.
🍂 Fall
Taper water and stop feeding; losing a leaf or two as light fades is normal, not failure.
❄️ Winter
If it dies back entirely, keep the corm's soil barely moist and warm. It very often returns in spring.
🌱 Spring
Repot and divide corms as new leaves emerge from dormancy, and resume gentle feeding.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright indirect, consistently: no direct sun, no dark corners, no compromises
- Ideal PPFD
- 200–400 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 14–20 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Keep lightly, evenly moist, watering when the top inch dries, never soggy and never bone-dry. Room-temperature water only; cold water shocks the roots.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced feed at ½ strength, monthly in spring–summer.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Chunky, airy aroid mix (bark + perlite + coco); pH 5.5–6.5
- Humidity
- High (60%+); a humidifier is the honest answer, and crispy edges appear below 50%
- Temperature
- 65–80 °F; sulks below 60 °F
- Mature size
- 1–2 ft tall and wide
- Repotting
- Every 1–2 yrs in spring; likes being slightly snug
- Propagation
- Division of rhizome clumps and corms at repotting; tiny corms in the soil sprout into new plants.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Yellowing leaves, mushy petioles, rotting corm, weeping leaf edges
- Underwatering signs
- Drooping stems, crispy brown edges, whole leaves sacrificed
- Common pests
- Spider mites (its nemesis in dry air), mealybugs, thrips
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Alocasia Polly looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Yellowing leaves one after another
Likely cause
Overwatering, or the plant entering its winter rest.
What to do
Ease off water in winter. Alocasias often drop to a few leaves and regrow in spring.
Fine webbing and stippled leaves
Likely cause
Spider mites — alocasias are a favorite target.
What to do
Rinse both sides of every leaf, raise humidity, and treat weekly until clear.
Drooping despite moist soil
Likely cause
Root rot, or a pot that stays wet too long.
What to do
Check the roots and repot into a chunky, fast-draining aroid mix.
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