Alocasia x Amazonica 'Polly' - Elephant Ear
Sprouts of BristolThis Alocasia is striking with its glossy, deep green foliage, contrasted with the silver variegation along the veins and edges of the leaves. These bold outlines emphasise the stylishly uneven leaf edges, and their elegant long points. They may be shaped more like wobbly, elongated hearts, but the leaves of this Alocasia are chic and stylish. Make sure they get plenty of light and not to much water and they will bring that style to you too! The leaves alone can grow up to 30cm in length, on metre-long stems, so if you keep your plant happy you could get yourself some giant foliage!
Scientific Name
Alocasia x Amazonica 'Polly' (not-colocasia, hybrid from Amazon Nursery, Florida, cultivar: Polly)
This plant is an Alocasia hybrid with unknown parents. Some experts consider its scientific name to be a manufactured one rather than a 'true' scientific name because of this, but it is still helpful for clarifying exactly what hybrid is being talked about.
Common Name
African Mask Plant, Elephant's Ear
Origin
This is a hybrid plant, so doesn't have a natural habitat; it was bred in Florida, from parent plants thought to originate in tropical Southeast Asia
Light
Alocasias love light; if you get them used to it gradually, they can take plenty of direct sun too! (You just might need to watch them in the height of summer.) An east- or west-facing window would be ideal here, but south-facing works too as long as you're careful at the height of summer.
Water
Allow the soil of your Alocasia to almost completely dry out before you water again; these plants like drier roots than other Aroids.
Humidity
Alocasias are jungle plants, but average household humidity will usually be fine for them. Keep them away from operating heaters and radiators, and out of draughts, which will dry them out too much. If you notice your Polly's leaves getting brown and crispy round the edges, the plant may benefit from the introduction of a humidity tray to increase local humidity.
Soil
A chunky soil with plenty of elements to retain moisture (like coir and bark) alongside elements that aerate soil (like vermiculite and zeolite) will work well here. Look out for mixes designed for alocasias. Repot every couple of years as the plant grows; Alocasias prefer to be slightly root bound, so only repot when absolutely necessary.
Food
Feed every four waters in the growing season, reduce to every six in autumn and winter. Water before fertilising to prevent the fertiliser burning the roots.
Temperature
Likes temperatures of 15-30°C; don't let it get below 10°C in winter.
Pet-safe
No, this plant is toxic to pets and small humans.
Sprouts Top Tips
Alocasia can be prone to spider mites, so keep an eye out for these tiny, spider-like critters and the webs they make around the base of plants.
Alocasias are less thirsty than other aroids, so it can be easy to over-water; allow at least three quarters of the soil to dry out between waters. It might be easiest to test this with a wooden skewer or chopstick!
Important Information
If you have any questions, please check out the below or get in touch via our contact formWe're devoted to sending our customers quality plants with the best service around. Every plant is backed by our 7-day guarantee, so they arrive in good health.
Our team takes extra steps when prepping plants for transportation, but they're still sensitive to changes, so there may be minor cosmetic issues. We always aim to photograph and disclose any flaws before shipping, but a living creature travelling across the country in a box can take a hot minute to adjust to its new life.
If you have any issues within 7 days of receiving your order, holler at our customer support team on our contact form with your order details and some pics of the issue. After the guarantee has expired, though, we can't refund as we can't guarantee care and environmental factors. If you repot the plant during the 7 days, the guarantee is void.
We have been sending plants up and down the country for many year now and we like to think we have our way down to an art.
We protect the plant from falling out of the soil with tissue paper and tape if needed, then we wrap the plant in corrugated cardboard, and sometimes we protect the leaves with extra tissue paper if required. This is then placed into a box and if there is any empty space, we fill this with void fill to stop the plants moving around inside the box. Sometimes we will write a note on your packing slip to water the plant on arrival, so please look out for this. This is due a freshly watered plant going in a box will not only be soggy, but as the plant is in darkness this can sometimes make the plant unhappy when just freshly watered.
If your plant arrives to you unhappy, please send us a photo of the plant and packaging if relevant straight away, so we can advise you.
Online orders are packed and dispatched within a few days. Usually depending on volumes, we aim to get your order dispatched within 1 working day. We have collections from Royal Mail 6 days a week so deliveries tend to be speedy.
Our standard parcel delivery service is £4.99 for Royal Mail Tracked48, you can upgrade to Tracked24 for £2.50.
We do offer a Tracked48 Large Letter option for £2.99, and Tracked24 for £1 extra, but this only applies to products less than 2.5cm thick.
*Deliveries 7 days a week only included Tracked24 parcels.
Link to your shipping policy
We get a lot of boxes, packaging and whatnot at Sprouts from all our various supplier's deliveries. We re-use this packaging material where possible, plus we take in donations from local businesses and customers to our shop to avoid excess packaging going to landfill. Sometimes your delivery might look a little different, or come in a branded box from another company, but rest assured the items inside are carefully packed with love and attention inside. We use paper tape and all our branded materials included are fully recyclable. Sometimes we use polystyrene, bubble wrap or plastic wrap in the packaging, all these items are not new and where possible, please use them again.
We have partnered with Zedify to offer low-carbon deliveries in Central Bristol for £6.99.
Zedify collect and deliver orders from us Monday - Friday and will usually deliver your order the same day its collected. If you place your order before 11am, we will aim to get it collected the same day but this isnt always possible. When you have received your dispatch email, Zedify should be delivering your order the same day, anytime before 6pm.
We cannot give an idea of time, but if you would prefer delivery on a certain date (Monday - Friday) please get in touch or leave a note at check out with your preferred delivery date and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
Zedify deliver to the following postcodes BS1, BS2, BS3, BS4, BS5, BS6, BS7, BS8 (1, 2, 3A - 3N, 4), BS9 (1,3,4).
Select click and collect at checkout to collect your order from our Bristol shop.
You will get an email when your order is ready to collect, where possible please come and collect your order the same day as we have limited space. If you are going to collect your order at a later date, please let us know in the message box at check out so we know when to expect you. Some items such as gift sets, kits and pre-order items may not be ready to collect the same day, again please let us know what day you would like to collect and we will let you know if there's any issues.
We do not offer free returns, but if you are unhappy with your delivery, please get in touch. If your parcel or order has been damaged, please take photos and send these over to our team so we can look into this for you.
If you have ordered an item and you would like to exchange it, we should be able to do this for you. There may be an extra charge for delivery, but get in touch to discuss. For plants there is a 7 day return policy and 30 days for everything else, apart from sale items which are none returnable.
You can return or exchange in our Bristol shop for free.
Customer Reviews
I’d wanted one of these for ages and the price for a baby version, in excellent condition as above, was just right. Recommended
Absolutely love it! Super cute super small, it's already got new growth on the way so it's settled in lovely 🥰
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