- How fast does an elephant's foot grow?
- What is the best way to care for the elephant's foot?
- Can I influence growth?
The elephant's foot is known as a houseplant in this country and is also popular because of its unusual growth habit. It originally comes from Mexico, where it grows in tropical but dry forests. There it can grow up to nine meters tall.
In its homeland, the elephant's foot can grow up to 9 meters high
How fast does an elephant's foot grow?
The elephant's foot is one of the slow-growing plants. For this reason, good-looking specimens are also quite expensive in stores. It takes a few years for an elephant's foot to tower above other indoor plants. The growth per year is only a few centimeters. An elephant's foot can easily live 80 or 100 years. Indoors, it rarely grows to more than 1.5 m.
What is the best way to care for the elephant's foot?
With good care and a carefully chosen location, you give your elephant's foot optimal growth conditions. He only needs a little water, but definitely a lot of light. Because he quickly gets a sunburn. Windows facing (south) west or (south) east are therefore well suited for the elephant's foot. A south-facing window should definitely offer the possibility of shading at midday.
Can I influence growth?
Even if this seems logical, you should not fertilize the elephant's foot excessively, because plenty of fertilizer does not automatically mean plenty of growth. Rather the opposite is true, over-feeding can do significant damage to your elephant foot. It belongs to the succulents and does not need many nutrients or much water.
A very large pot usually stimulates the growth of the roots. The elephant's foot then puts all its energy into root growth and does not grow above ground. A suitable pot should be about two to three centimeters larger than the diameter of the trunk at its thickest point.
The essentials in brief:
- maximum size in Mexico: approx. 9 m
- maximum size as a houseplant: about 1.5 m, rarely up to 2 m
- very slow growing
- becomes up to 100 years old
tips
Even with the best care, the elephant's foot grows slowly, but it gets very old.