The easy-care and decorative elephant's foot is not entirely undemanding when it comes to its preferred location. He likes it very bright and nice and warm. On the other hand, he can do without drafts and wind.
The elephant's foot should be bright but not in the blazing sun
How much space does the elephant foot need?
Even as a houseplant, the elephant's foot is no small plant. Although it does not reach the same size as in the wild (around nine meters), the elephant's foot can definitely reach a height of about one and a half, and with particularly good care maybe even up to two meters.
Give the elephant's foot a sufficiently large space so that its thickened trunk and the narrow leaves, which can be up to one meter long, can come into their own. Also make sure that the leaves do not hit the floor, the wall or other solid objects. This turns the tips of the leaves brown and that doesn't exactly add to the attractiveness.
Can the elephant's foot go into the garden?
You should not plant the elephant foot in your garden because it is not hardy. However, he likes to spend the summer outside. It should be warm and dry there though. The elephant foot does not like waterlogging, cold or direct sun. As soon as the nights in autumn get cooler again, bring the plant back into the apartment.
The essentials in brief:
- lots of light
- warm, around 20 °C to 25 °C
- without draft or wind
- relatively large space requirement at about 1.5 m height
tips
A summer freshness in the garden is extremely good for the elephant's foot, provided the summer is relatively warm and dry.