Elephant Ear Leaves Drooping - Why & How to Save it Today

Are your favorite elephant ear leaves drooping? And you are unaware of the reason? And you want to protect your plant from this as It will be disheartening for you to see, right? If so, you don't need to worry anymore because I will provide you with the perfect solution to all your elephant ear plant drooping problems here in this article.

These alocasia family plants are stunning with vibrant colors and large heart shaped leaves, which give them extremely exotic looks. And the name is obviously due to its aesthetic and pleasurable long and broad leaves that resemble an elephant’s ear. In elephant ear leaves drooping, the plants show that they are going through some stress.

Why Is My Elephant Ear Plant Drooping

This stressful condition occurs due to water conditions, either it is due to overwatering or underwatering, and it can be checked by proper monitoring of your plant. There can be various other reasons why this drooping is usually occurring, and you need to check them and manage them properly. These include improper sunlight, temperature, low humidity, nutritional imbalance, fungal infestation of pest infection, water quality, and relocation stress.

Watering Issues and Solution

Too much watering or providing less water to your plant can be stressful, and as a result, you will notice leaves wilting and discoloration of leaves as well. So it is important to manage your watering schedule for elephant ear plants. You can solve these issues by keeping the following points under your notice:

• Water your plant once a week, and every day in the summer season.
• Keep the soil moist but unclogged.
• Avoid making water pools in the soil.
• Excessive watering will clog the soil as proper drainage will not be possible, which will become difficult for plants to absorb nutrients, and excessive water absorbance will result in wilting.
• If you are noticing wilting due to excess water, cut the water supply for a few days.
• Excess water will cause root rot by giving off a bad rotting smell.
• Water your plant in the morning and remove any clog that you observe.
• Yellowing, discoloration, and leaf blisters will be observed in case of excess watering.
• Root rot can cause pathogens to thrive, which can also be responsible for wilting.
• Water the plant once or twice but keep the soil moist by spraying the water.
• This mist will provide the perfect amount of humidity that the plant requires.
• Cut out the water supply if you are watering for a few days and observe wilting.
• Elephant ear plants are very delicate and need proper care for their growth. Once it is given, they grow up to 2 feet within no time. But make sure that you are properly watering it and not giving it excess water that makes this beautiful plant wilt.

Lightning Conditions

Lightning conditions and temperature management is crucial for plants and especially when it comes to elephant ear plants. Your plant can thrive if proper lightning is given; otherwise, it can also cause wilting or leaves drooping. You can avoid this leaf drooping by keeping the following points in your mind:

• They prefer bright but indirect light.
• Direct light can cause discoloration or yellowing of the leaf and will be stressful, as it burns the leaf.
• The leaves could be drooping if not present in the bright area.
• Remove them from shady places as there is a high chance that you will provide excess water.
• Place them close to the window with indirect sunlight.
• For balanced growth of leaves, rotate the pot direction every month.
• Do the trimming when required so that every leaf could get proper sunlight which they would require.
• It's best to place your pot facing north or south towards the window.

Temperature

Elephant ear plants enjoy bright weather and summers; it is challenging for them to thrive in cold weather or winters especially; you will find their leaves drooping if they are not properly cared for. The normal temperature that these plants require is 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can prevent drooping leaves in cold weather by keeping your plant pots indoors where it is warm at night especially. If left in cold weather, you will notice instant drooping. If you want this beauty to be fresh for a long time, you need to check the temperature changes.

The elephant ear plant is susceptible; hence after placing it indoors at a warmer temperature, if drooping isn't solved yet, check for the vents, if possible, due to its presence near the cold vent. Moving it away from this source of cold can help in solving the drooping issues of the leaves. Keeping it inside at a warm temperature is the only solution to protect it from cold temperatures and drooping.

Nutritional Imbalance

Alocasia plants thrive and grow really well in the nutritional soil full of organic matters. Nutrition balance is essential for every living species, and similarly, it is for elephant ear plants. For exponential growth of this plant, you need to keep the following points on your checklist:

• Fertilize the soil twice a month with indoor plant food, in summer and spring.
• In winters, the plant is dormant, so you won't need to fertilize it continuously.
• During summer, provide fertilizers in diluted form as an excess of it can cause root rot.
• Use trimming technique to remove the leaves that are overfed so that new leaves can be generated.
• Make sure to use slow-release fertilizer as the fast release will cause burning of the plant.
• If you have used excessive fertilizer, use excessive flushing so that fertilizer could be removed that will cause a burnt effect.
• Water the edges of your plant with Epsom salt as it is an organic supplement.
• If using chemical fertilizer like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, then keep the ratio 20-10-20.
• You can provide foliar feed to your plant throughout the year.
• A soil lack of nutrition can cause a drooping effect; make sure you feed your plant well.
• If the dropping occurs apart from lightning and water issues, then the problem is clear; proper nutritional soil is required for growth.
• Fertilizer application errors can cause detrimental effects to your plant.
• If these points are ensured, you will observe remarkable growth in plants.

Low Humidity

A humid environment is also required for proper growth; low humidity levels will cause an increased transpiration rate, which will cause increased loss of water from the plant. When this moisture is removed and watering is done once or twice, it will cause drooping of leaves.

If you live in an area with low humid conditions, try to provide more water and keep the soil humid by spraying it multiple times. There are various measuring meters present, like hygrometers which will help in measuring humidity content. You can use a humidifier in winters or keep your elephant ear plant among other plants to keep it warm and keep the humidity balanced. This will protect your plant from drooping as well.

Fungal Infestation

Fungal and Pest infestation is usually observed in Alocasia family plants; if you are overwatering your plant, it will cause fungal infection in the root, which can cause stem and root rot. It affects various other parts of plants as well and can cause drooping in leaves.

This fungal infestation can only be removed if the infected area of the plant is removed as soon as possible; if you already spot telltale spots on the stem, that means that your plant’s root and the stem are already compromised. The only measure after removing the infected portion is proper clog removal so that air can pass through the soil effectively and avoid excessive watering and damages and increases the bacterial and fungal infestation.

Pest Infestation

Pests such as aphids, thrips, and spider mites are usually seen in elephant ear plants. They attach themselves to the lower side of the leaves and cut their nutritional and mineral supply causing drooping in the leaf causing haloes and tears in the leaf.

You can use margosa oil, and applying it to the affected area of the plant will help in the effective removal of pests, and you can use the water gun technique and remove the pests by blasting them off.

Root Bound and Repotting

Under the optimum condition, the elephant ear plant thrives and grows exponentially. Sometimes due to excessive growth, the space in the pot becomes less, due to which you can see the dropping of leaves as they will be unable to get proper nutrition, and it will be difficult for them to survive as well due to clogged and insufficient space.

For this purpose, you will need to make drainage holes larger in the pot so that water and nutrients could be supplied and no blockage would be present that will cause drooping in the plant; apart from that, try to shift the plant to a new bigger pot with fresh soil and organic-rich nutritional supply as well.

You can also observe drooping in leaves after shifting the plant from the old pot into a new pot, which may be due to stress and a new place for a plant. Hence you don't need to worry as this drooping will be overcome with time while giving it proper conditions to survive.

How to Save a Dying Elephant Ear Plant?

You can save a dying elephant ear plant through the following methods,

• Proper watering it on time, not excess not less than required
• Checking the humidity level
• Giving it proper nutrition
• Placing it in bright light
• Providing clog-free rich soil
• Protecting it from direct sunlight and winters
• Removing the damaged portion in case of fungal infection

FAQs

Conclusion

If you are looking for methods to avoid leaf dropping or looking for effective methods for removing leaves dropping, I am glad that you came across this article and hope that it will be helpful. I have mentioned every step through which you can protect your plant, and it will help you treat your plant well if dropping occurs.