Alocasia Dragon Scale
Alocasia Dragon Scale
Alocasia baginda 'Dragon Scale'
❦ ❧ ❦
Difficulty — Advanced CollectorOne does not so much grow the Dragon Scale as keep her in one's confidence. Her leaves are thick, stiff, and pebbled like beaten metal, silver-green plates ridged with veins of deep emerald, and when the light strikes them at an angle they seem less like foliage than like armour laid out on a table. She comes from the limestone country of Borneo, where she grows in the shade of rock faces and takes her moisture from the air as much as the ground — which explains a great deal about her demands, and why she has such firm opinions about the dry corner you were considering.
Notes on Cultivation
☀Light
Bright but strictly indirect. A north or east window is her natural preference; anything stronger wants a sheer curtain between. Direct sun will scorch those thick plates and bleach the silver from them, and the damage does not grow out — that leaf carries the mark for the rest of its life. In too dim a spot she will hold what she has and give you nothing new, which is her way of registering a complaint.
❦Water
Let the top two inches dry, then water evenly and thoroughly, and never leave her standing in the runoff. She is thinner-rooted than she looks and rots quickly when kept wet, yet she wilts dramatically when kept dry — a plant that objects loudly in both directions. Rainwater or distilled is worth the trouble here; she is sensitive to the minerals in hard tap water and shows it in browned tips. Ease back markedly in winter.
☁Humidity
This is not a preference — it is the condition of her cooperation. Sixty percent and upward, and higher still if you can manage it. In ordinary dry household air her leaf edges crisp, her new leaves emerge stunted or fail to unfurl at all, and spider mites move in. A humidifier, a glass cabinet, or a densely planted grouping will all do the work. Misting will not.
✵Temperature
Sixty-five to eighty Fahrenheit, held steady. She dislikes draughts and dislikes sudden swings even more — a cold windowpane, an open door in January, a blast from a heating vent. Below sixty she stops growing; below fifty-five she begins to decline in earnest.
❧Soil
Loose, chunky, and fast to drain. Orchid bark, perlite, and a little peat or coco coir — an aroid mix that lets air reach her roots while holding a whisper of moisture. Many growers keep her in sphagnum or a semi-hydroponic setup with excellent results, precisely because both hold moisture without suffocating the roots. Dense potting soil is the one thing she will not forgive.
❀Fertilizing
A balanced liquid feed diluted to half strength every four to six weeks through spring and summer, and nothing at all through autumn and winter. She is not a heavy feeder by aroid standards, and too generous a hand will burn those fine roots faster than it will grow you a leaf.
✿Propagation
By corm and division only — she will not root from a cutting, so the signature Fluval Stratum method must be set aside for her. When repotting in spring you will find small firm corms along her rhizome; take the plump ones, set them barely buried in damp sphagnum, cover them for humidity, keep them warm, and be prepared to wait weeks or months for a first leaf. An offset that already carries its own roots may simply be potted up on its own.
Field Observations
She rests, and it alarms everyone. Come autumn she may drop leaves until little remains above the soil. Do not repot her, do not feed her, do not drown her in an attempt at rescue — keep her warm, water sparingly, and leave the corm in peace. She returns in spring. More Dragon Scales are lost to a panicked owner in November than to any pest.
Read the drooping correctly. A limp Dragon Scale means either too little water or too much, and the two look identical from across the room. Put a finger in the soil before you reach for the watering can — dry means drink, soggy means drain and wait.
Turn the leaves over. Spider mites adore her, and her textured surface hides them well. Faint stippling and fine webbing at the leaf joints are your early warning; check on a schedule rather than on suspicion.
She is toxic. Like all her kin, she should not be chewed by pets or small children, and her sap will irritate skin. Site her high, and rinse your hands after handling her.
— faithfully recorded by Mr. Phileas Plant
✿Have one of these at home?
Mr. Phileas now travels in coat pockets — both kinds, as of August. The Plantry app identifies your plants from a photo, keeps care notes like these with you, and lets you ask him anything — free, in beta, on iPhone and Android. Step into the greenhouse →
