Alocasia Black Velvet Care: A Must-Read Guide For Gardeners

Alocasia Black Velvet of the Araceae family is a stunning indoor plant.

Alocasia Black Velvet plants can be put on the floor or in the table pot but taking care of this plant can be tricky. This unusual and eye-catching plant of the genus Alocasia gives a mesmerizing look to your surroundings, making it an ideal house plant. No wonder it is called the black beauty plant?

How to Care for Alocasia Black Velvet

Water Requirements

The Alocasia Black Velvet plant needs a medium amount of water. Watering Alocasia Black plants is very simple and easy. In summer, water the plant when the upper layer of the soil gets 90 percent dry. During winters, allow the soil to dry before watering. Watering the plant once a week will be enough.

For summers, the watering frequency should be thrice a week. Soggy or waterlogged soil causes root rot. Avoid overwatering the plant.

Light Requirements

The Alocasia Black Velvet plant needs bright indirect sunlight. If indirect bright sunlight is not sufficiently available, strange an artificial light and place it at a minimum height of 15 inches from the plant.

Avoid direct light because it may scorch out the delicate leaves of the plant.

The leaves of your Alocasia Black Velvet plants are drooping. It’s a sign that your plant isn’t getting enough light. Change the position of the plant, keep it closer to a window without leaving it in the direct sunlight.

Temperature Requirements

The Alocasia Black Velvet plant needs the optimal temperature to grow. The plant needs 55 to 80 F. It will withstand winters, but you need to shift it to a warmer place during the frosty weather. The Alocasia Black Velvet plants are sensitive to strong winds and drifts.

Keep the plant away from the proximity of heaters, fans, and air conditioners.

Soil Requirement

The Alocasia Black Velvet plants need well-drained soil with large particles to grow better.

The sand must be loamy and sandy to go well with this plant.

Humidity Requirements

The Alocasia Black Velvet plants can be grown in the kitchen or your bathrooms. Yes, that’s true. These plants are natives of rainforests. They need high levels of humidity for better growth. During the dry weather, the Alocasia Black Velvet plants need misting to provide reasonable moisture.

The other options to keep the plant moisturized are using a humidifier or a pebble-water tray under the pot. The ideal humidity level your Alocasia Black Velvet plant needs is between 60 to 75 percent. Your plant is at risk if the humidity level is below 50 to 40 percent.

Do not keep the foliage wet for long hours, which may cause the plant to rot or undergo fungal infection.

Fertilizer Requirements

The Alocasia Black Velvet plants love to eat food.

You can use a suitable fertilizer once a month. When the plant is in a dormant state, it doesn’t need any fertilizer.

Maintaining Alocasia Black Velvet

Regularly clean the leaves with a moist cloth. This practice will keep the plant dust-free and keep the velvety appearance of the plant dazzling. When the leaves are dusty, it doesn’t allow the plant to breathe.

Pruning

Pruning is also a must for the Alocasia Black Velvet plant. The plant grows its new and healthy leaves from the center. It’s necessary to prune the outer leaves. You should trim off the dead outer leaves with sharp garden scissors.

Pull off the dead leaves. Prune a few leaves from lower branches to maintain the plant’s appearance.

– Repotting

It’s not necessary to repot your Alocasia plant. The plant needs to be repotted only when the roots are poking out through the drainage. The best season to repot your plant is Spring. You should only increase the pot one size every year or two.

Inspect the roots and soil of your plant by gently removing the plant from the pot.

Problems

There are problems that the Alocasia Black Velvet plant faces during its growth. It is good to identify them earlier and solve them immediately. Following are some of the problems Alocasia Black Velvet plant faces and the solutions to solve them:

– Root Rot

Root rot is a big problem and is also a leading killer of the plant. Root rot causes the leaves to become yellow and wilt. This root rot problem can be solved by watering the plant according to its need. Don’t water the plant. If the pot has a drainage system, root rot can be avoided.

Alocasia Black Velvet needs a sufficient amount of oxygen around its roots. If the soil is soggy, it will not provide the required amount of oxygen to the plant.  Another reason for root rot is overpotting. Don’t repot the plant unless necessary.

– Insect Invasions

Sometimes, insect invasion keeps the plant in troublesome conditions. Mealybug damages the alocasia leaves. They stay on the leaves, take up the nutrients from the plant, and spread infection.

Early detection is also helpful for the plant. You can treat the plant after you see an insect infection with a mixture of warm water and liquid soap. Apply this mixture to the leaf to get rid of the insect. You can also use light pesticides to treat insect invasion.

– Leaves Are Dropping

You should not ignore the dropping of leaves of an Alocasia Black Velvet plant. The cause of this phenomenon is overwatering.

There are many other reasons for the dropping of the Alocasia Black Velvet plant like:

• Stress
• Low humidity
• Low light

– Leaves Are Turning Yellow

Yellowing of alocasia leaves is a problem faced by the plant. There are some common causes of yellowing of alocasia leaves:

• Overwatering.
• insufficient drainage
• Big pot
• Low humidity
• Low lighting
• Acclimation
• Temperature extremes
• Fertilizer issues

– Spots on Leaves

Alocasias black velvet plants love to grow in a humid environment. If humidity is low, brown spots or the edges of the leaves become crisp brown, which is quite obviously the luscious black leaves.

Other possible reasons for brown spots on the leaves are under-watering, fertilizer burn, pests, and fungal diseases.

– Attack of Spider Mites

Nasty Spider Mites attack Alocasia Black Velvet. Spider mites attack the plant when the plant is not getting bright light. You should keep the humidity level high because a high humidity level is harmful to spider mites. Shower the plants weekly to raise the humidity level and get rid of these mites.

How to Propagate Alocasia Black Velvet

There are different methods, by seed, division of the rhizome roots, by separating offsets.

– Seed

Get some seeds from the market. Propagation through seeds is a slow process and might not always be successful.

– Offsets

The easiest way of propagation is plant offsets. You have to remove the offsets and plant them in a small pot. Use the soil where the parent plant is growing. Keep the soil moist until a baby plant grows.

– Division of rhizomes

Alocasia Black Velvet is rhizomatous. The plant grows through rhizomes. The propagation method used for rhizomatous plants is rhizome division. Spring and midsummer is the ideal time for propagation. Propagation is not possible in Winter. The plant is dormant.

1. Select a healthy and mature Alocasia Black Velvet plant for the division
2. Dig the Alocasia Black Velvet soil around 4 inches deep
3. Take out the rhizome from the soil and split it
4. Plant the divisions in the moist, rich, and slightly fertilized soil
5. If you are planting more than one Alocasia Black Velvet plantlet in a pot, keep them 12 inches apart from each other. It will allow proper growth because it creates enough space to grow the tuber properly
6. Place the pot in a warm and moist place with a sufficient amount of indirect sunlight

Frequently Asked Questions

Following are some frequently asked questions about the Alocasia Black Velvet plant.

Is Alocasia Black Velvet a rare plant?

The Alocasia Black Velvet is rare.

It is a unique plant with some unusual features.

Is Alocasia Black Velvet an indoor houseplant?

Alocasia is an indoor plant. Lives in humidity and warmth. These features make them live indoors.

Why are the leaves on my Alocasia Black Velvet brittle?

Crispy leaves are symptoms related to the humidity levels in the home. Depending upon the humidity level, the leaves lose water during the day at different rates.

What is the best way of cleaning the leaves?

You should clean Alocasia Black Velvet quite often with a wet cloth or by misting.

How big can this plant get?

The Alocasia Black Velvet is a small houseplant. It can reach no more than 15 inches.  Place them on bedside tables, workspaces, apartments, or other spots around the house.

Why is my Alocasia not flowering?

The Alocasia Black Velvet plant is not a flowering plant.  At times they flower but not quite often. Flowering takes place when the plant is under optimal conditions.