Black Coral

Feed Me Seymour! This is the faster grower I’ve ever cared for. It barely finishes popping up a new leaf and then the next one is breaking out already. The original leaves both dropped when I got it, but I kept watering it and then eventually repotted when I saw roots growing through the drainage holes. Put it next to my AeroGarden for some ambient light. It usually will drop the oldest leaf when a new one comes in, but it has slowly gone from supporting 2 leaves to 4 leaves now. It’s been about 6 months and the leaves are getting HUGE now. Very pretty plant, worried I might need to repot again before next winter. Keep the soil boggy, think of it growing next to a pond.

This is beautiful. I bought it simultaneously with a stingray from this seller. Well packaged but it is so small, (only 1 leaf seedling) that it did not survive transportation. The bulb was in good condition. I hoped it would regrow. It eventually did give me a tiny shoot a few months later. It soon died. I gave it the suggested care and conditions, but this plant requires a level of care when it's a seedling, that not even optimal home conditions with grow lights, temperature adjustments, and a humidifier can keep it alive. The stingray survived and is thriving,

A lot of people don’t know what a juvenile plant looks like; please don’t let them scare you away from getting this plant. Similarly, they don’t know what shipping stress is either. I’m genuinely glad I tried this seller out, because I received a cute little friend in some pretty neat packaging. I got what was exactly as advertised: a “baby” black coral elephant ear. Expect it to be small, and don’t expect it to be jet black right out of the box. The poor thing has been through shipping, and less sun = less black and more green. Pot her up immediately, give her quality grow lights or really good sunshine, and she WILL turn black and start growing more leaves. I unpacked a perfectly healthy elephant ear child who was a roughly darkish green color due to age and lack of sun, quickly darkening up within three days of delivery and full sun exposure. Please note that my photos are after a month of having this little friend in some good summer sun, and a few drinks of nitrogen rich fertilizer. The leaves become glossier as the plant ages, giving you that classic black coral look. While young, the leaves will be more matte like in my photos; I took them when my little guy was still getting there. The first two original leaves died off after being replaced by new ones, and are not in my photos. Again, this was expected as the plant went through the stress of shipping. For some reason, a lot of people don’t understand this either. LEAVES WILL DIE. AND BE REPLACED. Your plants need love, sunshine, water, and time! Dieback is normal! Overall, I’m really happy I tried this seller, because I literally got what I wanted and paid for. I plan on ordering a black magic too as I ended up really liking the matte look the young black coral leaves gave off, but will probably wait until spring.

I bought this plant around 6 months ago. I’ve purchased plants online before and had no problem with shipping as they always ended up on my doorstep. This plant was put in my mail box (probably because of the small packaging). It arrived in a narrow tall box, and the plant appeared to be up side down. As I unboxed it, the plant looked completely dead (refer to 1 and 2 picture). I’m not a plant expert, and knew this was going to be a hard plant to take care of. I cut off all the stock, and put the nutrients they sent in the originals nursery pot the plant came in. I also contacted the seller, with no response. Almost a month later the plant started to grow strong steams with smaller leafs. I was shocked I was able to revive the plant. It also had a huge spider mite problem. I would take a wet towel to the hot areas of spider mites, and check on the plant daily. I was able to finally rid the plant of the mites and it continues to rapidly grow new growths. I trimmed dying leafs that had damage do to riding the mites, but I bigger new leaf would pop up. 2 months after receiving the plant I received another plant from the sender. I guess they got my email and acted accordingly but never tried to reach me. This plant came healthy looking, but again with a ton of spider mites, that now have spread to my original plant. I continued to treat it as I did my original plant. Now I’m here 6 months later and both plants seem happy, and very close to mite free (3 and 4 picture). They’re probably not in the best condition, but given this being my hardest plant to date, I think they’re doing well (if you have any further tips I would love to hear them). The moral of the story is if you’re not a plant expert, don’t buy this plant. If you don’t want to take the time and effort needed to maintain and help it out, it will not survive. I have pruned about 12 steams since the original plant was delivered, and continuously have to keep an eye on it. The price point is good, but the labor and knowledge needed make up for it.

Yall..I was not ready for this thing to grow this big this fast… I got it 4 weeks ago, gave it plenty of light and bottom watered with a double pot. Plant came in wonderfully, 2 leafs, and the soil still damp. Order when the weather is decent, but keep an eye out for the mail so you can rehydrate those roots. :3 I love the plant and it grew so fast, I had to move it down a level on my plant stand.

small, only lil bud

Not many greenhouses around me carry interesting exotic plants, so I order a lot online. This is probably the most disappointed I’ve been with a plant order. Looking at the photo, I expected at least a plant that somewhat resembled the photo. What I got was half dead and about an inch and a half tall. Seriously - it looked like a week old seedling. I used the fertilizer put it in optimal soil for elephant ears and gave it ample sun and appropriate water. Then one of its two teeny tiny leaves dies. This plant “seedling” is not viable. I contacted the seller who balked at my refund request. Now I have to figure out how to safely pack this teeny tiny thing to send it back in order to get my lousy refund. Ridiculous. Avoid buying from this company, unless you like overpaying and hassles.

Plant looks exactly as expected!