Taro
Select Your Climate
Taro grows best where it’s warm to hot and humid. Roots can be prepared and eaten like potato, and the cooked leaves are also edible.
When to plant/sow in zone:
Requirements:
Cold and frost sensitive; full sun to part shade; keep moist; copes with intermittent waterlogging.
Soil:
Moist, well-drained soil enriched with compost and/or well-rotted manure or organic pellets.
How to start: CORMS: Plant in the ground or in 50cm+ diameter pots filled with 50 per cent premium potting mix and 50 per cent compost, thoroughly mixed. Plant them 5cm deep and, if in the ground, 60cm apart. Ensure the corms remain moist until shoots appear. Taro doesn't like to dry out at any point.
How to grow: Keep moist and mulch with straw. Don't allow plants to dry out. Apply seaweed solution monthly. Apply organic fertiliser pellets every 6-8 weeks.
When to harvest: Harvest from 24-30 weeks, when leaves start dying back. Dig the entire plant up and use the corms within 4 weeks.
Troubleshooting:
Slugs and snails; aphids; mealybugs; whitefly; rotting
Wondering what to plant when?
Use our planner to create a planting calendar for your climate zone
View Planting Guide