my elephant plant leaves are turning yellow and falling off

Question

When I received my plant, it started to put out new leaves and growing. Then the leaves started to turn yellow and fall off. I only have two leaves left. I watered it when dry and gave it a diluted 20-20-20-plant food. It sits in front of a west window.

Answer 1

There are many varieties of elephant ear (Colocasia,) but few of them make very good houseplants. They need more light than they can get indoors. Insufficient light is one reason it would be failing. Also, they need soil that doesn’t go drier than slightly damp. Soil either too wet or too dry could cause the leaves to yellow and die. Learning too test soil moisture all the way to the bottom of the pot is very important with houseplants. This article could help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/testing-moisture-in-plants.htm
Also, it’s easy to over fertilize potted plants, and foliage plants fresh from the grower don’t need
fertilizer at all for the first 6 months. At this point, there’s two things you can do. You can put the plant in higher light – (you may need to use supplemental light https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/hpgen/fluorescent-lighting-for-indoor-gardening.htm
keep the soil slightly damp but not wet, and give it time to adapt and start growing again. Or you can wait till all the leaves die back, move it to a dark and cool place to spend its dormancy, then take it outdoors in the spring. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/bulbs/elephant-ear/growing-elephant-ears-indoors.htm