What it is
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is in the Araceae (Arum) family. A tropical wetland staple that thrives in hot, soggy Texas spots. The corm is serious storable starch — but must be cooked.
How to grow it
It wants part shade, water it high — likes wet, and give it rich, moist soil. Target a soil pH around 5.5–6.5. Space plants about 24–36 in apart. Expect roughly 200+. Tender perennial; loves heat/wet.
How it's used
Taro is used: corms and leaves (always cooked).
🔎 How to identify it
- Huge 'elephant ear' leaves
- Thick underground corm
- Loves wet feet
Edibility
How to grow & propagate taro
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate taro
The arum family is propagated vegetatively, not from seed. The edible types (taro) grow from cormels — offsets you break off the parent corm. The houseplant members (pothos, philodendron, monstera) root from stem cuttings taken at a node; drop them in water and they'll root in a couple weeks.
Growing taro in Texas
Give it part shade and rich, moist soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
This one thrives in heat that flattens other plants, so it earns its space through a Texas summer. Get it established before the worst of July, keep water steady, and it'll produce when little else will.
Keep moisture even, especially while it's young — deep, less-frequent soaks build better roots than a daily sprinkle.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly 200+ before you're harvesting. Harvest at peak and keep harvesting — most vegetables produce harder the more you pick, and one left to over-mature tells the plant its job is done. The part you're after: corm and young leaves.
Making more for free
Save it the easy way — vegetatively. Because you can clone this plant from a cutting, division, or piece of root, you never have to buy it again: keep one healthy mother plant and make all the copies you want.
Keep this knowledge offline
A garden full of taro is a real asset when times get hard — but the know-how to grow, store, and use it shouldn't live only on a website you can't reach. That's why I keep a copy of the references I rely on on a local server at home. Project NOMAD is a free, open-source way to run Wikipedia, survival and medical guides, maps, and even a private AI on your own hardware — knowledge that keeps working with no internet, no cloud, no signal.
See how I keep my library offline →Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.