WHAT TO DO? When the normally bright green, beautiful leaves of their Elephant's Foot succulent plant (Dioscorea elephantipes) suddenly start to change their color to a yellowish-brown and also begin to wilt and fall off in late Spring (i.e. now on the northern hemisphere, when almost all other plants are really starting to take off big time, with fresh growth and blooms!)...well, a lot of people think that their plant is in urgent need of more water and actually do something potentially fatal for the plant...they water it even more!

However, this is exactly the opposite to what you should be doing: STOP watering and allow the plant to shed off all it's leaves! Why is this? Well, it's because this particular caudiciform plant has adapted to the heat and drought of the summer months by pro-actively going into a summer dormancy phase, which helps it to minimise the evaporation of water and fluids through it's foliage during the heat of the summer.

So, if we water these plants while they are attempting to go into summer dormancy... well, first their roots and then the plants themselves run a very high risk of starting to rot... sadly leading to a total loss of so many of these wonderful plants!

Instead, if we allow the plants a dormancy and a watering break over the summer months, they will reward you with new vines, shoots, leaves and growth as soon as you carefully start watering them again in the Autumn. And they will be once again showing off their absolutely awesome bright green foliage throughout the cooler Winter months! This is when these plants are most active and will require smaller amounts of water regularly (even when standing quite cool)!

I hope this helps you avoid unnecessary losses of these plants in your collections!

Take care and happy growing,
Joe
‪@cactusjoe‬

#succulents #succulent #caudex #caudiciform #succulentcare