Alocasia Jacklyn Care: Everything You Need To Know

Alocasia Jacklyn is a rare and beautifully variegated plant with a finely swirled blend of dark, moody and light, vibrant greens. The arrow-shaped leaves are highly textured with deep veins. Because it is a rare plant that is highly sought after, it is not uncommon to see this plant going for one hundred or more dollars!

Alocasia Jacklyn is a fast-growing plant that is fun to watch fill out into a mature plant. While this plant does need a bit more love and care than other tropical plants, it’s extremely easy to propagate so you can grow your collection or share with friends and family. This post encompasses all of the important facts you need to know in order to provide excellent care for your Alocasia Jacklyn.

Quick Facts

Native to the tropical regions of Southeast Asia, the Alocasia Jacklyn is an ornamental house plant that’s popular among collectors for its stunning, dramatic foliage. Like other specimens of the Alocasia plant family, the Alocasia Jacklyn produces large, broad leaves that curl downward at the ends. A healthy Alocasia Jacklyn plant will have deep green variegated leaves with contrasting blackish-green veins.

Interestingly, the Alocasia Jacklyn was recently designated as its own species. Formerly, it was considered to be a mutation of the more common Alocasia nycteris, a native plant of the Philippines. Both varieties have similar, antler-like leaf shapes, but the Alocasia Jacklyn has dramatic, variegated coloring in the leaves while the nycteris subspecies produces uniform green leaves.

Growth Pattern and Habits

Rather than producing several small leaves per stem, the Alocasia Jacklyn grows one large leaf on a single tuberous stem. This allows the plant to “reach” for limited sunlight from the rainforest floor of its natural habitat. Outdoors, the maximum height of the Alocacia Jacklyn is five to eight feet. If you plan to raise this plant, you will most likely raise it in a pot indoors, which will grow to a maximum of three or four feet with leaves measuring up to one foot in length.

With proper care, a single Alocasia Jacklyn plant will eventually develop bulb-like tubers in its roots. From there, each tuber sprouts its own roots and stem, which is called a corm. After one to four months, a corm will break through the surface of the soil and produce the plant’s characteristic, arrow-shaped leaf. This happens as an off-shoot of the main stem, which is how the plant achieves horizontal growth.

The Alocasia Jacklyn grows relatively quickly and will need to be repotted every 12 to 18 months. You will know that it’s time to move up a pot size when you notice the plant’s roots bulging out of the soil. Select a new pot that’s about two inches larger than the original pot. Avoid choosing a pot that’s too large, which can tempt you into overwatering your plant.

Sunlight

The Alocasia Jacklyn prefers bright, indirect sunlight, so any room with a window will suffice. However, you should avoid placing the plant in direct sunlight. Exposure to direct sun can scorch the leaves, causing them to turn yellow or brown around the edges. This is one of the reasons why the Alocasia Jacklyn does best as an indoor plant.

On the other hand, too little sun can cause the leaves of the Alocasia Jacklyn to turn brown and appear limp. If your plant needs a light boost, you can do so by providing a grow light. Experiment with different lighting positions until your plant’s leaves maintain a vivid, green coloring.

Water

To mimic the conditions of its natural environment, aim to keep your Alocasia Jacklyn in soil that’s consistently moist, but not soggy. Too much water can easily overwhelm the plant’s thin, delicate roots, making them susceptible to root rot. 

The best way to avoid overwatering your Alocasia Jacklyn is to water the plant when the top two inches of the soil feel dry to the touch. Most people find that their Alocasia Jacklyn needs to be watered just once a week, with the frequency rising to twice a week during the summer.

Expert Tip – It’s best NOT to have a set watering schedule. Watering frequency highly depends upon the time of year and the climate in which you live. ONLY water your Alocasia Jacklyn when the top two inches of soil are dry!

Soil

The best soil to use with this plant is a light, loose potting mix with good drainage and moisture retention. This ensures the roots have equal access to water and air molecules, both of which are vital for healthy growth. As long as your pot has drainage holes, any general potting mix will do. For even more drainage, try mixing in a handful of coconut coir, perlite, or peat moss with your potting mix.

Temperature and Humidity

Alocasia Jacklyn hails from Indonesia where it’s warm and humid year-round. As such, it can tolerate high temperatures relatively well. However, if the temperature drops below 55ºF for too long, the plant will go into shock and possibly die. The ideal range to raise your Alocasia Jacklyn is 65°F-80ºF, the warmer the better.

Along with relatively warm temperatures, the Alocasia Jacklyn needs high relative humidity, at least 60%, to thrive. Even if you live in a humid area, 60% is pretty high for most people, especially for daily life inside their own homes. To provide your plant with enough humidity while keeping you and your family comfortable, you may have to house your Alocasia Jacklyn beside a humidifier or pebble tray. You can also raise ambient humidity by lightly misting your plant once daily.

Fertilization

While not necessary for survival, occasional treatments of fertilizer will allow an Alocasia Jacklyn plant to grow lush foliage and strong roots. For best results, a 20-20-20 fertilizer mix with equal parts nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is recommended. Because the plant is usually contained inside of a pot, the fertilizer should be diluted to half-strength, and applications should be limited to once a month during the spring and summer.

Too much fertilizer can scorch the plant and do more harm than good. Keep your plant well-watered to flush excess nutrients from the soil. If your plant shows signs of scorching from too much fertilizer, it may be best to transplant it to a pot of fresh soil.

Propagation

Alocasia Jacklyn can grow multiple plants from a single rhizome, which is an underground stem system that produces multiple offsets of the mother plant. One simple way to propagate an Alocasia Jacklyn is to divide the rhizomes with a sterile knife. You can also propagate Alocasia Jacklyn by harvesting and planting its corms. A third way to propagate Alocasia Jacklyn is via offsets.

Propagation via Rhizomes

Rhizomes are the underground stems that grow horizontally through the soil. Rhizomes contain nodes from which stems grow. Here are the steps to Alocasia Jacklyn propagation via rhizome division.

1. Gently remove your Alocasia Jacklyn from its pot and give it a few shakes to loosen as much soil from its roots as possible.

2. Lay the plant down horizontally on a flat surface. You should notice that each full-grown stem has its own roots, and all these roots are tangled up, forming the plant’s rhizome.

3. Using a sterilized knife or pair of scissors, carefully separate each cutting from the mother plant, taking care to keep as many roots attached as possible. 

4. Once you have several cuttings with a good amount of roots, place them in a container in a well-lit area. This will help the cuttings recover from shock and establish themselves as a separate plant. When your cuttings stop showing signs of shock, such as wilting or color loss, you can go on to plant them in soil.

5. It can take up to a month for the propagated Alocasia Jacklyn to sprout and another two to three months to send up leaf shoots.

Propagation via Corms

Corms are similar to bulbs. They are small dense portions of the stem underground. Alocasia Jacklyn propagation by corms is simple.

1. After shaking the soil off your plant, search through its roots for corms. Pick off corms that feel hard and are the size of a macadamia nut.

2. Place each corm in a shallow dish of soil. Be sure to place the corm upright; the side that is concave, or has a small divot, is the “up” side. Each corm should be mostly submerged with their tips poking out above the soil.

3. Keep the soil moist by misting at least once daily. Within a couple of weeks, each corm should grow roots, stems, and leaves. 

Remember – Depending on the conditions inside your home, it may take one month all the way up to several months for your corm to grow into a plant. For best results, keep your corms covered to trap humidity and away from drafts to avoid temperature fluctuations. Many people also find more success when they peel the thin skin off of their corms before placing them in water. When the corms start producing leaves, they can safely be planted in soil.

Propagation via Offsets

In healthy, happy Alocasia Jacklyn plants you will likely see newer baby plants growing around the base of the original, mature plant. These can be separated and grown into new plants!

1. Remove the mature mother plant from its pot and gently shake off excess soil to reveal the root structure.

2. Once you have identified the offset, use a sterilized knife to separate the tangle of roots between the mother plant and the new offset.

3. Replant the mother plant in the original container. Plant the new baby offset in a new container. Keep moist by misting at least once daily. Keep the offset in a warm, bright area. Within a month you should begin to see new growth. Once new growth is noted, begin Alocasia Jacklyn care as you would for a mature plant.

Common Issues

Overwatering

Overwatering your Alocasia Jacklyn can lead to root rot. Symptoms of root rot include yellowing or browning leaves, poor growth, and soft, mushy stems. Overwatering via too much humidity can also harm your plant by causing leaf infections, which will form gray or brown spots of decay on the plant’s leaves.

To avoid overwatering, wait until the top two inches of the soil have dried out before watering your plant. Cut back on humidity if you notice water droplets forming on your plant’s leaves. If your soil is waterlogged, gently poke a few holes in the soil with a wooden skewer to air out the roots.

Pests

Alocasia Jacklyn can play host to a number of tiny, sap-sucking insects, such as aphids, spider mites, mealybugs, and scales. Many of these pests are too small to see with the naked eye, but you will notice evidence of them if they have infested your plant. Some signs include skeletonized leaves, yellowing leaves, limpness, and black spots of waste on the surfaces of the plant.

Prevention is the best defense against pest infestations. Keeping your Alocasia Jacklyn in the right lighting and humidity conditions will discourage pests from moving in. Remove dead leaves, stems, and any other decaying, organic matter on a regular basis to keep the soil clean and hygienic. Inspect your plant closely, paying special attention to the undersides of leaves and within creases, which are the favored hiding spots of these types of pests.

As a preventative measure, you can spray your Alocasia Jacklyn once or twice a month with a solution of neem oil, an all-natural insecticide and fungicide. If you have an active pest infestation, gently rinse any affected areas with mild soapy water and apply neem oil once per week until the plant recovers. 

Expert Tip – commercial pesticides are usually not recommended unless the infestation is too severe for all-natural remedies to have any effect.

Toxicity

The Alocasia Jacklyn is toxic to humans and animals and should not be ingested. This is mostly due to the presence of calcium oxalate crystals inside the plant. These salt-like crystals are microscopic, insoluble, and sharp. Therefore, ingesting any part of the Alocasia Jacklyn plant can introduce the abrasive crystals to the vulnerable, soft tissues of your mouth, throat, and gastrointestinal tract, resulting in irritation, inflammation, and swelling.

If your pet or child ingests part of the Alocasia Jacklyn, remove all traces of the plant from their mouth. If you see worsening symptoms such as prolonged swelling or breathing difficulties, contact poison control or emergency services.

The Alocasia Jacklyn’s sap can also contain trace amounts of oxalate crystals, which can cause contact dermatitis if you get any on your skin. Due to this, experts recommend wearing protective gloves when you prune or repot your Alocasia Jacklyn. If you come into contact with Alocasia sap, rinse the skin with soap and water until irritation subsides.

Wrapping Up

This rare, tropical beauty is a highly sought after plant and one that you should absolutely add to your collection. Now that we have discussed Alocasia Jacklyn care in detail, I hope you feel confident enough to buy the next one you see. They are fantastic, eye catching plants with highly variegated details that will make your home unique!