This was a very bad colocasia. I got him 50% off in the outdoor section of my local ace at the end of the season. I made the mistake of buying him as an indoor plant when he had clearly been an outdoor plant. After a few days of having him inside I noticed as I was passing by out of the corner of my eye what appeared to be fine webs glistening in the sun in the middle of one of the leaves. I immediately did a second take and a closer inspection showed some fine specks on the leaves. I became concerned and decided to spray for spider mites just in case. My concern ended up being quite justified as a week or so later I could clearly see a web between the V at the top of the leaves. So he was banished to the outdoors where bad plants belong. Frankly at that point I didn’t care much whether he lived or died, he was only $8 after all. But I continued to treat him with Neem oil and Insecticidal soap like a good plant parent and mostly forgot about him as I was just grateful that he didn’t pass his little friends on to my other plants. For awhile he did not appear to be doing well as his large leaves shriveled up and died one by one. But I happened to look over today and I notice some new leaves unfurling and no new signs of spider mites. Now I can’t quite decide what to do with him. Should I take the chance of integrating him back into the household knowing his previous poor behavior?
