Jardinerong Sunog (the Burnt Gardener)

I acquired my first Alocasia sinuata from one of the stalls at the now-defunct (or destroyed) Manila Seedling Bank Foundation in Quezon Avenue, Quezon City about 2006 or 2007, though my first Alocasia was likely an A. boyceana , from 2001. Back then, I maintained the plants in the soil they were in, which was mainly coco 'peat' and rice hulls; this is the default potting mix across thousands upon thousands of nurseries in operation within the Philippines, then and now. The plants perished not long after. Already at that period, I was already studying plants in their native habitats and knew that I was missing something. I had to get an idea of how they were growing in their habitats if I wanted to put an end to those episodes when the plants would suddenly fade to smelly goo despite my adoring attention. The opportunity to observe A. sinuata in the wild came in February 2010: all the plants in the wild were growing on rocks, specifically limestone, with very thin layers of de