Growing Taro, also Dasheen, cocoyam

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28 Jul 23 dz (USA - Zone 10a climate)
We live in San Diego "Inland" microclimate Zone 10A and have a serious gopher problem throughout the entire area, so I do 99% of my gardening in containers, including grapes, a guava tree, a fig, Moringas, camote, some herbs like basil, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and lots of different vegetables. My wife brought home a small 2" taro root from her sister that had started growing a shoot, maybe 1/2". I let it sit on the counter for a couple weeks and the sprout started to dry up, and I have never grown taro so looked it up and discovered it's supposed to be a "water plant", which is good for me because I tend to overwater. I put the root in a small clean snack cup (originally had applesauce in it) and added water about half-way up the root and put it in a sunny east window. In a week it had started growing roots, and within two weeks the sprout got green and started growing again, and a lot more smaller roots started growing at the base of the sprout, so I planted it in a 5-gallon bucket this morning, will water it heavily, and see what happens.
27 Aug 23 dz (USA - Zone 10a climate)
I started with the taro out in full sun, but the sun here gets intense and seemed to be stressing the taro, so I moved it into dappled sun under the Guava and it is doing much better. I water it heavily along with the Guava and bananas, and the taro is now about 12 inches high with several very green leaves and more sprouting. Two small shoots have come up next to the main plant, about an inch high, and I don't know if I should leave them alone or separate them and plant them in their own containers. Location seems to be the key, along with warm temperatures in the 80's - 90's, and keep it moist.
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