Practically all my cultivated Amorphophallus have sprouted now, there's only the very small tubers I put into containers that haven't all come up yet. There's still some in the ground in an unwatered area which haven't shown yet due to the lateness of the rains.
This is my largest tuber, Amorphophallus paeoniifolius, the day before yesterday.
The same one yesterday.
A mixed bed. There's A. paeoniifolius, A. bulbifer, A. prainii and A. symonianus.
On the far right, middle of the photo is the small prainii.
Foreground on the right is the small symonianus
The large one immediately to the left of them is bulbifer.
All the rest to the left (6 of them) are paeoniifolius.
These all got irrigation early and are ahead of the others. Bulbifer was showing some stress in the middle of the day so that's why I've got the shade cloth overhead now. It certainly helped.
Closer up of symonianus. It's still only a tiny tuber. Hopefully this season it'll put on a big burst of growth.
My titanum. Bit worried about it. Seems to have been getting a bit limp during the heat of the day. I know it's above its maximum temperature range but humidity levels have gone up so it should be reasonably okay. I put a shade overhead to protect it from the midday sun filtering through the trees. That did make it look a bit better.
These are all my tiny A. paeoniifolius tubers. I suppose there were near enough to 100 that were planted in those boxes. I counted up about 150 from last season but managed to give about 50 away. About a dozen have sprouted but nearly every day there's been some extra.
Those are really beautiful!
REALLY nice plants! I LOVE amorphs! What are you using for soil mix in those red planters?
You have our attention, tropicbreeze.
Beautiful plants.
Thanks for showing.
Thanks Kay, glad you enjoyed seeing them.
Tommy, those 'red planters' are mango crates, but I'm a great believer in improvising. It's just ordinary sandy soil that I added a lot of leaf mulch to. Later I'll give them some doses of seaweed/fish emulsion.
Ridesredmule, they are fascinating plants. This one grew 8.5 centimetres from this morning to this evening. I'll have to check what it does overnight.
Todays photo.
Yes, let us know what it did, I have a group of these plants that my garden friends have give me and I can't wait til Spring to get them all planted. Jut waiting.....
RRM
Overnight (from 9PM to 4AM) it grew 4.5 cms. But I'm away now, for 3 days. Back again tomorrow night and will measure it again.
That thing is "haulin' butt" isn't it??
It will be a tree before you know it.
These grow "wild" down there?
I'd be digging up all of Australia LOL
RRM
RRM, I measured it again when I got home tonight. It's 146.5 cms now. That's about 52 cms in 3 days. Soon the 'branchlets' will spread out meaning they'll bend down. So it won't be at that height. How high it finally becomes now depends on how much more the main stem itself grows. The branchlets will be horizontal at roughly the level of the top of the stem. This is the first year it's been looked after so the results of the TLC will only really start to show next year.
We have 2 native Amorphs here, paeoniifolius and galbra. My galbra finally died out due to neglect, the paeoniifolius have been tougher. A photo of one of my A. galbra flowers (prior to their complete demise).
As I get older, guess I have more time to watch the plants grow, I'm retired. But I have had my voodoo's for a while.
this is first year I am going to put some in pots. It is interesting to know that they come up in a wild state but isn't
it wonderful to watch them grow? That is a nice bloom. Are you going to replace the ones that died? You can watch them grow
too. Love that bloom, don't you?
RRM
I am in zone 8b/9a in NW Florida - can I plant my TINY bulbs directly in the ground - protected SW exposure?
RRM, I will be going out to find some more A. galbra, but this time I'll be more careful with it. I'll never forget the first time I found galbra, never knew what it was. But there were dozens of flowers coming up out of the ground in this patch of monsoon forest. No leaves, just these flowers. I was absolutely intrigued.
Kay, I'm not familiar with what each zone means in terms of actual temperatures. But, especially with tiny tubers, I'd be wary of putting them where they might be subject to freezes even while they're dormant. Also, if cold water gets down to them during your winter. If you can guarantee neither of those two situations happening then I don't think you'd have any problems. Dry ground is a pretty good insulator.
Take you camera amd get some pics.
I'll look for the results from afar. ☺
Be careful out there.
RRM
Thanks for the insight, TB - I will wait until they grow another year.
I had one of these and a small bulb grew in the crown of the leaves of the plant, looked like a spiders egg or something. I picked it off not knowing what it was and sat it ontop of my computer desk. Ive sold the lily now and this little bulb is sprouting. Ive just planted it and its a lily. I didn't know bulbs could be produced above the soil, ontop of the leaves???
Amazing world of plants. Wonderful, isn't it?
RRM
RRM, I've been flat out with gardening and landscaping, but I'll need to make a move on galbra otherwise their flowering period will be over. There's also a Hoya I need to go out and find. There's just not enough hours in the day, nor enough days in the weekend.
Kay, that's probably the best decision. Just how big are they, and which species?
Breeindy, if it's an Amorphophallus it sounds like it might be A. bulbifer. I've noticed Bunnings are selling them now.
My big paeoniifolius is still growing fast. But the top is opening out now.
I don't know the species and they are the size of a nickel - small.
If you keep them well watered (not over watered), well fertilised and warm for longer they'll get larger much quicker. The tubers are "swallowed up" by the developing leaves which in turn produce tubers before they wither. The bigger the tuber, the bigger the leaf it'll grow. The bigger the leaf, and the longer it grows, the bigger the tuber it'll produce.
think mines a konjac maybe.
I didn't know that A. komjac produced bulblets on the leaves. I thought that was A. bulbifer.
AFAIK Konjac doesn't make bulbs on the leaves. At least mine don't.
My bulbifer has just started forming lumps on the leaves.
And further up on the leaf.
Measured my large A. paeoniifolius tonight. The main stem is 91.5 cms and the whole plant to the top of the leaves is 180.5 cms. Checking on google that converts to 5 foot 11 inches.
I'll be away working for a fortnight so it'll be interesting to see it when I'm back, if it's still growing or has already reached its peak.
The tuber was 2065 grams when I repotted it. This year for the first time it's free of invading tree roots and is getting fertilised. Be interesting to see how much the tuber grows as a result and how big the plant gets next year.
Are they little seeds or bulbs popping up on those leaves. I will have to warch mine more closely.
A. paeoniifolius is really growing. It loves it's being pampered and is showing you what it can do. Imagine what the bulb will look like in the fall.
RRM
RRM, A. bulbifer gets bulblets on the leaves. Plant them out and you'll have more plants. I think my A. paeoniifolius has finished its growth. Now it has to concentrate on building up that tuber. It's got 5 - 6 months to do it in. This is todays photo. I've put that belt on the plant because we're getting lots of storms now and I'd hate to see it broken by the wind.
tropicbreeze, I don't blame you at all for stabilizing that plant. It has grown into a beauty.
The root should be a good one. So happy for you. Do you go out into the wilds to get the Hoya??
How interesting. Does it sprout on the groud and climb into the trees??
We have been getting lots of rain. It was warm yesterday but it is cooling down now. We are going to go thru winter before too much longer.
RRM
RRM, I was going to go out this Sunday to look for that Hoya but we've got a cyclone developing just off the coast. Prediction is for 100 kph winds later tonight and tomorrow. It looks like the main part of the system will by-pass us now, but there's a lot of rain and they've issued flood warnings. The Hoya expedition may be washed out, unfortunately.
You be careful, but have fun, while you are out there. Our temp this morning is 28 degrees.
Bird baths are frozen, have to drop the heaters in them. I love looking at all your lush
green plants while we are getting colder. Sure helps on cold days like today.
I don't have a Greenhouse but have lots of plants here in the house to help me make it thruough.
Thanks
RRM
RRM, I did go out. The weather system moved out to sea again and is now a cyclone. Brought a lot of rain, some areas got high winds and lost electric power from falling trees. Since the weather was clearing I went out with a friend. Road was flooded in places but not too deep. Battled mosquitoes in the monsoon forest but not a sign of a Hoya. Collected some Dracaena cuttings though. On the way back found a new cycad to identify (Cycas maconochiei) and got some seed. Took a short diversion to look for Amorphophallus galbra. Found hundreds of them, lots with ripe seeds. Collected some of them. So, no luck with the Hoya, but a few other things to compensate.
Having plants in the house is good, it's nice to sit amongst them.
Yeah!!!! Sounds like you had a wonderful adventure.
Did you take a camera for some pictures??
I would love to see it. We are still getting rain. But
that is o.k. making up for when we didn't get any.
Glad the system moved out so you could travel.
RRM
Tropicbreeze Those are just amazing! I never knew they made seed/bulbs on the leaves. I'll have to look at mine and see if they have any. I have several sprouted and a couple have a leaf that looks like a heart shape. I will have to go look at names, I can never remember them but got one on the way from thailand called sumawongii, I think that is it. May be mispelled but it blooms white. Yours are all georgeous.
OH, some of mine are called Arisaema- Fargesii, and Candidssimon,
the A. Konjac and A.riverii, and A.Bulbifer,A. paeoniifolius, and A. prainii
I'm still looking for A. Symonianus and Galbra. No one around here grows them. I found the Sumawongii in Thailand and ordered 3 bulbs of it. They should be here any day now, Hoping before Christmas. Most of mine are in their long winter's nap but still have a couple keeping a look out. Here is one can you tell me if it is labeled correct? A. Bulbifer.
Here is another one. To me this one looked like your Bulbifer, but it had another name on it. A. Konjac.
