Then there is this one but it also has a tag a long growing in there too. It came up volunteer and since I didn't know what it was, thought I'd wait before pulling it out and maybe could id it. But the A. Bulbifer is what the babies are supposed to be.
Mekos, should I go ahead and plant my seed in flower pots? Did you use growing mix?
Tropicbreeze ,do you ever grow them from seed?? I think it would be great to collect them from the wild.
I put all mine in miracle grow soil in pots till ready to go outside in spring. Mine stay in the greenhouse till then. But I had some outside and they went dormant from the cold so just compost and mulch over them already in ground. Those are hardy for here. If they are not hardy here, I just keep in the pots.
Mekos, there are a couple of hundred Amorphophallus and although I'm quite familiar with our two native species I'm on a bit of a learning curve with the others. Konjac and Bulbifer seem to be the most common ones in cultivation, followed closely by paeoniifolius. It's a bit difficult to ID the small plants. Your first one looks a lot lighter in colour than my bulbifer does. Even the stem on mine was darker when smaller. Although, to me, it looks a little like yours is suffering nutrition deficiency. I'm not an expert but maybe needs something with more nitrogen, or even has an iron or trace element deficiency. Then again, maybe it's just out of season. I haven't seen konjac in real life. It might be better to wait until they're larger for a more accurate identification.
RRM, half the galbra seed I collected were given to a friend, the other half I've planted. She's just going to scatter them but in areas which don't get any watering. That's so they can follow the normal dry season - wet season pattern.
Another photo of the paeoniifolius for perspective on just how big it is:
Height of unbranched stem - 105 cms (42 inches)
Length from branched out stem to tip of leaflet - 121 cms (48.4 inches)
Overall height from base of stem to leaf tip - 212 cms (84.8 inches)
Do you think a light sprinkle of Epsom salts would help the plant. All mine are in their pots waiting for spring. No green I am tempted to see if bulb is o.k. but haven't looked yet. That is a nice sized plant. You know we are in a Plant Envy mode here.
I love looking at all the plants. Thanks for the picture.
Can you tell me what plant food to use for them? I just potted in soil that feeds for 9 months and just water. The color is not good, I think it's the lighting because it's in the greenhouse and not out in the bright light. It does look better here not in the pictures. It's darker than the picture shows.
Yea, we all envy your climate.
My voo-doos are hardy here so they can stay outside all winter in ground but I brought the newer ones in pots inside because they are so small just starting out, I didn't want to risk loseing them.
I've heard that Epsom salts (Magnesium Sulphate) is good for most plants and you can't really overdo it although I've no real experience with it. Mine got a lot of organic matter mixed into the soil at the start of the season and get liquid seaweed or fish emulsion regularly.
Climate's a funny thing, every different one has its own challenges. That's part of the enjoyment in gardening, and most of the frustration.
I use Miracle Grow every 2 weeks. Follow label directions. Epson salts adds Magnesium. 1 TBLS. per gallon. NOT needed. Use normal fertilizer.
I planted mine in the miracle grow soil that feeds for 9 months, do I still need to add some when I water?
I've also read that Amorphs like a bit of Phosphorus.
What is that and where do you find it? I know nothing about names with big words. Help.
Fertilisers are often given an "NPK" number. These are the basic elements needed by plants (although they can't do without all the others as well).
The N stands for Nitrogen, the P stands for Phosphorus, and the K (Kalium) stands for Potassium. The numbers show the relative amounts of these elements in the fertiliser mix. So when you're advised to use a fertiliser with more of one element or another, you pick one with higher numbers for that particular element.
Simplified, the Nitrogen is recommended where you want more plant (leaf, etc) growth rather than flowers. Phosphorus is good for root growth. And Potassium is good for flower growth.
You can also get individual basic elements but you need to make sure you don't create an imbalance. Always good to get advice where you buy them, or from a place like here (DG).
That's why I asked my expert here.LOL I bought some of my bulbs as one thing and some are something different all together. That was the reason I was asking what mine looked like. I have one with leaves that look like a heart and one that has 2 leaves directly out from each other at the same place on the stem and has another stem with only one leaf. Then I got one sprouting that is a cone shape coming up from the soil. Don't know what it is yet. I think they are the japanese silver leaf cobra lilies.
Oh, mekos, you got some nice plants going on. I am in plant envy.
Got to get my seeds going. Tropicbreeze , we love your beautiful Amorphs.
We will have pictures for you next spring.
Love to share plants and pictures.
An update on my large A. paeoniifolius. It's still growing but slowly. The full height of the plant is now 227 centimetres (google calculates as 7.45 feet). I stood on that container to start us off on the same level, you can see it's reached the roof now. There's still at least 4 months of growing season left, maybe 5.
Yep, it is still growing! How fantastic, the bulb should be huge this fall for you.
do you take it out of the pot or just leave it til next Spring?
I have had this one in the ground for about 5 years here in 7b near Atlanta - it finally bloomed a couple of years ago, but not this past summer. A. Konjac about 3 ft tall in late April.
Another view.
RRM, what worries me is that the bulb might burst the pot. Or I might even end up with a square bulb.
Azalea, I don't have the konjac, but hoping to get one sometime.
I would take it out of the pot and stcik it in the ground. We certainly get freezes here and they always come back. You could dig it up each fall and store it inside for winter - or whenever your coldest weather comes.
Tropic, your plant is getting so big and gorgeous. Soon you will be climbing it to get a picture :). I can see it now.
No way am I going to climb it! I remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. I'm not going to take any chances. ;O)
LMAO. Cute...
Azalea, our coldest freezes ever are about 10C (about 50F). But the main reason for keeping that one in a pot is to keep other plant roots away and keep fertiliser close to where it's needed. There's only one other Amorph I have in a pot and that's my titanum. The rest are in the ground. I intend to dig the tubers out at the end of the season but that's so the ground can be prepared for the next season and to cut back any invasive roots. It also gives me a chance to weigh the tubers.
oh- that is not nearly as cold as it gets here - I think your comparable zone would be about 9 in the US. We are to get down to about 17F here in a couple of days. still they should come back up as always next spring. I don't have ay large bulbs.
Well, it's down to 18 here where I live right now. Calling for 20 each night for the next week and only about 40 in the daytime evening. Brrr. Most are safe inground here. The Konjac sure is. I don't take mine up for winter but I do keep one of each kind in a pot just in case a critter decides he wants dinner of bulbs and gets mine. Then I still have a start of them in spring.
Me neither, Azalea, I envy him his plants. They are so fantastic.
tropicbreeze, You may to cut the bulb out of the pot. I was thinking as you were, it could end up Square. How different, that would be. Just means you have to get a larger pot for it next year. I am going to wait and see what you get out of this marvelous Amorph. I love it.
Temperature right now is 30 degrees. Supposed to be colder down here this week too. Hihs in upper 30's and lows upper teens. Brr, old man winter has struck for sure.
This message was edited Jan 2, 2010 1:37 PM
Azalea, a comparable zone would be 12 or 13, that's used by some groups here so that there's an easy scale relevant right around the world. Earlier one of the authorities here set up our own, from 1 to 7. Our 1 was equivalent to US 7b/8a and our 7 was equivalent to an extended US system of 13. That became confusing dealing internationally and that's why they just adopted the US system with additional zones.
That is based on a measure of coldness. There's a "Heat Zone" based, obviously, on how hot a place gets. Florida is in heat zones 10 or 11, I'm in heat zone 14. You can check out about heat zone here:
www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm
Mekos, I don't even want to know about those temps. If the ground stays dry around the bulbs there shouldn't be any problems. Dry soil is a good insulator.
RRM, I was thinking that could be a great money spinner on Ebay. If someone could get $20,000 for a rotten sandwich that was supposed to look like the Virgin Mary then anything is possible. Can you imagine "your own stackable square Amorph bulbs, no wasted space for those with limited room for overwintering garden plants". Not only might I be able to pay out my mortgage before I die, might even pay it off before I retire. :O)
Hehehehe. I love this place.hehehe
Wonderful, now you can grow them all in square pots
to make stackable bulbs. I will encourage you to give it a try.
anything is possible anymore.
Tropic, my internet was down most all winter till just receintly and was wondering if the seeds and bulb I sent you got there ok or not. I'm sorry I couldn't keep in touch and wasn't sure if the customs allowed it through with the certificate. So far none of the seeds you sent have sprouted but I'm still waiting.
Welcome back. Wondered what had happened. I sent you a D-mail on the 23rd February when the packet arrived. Unfortunately the sumawongii was mush. I think the trip all the way from Thailand to you and then to me was too long for it. I planted the Konjac then but nothing has shown yet, about 6 or 7 weeks later. So still waiting.
I'm surprised the galbra hasn't germinated yet. Mine did within less than a fortnight. They're still growing well but there's still probably 5 or 6 weeks of growing season left. And there's probably 8 months before there's seed again.
I throw bananas in the pots with my Amorphs. They seem to like the potassium. I used Miracle Grow tomato formula last year and made my bulbs get huge. I bought a pot full of A. Paeoniifolius last september and i took out a couple of the larger corms and put them in separate pots. The largest one I had in september was about the size of a quarter. When I dug it up toward the end of november... the corm was about the size of a large grapefruit!
Hi Dan! One of my 4 pounders grew to 13 pounds by fall! It went from 6 inches across to 11 1/2"! Love these plants!
Nice, I will be shooting for that this year!
I'm sorry tropic. If my sumawongii does anything, ill try to send you another one. So far mine is a no show. I'm still waiting to see.
I guess I missed your email somehow while my internet was down. I'm still looking for the white prainii. I joined the aroid society and hoping to find someone with one to spare. Will let you know if I find one.
Where is everyone getting their tubers or bulbs from? I really want one, but I am having a hard time finding them.
Tina
A. paeoniifolius and A. galbra grow wild here.
This photo is of a wild A. paeoniifolius.
Beautiful Tropic! How I wish we were more tropical here OR I was somewhere more tropical!?! Those are so nice. Still no sprouts here. But it may still be too cool for them to pop out yet.
I got mine from ebay.
