What do I do with this Amorphophallus bulb?!

Oh, BOY! I'm digging into a whole new family of plant!!!

So my lovely neighbor dug this little bulb out of her large and (seemingly empty) planter and gave it to me as a moving away present. She knows it's an amorphophallus - but not which particular one, and said it's tropical, so it should do really well when I get to Florida and pot it up.

What in the world do I do with this bulb? Right now, it's no more than 1.5" (or 3.5 cm) in diameter. But I've seen pictures of bulbs that are well over 6" (15cm), and I'm guessing that these bulbs just start small and will get bigger every year as they grow and make more bulbs. I have no idea what the rest of the bulbifer under the dirt in my neighbors planter looks like...

I guess what I need to know first,

1. What kind of medium/soil mix should I plant it in?
2. How big does the pot really need to be?
3. How deep do I plant it?

I'm so excited!! Thanks in advance for the much-needed advice!

Rose

Nice! In the spring plant in a well draining mix. About 4-5 inches deep. That corm should grow to about the size of a baseball or bigger by fall if grown well! I'd stick it in a 8-10 inch pot. Feed every 2 weeks with miracle grow or a 1-10-10 or 20-20-20 at half strength.

There are lots of Amorphophallus, growing to lots of different sizes/ But bulbifer is one of the common ones.

it doesn't look like bulbifer to me, it looks like konjac.

and bulbifer only has babies up top in the leaf not in the dirt :) Store it dry till it starts putting up a spike then plant and also tommy is right it should get about baseball size and have some babies.

Are they hard to grow? I am curious but haven't looked for them for sale yet.

To give you an idea of how fast these grow the corm on the left WAS the size of the one on the right in early spring. I had a nickle sized corm grow to baseball size as well. The one on the left was 4 pounds in the early spring and 7 inches across. It is now 13lbs and 11 1/2 inches across.

Awesome plant! FUN as hell to grow!

They are easy to grow. Plant in a well draining mix and put in bright shade. Plant the bulb about 4 - 5 times as deep as it's diameter. Feed every 2 weeks with half strength miracle grow or you favorite fertilizer. A 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 is fine also. I use miracle grow or Pro mix soil amended with a lot Perlite for good drainage.

Here's mine in early spring:

Do they have the carrion smell or is that just voodoo lily?

They have the smell however I have not had the "pleasure" yet of smelling it! Probably this spring.

lol. Thank you :). I may find some and get started this spring.

wow this is such a cool looking plant.. I have a few voodoos last year was my first year with them, I'm hoping they come back in the spring.. however mine were only about 6" off the ground... Would love to have a plant that looks like yours Tommyr2006.. thats huge
jen

Voodoo lily is a broad term for a whole lot of plants which are similar, Such as Sauromatum's, Amorphophallus', and Dracunculus + probably more. I guess they got that just cause there very strange and look a bit devilish. They all smell.The konjac smells obnoxious when it flowers but it doesn't last too long. I've known people that would cut off the bloom before it opens.I wouldn't though cause i love the flowers. Saromatums smell a little like poop. There are some amorphs that actually smell good, like carrots.

Tommy you should get a bloom this spring, it definately looks big enough. They usually bloom around 2 lbs.

The nickle sized one you sold me last spring is now tennis ball sized Growin_Stinkies!

Wow! Thanks for the responses, everyone! I'm so excited to plant this lil' guy! I'm not surprised a member with the name growin_stinkies would know exactly what this bulb/corm was! I only called it a bulbifer 'cuz I saw that word on a few sites when Googling... so I thought that "bulbifer" was synonymous with "bulb". My friend found the ID stick from her original plant, and it certainly is a konjac.

Tommyr - is your plant a konjac?! I hope mine grows foliage like yours. I know that getting the bloom is probably the real "trophy" part about success with this plant... but I really like the way the stalk and leaves grow.

So, am I going to have to wait a few years before mine might bloom, since it's so small? I guess I can't expect it to make more corms each year until it starts to flower either? Will I have to dig it up every year? Gosh... I haven't even planted the first little bulb yet - and I've got zillions more questions already!

growin_stinkies, does this advice still apply to my bulb now that we know it is Konjac?
"Store it dry till it starts putting up a spike then plant and also tommy is right it should get about baseball size and have some babies."

Thanks again for the info! I can't wait to get to Florida in January and pot this baby up!

Rose

Yes, mine are all Konjacs.

Does anyone have an extra? Please Dmail a price to me. Thanks. I would like to grow 1 or 2 if I can afford to :).

3jsmom, looks like growin_stinkies has a number of them for sale in his/her(?) "products for sale" section.

BTW, when does the foliage appear on this plant? After the bloom? Every time I look at a picture of this plants, it's either the bloom or the foliage... never both. The ID stick did mention that this was a "rivieri" konjac as well...

Amorphophallus rivieri is an old name, konjac is a new name. They bloom in the spring, then the bloom will die back and then put up a leaf. They make babies regularly all the time before and after they bloom.The bulbs get huge but they will split on you eventually:( One of my larger bulbs weighed 16 pounds when I planted now it weighed over 31 pounds but it split into 3 big bulbs each about 10 pounds.

You store it dry still, every year it will go dormant regardless of temp. when it is dormant you may dig it up or leave it. I like to dig mine because you see what it did that year plus then no problem with rot,too wet or pest.

I grow 85 varieties of them, and I love them.

My largest is A. paeoniifolius, which forms the majority of the species I have, about 80 - 90 plants. Also have 5 other species. This is a photo of my large A. paeoniifolius now, not sure what size the tuber will turn out end of this season but I'd guess pretty big.

Tropic, that is a beauty for sure. It is a small tree!