Amorphs on the move

Despite being kept in a cool room my Amorphophallus prainii started to shoot last week. Although still winter, I decided to go ahead and plant it in the ground. A friend has a full grown one which grew up during winter. She didn't know what season it grew in so went ahead and watered it, and up it came.

I also have an A. paeoniifolius pup which emerged last week. Probably won't be long and they'll all be on the move.

My A. titanum is still going, unphased by having come through winter. Not sure when it's going to go dormant, no sign of it yet. Some birds have been roosting in the tree above it so it's been getting unplanned foliar fertilisation. Certainly hasn't harmed it.

The A. prainii just before planting.

Ahhh, signs of spring for you folks! We'll be going into fall soon and all my Konjacs will begin to droop....

Tommy, Konjac is one of the ones I'm still hoping to get. Of course, there's lots of others as well, but one step at a time.

My A. titanum has finally said "Goodnight". I was away for the fortnight and when I came back its leaf was totally shrivelled and hanging limp against a tree. I cleaned the tuber and then weighed it. It's 854 grams, that's about three and a half times heavier than when I planted it last year. So hoping that with another years growth it'll be another three times bigger. I'll be putting it into new soil again shortly, they sometimes have a very short dormancy period. The latest growth period was pretty well exactly 12 months.

An update on the amorphs, this is the Amorphophallus. prainii, seems to have reached maximum size for this season. I understand they can get much bigger.

The Amorphophallus bulbifer is coming out in a flower. Pity it's not likely to be open before I have to go back to work. I'm away a fortnight and the flower will have vanished by then. The bulblets from last season haven't shown yet but they can't be far behind.

My biggest Amorphophallus paeoniifolius from last season (227 centimetres - 7.45 feet, 6.4 kilograms - 14.1095848 pounds) I put in the ground this year. It's sprouted but not through the ground yet. Looks like it might be a flower.

This is one of the approximately 80 - 90 small Amorphophallus paeoniifolius in community containers that's come up way ahead of all the others.

Got a photo of one of the wild Amorphophallus paeoniifolius beginning to come up last week. The hole is what was left after last years leaf died off and the new shoot is coming through it. It gives an idea of the size of the leaf. I was able to stand under it, it was above my head.

There's no sign of my A. symonianus nor any of its bulblets yet. Same with the A. galbra, no sign yet.

The A. titanum only went dormant a month ago. I checked down through the soil and it's not even sprouting yet. Although it's in a pot, I've put a partial cover over it as we're getting some rain and I don't want the soil too wet during its dormancy.

Have been keeping an eye on some of the wild Amorphophallus paeoniifolius here. One is definitely going to flower. I'm going to try and hang around so I get a photo with the flower open but it's happening when I'd normally be going away.

This is yesterday's photo. You can see the pups coming up around the main flower bud.

Last week before leaving home I put a garbage bin lid half over the A. titanum pot to stop too much rain getting in while the tuber's still dormant. But since then it hasn't rained. Looks a bit daggy. Still, better to be on the safe side.

I hope you can catch a picture of your A. paeoniifolus in total bloom to share with us Tropic. It's looking good.

Rachel, I've delayed going away (going home from work actually) just to get this additional photo. I'll be back in 4 days, but Amorph flowers don't last long.

There's another plant close by but I suspect it's not going to be a flower. The bud seems too pointed on top. If it does turn out to be a flower, I should be around for its opening.

I had to leave the wild Amorphs to their own devices and come home today. Surprisingly the A. bulbifer that was about to flower when I left the other week (photo in Post #8156489 above) was still flowering. Although, the flower was well past its "Used by date". Couldn't detect any smell from the flower. Don't know whether it can self pollinate successfully. Will see later.

All the bulblets from the A. bulbifer last season seem to be growing well.

My largest A. paeoniifolius from last season is putting up a flower. Hopefully it will fully open before I have to go back to work.

There were about 80 small A. paeoniifolius in these red containers last season. I was going to put new soil in but didn't get around to it. Now they've started growing but are looking good. So far 42 coming through.

No sign of any of the A. galbra, thought they'd be showing something by now. I'll have to go out and check the wild ones to see if they're delayed too.

Dug around the A. titanum today. No sign of any break of dormancy.

The A. symonianus is just starting to show through the ground, but no sign of activity amongst the bulblets from last season.

This is the A. symonianus making an appearance.

Thanks for the up-date and added pictures. I am enjoying this Tropic.

Another update on the flowering A. paeoniifolius, today's photo. Only have tomorrow left and then have to get back to work. Still hoping it'll open out by then.

This is the closest I'll get to seeing my A. paeoniifolius flower fully opened. Unless it opens more during the night and I get a look before leaving for work. But I've got a friend coming around in a couple of days and she'll have her camera. So at least there'll be someone to ooh! and aaah! and generally stroke its ego. And I'll get to see the photo. This is the biggest flower I've seen forming on this species, it looks quite impressive even at this stage.

Just on dusk, in a different light.

Bit of a surprise when I managed to get back to the A. paeoniifolius flowers out bush. It was 9 days since I took the photo in Post #8180834. So I was expecting that flower to be already withered. But it wasn't. And the other one still a smaller bud then is now just opening.

Unfortunately some ravenous grasshoppers were grazing on the upper surface of the spadix. I've seen this happen before. Don't know whether it significantly affects the plant but it does ruin the aesthetics.

The bloom still looks amazing Tropic and those grasshoppers will only cause aesthetic damage to the foliage and inflorescense but nothing to worry about. I have hoppers around here that makes yours look like lil miniatures;-)

I am glad you were around to view and share this with us.

Rachel, the grasshoppers were only eating the upper surface off the spadix, nothing below. Will be interesting to see if it produces any seed. Those grasshoppers are miniatures, thankfully. Our large ones go 100 mm to 150 mm (4 - 6 inches) nose to wing tip. They would have eaten the whole plant.

The open flower was withering today.

The spathe was quite flexible now so I was able to move it and get some photos of the male and female parts.

This is the nearby flower, still not fully opened up. It gives me more hope that when I get home in 2 days time the flower in my garden will still be going. But you can see the grasshoppers have already been at this one. I've never seen that species of grasshopper at my place, so hopefully mine will be unmarked.

The flower with new generations of pups.

I'm "over the moon" tonight. When I got home from work I went around to my Amorphs. Surprisingly not only hadn't my flower withered but it was in full bloom. And no sign of grasshoppers or any damage.

The smell is fairly weak, although not really pleasant. Can't really put my finger on what it reminds me of, but it's weak enough that you have to get in very close to notice. This beetle on the spadix probably thinks the smell is great.

This will give you an idea of the size of the inflorescence.

Wow! Now that is impressive and I would have been "over the moon" as well. I am glad you were at home to view this and get a whiff;) Any signs yet from your A. symonianus or galbra?

Rachel, the symonianus has finally come through. Today's photo. I thought the bulblet from last season was 3, but only one shoot has come up. Must have just been the shape of the bulblet, like 3 lumps joined together.

This is the original symonianus. No flower yet, only a leaf coming up.

The galbra seeds I planted last year produced seedlings straight away, now this is their second year.

This is from the galbra I had many years ago and thought I'd lost (through neglect). Last season I recognised this small plant so potted it up. This will be its second year of TLC. It was the one that produced the flower I posted on plantfiles.

The bulblets from last season's bulbifer. Growing at varying paces. I guess the larger the bulblets the larger the plants they produce, as with the parent.

All the small paeoniifolius are getting overcrowded in these containers. Counted up 54, there's about 25 that are still dormant. I'll have to move them out next year.