Hah ! She bloomed !
What else can I say ? ? LOL
African Mask
Mine had two or three blooms in August. Boy, those blooms can get nasty. I do love the leaves on this ear.
Hey, Scoot
How long is the leaf?
Thanks,
a
I bought one of these this last summer because I liked the leaves so much but I never really did check on any info on it as (knock on wood) it seems to be doing so well. So I had no idea that they bloomed or what the looked like. Very cool.
Brugie what do you mean when you say the blooms get nasty? Do they stink?
Robin
Nasty ? ? ? Do tell .
Oh well, It's my first bloom but I absolutely love my AM and her little sister Alocosia Polly
Arlene, The longest leaf is 19" tip to tip.
Congratulations! I have that one too, but she never bloomed for me.
How much do they cost? the Mask and the Polly?
Thanks
a
I got the AM start from a DG'er last year and the Polly I found at HD for about 6 bucks or so ???
I will not be dividing any of mine until they need to be potted up hopefully next summer.
Except for that , I wouldn't disturb the little prima-donnas , the tend to pout for a while when I do.
They can be persnickety over heat , light , moisture .(spoiled brats).
I concocted a potting mix from 1/2 orchid mix and 1/2 pro potting soil that they really like .
This spring I moved them out before the night temps were warm enough , there went almost all of a years worth of leaves ;'(
Could someone tell me if these produce bulblets? This is the first year that I have had African Mask. If they do, I will share with you A. I planted mine in the ground and now have them inside in containers. I first saw these at the Nashville Garden Show and just had, to have them!
S.B if yours is blooming, maybe I should try the orchid mix too. What type of lighting is your under?
Thanks,
Teresa
Scoot, they get kind of soft, gunky, and just plain nasty. LOL! I had a couple of them on another plant in the house and found out when I thought it looked big and full of seeds. Not seeds!! Just gunk!
Target stores usally sell these all winter long! I have not seen them in yet though. They sell them for around $5 and there are generally 3-4 per pot.
And yes, they send up babies too. :)
Thanks Brugie ,
I'll watch it and cut the spathe off soon as it starts to deteriorate.
bluegrass,
these propagate by side shoot divisions , the large main tuber stays the same altho it does get larger.
No artificial light , cause they hate bright light and can lose leaves.
They go out in my mostly shade garden while the temps day/night temps are over 55.
Inside they absolutely love bright northern windows. or else they will do well in any bright window where no sun shall touch those leaves .poof ..... lol
Your plants are gorgeous Scooterbug. I know what you mean about the cold getting the leaves, mine were really nice and we had a week of chilly days with wind and there went the leaves. I dug them up this weekend so I can bring them in next time we get a cold wind!
Thanks Susie.
Sorry you lost those leaves . They take so darn long to get to size ;'(
It may take weeks for it to start growing again.
Depends on how cold the plant got I guess.
If it went dormant , it could be an iffy situation.
They are making new leaves, they didn't get so cold they went dormant, but the cold wind sure did a number on the leaves. My Green Shield didn't like getting chilled either, so I dug it up and put it in a pot too.
I killed a couple of AM's by keeping them too wet.
I hear ya on the too wet , I almost drowned one before.
The soil mix I use now even kept them alive out in all the rain we had early this summer.
Wish I could grow them in the ground but it would be a lose/lose situation with our short growing season and how tempermental they get when they get their little 'tootsies' disturbed ... lol
Had to post a pic of my new AM I bought at my favorite nursery.
Wow, Nice find.
That is a very healthy looking plant.
The cat standing to the left of it thinks she's part cow and has mowed down a couple of plants in the past, but not my alocasias. She took a couple bites out of my Alocasia Frydek and ended up with swollen lips for a few days.
I have this plant sitting in a dish with pebbles and water to try and provide more humidity.
Looks great. One of my favorite shade plants.
My EE bloomed. I couldn't figure out what was coming out of one of the branches. Definitely wasn't a leaf... I unwrapped it and it's a "bloom"! Next time I'll just leave it alone, but I really had no idea what was growing out of the branches. Here's a close-up.
Emily - they are wonderful!
So will there be seed in that bloom?
I don't think so. I think it will either shrivel up or turn to mush. I'm not sure what the function of this thing was. Colocasias reproduce asexually, meaning the rhyzome will divide into new plants. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. I bought one plant. I now have at least 4. I did some research on the web and a number of plants use "vegetative" reproduction, which an asexual form of reproduction.